lucky place to be
Our trip to Berlin was great and we strolled the streets alot. Passing this shop with the headless bear in front of it and a sticker on the showcase saying “lucky place to be”…. that’s Berlin!
a small prayer
It may be that I repeat myself, picturing all the same animals over and over again…. but winter still keeps us under his control and the sun is on a flying visit. I was just glad to see this old fellow again, jumping over my roof and balcony and finally resting on a nearby tree, enjoying the sun. It looks like it sends a little prayer to the one above that he shall send some warm sunbeams down. Guess we are all fed up with the cold – at least my batteries are empty and need a recharge soon.
Ninhursags messanger
Jonas dropped by with his new Nikon D90 and we went down to Offenbachs harbor. It came in handy as I had to shake off last nights exodus effects from having too much alcohol. This cold winter seems to tap new grounds for the animals. A red fox tried to sneak behind us inwardly but we saw him and for a short moment he sat down and stared at us. Later, when we took a small break at Hafen2, Mr. Reinecke passed outside shocking the gooses and the two sheeps on the lawn.
young hering gull
A little experiment taking this gull into the dark. The Idea is not from me, though. German PROFIFOTO Mag featured the work of Stefanie Müller (haven’t got the mag and this is quite a usual name in Germany, so no link here, sorry), who took animal portraits out of the context, namely their surrounding and put it into dim light. I was flashed by those images and tried it myself. So here’s my first attempt, using a young hering gull that I shot this summer on Sylt. The image wasn’t that sharp which keeps it from getting that brilliant look I aimed for. I’ll keep trying.
winter arrangements
Cold, dark, weather outside, few people in the streets and no sunshine at all. Not the best conditions for a walk, but I just got my cam cleaned at the Weitsichtfestival in Frankfurt. So Ingo and me went to the nearby cemetary and found… well… Mr. Nuts.. ones more. Despite beeing quite bussy getting his inventory full of nuts he seems to be everywhere. Still a welcome model in front of my cam.
last 10 minutes
“…Nobody on the road – Nobody on the beach – I feel it in the air – The summers out of reach – Empty lake, Empty streets – The sun goes down alone…” (Don Henley – Boys of Summer). To be honest, I had to take out tons of people… you acutally never be alone on the beach of Wenningstedt/Sylt. Mhhh.. shrinking down panoramashots to fit my blog is not the best idea. I guess this will be the last pano posted here… the effect of the original 11.000px wide image is completely lost.
santiago
… he won’t find any marlin along the shore of Sylt, but I guess he knew that. A feeling of loneliness and infinty the clouds where so low that you could only see a few meters ahead, blanking out the Wattenmeer and the vis-a-vis mainland.
symmetrics
Winter is comming and everybody is trying to stay at home. I was fed up with the warm, dry heat from the heating and wanted to get my head clear. Andi an me took a little walk in our bario. Here’s the Friedrichsweiher at night. Black and white rules big time.
road to nowhere
Fog, so dense that you couldn’t see 20 feet ahead. Jürgen and me had a little beer in the fields of Bieber. The last shots I took were from the bridge over the B448.
shelter
We drove to vienna, to wittness the wedding of Petra, a friend of Nadine. On a vienyard high above Vienna, the ceremony took place. Weather was – according to other guests – suitable for the couple. Thunderstorm, flashes, wind…. well… Despite a great panorama, where I cought some flahes, I tried to capture the contrast between the thunderstorm and the warm and cosy mood inside, by shooting this warm light against the dark horizon and the wind jogged trees. Between the newly engaged couple is creative as well -> take a look
flash…. ahaaaa
As I said before: this year we had all the weather spectacle you could imagine. When Alex said that we are not goning sit on the terrace that night, he was wrong. Equiped with an umbrella, two 2gb SD-Cards and the whole Budocan team in my back watching me. We actually stayed outside for about 3 hours in the heavy rain. I took pictures till both of my batteries were dead, leaving me with about 300 pictures. This is one of 5 that caught the act. And murphy was there as well: Whenever I was cleaning the lens, looking for a new angle or fiddling about the cam you can here comments like “Ahhh, that was great.” or “Did you see this”… off course not! Best flashes are not capturable… punktum!
talking the night through
It always takes some time, till I get used to a new surrounding and feel comfotabel and although attending Budosola now for over 4 years I still need some time till I can take a real nap there. Claus and me seemed to have the same problem and when everybody else went to bed we put on our heavy jackets, a palette of beer and talked the night through. I set the cam to bulb and shot a couple of pictures from the star sprankled sky, figuring that bulb only is 30 minutes but mostly the battery ran dry way before the time was over.
all up in smoke
Switzerland does not confine firecrackers to New Years Eve. To indulge our play instict meanwhile it has become a tradition, to take a pack off small crackers up to the Judohaus. This year I tried to capture the explosions with my cam and it worked out quite well. This shot is rather a sideline of the actual shots, but when I saw it on my big monitor in all its detail, I was stunned, how handsomel smoke can be.
room with a view 2
Next one shot from the terrace. Sun, clouds, wind, rain, thunderstorms, we had it all in the few days…
room with a view
Every year I attend the Budocan Sommerlager. One week with the guys from the club, one week 1400m above sea level. This year weather did the show. Almost every 5 minutes we had different setting with a complete new mood. Shot from the terrace of the Judohaus, this is one of many great moments.
minnenhallen
Just a spectacular night view of the WW I+II memorial.
