Month: January 2018

Travel Day (9)

Tube TV
Tube TV | Somewhere in the Sky | 2018

The taxi picked me up at 4:30 am in the morning. The first leg to Amsterdam took a good 60 minutes, leaving Nuremberg Airport at 6:00am. Connection time in Schiphol for the intercontinental flight to Portland is a good two hours, most of which is taken by the security controls before boarding a flight to the US. When I’m lucky I have time for a quick coffee in the KLM Lounge and doing a first round of business e-mails and a quick call or two. The westbound flight to PDX takes about 10h 30 mins.

Delta changes its meal selection every three months, so doing this trip twice a month there is no surprise about the food I will get. I don’t even bother to take the menu any more. Another nasty disadvantage of a frequent traveler is the movie selection. Having roughly 40 hours of flight time a month there is also not much left to see on the inseat entertainment system. Typically I load a couple Netflix movies on my iPad and use this, normally watching one movie per flight while eating. After the food I usually take a short nap on the westbound flights which are day flights. Then I usually work the rest of the flight, which is quite nice as there is no telephone that disturbs, but a good WiFi connection so I have email access.

The Amsterdam flight arrives in Portland at 11:30 am local time (which is 8.30 pm German time). I pick up my rental car and do the 30 minutes drive to our office, where I usually arrive around 1pm. By then my day is already going on for 18 hours. Normally I work until 7pm on my arrival date, then head to the hotel, normally skipping dinner. By the time I’m settled in it is 8pm, which translates to 5am in the morning German time. On the next day! This is a 25 hours nonstop travel and work day, minus the 90 minute nap on the plane. I normally have no issues falling asleep, but it happens that due to the jet leg and 9 hour time difference I’m wide awake at 3:30 am in the morning. And another full day ahead. The glory of business travel. So for all of you who aspire a traveling job – be careful what you wish for 😉

I took this image with my Olympus PEN-F and the mZuiko 12-40mm F/2.8 Pro Zoom. Image specs are 1/15 sec @ f/3,2 and ISO 1600. Raw and monochrome conversion in Lightroom CC Classic.

I wish all of you a great and stress free Wednesday!

Marcus

Related Posts:

Travel Day (8)

Travel Day (7)

Travel Day (5)

Business Travel Reality

29

Game On – 10 Day Photo Challenge

Game On
Game On | Marseille | 2016

The going gets tough in the next 10 days. Tomorrow I’m heading back  to Portland for a brief 48 hour stint, only to return to Nuremberg already on Saturday. Next week is a big week at work with some high level meetings, and it’s the birthday week for Big Girl (Wednesday) and The Significant Other (Thursday), with the latter reaching the big 5 milestone 😉 , which will be properly celebrated with various events throughout the rest of the week and the weekend. So I know what keeps me busy the next week and a half.

Through all of this I will join the 10 Day Photography Challenge of fellow blogger Cassia Denner. I came across her blog while browsing through the photography feed in the WordPress reader, saw her post about the challenge and signed up. It will run from February 1st through February 10th. 10 days – 10 topics. All photos have to be taken by the contestants. Also participating in the challenge are the challenge host  Cassia (thanks so much for organizing this),  Ariana, Gracie, Jenna, Arabella and Susan, all in all a good mix of young and talented photographers and more seasoned veterans 😉 .

I have never participated in a challenge like this before, but I’m curious how it will pan out, considering that during the challenge I will be occupied with two intercontinental flights and tons of business meetings and birthday parties 😉 . But at least I don’t have to think what to post on the blog. I get my daily assignment, go out, shoot and post. I’m sure it’s gonna be fun! You will see the results on this blog! Game On!

Be sure to check out my free Learning Center, if you also look for tips and inspirations around photography.

Have a great Tuesday!

Marcus

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Growth

Weekly Photo Challenge: Serene

Weekly Photo Challenge: 2017 Favorites

Be creative today

17

Lensbaby Streetshot

Determination
Determination | Nuremberg | 2018

I’m still experimenting with the Lensbaby I got for my birthday. Street Photography might not be the perfect playground for this lens, but on Saturday I have attached it onto my Olympus PEN-F and took it to the Streets of Nuremberg.

This photograph was taken at 1/30 sec and ISO 80. The fixed aperture of the manual focus lens is f/3,5, focal length 28mm. The color combination certainly works here. I like the soft touches the Lensbaby gave to this image. It is a lens that needs to be “worked”, but this is also the fun of it. I just wish I had more time to explore it.

Wish you all a good week!

