Reise

Mysterious New York City
Empire State Building

Empire State Building

I’m in a bit of a gloomy mood today, not only for yesterday’s depressing World Cup loss of Team Germany, that was well deserved and does not leave much room for any hope of going very far in this tournament.

I had this post on my launchpad for quite some time now. Trying to look at New York City in a very different way, I took a creative approach in post-processing. After monochrome conversion of my Olympus RAW files in Lightroom Classic CC, I played with selective blurring and darkening to create this moody series about some ironing NYC sites. To see them all continue after the jump…. (more…)

Game On
True Fans | Marseille | 2016

True Fans | Marseille | 2016

The World Cup has kicked off in Russia. Soccer is the national sport of Germany, and 80 Million head coaches are trying to figure out the best starting lineup for the first match of the defending World Champion on Sunday versus Mexico.

As I write this I’m sitting on my couch and watch the match of tournament favorite France playing the Soccaroos from Australia. Amazingly, they are tied at 1:1 going into the last 15 minutes…. (more…)

You’ve got a Friend
You've got a Friend

You’ve got a friend | Gosausee | 2018 | 1/125 sec @ f/5.6 and ISO 200

“You’ve got a friend” is a great song by Carol King. If you don’t know it, look it up on Youtube. Big Girl got a new friend while hiking on Lake Gosau in the Austrian Alps this afternoon. The butterfly initially was attracted by Grandma’s shoes, then hopped over onto the legs of The Significant Other. Then he transferred himself onto the fingers of Big Girl. He sat on her hands for a good 15 minutes. The amazing close-up shot you can find after the jump…. (more…)

Sticky Attraction
Sticky Selfie

Sticky Selfie | Seattle | 2018 | 1/80 sec @ f/4, ISO 200

What do people do when outlasting the frequent rains of the Pacific Northwest? They chew a gum. What do they do with the gum once they are finished chewing it? They stick it to a wall. Well, this certainly beats spitting the gums on the ground, where innocent tourists step on them. It definitely is somewhat disgusting. But it’s also cult. The Seattle Gum Wall, below the famous Pike Place Market. If you want to see more, continue after the jump. Viewer discretion is advised 😉 …. (more…)

Alpine Dreams
Alpine Caribbean | Switzerland | 2018

Alpine Caribbean | Switzerland | 2018  | 1/200 sec @ f/9 and ISO 200

I’m back in the corporate rat race after a great weekend in Switzerland. After I finally made it to Zurich on Friday night to reach my family, we did spent an awesome weekend with friends, doing a great trip into the mountains on Saturday and for some well deserved chilling on Sunday. For more photographs and some location infos of this Caribbean like mountain lake as well as a peek into the “Little Swiss Grand Canyon” continue after the jump… (more…)

Color appreciated
Purple Lips

Purple Lips | Seattle | 2018

A bit of color would be so much appreciated! Because it is super grey outside. Grey as in fog. My flight from Amsterdam to Zurich just got cancelled due to foul weather. I’m now flying back to Nuremberg, hope that I and my bag arrive in time to catch a flight to ZRH from there. I never had a turnaround at my home airport. Like arriving at 2pm, getting the bag off the belt, booking a ticket and doing the check in for a 3pm departure. There is a 7pm flight as well. I just need to get to Nuremberg. Color appreciated!

Olympus OM-D E-M1 with the mZuiko 12-100 mm F/4. Image specs are 1/125 sec @f/5 and ISO 200. Shot outside of the Museum of Pop Art (MoPOP) in Seattle.

For  tips and inspirations around photography in general check out my free Learning Center.

Wish you a great start into the weekend!

Marcus

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Instant Inspiration (22) – Variations on a Billboard

Across the Aisle

Wordless Wednesday
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Keep Out | Seattle | 2018

Olympus OM-D E-M1 with the mZuiko 12-100 mm F/4. Image specs are 1/200 sec @f/13 and ISO 1250.

Have a great #WordlessWednesday !

Marcus

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Hello from Seattle

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Why you should never be without your camera

The Hood and the Moon
Supermoon | Oregon | 2018

Supermoon | Oregon | 2018

While driving back to Portland yesterday evening on Interstate 5 I noticed the Supermoon rising behind Mount Hood as I was already approaching the Columbia River. This was a too awesome opportunity to pass up. I took the next exit and drove just a quarter mile up a road to where I had the first unobstructed view of the big volcano.

Shot with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 with the mZuiko 12-100 mm F/4. Image specs are 1/320 sec @f/5 and ISO 200, at 100mm focal length, the far end of the zoom. I promise this is no Photoshop, it really was like this. I only slightly increased clarity when RAW processing in Lightroom Classic CC.

For more about this majestic mountain see the links to earlier posts about “The Hood” below

Wish you a great Tuesday

Marcus

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The Hood and the Flowers

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Around the World in 12 Days – Hiking on Mount Hood

Ski the Volcano

A Whale of a Day
Orca Whale | Stuart Island | 2018

Orca Whale | Stuart Island | 2018

Sunday morning I headed out to Fidalgo Island to do some whale watching out of Anacortes. Although I did not have to wait to get on the boat to sea any first whales. While doing a little hike to Porpoise Point near Rosario beach in the morning, I spotted some….Porpoises playing below me in the water while I did a picknick on the cliffs. The whale watch tour starting at 4pm in the afternoon was a four and a half hour trip on a larger boat. Obviously, nothing ever is promised when viewing wildlife (I learned this during many hours driving through the African bush without seeing as much as a hair of an animal). But I have to say, it turned out to be a whale of a day. See a few photos after the jump… (more…)

The Classic Seattle Night Shots
Blue Hour

Blue Hour | Seattle | 2018

I know there is the theory saying you should try to find an individual angle in your photography, not going after the shots that million others have taken. Thank heavens it’s just that…a theory.

Of course I went after the two classic night shots of the Seattle skyline. The first from Kerry Park was taken with 1/6 sec @ f/4 and ISO 500. I took it handheld, camera tightly tucked against the body, arms resting on the railing of the viewpoint. As I have written in other posts, getting tack sharp images with 1/6 sec handheld is no big problem with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 combined with the 12-100 F/4, where image stabilization of the camera are added to the lens internal image stabilization. Amazing technology. It was that crowded at the viewpoint that it would have been difficult to set up a tripod anyway.

Night Lines

Night Lines | Seattle | 2018

The second classic night shot of the Seattle skyline is from the 12th Avenue bridge across the I5. You have Century Link Field (home of the Seattle Seahawks) to the left, the Interstate 5 and Seattle downtown. Image specs here are 4 seconds, f/7.1 and ISO 200. As I wanted to capture the light trails of the passing cars I used a slow shutter speed of 4 seconds with the camera on a small tripod. I would have loved to use a longer shutter speed, but the problem was the bridge was vibrating with passing cars. Anything longer than 4 seconds always resulted in shaking from a passing car. Still, I’m quite happy with the result.

Any reason not to go for the postcard shots?

Wish you a splendid Sunday!

Marcus

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