2410 - thankyou

October 24, 2012 in 8, barcelona, blur, bokeh, colour, flare, gold, light, macro, medal, nex 7, purple, retrofocus, sony, spain, still life, texture, vintage, walimex samyang rokinon, walk

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | handheld retrofocus | 8mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/80 | lightroom 4.2

the journey is over, i'm home from spain again. the caminada internacional de barcelona 2012 - the international walk of barcelona - was definitely worth the flights, nights' stay and days off.

the iml walking association did a great job in organising the whole event. everything, simply everything worked very well, there was nothing to worry about. for that reason at this place i want to bring my tribute of praise and a short thank-you note in behalf of all walkers to the whole iml team. thank you all!

you may not believe that the charge of 8 euros included not only the catering, the whole organisation with cordon, signposts, final party, all the documents for the finishers and much more but also a gold medal if you walked and finished on both days. due to this piece of metal i'll always keep this trip in my mind... of course i think highly of all the volunteers and sponsors, too. without their efforts these events couldn't take place again and again.

today's image was shot with the walimex ultra-wide-angle fisheye lens in handheld retrofocus position. the shown image section covers a crop of only 6 millimetres. it's interesting what you can do with a fisheye lens, isn't it?

the purple flare results from the lateral, incidental light that produces a non-post-processing vintage look. in this case this effect is desired but you can easily avoid this magenta shift by preventing lateral incidence of light with a tube or the like, too.

cu, trshptr

1310 - hatari

October 14, 2012 in 30, art, bar, eyes, face, germany, hair, hamburg, light, nex 7, night, partial coloured, portrait, restaurant, sigma, sony, still life, texture, wall

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/40 | lightroom 4.2

is this art or trash?

interesting fitment doesn't always have to be expensive. the interior (and of course also the food and the service) of the bar hatari in the schanzenviertel of hamburg is really attractive although it doesn't seem to be very luxury and high-cost.

cu, trshptr

2809 - summer goodbye

September 28, 2012 in 30, b+w, back, beach, hair, high key, italy, minimalistic, nex 7, people, personal, portrait, sea, sigma, sony, summer, sun, tellaro, texture, trip

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/800 | silver efex pro for lightroom

swimming in the ocean at the end of september isn't an usual activity for us. so today's vacation farewell trip to tellaro, a village in the south of la spezia that belongs to the most beautiful villages of italy on the initiative of the associazione nazionale comuni italiani, was something very special. 25 degrees in the shade and eight hours of sunshine, wonderful beaches, a refreshing sea and a terrific view along the high shore over the golf of la spezia across to portovenere and the isola palmaria really made a great surrounding for the last day of our holidays in italy.

a funny peculiarity of the most of the beaches of liguria is the fine pebble. tina really liked the very fine stones tickling her back. and they are good-looking, too.

cu, trshptr

0109 - to the last drop

September 02, 2012 in 50, b+w, drop, garden, germany, grain, grey, home, leaf, minimalistic, nature, nex 7, old photo, pattern, plant, reflection, sel, sony, texture, water

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.8 | ISO1000 | 1/80 | silver efex pro plug-in for lightroom 4.1

today was the long-awaited festival day, we were at the rock am see festival in constance. as i told you yesterday my nex 7 had to stay at home because i didn't want to mind out my equipment the whole day and night. anyhow i've shot a few pics with my smartphone (two examples on my mobile photography tumblr blog: the tree & tired).

the festival itself was brilliant. my favourites were itchy poopzkid, flogging molly, greenday and kraftklub - in that order. it was a lot of drinking, dancing and pogo. great fun with a few wounds in the aftermath which is perhaps down to the fact that we revved up to the last drop.

cu, trshptr

btw: the photography magazin fotohits gives away pro licences of the b&w post processing plug-in application silver efex pro, the predecessor of the current version 2. their promotion will be active till end of september, get your own key here if you want. today's pic was used for a first attempt working with this lightroom plug-in. i'm very satisfied with the results.

3008 - behind bars

August 30, 2012 in 50, animal, bokeh, brown, colour, contrast, countryside, eyes, fisheye, germany, hair, horse, langenbernsdorf, nex 7, orange, portrait, reflection, sel, sony, texture

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.8 | ISO800 | 1/80 | lightroom 4.1

keeping of animals is a sensitive topic. who gives the mankind the authorisation and permission to cage up animals of any kind? is it the evolution, our superiority? or is it outright ignorance?

every human being on this planet has to answer this question for itself. basically there are different reasons for keeping and caging animals and i don't want to kick off a huge discussion about the reasonableness of caged pets. only one question: dear lovers of nature and animal protection advocates, why is it okay for (the most of) you to cage up these wonderful horses?

cu, trshptr

2508 - under observation

August 25, 2012 in 30, b+w, bird, bokeh, bridge, germany, hills, laufenburg, memorial, monument, nex 7, rhine, river, scenery, sight, sigma, sony, switzerland, texture, townscape

