Fotografie

First and Last
Sunrise Rainbow | 2018 | Depoe Bay

Sunrise Rainbow | 2018 | Depoe Bay

My Saturday spent at the coast of the great Pacific Ocean wasn’t all that bad. There was magic in the early morning, and there was magic at the end of the day. It started with a magnificent rainbow, that appeared out of nowhere behind the rugged shoreline of Depoe Bay when the sun came up behind the hills. I captured it with my iPhone Xs. I did have my Olympus PEN-F with the 12-40mm F/2.8 with me, but the 12mm wasn’t wide enough to capture the rainbow in its entirety. So I reverted to my iPhone for a panoramic shot. I got lucky that I even captured a crashing wave while panning. Where there is a rainbow there is also rain. It was the first time, but not the last on this day, that I got thoroughly soaked. The early bird got really wet before getting back to the place where I was staying.

Sunset Lighthouse | 2018 | Yaquina Head

Sunset Lighthouse | 2018 | Yaquina Head

Also the last photo of the day I took with the iPhone. Image quality has become so good, that I don’t bother shooting several photos for a panoramic view with my cam and stitching them later in Lightroom. I simply use my phone with one easy pan. When taking this last photo of the day with the magic evening light behind Newport’s Yaquina Head Lighthouse, I was once more thoroughly wet, as I got caught by a passing intense shower while being down below at the tide pools below the cliffs.

I have to admit there were not too many days of my photographic career where the first and last images of the day where similar memorable. Obviously, there where plenty more photos taken during my day on the coast, but this is for another post.

Wish you a great Sunday!

Marcus

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The last sunset
1/80 sec - f/16 - ISO 640 - 40mm

Depoe Bay – Oregon | 2018 | 1/80 sec – f/16 – ISO 640 – 40mm

Okay, maybe the title is a bit exaggerated – it was only the last sunset of November. But a dramatic one for sure. After a day full of Oregon liquid sunshine and a nasty drive from Portland to the coast I just made it to Depoe Bay about 30 minutes prior to sunset. And after all that heavy rain the sky amazingly cleared for a few minutes, just as I got to the coast. I snapped away with two cameras, the OM-D E-M1 with the 40-150mm F/2.8 and the PEN-F with the 12-40mm F/2.8. With the heavy wind, plenty of salt and water in the air I was glad I had two bodies and didn’t need to change lenses in those conditions. After 15 minutes all hell broke loose with a thundershower with another downpour and hail. Before it cleared the sun was down and the last day of November was lost in a wet, dark night. For a few more photos continue after the jump… (more…)

Start of the festive season
Christmas

Christmas Season below Nuremberg’s Imperial Castle

Sitting in my office in far away Oregon, I swiped though my Instagram feed during lunch break. Somehow I was surprised to see all those images from the grand opening of the historic Nuremberg Christmas market. Being fully engulfed in my work on the other side of the world,  it completely dropped off my radar that this weekend is the start of Advent season, the four weekends prior to Christmas. And traditionally, on Friday night before the First Advent, is the festive opening of Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt, as it is called locally. And with that, the historic old town below the Imperial Castle turns on the lights of all the festive street decorations. Seeing the Instagram photos I’m feeling a bit homesick, but that comes with the job that pays the bills. At least I get to spend two days at the coast of the great Pacific Ocean, albeit with plenty of Oregon liquid sunshine forecasted, but I will make the best of it.

The photograph was taken with my Olympus PEN-F and the 12mm F/2 prime lens, image specs 1/60 sec @ f/2 and ISO 1600.

If you want to pick up your camera on the weekend and are looking for tips and inspirations around photography, visit my free Learning Center  .

Wish you a great weekend and a peaceful Christmas season.

Marcus

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In the air again
1/100 sec | f/5.4 | ISO 5000 | 63mm

1/100 sec | f/5.4 | ISO 5000 | 63mm

I’m back in the air, crossing the Northern Atlantic Ocean on my last trip to the Pacific Northwest. For this year, that is. I’m glad I’m flying directly to Portland from Amsterdam,  saving me the hustle of a connection somewhere in the US, which would have been most likely problematic, given the winter weather that has hit many parts of America in the past days. We left Amsterdam with a ninety minute delay due to the late inbound flight from NYC, but will be catching up most of the time, which will put me on the ground in Rose City around noon and in the office around 1:30pm for a good half day of work, before I will hit the pillows after another 24 hour day. But there will be some incentives on this trip, like visiting a Blazers game tomorrow night and spending the weekend on the Oregon coast.

The photograph for this post I took with my OM-D E-M5 with the 14-150mm F/4-5.6. If you look at the image specs (1/100 sec @ f/5.4 and ISO5000), you can imagine that the image was taken in less than ideal light conditions, given the high ISO I needed to dial-in in order to generate the 1/100 sec shutter speed I needed to freeze the action. Can you guess what it is? Let me know in the comments. I will eventually post the solution there…

Wish you a great Tuesday!

Marcus

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Keep warm !

Beauty and the Beast

Winter is here for good in the streets of Nuremberg. Temperatures have dropped below freezing and yesterday we had the first snow flurries of the season, even though it didn’t last very long.

