3105 - private peek

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f8.0 | ISO200 | 1/100 | lightroom 4.1

in regions with an appropriate social base money is not to be sniffed at. especially the area north of the alps and the lake constance profits clearly by its inherent natural beauty. the amount of money that is received in this way flows mainly back directly into the communes.

you can see this circumstance in any issue of daily life. one noticeable topic is the structural condition of the (most of the old) buildings in the historic townscapes. if you use f.e. the view of the cities in the east of germany as reference for comparison you will find a lot more derelict houses than here in suedbaden. so far, so good.  this comes as no surprise.

but what does that really mean? it seems to be a kind of vicious circle for the affected regions regarding different aspects: either tourists or qualified employees are attracted, therefor their money flows into other regions. so the communes have no funds to modernise their infrastructure, their townscape and so on. which means that everything remains as it is. unfortunately i know this phenomena from different regions of germany, among others my homeland.

the region of the linzgau was never affected by this vicious circle. the historic townscapes are in most cases proper, neat and tidy, even more than 300 years old houses like ours are in a good condition. way back when the municipal administration of our commune bermatingen had understood that buildings like the eichenhof have a great appeal with the tourists and therefor their money.

of course i rejoice at our home, it is individual, full of character and it's a pleasure to live here. i hope you enjoy the private peek, too.

cu, trshptr

0404 - resistance

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 21mm | f8.0 | ISO200 | 1/125 | aperture priority | raw file cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

almost every morning of the last three years i pass a moody derelict barn that decays nearby a main road between salem and markdorf. shacks like that inspire me and draw my interest. again at last i feel like a baby boy when i´m exploring the area and the hut itself.

today i took time to discover this piece of history shaped by nature and the ravages of time. tina dropped me off close by the shack. i only had to plough through a non-vegetated, lumpy field to reach my today´s object of photography.

after i had walked around for half an hour to take some photos i got a feeling for the history of this scarred building: today it is used as a compound site for wood and a carport for a probably equaly aged tractor. but rust, moss, fungi and dust occupy the surface of the shack for a long time.

i wish to elapse the whole story of the shack in fast motion to marvel at its decay. however more admirable than its decline is its resistibility. since a bunch of decades light, rainfall, snow, cold and heat, storm and seasons fall on its roof like warriors on their enemies without receiving any maintenance besides patchwork.

but it resists. and it will resist the next twenty plus years.

cu, trshptr

0104 - herringbone at night

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 28mm | f4.0 | ISO800 | 1/6 | aperture priority | raw file cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

as i wrote in the last posting we drove to ravensburg on saturday evening where all stores and shops had opened until 11pm because of a long shopping night. after closing hour we had some drinks wherefor we returned not before the next morning. i hope it is acceptable that i take a shot of saturday night / sunday morning for the sunday posting.

while tina was attracted by all the stores and shops as usual, i discovered the second class roads - as usual - too. this nice herringbone patterned, green door with the grainy yellow wall was not far-off the shopping promenade. did i ever tell you that i like doors?

unfortunately my eos 400d was again at the end of its capabilities. but it mastered the problematic conditions to my satisfaction after a couple of attempts. i visited one specific store yesterday evening, too: in a big electronics store i played a bit around with the nex 5n. tiny little piece of engineering skills.

cu, trshptr

2403 - industrial gene

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 18mm | f5.0 | ISO400 | 1/100 | aperture priority | jpg out of camera

summarizing i can fortunately say that all my expectations about manchester were not only fulfilled but rather exceeded. manchester is truthful, vivid, rocking, hearty, old but innovative and a lot more.

its industrial characteristic was very impressive. i thought about bricks and fire escapes but i didn´t expect it in this great measure. the picture above is ooc, i love its poster like high contrast look.

2303 - food from all over the world

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 46mm | f5.6 | ISO800 | 1/25 | aperture priority | raw file cropped, aligned and processed in rawtherapee

a huge deficit of rural living is the lack of good foreign restaurants - except italian - and snack stands. compensation of this intolerable state was one of our most important aims during the last three days. inter alia we ate at an arab and at two indians.

even if the appearances do not imply that the quality of the sold products is passable - suitable the english say: don´t judge a book by its cover.

the snack stand in the pic above was terrific! on friday night this cool picture occured in the heart of manchester.

2003 - courtyard with bakehouse

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 27mm | f9.0 | ISO100 | 1/100 | aperture priority | jpg file cropped, aligned and processed in gimp 2.6

After a great long night - had slept from 11pm to 7am - the shiny morning sun bid me welcome back to life. it is always a better start of the day if outside is at least a tiny little more brightness than in your unlighted sleeping room. so understandably todays breakfast especially hit the spot.

completely satisfied i entered our courtyard, as usual the camera stored in my bag waiting for daily surprises. tina and i live in a more than 300 years old timber-framed house which was the home for many nuns in the 18th and 19th century. the building is an absolute eye candy - the former workmen used beams that are anything but straight, unique bricks and natural tiles. we were lucky that the sanitation was completely modernized before our moving in, the building itself had already been restored in the 1990´s.

it´s a kind of magic to spend time in that wonderful piece of history. you´ll participate in my experiences during the following year(s) - i´ve got many ideas how photographies of details or whole parts of this house can revive this blog. hopefully living beeings will play their role, too.

by reason of the dwarfs only suitable ceiling height photos of our flat won´t come up before my equipment supports high iso capturing. but that doesn´t mean that our environment couldn´t be a part of my day by day blog shooting yet: right on your doorstep there follows a huge courtyard with an enormous lime in its middle. at the northern end you can find a small single family living house that in former times had been used by the nuns as a bakehouse and in front of it a tiny small pigsty that acts as a storage shed today. our groudskeeper seems to like the colour orange - me too.

regardless i decided to develop this photography in a cold and hard style without much colour because the summer is still far away and the temperatures don´t yet allow to put the winter coat away. furthermore in my opinion this kind of image processing perfectly shows the compromise between the sensitivity and the resistivity of buildings like that - they really don´t have a new look but come back in 10 years and they will appear like today.

don´t be afraid again: it will not be my focus to process my images, their natural characters are most important for me. so welcome to our nearest neighbourhood. have a peep, but be discreet.

cu, trshptr