Tag: fotoblog

Football is back

Cathedral
Cathedral | Texas | 2015

Football is back! Last night, and most Sunday nights (consider the time difference, the early games will start 7pm our time) in the next couple of months, Big Boy and myself will enjoy father-son game nights. The setup is as follows: On our big flat screen TV we’ll have the game of the week broadcasted by  a German television station. On Big Boys laptop he’ll be streaming the 49ers game (his team since he likes football) of the weekend or the Red Zone Channel if they play at another kickoff time. On my MacBook I’ll be streaming the Dolphins game (my team for 34 years) or any other that I find interesting. So we watch three early games in parallel and then three late games. On our smartphones we keep track of the fantasy football stats, as Big Boy runs his own fantasy football league with some friends and his old man. Call us crazy 😉

The Fairest Of Them All
The Fairest Of Them All | Texas | 2015

These photos I took during my last visit to an NFL games, when I saw the Patriots play the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Dallas in 2015. But the three year drought of  love football will come to an end in just in less than two weeks, when I will see the Dallas Cowboys again, this time visiting Lincoln Financial Field and the Seattle Seahawks. I can’t wait for the game in this iconic stadium. So bright times are ahead.

I just need to figure out which camera to take to the game. The NFL (as the NBA) has become quite restrictive about bringing cameras with interchangeable lenses into a stadium. I nearly got turned away with my PEN-F when visiting a Portland Trailblazers game earlier this year. It took me quite some talking and pulling off the “I’m a tourist – I didn’t know – you can’t send me away – don’t have a place to put the camera” number to finally get admitted.  So I think I will bring the old Panasonic TZ-61 from The Significant Other (that she put aside for good in favor of doing only iPhoneography), it’s got a 30x optical zoom with 720mm full frame equivalent. Image quality is not on a level with my m43 system, but it will have to do. The results will be posted here after the game on September 23rd, so check back if you are interested.

Brady Bunch
Brady Bunch | Texas | 2015
Friends
Friends | Texas | 2015

What I admire about US sport in general that fans from both teams mix and mingle without getting into fights (something that is seemingly impossible in European Soccer) and sharing the love for the game. I love the atmosphere around NFL games with the tailgating parties before and after the game around the stadium. I wish we had this here in Europe.

Oh and by the way, my Miami Dolphins, notoriously success less in the past 30 years, won their opener. Due to two lightning delays of two hours each it turned out to be the longest NFL game ever played. It started at 7pm my time, and finished at 2:10 am in the morning. It was a short night 😉

Wish you a great week!

Marcus

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His last match – and how I captured it

Hockey Fans

StoNur on the Road – Porsche Museum

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Weekend Rush

Weekend Rush
Weekend Rush | 2018 | 1/200 sec – f/3.5 – ISO 1600 – 12mm

Who says people aren’t in a rush on the weekend? Example of walk-by street photography. I kept the camera (Olympus PEN-F with the 12mm F/2 prime lens) in front of my chest and just snapped away at interesting looking people. I set the shutter speed at 1/200 sec, kind of the minimum required to “freeze” moving people, especially when I’m moving myself.

Obviously there is a lot of hit and miss in this approach, but actually I’m enjoying this “hunt” as a kind of photographic challenge to myself. You need to know your camera pretty well, as just a slight tilt in the wrong direction will result in chopped-off heads or people only half visible in the frame. I used the 12mm (24mm full frame equivalent), so this is as wide angle as it gets in the streets. And it means I need to be awfully close to my subjects to fill the frame.

Try it yourself, there is a lot of fun in this type of photography, and trust me, no-one will notice you snapping away, as long as you are moving as well. Obviously, having a small, inconspicuous looking camera like the PEN-F helps.

Check out my free Learning Center for many more tips about Street Photography.

Wish you a great Sunday!

Marcus

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Street Photography Quick Tip (2)

Street Photography Quick Tip (6)

A Street Photographer’s Dialogue

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Nuremberg Explored (6) – Historic Waterway

Alter Kanal 05
Historic Lock near Schwarzenbach

This post falls under my category “Nuremberg Explored”, although the Ludwigskanal is a bit outside of the city, just a few kilometers from our house. After yet another warm and sunny Saturday The Significant Other and I decided for a late afternoon trip to our favorite little Beergarden (Gaststätte zum Ludwigskanal) in Schwarzenbach for some food and a sunset beer. Just in case I decided to bring a camera, so I grabbed the PEN-F with the 12mm F/2. After dinner and just before sunset, we took a small walk along the historic Ludwigskanal, a now abandoned historic canal. For a bit of history and a few more photographs continue after the jump…

Continue reading “Nuremberg Explored (6) – Historic Waterway” →

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Wordless Wednesday

1/200 sec | f/13 | ISO 500

Taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 with the 12-100 F/4. Image specs 1/200 sec @ f13 and ISO 500.

Wish you a great Wednesday!

Marcus

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Keep Portland Weird

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Evening Colors

Blue Hour
Blue Hour | Berlin | 2018

We’re back in Nuremberg after a great weekend in Berlin where we visited close friends. Besides spending real quality time together I also got some street shooting done when we headed into city center after we did a fun tour riding a rail trolley (Draisine) in the afternoon.