From Wikipedia: “Minnehallen or The hall of remembrance was commissioned by the Norwegian parliament after World War I to commemorate the fallen Norwegian sailors of the war. It was unveiled by king Haakon VII and was later converted to the national monument commemorating fallen sailors of both World War I and World War II.”
risor at night
I have not much to say about this one… it represents the quiet that this vast country has to offer. Nothing to hear at this time of the day (night) – only the nearby gulls didn’t stop to shrieking all night. Mating season… I guess.
cabins at night
Although, we were below the polar circle the big light never went out. This shot was taken at 10:45pm and the sky still looks like the sun just went down. I rather will not be there in winter, when it is only up for a few lousy hours.
boat on the river
At Mandal there were many of those nice looking wooden boats. They remind me of a James Bond movie, where James is on a simlar ship… still the movies
golden sea
That evening presented us a spectacular sundown, that we witnessed from our terrace; compensation for the rain on to top of Preikestolen. At this moment, the sun just came through that little hole in the clouds and hit that fairy. I was expecting it to be beamed away…. too much SciFi…
Preikestolen
Day 7 of our trip and we reached Preikestolen, a huge plateau, 604m above the sea. Here’s the spectaculare view, along the Lysefjord. Sadly, the sun won’t come out but is still a great sight.
Sheeps everywhere
Along the road we had a little break at beautiful sea. Sheeps normaly don’t swim and this one didn’ t go any further into the water, but they can: sheep swimming
no man's land
On the fairy over Bjørnafjorden you pass this little no man’s land. Great weather, wind and sun… pure pleassure.
bryggen
Bryggen, the old quaiside of Bergen, burned down a few times, last 1940. Today it is restored in old manner and looks like 1834. Thank god it is not smelling that way. Word has it, that people from the Hanse were not keen on visiting their outpost in the north. The arome must have been terrible.
hot spot
When we arrived at Bergen, weather was all bad. It was raining buckets and girls gave away raincapes, branded with the logo of a noble cafe – saved our day. They know their tourists quite well.
On a pole right across the mainstreet, a gull took a rest on a latern. Guss it was warm an cosy from beneath.
lazar
At first I didn’t notice him, because we came from the opposite direction, but than I couldn’t help and take a picture. I didn’t read the sign on the ground, but it nice that some healthy country sets up a statue for the poor.
Bergen
Bergen has been a blast. A nice town, with an ancient city center. Despite being overcrowded by tourists and rain during the day it was really good. I was having big trouble to choose one picture for that day. On one hand, I like to show the city, as it is, the life, the skyline, the staues, but on the other hand, there are so many spots, beside the mainstream that are worth showing. To end this debate in my head, I will go on and show you a couple of pics from that very day. Here’s the typical bergen skyline, like you will find it on postcards.
stand by me
We reached Grimmen Camping near Bergen at around 3pm. As we would visit Bergen the other day we dropped our luggage, put on our hiking boots and took a path right beside the camping. After 2 hours of marching around, we came across that tunnel. Right before we left germany, Stand by me was on TV and those images of the four boys crossing that railway bridge when the train comes after them came to my mind. Ok, we got a tunnel, but the descicion to step inside was about the same. Here’s the scene, bye the way
water everywhere
Shortly before Sørfjorden that is known to be one of the fertile regions of Norway, because of the fjord following a north/south axis boosting a decent climate, we pitched our camp at Hildalcamping. Accompanied by the giant waterfall right across theE13, the concierge from the camping site told us of another waterfall, along the ancient Almannavegen, that started right behind the our cabin. This waterfall was one of the loveliest, along the way. Although not as big, as the others, it was nested in an seeminly unspoiled part of the woods.
godtholstjønn – no mans land
Half way along the E134 towards Bergen, we passed higher regions and reached Godtholstjønn – a little frosty, tundra like landscape. It is hard to capture this bizarre surrouundings in pictures. I made a panoramashot, but it still can’t transport that seldom feeling, standing in a totaly strange country, only wearing a t-shirt and with the feeds down in the snow. On this one, Nadine has found a great place to rest her mind and enjoy that very feeling.
splash
The next day, we left Hirthals, aboard the Color Line Fairy “Speed2”, although the strom was still present. Big swell and winds up to 9 beaufort complicated these shots from of Hirtshals prot entrance taken on the ferries deck.
strom at hirtshals
Our trip to Norway started early that day and luckily we had no traffic jams and reached the ferry at Hirtshals quite early. A funny guy at the ColorLine counter greet us with a friendly “I’ve got bad news for you. The fairy is canceld due to rough sea.” We got a nice littel cabin at Dan Center near the harbour, dropped our luggage and went down to the beach. The storm was in full swing and I had trouble to keep sand and spray out of my camera, A garbagebag and a hair tie came in handy and yield in a nice protection.
