walimex samyang rokinon

0501 - open-air hockey

open-air hockey - sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8mm f2.8 | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/25

the del winter game 2013 in nuremberg made history - it was the biggest league match ever in european ice hockey. at the bottom line almost everything was pretty fine in nuremberg today. besides misty weather and far too little beer stalls there was nothing to worry about, except the tight 4 to 3 loss of the ice bears from berlin against the local ice tigers. but considering the quality of the whole event today this could once be ignored as irrelevant.

50.000 spectators, nevertheless i wondered about the great atmosphere in the stadium: despite the fact that probably a lot of them hadn't been at a hockey game before in their lives and also despite the peculiarity that the distance between the playing surface and the ranks was estimated ten times bigger than in an usual hockey arena, almost all the people were clapping, singing and crying and made for a nice atmosphere.

0401 - light cage

light cage - sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8mm f2.8 | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/25

the interior decorator of my fitness studio should be definitely dismissed. he designed a conversion pit that is enclosed by three walls. and above the table there hangs a lamp that conveys the sense of being in a prison or a bird cage. cosy, isn't it?

1512 - in the commercial vortex

sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8mm f2.8 | f8.0 | ISO200 | 1/6

shortly before christmas we are completely caught up in the commercial vortex. in these days the corridors of the shopping malls are usually overcrowded, since everybody seems to guess that the human kind will starve during the holidays and so the people start to build up reserves again.

fortunately there is a brand new shopping mall in our village since a few weeks now. it's a pleasure to go shopping there, the corridors are wide and empty and you can easily breeze through the shelves. at least today.

0812 - defenceless

sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8mm f2.8| f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/4


are these art or trash, what do you think? unfortunately light wasn't as it ought to be today in the early morning, so that an ordinary landscape shot was no option. so i thought about a way to express the greyness of landscape, the defencelessness of these gracile plants and the circumstance that the already hurt, huge grasses are completely and utterly at the winter's mercy.


sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8mm f2.8| f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/2
only a few of the blades are still standing. the rest is fractured and snapped of. beneath the burden of the heavy, relatively wet snow they are not able to resist.

3011 - embedded


setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO400 | 30s | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

although the linden tree in the centre of our courtyard might not be as old as the whole farm itself, it has definitely experienced a lot of the things the buildings had to take.

the huge tree sits enthroned in the middle of the yard and the buildings, gives shades in the summer heat, limns the shadows of itself on the ground in the night, is the home for many birds as well as for two or three squirrels and makes a top-class scratching post for all the kitties on the premises.

in the meantime it is really dear to my heart and just as deeply embedded in my mind as in the soil.

cu, trshptr

2311 - privileged point of view


setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/25 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

you may agree with me that there are a few events in everyone's life that remain unforgettable. since i haven't the possibility to get treated in a vip box every weekend, a stadium attendance like today's will be surely held in my head for my whole life.

it was the second time that i watched a hockey match from this privileged point of view. what is sure is that the possibility to obtain only a standard ticket for the top match between cologne (2nd) and mannheim (1st) was vanishingly low, but the chance to get a vip ticket was definitely non-existent for relatively ordinary people like us. for that reason i'm all the more thankful for this event to our best friend jeen, who had invited us to mannheim.

cu, trshptr

1411 - slipstream



setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/60 | cornerfix & silver efex pro for lightroom

today my mate andi and i picked up pace and used the prime late autumn weather for a bike ride in the setting sun after work. everything was bathed in an orange, warm light, what hid the fact that the temperatures had almost reached the freezing mark when we arrived home (not before darkness had almost completely approached) at 6pm after two hours of cycling.

it felt like we were supported by a permanent tailwind that escorted us on our way through the woods and fields. in fact this tailwind was the energising sun that refreshed our batteries and made us riding in the slipstream of euphoria.

cu, trshptr

1311 - still upright


setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO800 | 1/60 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

the lights are often harsh in november and the temperatures decrease constantly, all the contrasts get harder. the falling and especially the already fallen leaves give a premonition of the coming winter.

only a few leaves are still solidly attached to their mother plants. mainly the small plants that have enjoyed the protective shield of the conifer wood treetop all year still resist successfully against the ordinary course of things. from their points of view they appear not that small as they really are what might empower their war of resistance again. but in not too distant future they, for sure, will shed their last bright, yellow leaves, too.

cu, trshptr

0811 - sweep of the horizon



setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/15 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

next birhday, next journey - today we drove to the carl-zeiss city jena to visit the planetarium with tina's father, who turned 47 this week. it was only the second or third time overall that i went to a planetarium. the appertaining facilities in jena and also the whole technical audio and video equipment was modernised during the last months and the outside of the astrodome is currently rebuilt to the historical, original condition by being painted in the same colours and decorated with the same pictures.

unfortunately today's image had to be underexposed by almost two stops because there was simply not more light emitted by the projector and i did not want to raise the iso value over 1600 to keep as much details as possible in the raw file and the shutter speed was with 1/15 already at the upper limit, too. consequently exposing any longer was also no option because the whole sky was spinning. so i had to push the highlights and whites during post processing, but by now i really don't know if the results wouldn't have been a bit better if i'd used 6400 and as a result exposed almost correctly.

whatever, despite my bleating the overall result is still pleasing. and of course the visit and the whole day were nice, too.

cu, trshptr

0111 - skate dance


setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO100 | 1/640 | lightroom 4.2

dancing the skate seems to be easier than it really is. by all appearance you don't have to be keen on sports but at least relaxed and well balanced.



setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO320 | 1/250 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

no matter how high you can jump - your shadow is willing to jump higher. your shadow is your best challenger and opponent.




setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO1000 | 1/320 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

escaping from the depth of the space is not always successful but today it worked. after a lot of photographs with flash that do not satisfy me completely and a few shots against the light for working with the shadows we finally used the frontal light to get some images with a proper exposure, too.

cu, trshptr