1604 - master painter

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 34mm | f4.5 | ISO800 | 1/30 | aperture priority | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4 

today i have brought - as the word is in germany - colour into play. this is a saying for making the things more interesting. besides this saw directly matches with the words you would say if a soccer player is straightly red-carded.

in my case today colour was brought proverbially under the skin - although today it was all about black, i exceptionally count this manifestation among the colours. in the early evening i had an appointment with konrad k., the tattooer of my confidence and owner of the studio xxxl-tattoo. as always we were in an animated conversation while konrad was smartening me up. today's subject was the tree of life, a symbol that signifies infinity, at least for me.

being at the tattooer is maybe comparable with a woman's appointment at the hairdresser. the customer has to trust the service provider blindly. at this moment you are at the contractor's mercy. a relationship of trust comes into existence only when the provider reveals its innermost thoughts. this state konrad and i had already achieved some sessions ago - most of the women vibe with their hairdressers directly after the first prosecco, too. konrad is a thoroughly honest, straightforward and positive guy from warsaw (pl) that by the way is a great tattooer. he is my master painter.

the pic was shot by me, hand-held, the left arm outstretched. it was one of round about twenty attempts. the focus is on konrad's hands.

cu, trshptr

1304 - upright

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 22mm | f4.5 | ISO400 | 25s | manual mode | manual focus | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

while i was cruising around by bike this evening i saw different places and objects that were worthy of detailed examination. in so doing my short ride was extended to a two hour trip. as a result i have really struggled with choosing a candidate for today's posting. finally i decided to apply the upright photography that you can review above to animate my blog today. some other samples are listed at my tumblr webpage dated today.

the pic of the building site was shot in markdorf again. the light conditions were really very, very bad, the usage of the automatic focus wasn't possible. so i had my first attempts with complete manual shooting: both focus and exposure were manually controlled by me. to accomplish a suitable exposure i had to raise iso speed to 400 and aperture to the almost fastest configuration at this focal length - although i exposed for a long time... i think you can reconstruct how dark it was there.

why this composition? for a variety of reasons... the pillars seemed to have an infinite depth, the lights were playfully reflected by them. the streamers that were hanging from the ceiling breezed in the wind. the silence was impressive. only every now and then a car went past. fortunately i caught one by shooting the pic above.

btw: i have raised the local contrast of the pic while postprocessing to create a hdr-like effect. accenting the size of the builing site i renounced to remove distortion caused by wide-angel.

all being well my project will finally start next week. officially.

cu, trshptr

1204 - upstairs

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 37mm | f5.0 | ISO400 | 1/25 | aperture priority | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

there are people that always use the elevator. they use it also if they work in the 3rd floor and their toilets are located in the 2nd one. indeed there are people that use the lift to go up and down for a cigarette. it's not just that they contaminate theirselves and the environment, additionally they don't go a few steps down- and upstairs to compensate their pollution.

there are people that suffer from a cardiovascular disease. fastfood, an awful lot of coffee or / and alcohol and far too little exercise confuse the human organism. if you do not take countermeasures, you will perish. 

and there are people that are aware of these and all the other critical problem areas. their daily lives are mostly characterized by stress, pace and they are often pressed for time. but they know that every thought about provision is not about half the price of the measures to revise the problems in old age.

i think i rank among the last group. i avoid to use the elevator. i do not smoke anymore. i moderately drink coffee and alcohol. i excercise minimum twice a week. i'm aware of the problems of the modern society. at least i believe it.

for this posting today we made an exception and used the escalator. however there you can also go upstairs.

cu, trshptr

1104 - moonless night

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 25mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 15s | aperture priority | multiple triggered with android application dslrcontroller | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

urban abandoned places at night have a great appeal with me. see that i had to cater anything for dinner this evening, an urban self-shot was obvious.

while i was driving around the town i was on the look-out for a moody place where i could capture a frozen long-time exposed, depressed shot of a small being in the middle of impressive architecture. really no easy statement of task in the middle of nowhere but i'm not going to lower my sights until i hit the wall. satisfaction implies stagnation.

in my opinion except a little light scattering in the lower middle the picture turned out very well. it shows the educational center of markdorf that was built in 1972. i love the architecture of the 70s with its straight lines, strict symmetry, the plain facades and the primary structures made of metal. it is simple and timeless. and if you put an outlined, shadowed person in the center of attention and illumination, your composition becomes clearer and more consistent. a picture turns into a story.

cu, trshptr