1810 - anticyclic acting

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 3.2s | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

anticyclic acting is a way to escape from the daily routine.

after i hadn't managed to be the first on the roads yesterday, my today's alarm rang already at half past six in the morning. with an eye to the great weather forecast for today and hopefully a great sunrise at the lakeside i ate my breakfast in less than 15 minutes and left home still in complete darkness. equipped with my ultra bright led headlamp and red blinking lights on the back pack i started my journey into the dark.

having the knowledge of being the sole human in a dark forest and withal riding a bicycle with a visibility range of not more than 20 metres is a very special experience. i spotted the sparkling, sometimes white, sometimes yellow incandescent eyes of the forest animals a few times through the undergrowth of the woods. at last i felt like a real man again.

getting up early paid off today.

cu, trshptr

0210 - stacked & bread rain

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f2.8 | ISO400 | 1/25 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.1

fortunately the announced walimex pro fisheye lens has arrived already today in the afternoon. for the evening i'd planned to shoot a special scenery in bodman-ludwigshafen at the western end of lake constance. a friend of mine had told me of the presence of an example of a very special kind of "lake art" - every now and then a stone artist places stone towers at the lakeside that seen as a stress engineer could really never bear.

for the viewer they exude calm and balance, really adorable.

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO400 | 1/100 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.1

heading for the place where the work is located we met a nice guy who was feeding the ducks and seagulls. although he seemed to be a bit strange he's surely a very nice and sensitive guy who cares about the nature and its animals.

i'll write more about the walimex pro fisheye lens during the next days. in advance only a very short information: it touches simply wonderfully and seems to be built of very high quality.

furthermore my two today's samples show how differently a fisheye lens can be used. both the emphasis of the distorted fisheye character as well as the use as an almost normal ultra wide angle lens are imaginable.

cu, trshptr

2409 - surreality

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/250 | lightroom 4.1

so this is the cinque terre, the world famous cinque terre? in advance tina and i had thought about visiting the well known villages monterosso, vernazza, corniglia, manarola and riomaggiore for a very long time. should we do it or should we steer clear of this overcrowded world cultural heritage?

summarising i can tell you that the view on these villages, especially from the upper paths, are simply stunning. surely anywhere in italy or the rest of the europe there are villages, paths and landscapes like the one you can find in the region of cinque terre, too. probably you don't have to search for a long time, in the north in the so called little cinque terre from moneglia to levanto or in the south in portofino you might find (maybe a bit more authentic) wonderful places and postcard sceneries, too.

the most important fact when you visit the cinque terre is to know what you are letting yourself in for. in off-season many, in season times a great many people will want to walk the same way with you. all prices (accommodation; food; parking; local traffic; the path itself, that is partly charged) are overpriced, the journey there is complicated, the paths besides the mainstream ones are not really good signposted.

however the other side of the coin is definitely existing. the locals are pleasant, the architecture is great and the paths are simply terrific, especially the difficult ones. maybe all the negative and typically touristic points are something that you simply have to take in if you want to see a world famous monument like the cinque terre (or the empire state building, the great wall of china or the pyramids).

maybe cinque terre isn't reality, but anyway a really funny peculiarity is located in manarola, my favourite of cinque terre: there is definitely the most beautiful roof terrace of the world.

cu, trshptr

2109 - blue rain

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO125 | 1/60 | lightroom 4.1

unfortunately today was already our last day in south tirol. there are definitely some points that we will miss in the second part of our holidays in liguria:

first of all we will shed tears over the wonderful ortler alps, that are simply feast for the eyes. during our today's walk to the rosimboden almost 2500 metres above the sea level we had a great view over the valley of sulden across the huge kings of the ortler alps - the koenigsspitze, the zebru and the ortler itself. of course i've captured this absolutely idyllic postcard view in a panoramic photograph. to marvel at the three mountains in its perfect beauty in the described order from left to right please click here.

marginal note: the panorama function of the nex 7 works very, very well in good light conditions. as for me there's no need for wider lenses in this cases!

the second fact that we'll probably miss in liguria is the wellness world of our hotel. our guesthouse is very clean, tidy and beautifully furnished and the spa is supposed to be completely modernised. a sauna, a steam bath and a whirlpool complete the regeneration after a long day in the mountains. a special gimmick in the wellness area is the terrific rain shower that is illuminated in blue colour and spreading a fresh fragrance at the push of a button.

the sight is conveyable, but you have to fancy the smell.

cu, trshptr

1909 - making a dive

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

sometimes it occurs to me that living at the edge of germany may be a privilege, too. only three and a half hours of relaxed car drive to reach a vacation destination in the middle of south tirol almost 2000 metres above sea level is pure luxury. that's why we already arrived at half past two o'clock in sulden at the bottom of the huge ortler.

the weather was perfect - for a travel day in the car. rain, rain, rain, mist and fog. but - as you might know if you are a permanent follower of the blog - i really like moody weather conditions like that. so we took our backpacks and rain covers and strolled through the wet and dripping high valley. after a short walk we got to a wonderful coloured pond with also wonderful coloured and drawn ducks inside that made a dive for the rests of our pretzels.

a few hours and sauna visits later tina and i made a dive for a delicious dinner at our guesthouse. quite interesting how similar all the beings still are...

cu, trshptr

0809 - summer relapse

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f3.2 | ISO100 | 1/4000 | lightroom 4.1

earlier than expected the summer is back for a late summer interlude. yes, this weekend was supposed to be an active outdoor weekend but we couldn't calculate on such prime weather conditions. even better that we've had almost 30 degrees and bright sky today again.

whereas tomorrow the upper sections of our bodies will be strained by an outdoor climbing session in the danube valley today extensive hiking was due. we visited the marienschlucht, a ravine on the steep bank of the western end of lake constance. we walked almost 20 kilometres, half of it along the waterfront and the other half through the fabulous woods of constance.

of course our feet were glowing when we finally arrived bodman after our hike again. so why shouldn't we use the late afternoon for no resting and cooling down in the fresh water?

cu, trshptr

0409 - leant at dusk

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO640 | -0.7ev | 1/60 | lightroom 4.1

german woods are terrific. if you go into them at dusk, the mystic mood is easily sensible. thousands of leafs let incide only a few light beams onto the ground. the soil smells fruity and wet and the trunks appear vivid. small creeks find their ways through the fallen over trees and feed in that way the whole environment.

really a suitable place to spend the dusk.

cu, trshptr

0109 - to the last drop

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.

2208 - asleep in the woods

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f4.0 | ISO250 | 1/60 | -0.3ev | lightroom 4.1

forests calm me. always when i go into the woods i sense a mystical atmosphere. this mood is somewhat similar to the atmosphere in the mountains or at the sea: a huge, balancing and compensational power enchants and encases you. no matter what you have in mind - you will not carry weight with the forces of nature.

today in the evening i went back to a pond i'd spotted yesterday on my way home from a swimming round in the lake. the colour green dominated the whole scenery. what a nice single-coloured, natural subject.

cu, trshptr

1508 - vista

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/160 | lightroom 4.1

the hottest weekend of the year is due. its harbingers are already visible and palpable: at 7 o'clock we still had 32 degrees, stuffy air and before the heat wave a heavy thunderstorm will approach, a few cumulus clouds are already visible on the western horizon. today my single aim was to go to the lake after work again and to take to the water.

i met tina at half past six at our favourite lake access and afterwards we chilled there till the sun had set down. many more emulated our deeds and plunged into the water. some others settled for being in the shade and looking at the many yachts that were harbouring in the bay.

cu, trshptr