Marcus

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My first Lensbaby photograph

Street Photography Quick Tip (10)

Be creative today

Learning Center is online

14

When life is grey make it colorful

Wordless
Wordless | Nuremberg | 2018

Yesterday afternoon the significant other and myself headed into downtown for some shopping, where I brought my GR II to at least get a few snapshosts of Nuremberg street life. It was a really grey and drizzly day, so a good opportunity to turn on the vivid color program on the Ricoh and snap away at colorful shop windows. I shot in P-Mode, resulting in shutter speeds between 1/40 and 1/60 sec, an aperture of f/3,2 and ISO 100.

Shopper's Geometry
Shopper’s Geometry | Nuremberg | 2018
Casual Observations
Casual Observations | Nuremberg | 2018

Storefront windows are aways a good background to capture passing shoppers. Especially when they are decorated with bright colors, then it is up to you to just stand there and waiting for the right things to happen.

Last week the “Streets of Nuremberg” had their second blogaversary. My little blog has grown to almost four thousand followers in those two years. This is the 323rd post. So I guess the concept is right. Thanks to all of my readers and followers for a great journey, the interaction with all of you and the many (virtual) friendships that came out of this is the best part of my blogging!

I wish everyone a happy and colorful Sunday!

Marcus

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Happy Birthday, Streets of Nuremberg

Learning Center

37

#We Remember

#WeRemember
#WeRemember | Nuremberg | 2018

Nuremberg is the city where I was born, where I live and that gives this blog its name. It is also the city where in the 1930’s the infamous Nazi party rallies were held. In 1933, Hitler declared Nuremberg the “City of the Reichsparteitage (Reich Party Congresses)”.  The rally grounds and buildings, designed by Hitler’s architect Albert Speer, still exist, reminding us every day about the terror of the Nazi regime that culminated in the Holocaust and the horrors of World War II.

Both of my kids had the opportunity to meet Holocaust survivors in events organized by their schools, and everyone I met who had the chance to participate in panel discussions with survivors of Auschwitz, Dachau and other death camps, was deeply impressed by the stories those survivors could tell. But those who lived to tell about the horrors of the concentration camps more than seventy years ago, become less and less, and it will not be long until the last of those voices will remain silent forever.

In times where – in my country and in others – individuals, who deny or trivialize the Holocaust, can be elected to public office, we all have to stand together to combat anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred, genocide and xenophobia in this world. And when the last of the Holocaust survivors has passed, we need to remember and make sure this gruesome history does not repeat itself.

#WeRemember is a campaign reaching out to millions of people across the globe to photograph themselves holding a #WeRemember sign, and post the image to social media, to help spread the message as widely as possible. All participant images will be projected live at an event in Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27th, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

I wish all of you a peaceful weekend!

Marcus

31

Weekly Photo Challenge: Variations on a Theme

Quiver Tree Variety
Quiver Tree Variety | Namibia | 2017

“Variations on a Theme” is the challenge from Ben Huberman of “The Daily Post”. I wish I had more variations in my life this past week, but it was a totally crazy work week with no room for anything else but the job that pays the bills. I didn’t even have a chance to touch my blog in the past 6 days. Once I got home, it was just collapse on the couch. No desire to go out and be creative. But I guess I’m not the only one feeling overwhelmed at times.

So here we are, approaching the weekend, and the Weekly Photo Challenge is my chance to finally get a post out. While browsing through my photo book from last summer’s Namibia vacation the other night, this panoramic view from the Quiver Tree Forest near Ketmanshoop caught my eye, the wide variety of silhouettes of these ancient desert trees against the still gold sky after sunset would make a good entry for this week’s challenge.

Taken with the Olympus PEN-F with the mZuiko 12-40mm F/2.8 Pro Zoom, 1/100 sec @ f/3,5, ISO 200 and 19mm focal length.

I wish everyone a peaceful and relaxing weekend!

Marcus

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Sunset at the end of the road

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21

Street Photography Quick Tip (14)

Like my hair
Like my hair | Berlin | 2017

Street Photography Quick Tip 14 – Shoot upwards and tilted for more dynamic street portraits

After a race across the nightsky (our flight arrived a whopping 70 minutes ahead of schedule) I’m back in Europe at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and waiting to board the plane for the last leg of this trip back to Nuremberg.

But as we came in early, this gives me time for episode 14 of my popular Street Photography Quick Tips, my short, easy to read and easy to use tips that I think could help you while shooting in the streets.

Most people shoot their portraits from eye-level. And if you get the eyes sharp, have the subjects turn their heads slightly upwards and to the side, you should get great results. But if you want to get your street portraits a more eye catching touch, shoot from a lower angle, and you can even tilt your camera a bit to give your image even more dynamic.

Talk to your subjects, ask them an open question, like what they wanted to become when they were a child, or what would be the destination of their dream, vacation. When the start talking, they relax, which can give you the opportunity to take great candid shots.

