Everyone knows that well-traveled roads wear down over time. They develop cracks, then the first potholes appear. Work crews are deployed to patch up the superficial damages. Traffic continues to roll. Then you notice larger surface alterations. And you realize, that the road has a damaged foundation. And you need to do a larger reconstruction, totally removing the old road surface, fix the foundation and then apply a totally new pavement. If you are curious how this analogy applies to the Streets of Nuremberg, continue reading…. (more…)
Street Photography is about capturing scenes of every day life as it happens. Like this girl reading a book while sitting in the window of a coffee shop in Portland. I liked her style and the just so slight smile on her lips. I was standing on the sidewalk directly in front of her, snapping a few initial photographs. I always want to make sure to capture at least one good shot before the scene changes.
Then I waited, camera at my eye, for her to look up. I would have loved to take a portrait of her. But she didn’t look up. Not sure if it was because she noticed me snapping away at her. Or because she was fully engulfed in her book. But I guess also this falls under life as it happens ;-). After a few minutes I moved on. Street Photography is so unpredictable. This is why I love it!
Shot with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4. Image specs are 1/200 sec @ f/4, ISO 320.
Ok, technically this is not a meteorite shower. It is an art installation called “Moving Mountains” by PNW artist Annette Bellamy. It is part of the special exhibition “the map is not the territory” in the Portland Art Museum. I took this indoor street photograph during last weekends visit to the museum that I used for some indoor street shooting.
Winter Travel Weather
But to me it looks like a meteorite shower. Or a snow- or hail shower. And this is exactly the kind of weather hitting many parts of the continental US today. Making for less than ideal travel conditions for my trip back to the Streets of Nuremberg.
I got up at 3am in the morning to pack my bags (went also to bed at 8pm to start my adjustment back to European time). Left my Portland Hotel at 4:45 for the twentyfive minute drive to PDX airport. Due to the winter weather in the Midwest the 7:10am United Flight to Chicago was delayed, but as the plane spent the night at PDX it was only a matter of getting ATC clearance. We ended up leaving at 8:25 for the 3 hour 30 minute flight to the Windy City, getting there 65 minutes late in snow, ice rain and low visibility.
A useful travel tip for ORD airport
When booking a connection through Chicago O’Hare I try to give me ample buffer time, which turned out to be a day saver. The remaining problem was that I didn’t realize that SWISS departs from Terminal 5 and not from the C concourse of Terminal 1 where the rest of the Start Alliance partners leave for Europe (note to self: it would be helpful checking the travel documentation once in a while).
Going to Terminal 5 would normally mean leaving the security area, taking the airport train to T5 and having to go once more through. But a very friendly United Lounge agent not only let me have a coffee in the T1 Polaris Lounge, but also pointed out a short-cut to T5, one that you don’t find if you follow the official signs. For that I had to walk from T1 through T2 and on to Gate G17 at the tip of T3. A relaxed 20 minute stroll. And from there, every 20 minutes leaves a shuttle bus that takes you directly into T5. Without having to go through security again, as you never leave the security area. This friendly hint really made my day – thanks United (I have to thank them also once in a while as I normally just bash them).
So now it is just a matter of waiting for my SWISS flight to Zurich to board. I should be back on the Streets of Nuremberg by tomorrow early afternoon.
Capturing the stories of the streets is what street photography is all about. When roaming the streets of a city with my camera, I’m constantly scanning my surroundings for those stories. Trying to capture life as it happens. The best photographs are those who tell a story, but with room for interpretation.
Also capturing gesture is very important for a street photograph. The gesture by these two gentlemen on the streets of Portland is what captured my attention in the first place. Suits, ties, walking stick and the little pony tail. The younger one is obviously trying to get a message across. His hand gesture, that leaves room for interpretation about what it meant. The two where totally ignorant of the heavy traffic passing them in very close proximity as they stood at the corner of a street in the Pearl District. An easy target for the observing street photographer. And another successful attempt to capture the stories of the streets.
Taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 with the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4. Image specs are 1/200 sec @ f/4, ISO 250 and 86mm focal length.
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I was kind of missing in action the past week, I have to admit, and this due to multiple reasons. First of all plenty of work for the job that pays the bills. Plus, I was severely impacted by a heavy case of jet lag during my first days in Portland. And this past weekend I was out and about in the city, preferring to roam the streets of Rose City with my camera doing some photography, rather than sitting in front of the MacBook and do blogging. Although I must admit I carried my little laptop with me in my backpack. I had some romanticized aspirations of doing some writing while resting in one of Portland’s many craft coffee shops. But with only two free days available, I ended up running around and shooting the whole time, despite frequent downpours that hit the Pacific Northwest over the weekend.
When it rains do some indoor street photography
During one of the many more intense rain periods I escaped into the (totally awesome) Portland Art Museum. True to my often published theory that when its soggy outside, shoot Street Photography in a museum. And I got a couple good ones. For some more varied shots using this light installation as a background continue after the jump…. (more…)
Since arriving in the Rose City Monday night, it has been pouring down. It has been cold and miserable. There is nothing but grey outside the office windows. No chance to grab the camera and go out and shoot some street photography. At least we were spared the snow-induced chaos that has hit the Seattle area and the Columbia River Gorge just East of Portland and led to massive travel problems. Colleagues that booked flights via Seattle did not make it to PDX due to cancellations. I instead had booked a “Southern arrival route”, flying to Portland via Zurich and San Francisco, thus avoiding any weather induced problems. (more…)
Before Travel Day (to Portland) comes Match Day (in Munich). A very good friend got us tickets to the Bundesliga soccer match between FC Bayern München and Schalke 04 in Munich’s Allianz Arena. This awesome, sci-fi like stadium is just a 70 minute drive south from our house. To see some more street photography around the match and more impressions from the stunning arena, continue after the jump…. (more…)
The sun came out today. Just in time to lighten up The Significant Other’s birthday. It seems everyone is out in the Streets of Nuremberg to catch some warming rays and anticipate the coming spring. Only the forecast calls once more for dropping temperatures and snow. Flying out to the Pacific Northwest on Monday I had hoped to escape the return of winter, but it seems the weather in Portland will be even worse in the next ten days. So it will be a lot of puddle shooting and plenty time to spend in the photography section of Powell’s books on West Burnside Street…. (more…)
It was in the last millennium when I last loaded an analogue film into a SLR. Twenty years ago I bought my first digital camera. Since then I never shot another film photograph. But this is about to change. Today I bought my very first roll of film in twenty years. And I’m looking very much forward to insert it into this 1970 SLR and take it onto the Streets of Nuremberg for some retro – decelerated photography. Stay tuned for the results.
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Call Me | 1/200 sec – f/4 – ISO 250 – 86mm