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/800 | lightroom 4.1

this weekend i reside in laufenburg, a small city that is part of the district waldshut in the very southwest of germany, at the family of a work and cycling mate. laufenburg is located directly at the border to switzerland, opposite to the equally named swiss city and separated from the switzerland by the big river rhine.

on the german side of the border a huge monument, a stone eagle with widespread wings and a golden cross in his clutches observes all machinations on the (german and the) swiss terrain. the memorial was built in remembrance of the many soldiers that were killed in action in the first and second world war.

the relations between the germans and the swiss and germany and switzerland are matter for a separate story: huge wage differentials, tax haven switzerland, conversion rates, non-EU country and voluntary nation are only some keywords that describe the country switzerland and its relations to its neighbour germany. many things are handled completely different to germany, but the people of both countries have to live together on both sides of the border compliant with the rules and laws of the respective countries.

tomorrow i'll visit the swiss side for a long public cycling ride again. however today i haven't seen anything to complain about for the stone eagle.

cu, trshptr

2108 - entrance into new life

August 21, 2012 in 50, architecture, b+w, bench, building, cathedral, church, corridor, door, facility, germany, hagnau, memorial, monument, nex 7, sel, sony, texture, wall, window

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f4.5 | ISO100 | 1/80 | +0.3ev | lightroom 4.1

it's safe to say that with marriage (at least a few) things change. the most people celebrate this transition with a huge multi-day party, usually they want to experience the best day(s) of their lives. subsequently the bride and the groom depart to the greatest journey they have ever planned...

well, this is the way the majority of the marrying people handles their weddings. not we. the documents were signed at half past 10 and in the afternoon tina went to work as usual. we didn't do many things different from normal days because we don't want our life to be different from before the marriage. it was great before this date and it hopefully will be also similar great after it. in our opinions great changes are followed by great disillusionment - of course exceptions prove the role.

for that reason till today we haven't trespassed the entrance into new life yet.

cu, trshptr

0808 - no7 in crosshairs

August 08, 2012 in 50, architecture, decay, deeper meaning, door, facility, fun, germany, mittenwald, nex 7, partial coloured, pattern, sel, sony, street lamp, texture, urban, wall, window, yellow

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

1607 - plump vs. lean

July 16, 2012 in 50, architecture, art, b+w, contrast, deeper meaning, facility, germany, markdorf, minimalistic, nex 7, pattern, sel, shadow, sony, street, street lamp, texture, townscape, urban

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 1/640 | lightroom 4.1

during the last few weeks i've begun to be satisfied with the technical implementation of my pics. slowly but steady i have a handle on my nex 7, i do not have to think about its operation anymore. conversely i'm really impatient of a few of my daily pic ideas or/and the composition of these images. precisely because there is a lack of interesting photography opportunities in the area around lake constance - besides the often shown and captured idyllic scenes - the collocation of a well composed image has to be reconsidered again and again. as from now i want to take into account all factors: concentrate on the full details, compose a statement and affect the viewers, if possible.

let me begin in a small way: some parts of our societies discriminate against people, that are plump or lean. the most people do not have the balls to voice this, what makes them appear even more ridiculous. fortunately there is a lid for every pot, as you can see in the image above. everybody has to have the right to exist regardless whether he, she or it is thin or fat, black or white, tall or small.

my story may seem quite a stretch, sorry, but this is what i've thought when i spotted the scene today in the afternoon in markdorf. cultivated coexistence, nothing else matters! no fence between the individuals, no podium for anybody, because there is no right or wrong. so as you can see the composition of today's pic is still not perfect, but the architectural circumstances were set... ;)

cu, trshptr

1107 - humanoid camera

July 11, 2012 in 50, beard, blue, contrast, eyes, face, hair, light, mirror, mood, nex 7, night, people, personal, portrait, sel, self portrait, shadow, sony, texture

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.8 | ISO100 | 1/13 | lightroom 4.1

when you are an ambitious photographer that is willing to learn constantly, at some point you will realise that you have begun to see your life only in frames. this is basically not so bad, you learn to handle this circumstance.

whereas the point to feel pressured by the obligation of capturing a suitable pic per day is a real problem. i ran into this issue some weeks ago and believe me, especially for an absolute beginner of serious photography this burden is definitely not conducive to obtain the best possible results and to learn the hobby in a relaxed way. you try to figure out if any, really any object would make a good scene - this is an exhausting process!

learning is known as a process whereby you improve your skills with every fault or problem you did. you have to be fully aware of this case, otherwise your expectations on yourself will always be unaccomplished. my personal aim of this photography project is the self-discovery which kind of photography i like and what kind of photographer i am, too.

in the course of this i sometimes feel like a humanoid camera.

cu, trshptr