Obviously, this tip applies not only to street portraits.

For more Street Photography Quick Tips and inspirations around photography in general check out my free Learning Center.

I wish you all a great weekend!

Marcus

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21

Looking forward to the weekend

Thinking Out Loud
Thinking Out Loud | Berlin | 2017

It was a very intense week in the Pacific Northwest, that I amazingly managed to get through without any significant jet lag from Monday’s flight across the big ocean to Portland. Unfortunately, there was also no opportunity for any street shooting, as apart from a very nice dinner with a new colleague and his wife last night (if you ever read this, thanks for a very nice evening, Pauline & Tom) , I didn’t manage to sneak away into downtown of the Rose City with my camera. The glory of business travel ;-).

Right now I’m sitting at PDX airport ready to board my return flight via Amsterdam to Nuremberg, where I hope to arrive in time for a late breakfast Saturday morning. Then it’s a week and a half at home, before I head back to Portland for a short 3 day trip.

This street portrait was taken with my Olympus PEN-F with the mZuiko 25mm F/1.8. Image specs are 1/80 sec @ f/2 and ISO 200.

I wish you all a great weekend, where I hope to catch up with all your comments and own blogposts!

Marcus

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Around the World in 12 Days – Rose City Waterfront

Willamette Blue Hour a 

19

Weekly Photo Challenge: Silence

Pensieve
Pensieve | Cremona | 2016

When I read the title of this week’s Word Press Weekly Photo Challenge – “Silence” – it was this street photo that was immediately in front of my eyes. I know I have posted it before, but this photo is all about silence, as silent as street photography can be.

The sounds of a bustling Italian market were barely audible inside the cathedral of Cremona, where only a handful of visitors were present in this huge church that was  totally silent.

And then there is the silence in and around this old man that was totally lost in thoughts.

Just to answer the questions that came with my earlier post of this, I shot this photograph at the long end of my small mZuiko 14-150mm F/4-5.6 telezoom (300mm full frame equivalent) and my Olympus was set to silent mode. I was standing behind a column shooting around it, so I was sure not to disturb in any way through my photography.

I wish everyone a great Thursday!

Marcus

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

21

Travel Day (8)

Clockmanagement
Clockmanagement | Schiphol | 2018

My first business travel of 2018 took me once more from Nuremberg via Amsterdam and Seattle to Portland, Oregon, where I arrived in surprisingly warm and dry weather after 19 hours total travel time at 2pm in the afternoon. For the airport I went straight to the office for an afternoon of meetings, before I collapsed in my hotel bed at 8pm in the evening and logged 8 hours of sleep before waking up at 4am this morning, a surprisingly long night considering the jet lag effects. To sum it up, back to business as usual for the job that pays the bills.

While connecting through Amsterdam Schiphol I saw a lady taking shots of the famous video screen clock in the international terminal area between the D and E gates. As during previous visits to AMS I myself have taken quite a few shots of the man inside the clock drawing, erasing and re-drawing the hands, I took my Ricoh Gr II I brought along as camera on this trip and shot this monochrome photo of a fascinated fellow traveler.

After the jump you find my original color shot of the video clock, a few photos of passengers on the walkway between B and C gates before I finish off with the high contrast monochrome landscape photo of a “broken mountain” that I took with my iPhone from the window of my Alaska Airlines Dash-8 on yesterday’s last leg from Seattle to Portland…. Continue reading “Travel Day (8)” →

83

The End of a Friend

End of a Friend
End of a Friend | Nuremberg | 2018

They grow to serve us for just two weeks. We select them with a lot of attention. We decorate them with a lot of love. They brighten up our lives for two weeks. Families gather around them on Christmas. And then we throw them away. Isn’t it a bit crazy?

While walking to a doctors appointment I saw a bunch of disposed Christmas trees laying at the side of the road, waiting for the city to collect them. I had the PEN-F with the Lensbaby with me, and took this shot with 1/100 sec, f/3.5 and ISO 320, focal length of the lens is 28mm.

The photo is out of camera, no postprocessing. Sure, you can create this effects artificially with Photoshop, but isn’t it more fun to get it right when pressing the shutter? Walking around with a Lensbaby forces you to see differently.

Have a great Saturday!

Marcus

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10

Weekly Photo Challenge: Weathered

Weathered

“Weathered” is the theme of Word Press’ Weekly Photo Challenge. Maybe you’ve read my post about our visit to the diamond ghost town Kolmanskop in Namibia that we visited last summer. There was nothing more “weathered” as these hundred year old buidings that are being slowly consumed by the Namib desert. So an easy choice for the challenge. For my collection of “weathered” detailed photos of the ghost town continue after the jump… Continue reading “Weekly Photo Challenge: Weathered” →

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