peacock
It is mating season in the land of peacocks and their high pitched cry is omnipresent when you wander through the Zoo in Frankfurt. This Indian Peafolw thought it might be a good idea to climb a tree and shout from atop, although they typically stay on the ground. Let’s face it: He is looking that good up there, that it’s fine that he left his normal surrounding. The ladys will be amused.
mr. nutz
After the great storm last month, many trees around our house vanished. As if this is not enough for our fellow garden inhabitants, we added a hughe winter garden to our home with lots of noise, people, dirt and action going on. So I was very happy to meet my old chap from last year again. Here’s Mr. Nutz… lately he’s been very bussy scaping of branches from a big tree in our garden. Let’s hope there will be some new blood soon.
2008 – two years to go….
Kudos to Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke and their fabulous Space Odyssey. I always loved this movie and the giant, black, scary monolith. Here his my homage to the 2010 ending, although my monolith is white and actually functions as shower. Took this shot while witnessing the big storm in Cuxhaven earlier this month.
close bonds
Zoo Frankfurt is always worth a visit, although the idea of locking up animals in small cages is not what I would call good. None the less, it is still a place I like to go and at least support the zoo with my entrance fee. This orang utan mother and its baby were both in one cage, with no fences between them. I just removed some of the bars to make it more dramatic. Did you know that urang utan is the Indonesian word for forrest people? (orang = person, utan = forest) And indeed they are. Let’s hope the all new “Bonoboland” arrea gets ready soon so that those two get back on trees, where they usualy spent most of their time.
waiting angel
Today we – Ingo and me – where out, in order to visit some abandoned industrial halls and places. Our primary target was a hughe complex located in Offenbach, but we failed to get in. An old, italian fogey seemed to live on the area and told us – as far as we understood him – to come back the other day. The reason… we couldn’t find out. So slightly frustrated, we went to the old, nearby cemetary and shot some statues. This and many others were in some sort of waiting pose and I thought it fits the day.
vert heroes
I just dug out some pictures that I shot earlier this year. A friend of mine gave me a call and asked to join him and his friends skating a nice spine ramp that is quite near from my working place. We were lucky that I had my cam with me, that day. Weather was great, considering it was march. When the session was almost over, all teamed up on the spine and this picture was taken… three heroes
mad sorcerer
Halloween is long gone, but anyway I wanted to present you my contribution. Some weeks ago we attended a so called “Mittelaltermarkt” (medieval market) at Ronneburg, where people dress up and emulate the ancient habits from the dark ages. This guy ran around in long rags, wearing stilts and reaching a hight of about 2,50m. He was very impressive, but judge for yourself…
gull
When I look through my pictures from last weeks holiday it looks like I am obsessed about birds. I never thought about it but half of my shots show birds.
My favorite species are gulls. They are really great, acrobatic fliers, resourceful and highly-intelligent birds and they tend to get along with humans quite well. Some seem to live by stealing food from people that pay not much attention to the sky above. We wittnessed an old couple that got rid of their icecream, ripped off by a younger gull. This fellow was definately one of the calmer ones and passed me silently and speeded up, when it noticed my lens pointing its direction.
double power
Two power sources side by side. One is responsible for all life on our planet, the other one provides you means to view this blog and on the other hand is the one that is most dangerous when it comes to radiation and polution.
Mr. Moon
“…Another peace or so and now they don’t need you,
Mr Moon, Mr Moon, Mr Mooooooooooooon. …” – Mr. Moon – Mando Diao
The nice moon over Eggberge. He lit me my way back when returning quite drunken from a late night excursion. I still wonder how I could keep the cam straight without too much tiltiing as I had no tripod.
magic moment
Another one from that evening where weather was going nuts. Global warming seems to be not so bad, it just depends on the point of view.
ghoulish tree
Weather was totaly changing the whole day. Sun, thunderstorms and heavy wind. Never the less I took my chances and took my bike and cam and went out. Scenery didn’t let me down and good old sun shad some dramatic lighting over this evil willowtree.
sea of grain
Living in the city, you normaly don’t see much of the horizon. Whenever I am at the sea, that very horizon shows me, where my position in this cosmos is, how unimportant our whole race is and how small and stupid we all are… here it is the mighty horizon reaching over a sea of grain. Just a few minutes after that shot, we had a nice shower from above.
hafen 2
The old harbor crane right at Hafen 2. Sundown, this heavy, old, beasty machine and a cool beer in my hand. Perfect!
poppy in bloom
Poppy flowers all over the place. You can see them out on the fields and almost on evrey photoblog that has some nature pictures in its arsenal – here is mine. A little bit crumpled, but hey, at least its got all its leaves on.
nightstation
Even in Offenbach you can have some spectecular sundown. You will have to search for a good spot, but than…
This one was shot at Offenbach Ost trainstation (obviously).