1908 - retro charme

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/400 | lightroom 4.1

now, on sunday evening, the heat wave is almost over. we had a wonderful weekend at our beloved families and extended the trip for another night. therefor we will have to get up at five o'clock in the morning to arrive before noon at our place.

while walking through the town crimmitschau - the village where my mother lives belongs to it - we have spotted a tuned and modified trabant 601. the trabant is a car that was produced by the former east german car manufacturer veb sachsenring in zwickau. it was by far the most common vehicle in east germany. more information about the trabant on wikipedia.

the crumbled wall, the renewed street and the antique car - this could have been a retro-style scene of a movie from the 80s but it actually is the real life in 2012 in the eastern states of germany.

cu, trshptr

0808 - no7 in crosshairs

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/400 | lightroom 4.1

sometimes you come around at funny scenes that you cannot pass without resting a few minutes and thinking about its details.

i've absolutely no idea what the builders might have thought when they installed the light switch 30cm next to the usual, optimal position where the cable appears from the wall. i've no clue why three arrows direct your view to the yellow tape that is affixed in the middle of the slightly blue door. and i've no frigging idea what the yellow tape actually implies.

questions upon questions, and no answers. probably i should have opened the door and figured it all out.

cu, trshptr

1807 - orange patchwork

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO640 | 1/50 | lightroom 4.1

today i hadn't had the time to catch a breath before half past nine. after work i had to wash all the bicycles, three in number, and do some maintenance work on tina's mountain bike. after all i have lingered after an after work coffee latte at a branch of a well-known big junk chain for the whole evening. at half past nine tina and i had finally accomplished our object, a tall latte for me and a vanilla frappe for her.

while we were stretching our legs subsequent to the drink, i spotted the illuminated, orange wall, that seems to be composed of dozens of rectangular patches. nothing spectacular, but beautiful to look at, especially because its recurring forms and the nicely produced shadows.

cu, trshptr

1306 - relation

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 55mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/500 | lightroom 4

i don't know if you are informed of the special history of alghero - it is the only city in sardinia where catalan is spoken. this fact concerns with the circumstance that alghero was conquered by the catalans in 1354 and colonists from barcelona populated the city after the conquest.

even today alghero is called little barcelona, barceloneta or la picolla barcelona what is due to the similarities in their townscapes.

cu, trshptr 

0707 - lined lady

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 55mm | f5.6 | ISO200 | 1/100 | lightroom 4

when you visit an european city you'd expect that free-roaming cats influence the townscape. thereby in sardinia pets aren't that high rated as the people do in germany. many cats have to run their own lives. funnily also the dogs do as they please. especially in alghero we often saw dogs walking on their own, there was no human being on view far and wide.

hopefully the lined lady of my pic will get along furthermore.

cu, trshptr

0506 - encased latern

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO800 | 1/25 | lightroom 4.1

things never turn out the way you expect. because i didn't want to rely on sony's first level support i searched for an authorised repair shop in the internet and made a find. only some hours after my request to this company i got an answer and call to send in my nex asap. supposedly my repaired gadget will be back within 5 to 8 days again - i cross my fingers.

before i'll post the nex tomorrow morning, the cam had to show its capabilities in low light situations tonight. i captured the scene at the end of my night walk only at a stone's throw from my home. the little shack is used as a storeroom by the vineyard. i really go for the texture of the plaster, it's common to apply this kind of structures in the region of the south of germany.

i'm awfully sorry and feel a little bit sad: as i said before probably during the whole next week there will be no postings. unfortunately.

well, bye then, trshptr

0406 - x-shaped

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f5.6 | ISO800 | 1/60 | lightroom 4.1

i could just cry! today i own the nex 7 no more than for 14 days and the first big hw failure already occurred: the display detent in the tilt frame is broken. f***! more than 1000 bucks and the item is broken yet. now i have to keep struggling with the (maybe unqualified) first level support and waive several weeks without my nex. i could cry.

nevertheless the show must go on (as long as possible). as may be imagined today i didn't really fancy conceiving an innovative idea after these bad news although i had a pleasant evening with tina at the cinema watching snow white and the huntsman in the original english version. so i ended up with an architectural pattern image of a company building that is located in markdorf. tomorrow i'll be in a better mood again.

cu, trshptr

0106 - something different

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO1600 | 1/25 | lightroom 4.1

finally we have visitors from central germany: our (best) friends jeen and diet(mar) from frankfurt are currently at our place for a flying visit - unfortunately on sunday they will leave us again for the continuation of their short journey to munich where they will call the concert of paul kalkbrenner, a reasonably famous german dj. for their visit we had to buy in, tidy up, clean house and so on - of course we wanted to receive our guests with open arms and well prepared.

back on topic of yesterday: see that i don't want to allow that the view of bermatingen develops as a completely boring but idyllic world i think that a contrary sight of approximately the same scene of yesterday's image might remedy. let me get this straight - bermatingen is not much different to the rest of germany. pleasure and harm, white and black, lights and shadows, all that is to be expected.

cu, trshptr

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

1605 - ray of hope

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 18mm | f3.5 | ISO800 | 1/20 | lightroom 4

actually every week should have only 3 business days. because on thursday all the fathers - and the future ones - will paint the town red most of the employers allow a day off on friday: i really love the spring with its awful lot of feast and bridge days...

after a dinner at a new turkish restaurant in friedrichshafen we headed for the bar "lichtblick" in markdorf. its name has different english translations - f.e. it could mean blink or bright spot. if you look at the pic you can confirm that this translation could be appropriate for this location.

furthermore it could be called ray of hope or silver lining in english what in my opinion fits even better than the direct translation. the bar lichtblick is one of the rare rays of hope in the forlorn nightlife of the area around lake constance.

cu, trshptr