But for sure it’s getting a bit uncomfortable when roaming the streets with the camera in my hands. And as the pretty lady with her lap dog in the photo above (taken with my Olympus PEN-F and the mZuiko 25mm F/2 prime lens, specs are 1/180 sec @ f/2 and ISO 200), I’m using gloves to keep my hands warm. The thing is, regular gloves are not very handy when it comes to operating the camera with all the little dials and buttons. And I’m not a big fan of wearing fingerless gloves (what is the sense of having those, when your fingertips are freezing off). But there is something like a hybrid model. A real photographers glove.  A glove with which one can simply fold the tips of thumb and index finger to the side.

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I found those somewhere on the web last year (searching for photographers gloves), and they are the real thing, after testing them the rest of last winter. The crests are foldable on both gloves, by the way. It is super easy to use, so maximum you have the tips of thumb and index finger cold when leaving them exposed to operate the cam. An essential piece of gear for winter photography, not only for the street shooter.

If you look for tips and inspirations around photography, check out my free Learning Center.

Wish you a great Wednesday – and stay warm!

Marcus

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Rhapsody

PB170203

As I have stated many times on this blog, one of the most important aspects of my blogging is getting in touch with people from all over this planet. Since starting the “Streets of Nuremberg” nearly three years ago, I have connected with many wonderful people. And with some, even virtual friendships have developed over time. One of them is Rhapsody. Now living in far away Nevada, she has her roots in a small village about an hour by car from Nuremberg. We’ve been talking about meeting each other in real life for quite some time. Now that she came back to Germany to tend to family matters, we finally turned virtual plans into reality. Yesterday I drove out to pick her up and take her to nearby historic town of Schwäbisch Hall, where we did spend a splendid day together, a day full of great talks, photography, sightseeing and enjoying some local beer and food. For the photos of our trip continue after the jump…. (more…)

Never too late
Never too late | 1/100 sec - f/4 - ISO 1600 - 100mm

Never too late | 1/100 sec – f/4 – ISO 1600 – 100mm

For me it is never too late for a good hot Espresso. I can drink it in the morning, I can drink it in the middle of the night. I love my small coffee breaks when shooting in the streets, and I love my Espresso when doing some post processing late in the evening. I find it gets my creative juices flowing.

Image shot with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-100mm F/2.8. Image specs 1/100 sec @ f/4 and ISO 1600, 100mm focal length.

Post processing in Adobe Lightroom Classic CC.

If you feel like picking up your camera and are looking for tips and inspiration around photography, check out my free Learning Center.

Wish you all a great Sunday!

Marcus

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Takeoff from PDX

Takeoff from PDX | 1/1000 sec – f/8 – ISO 200 – 100mm

Back home from yet another week in Portland. The week itself was uneventful and just work. But my flight back, unfortunately once more with my “favorite” airline United,  provided for another bad experience, just two weeks after my United disaster on my way to Memphis. This time all seemed perfect. Initially. Our Airbus A320 was perfectly on time, already out of the gate at PDX airport, when suddenly the captain came on and said we need to go back into the gate, as the aircraft was imbalanced due to improper loading, so they would need to unload bags from the back and put them into the front.

For sure I was happy the pilots found out while still on the ground, but then, fixing the screw up of the ground ops team cost us 45 minutes. Which is not good when my connection time in Chicago was just 55 minutes, which is already on the short side for such a big airport. I asked the flight attendant if they have any information on the connections, if they hold the plane or if we get rebooked. The answer I got was that they have no information and can’t get in touch with anyone on the ground. Comfortingly she said that they normally don’t hold planes and even try to get the international flights out on time and helpfully suggested that I could check the inflight magazine in the seat pocket for the fastest way to get from one concourse to the other. But she did offer me a red wine to help relaxing.

I had a window seat, and at least I got treated to some nice aerial views of Mount Hood, the barren landscape of Montana and of the Chicago skyline during arrival. For those photographs and how the story ended, continue after the jump…

(more…)

iPhoneography by Night
Schwäbisch Hall Market Place

Schwäbisch Hall Market Place

Lately I have been playing a lot with my iPhone 8plus, photographically that is. During a trip to the nearby historic town of Schwäbisch Hall I was taking some night shots with the iPhone, just to see what I can get out of this images when importing them into Lightroom. I have to admit the results are not that bad at all, the dynamic range is quite amazing, for a phone. For more photos continue after the jump… (more…)

Hello November
Nightstand | 2018 | 1/4 sec - f/8 - ISO 1600 - 12mm

Vespa| 2018 | 1/4 sec – f/8 – ISO 1600 – 12mm

October has been good to us, especially weather wise, now November is upon us. A.k.a. the “greyest month of the year” (in the northern hemisphere that is). It’s getting cold and damp, daylight is getting shorter and shorter.

The perfect time to head out into the streets to capture interesting shades and textures under the streetlights, without having to wait too long that it gets dark.

Shot with the Olympus PEN-F and the 12mm F/2. Image specs 1/4 sec @ f/8 and ISO 1600. F/8 was needed for the extended depth of field I wanted to achieve, having everything sharp from foreground to background, and focusing 1/3 into the frame. Obviously, this resulted in a slow shutter speed of 1/4 sec, which still can be handheld due to the good image stabilization of the PEN-F.

Wish you a great All Hallows day and a good start into a creative November

Marcus

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