Month: October 2017

Happy Halloween

Kill the Monster
Little Monsters | Cremona | 2016

“All Hallow’s Eve” is the eve before the religious feast All Saints (aka All Hallow’s Day), remembering the dead, saints and martyrs of christianity. Many of the traditions of Halloween are believed to originate in ancient Celtic harvest festivals and pagan traditions. It was mainly Irish immigrants to the USA who brought along the many more secular traditions like  trick-or-treating,  Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns and lighting bonfires.

While in Europe All Saints was mainly celebrated in the religious sense (remembering the dead, lighting candles at their graves), in the last ten years the more “American” way of celebrating Halloween became more popular into what is now a big commercial business for retail.

That said, I still have some candy at home in case there are some trick-or-treating kids at the door (which happens less and less as our own kids and their friends are grown beyond collecting candies) and watch a good classic horror movie in the darkened living room.

I wish all of you a very creepy Halloween (stay safe noneless)

Marcus

Related Posts:

Nuremberg Explored (3) – Hangman’s Residence

Saturday Rush (or running after the subway bird)

Ghost Rider

Instant Inspiration (10) – Nocturnal Skyline

 

 

22

Be creative today

Creative
Creative | Portland | 2017

It’s the start of of a new week, albeit a short one here in Germany, as we’re looking forward to two bank holidays on Tuesday and Wednesday, to which I’ll be adding two days of much needed vacation. Throw in Halloween tomorrow, and there will be plenty of opportunity for photography the next days.

November is coming up, in Central Europe commonly dubbed as the most dreary, grey and dullest month of the year. To bridge the time until the start of the festive season, why don’t you take on some creative projects during November, whether it is taking your camera and go shooting some things you haven’t before (find ideas in my Instant Inspiration series in my Learning Center), improve your post processing skills, compile a photo book of your work, or try something completely different like sketching or sculpturing. Brighten up your November by doing something creative.

For some more “creative” Street Photo impressions from Portland’s Saturday Market continue after the jump… Continue reading “Be creative today” →

15

Top of the Food Chain

Pizza Rush
Pizza Rush | Portland | 2017

I was waiting on the opposite side of W. Burnside Street in Portland for a pedestrian to pass in front of this advertisement of a Pizza Parlor. As Burnside is a street with heavy traffic, the problem was to catch a subject in perfect stride in front of the sign just as there was a gap in the passing cars. In the course of 10 minutes I snapped three photos, of which I liked this one the best, as the guy (who was in reality heading to Powell’s books that is just across the street) was in a perfect stride, his legs mimicking the triangle of the pizza slice. I was fine with the shutter speed of 1/80 sec which gave me a slight blur on the subject (you really need about 1/125 to freeze a moving person). I would be interested in your opinion whether you would have preferred the subject to be pin sharp. Let me know in the comment section.

Image specs are 1/80 sec @ f/5.6 and ISO 500. Taken with the Olympus PEN-F and and the mZuiko 14-150mm F/4-5.6 travel zoom.

Have a great weekend!

Marcus

Related Posts:

Late Summer Family Street Fun

Weekly Photo Challenge: Pedestrian

Street Photography Quick Tip (11)

StoNur on the Road – Shibuya Crossing

25

Street Photography Quick Tip (12)

 

From the Gallery 01
1/8 sec @ f/22 and ISO 1600

Street Photography Quick Tip 12 – Shoot from a Gallery 

My Street Photography Quick Tips are short, easy to read and easy to use tips that I think could help you while shooting in the streets. Today’s post is about changing the usual perspective of taking photographs from eye level by shooting down from a gallery in a shopping center. For a few, hopefully inspirational images continue after the jump… Continue reading “Street Photography Quick Tip (12)” →

10

Weekly Photo Challenge: Rounded

Legs
Legs | Portland | 2017

Also for this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge “Rounded” I have just the right  two street photography images, both from the streets of Portland and already featured in my post “Keep Portland Weird“.

Both photos were taken with my Ricoh GR II , image details are 1/40 sec @ f/2.8 and ISO 200 on the above shot and  1/45 sec @ f/2.8 and ISO 100 on the second image. As usual I kept the Ricoh in P-mode, so I could focus on getting the photo and less about worrying to get the settings right. These street moments happen only for an instance, you need to be ready for it, you don’t have the time to set up like for stationary landscapes or architecture. So “P” prepared 😉 and shoot in P-mode.

Voodoo
Voodoo | Portland | 2017

For me it is Travel Day again, I’m leaving the Rose City to head home to the Streets of Nuremberg via Amsterdam, hoping for another Polar Light Show while crossing the Northern Atlantic tonight.

Have a great Thursday!

Marcus

Related Posts:

Weekly Photo Challenge: Graceful

Portland Monochrome Nocturnal Streets

Portland Sneak Preview

Instant Inspiration (8) -Make a portrait of a stranger

14

Need help?

 

Calling for Help
Calling for Help | Portland | 2017

 

Have you checked the tips and inspirations in my Learning Center? Are you looking for specific photography related advice? Anything out of the realms of Street- and travel photography you want me to write about? Let me know in the comments section!

Have a great Wednesday!

Marcus

Related Posts:

Street Photography Quick Tip (6)

Finding your photographic style

Some thoughts on monochrome shooting

Instant Inspiration (11) – Change of Perspective

19

From the Streets of Portland into the Cloud

Open for Business
Open for Business | Portland | 2017

After pouring rain for most of the weekend, the Oregonian liquid sunshine turned into some real one on Sunday, so I took my Olympus PEN-F and headed into downtown for some late afternoon street shooting (and a visit to the photography book section of Powell’s City of Books).

Last week Adobe released a new version of its mobile Lightroom apps as well as a rebranded update of the Lightroom desktop version. While using the rainy part of the weekend to try to make some sense out of it, I now needed some fresh street shots on my SD card for some real life testing ( I have never used previous versions of Lightroom Mobile before). To read about my experiences and see some more photographs from the Streets of Portland continue after the jump… Continue reading “From the Streets of Portland into the Cloud” →

24

StoNur on the Road: Chicago

Chicago Impressions 17

I was in Chicago last week, but really I wasn’t. In fact, the only piece of it I saw aside from O’Hare airport, a hotel and a meeting room in the northwestern suburbs was a great view of the skyline from the plane as it crossed the Lake Michigan shoreline south of the city while on direct approach to the airport (the photo I took from the plane is the first you see after the jump). This is really a pity, as the “Windy City” is a great place to visit and photograph. So while sitting in my hotel in super rainy Portland I searched for some images I took during an earlier visit pretty much 9 years ago to the day. The camera I used back then was a Panasonic DMC TZ5. So if you like to see some Chicago impressions, continue after the jump… Continue reading “StoNur on the Road: Chicago” →

35

Weekly Photo Challenge: Glow

Red Brick
Red Brick | Bayreuth | 2016

“Glow” is the theme of the WPC Weekly Photo Challenge this week. So let it glow! My title photo is from an old brewery in Bayreuth, Germany. There are not many surfaces that glow like red brick. The image was taken with my Olympus PEN-F with the mZuiko 17mm F/1.8. Image specs 1/640 sec @ f/f5,6 and ISO 200.

For a small collection of glowing street-, landscape- and travel-photos I invite you to look after the jump…. Continue reading “Weekly Photo Challenge: Glow” →

33

Travel Day (7)

Airport Rush
Catch the Plane | Amsterdam | 2017 

After all,  I slept three full nights in my own bed before heading westward across the big ocean once more,  for about the gazillionth time this year. Sometimes I wonder what the constant exposure to high altitude radiation will do to my body. Today’s trip is Nuremberg – Amsterdam (where I am now)  – Chicago. Instead of my usual Delta flight I’m on a KLM flight with the hope to find some new inflight movies that I haven’t seen yet (which is almost impossible) and a new menu (Delta changes it’s food offerings only once every three months, so honestly I can’t see that stuff any more).

I absolutely love Chicago, the perfect city to combine street- and architectural photography, but this trip is business only and I won’t even make it downtown during my roughly 30 hours on the ground. In an office park near O’Hare airport  I will meet my peers from other international corporations for our annual round table get together, and I’m really looking forward to this meeting. Tomorrow night I will continue on to Portland for a full week of regular project work, before flying back home in time for the last October weekend (and hopefully a week off).  After the jump you can see a few shots I took while being bored during my air travel, there is always an opportunity for some photography 😉 … Continue reading “Travel Day (7)” →

58

Opposites

Opposites
Opposites | Nuremberg | 2017

In Episode 4 of my “Instant Inspirations” I talked about Juxtaposition, a great compositional element to add interest to photographs.

There are a few opposites also in this image from the streets of Nuremberg. Old vs young, big vs small, sitting vs standing, real vs virtual, smiling vs seriousness.

Then you have multiple layers in this photo as well. The man in the foreground, the dressing dummies in the middle and the wall posters of the smiling children above and behind as background.

How many opposites can you put in an image? I would love to see your results, post links in the comment section.

Shot taken with my Olympus PEN-F and the mZuiko 14-150mm F/4-5.6. Image specs 1/160 sec @ f/8 and ISO 1000. It was already late in the afternoon and a bit dark, hence I had to increase the ISO to get the necessary depth of field with ab f/8 aperture and the higher shutter speed to ensure sharpness of the man.

RAW conversion in Lightroom CC.

Have a great Tuesday!

Marcus

Related Posts:

Instant Inspiration (6) – Storefront Windows

Instant Inspiration (4) – Juxtaposition

Street Photography Quick Tip 7 – Work the Scene

Street Photography Quick Tip 2 – Another way to shoot inconspicuously

For all my free inspirations and tips around photography visit my Learning Center.

15

Street ? Lake !

Nautic Excitement
Nautic Excitement | Hallstatt | 2017

Looks like there is nothing more exciting than a sunset boat trip on a mountain lake. Snapshot taken at Hallstatt in Austria this past Saturday.

Taken with the Olympus PEN-F and the mZuiko 14-150mm F/4-5.6 travel zoom. Image specs 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 1250 and 150mm focal length.

We had a splendid weekend in the Alps with almost summer like temperatures. More pics to come.

Have a great week!

Marcus

Related Posts:

Street ? Airport ! (5)

Street? Airport!

Street ? Harbor!

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