This street photo I took during the blue hour near the Alexanderplatz. I loved the color contrast between the blue light outside in the street and the yellow light in the shop window. Then I merely waited a few seconds until a subject arrived on the scene (didn’t have more, as the others in the party, already starved, where rushing towards a nearby Vietnamese restaurant that we always visit when in Berlin).

The photo was taken with the PEN-F and the 12mm F/2. Image specs are 1/250 sec @ f/4 and ISO 1600. When shooting people in the blue hour, don’t even try to get the white balance right in order to get correct skin tones. That’s why it is called blue hour 😉

Monsieur Vuong | Berlin | 2018
Monsieur Vuong | Berlin | 2018

That’s “Monsieur Vuong”. Same camera/lens combo, specs 1/20 sec @ f/4.5 and ISO 1600. As I’ve written many times on this blog, instead of complaining about cars parked in the wrong place in front of your subject, use them to your advantage. Have I mentioned I love reflections?

There is more to come from our Berlin weekend, stay tuned!

Wish you a great Sunday!

Marcus

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Silent Saturday

The Race | Portland | 2018
The Race | Portland | 2018

Taken with the OM-D E-M1 and the 12-100 F/4. Image specs are 1/800 sec @ f/7.1 and ISO 200.

Have a fun Saturday

Marcus

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Summer Smiles

Summer Smile
Summer Smile | 2018 | 1/400 sec – f/5.6 – ISO 200

As the work week is finally coming to a close, there is a lot to smile about. After the passing of a cold front, the weekend is supposed to be beautiful again, with lots of sunshine and warm temperatures.

We’ll be spending the weekend in our nation’s capital to visit close friends and roam the Streets of Berlin, always one of my favorite places for Street Photography. Good that I spent a good part of last night giving my cameras and lenses a thorough cleaning. I also finally hooked them up to my Mac to do the firmware updates I wanted to do for quite some time now. So all is ready for a weekend of shooting.

Yesterday I also received the printed and framed photograph that I ordered to be included in a year long exhibition of the work of local artists. It opens at the end of September, and I’m really exited as it will be my first ever exhibit. The theme of the exhibition is “on the road” , and I submitted the image of the historic jetty in Swakopmund, Namibia, I took last year and blogged about in this post.

I didn’t even realize it when it happened, but sometimes last week the “Streets of Nuremberg” has exceeded the threshold of 5000 followers. When I started this little blog two and a half years ago, I would have never even dreamed about one day reaching this number. Then again, blogging for me is not about statistics. By sharing my photographic experiences and tips via my posts and my free Learning Center, I want to inspire and empower others to get more involved in photography and the visual arts. And I want to give back to the community that gave me so much over the years. And the best part of blogging is making all those wonderful connections with likeminded people all over this planet. So to all of you a heartfelt “Thanks” for being part of my journey.

The photo was taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the 12-100mm F/4. Image specs are 1/400 sec @ f/5.6 and ISO 200. RAW conversion in Lightroom Classic CC

I wish all of you a wonderful weekend!

Marcus

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Instant Inspiration (20) – Backlit Fountain

17

The Fun is Over

Street Fun
Street Fun | 2018 | 1/640 sec – f/7.1 – ISO 200 – 100mm

I’m welcoming myself back to my own blog, after a small summer break I took after returning to Germany from our family vacation trip through the Pacific Northwest. I guess everyone needs a timeout once in a while. The transition from a splendid three weeks off work back to the job that pays the bills was just too hard, and in the evenings I was just too tired to get in front of my computer to blog.

But there is plenty to do photographically, I still need to edit and post-process most of my images from our trip, write the remaining “PNW Explored”posts about the Oregon High Desert, our trips up the volcanos Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens,  and to wrap it up, a visit to the fascinating Museum of Flight at Boeing Field in Seattle, just hours before we boarded the flight back to Germany.

I dearly need to clean my camera equipment, the dust and dirt really took its toll after three weeks on the road.

And I really have to catch up with all the comments on this blog I haven’t answered, plus check out all the blogs I follow and I haven’t visited in the past weeks.

The summer fun is over, now it’s back to work!

The Streets of Nuremberg are back in business 😉

Have a great Wednesday!

Marcus

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PNW Explored – The Oregon Coast

Florence Dunes | 1/250 sec - f/14 - ISO 200 - 12mm
Florence Sand Dunes | 1/250 sec – f/14 – ISO 200 – 12mm

After our adventures on the Olympic Peninsula we crossed the mouth of the mighty Columbia River into Oregon via the Astoria Megler Bridge (have done a post about it more than a year ago, which you can read here). While new for the family, this brought me back into familiar territory, as I have visited the Oregon coast numerous times while working my project in Portland. We stayed two nights, one in Garibaldi and the second one in Florence. To see a few photos from this stretch of our summer PNW tour, continue after the jump…. Continue reading “PNW Explored – The Oregon Coast” →

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PNW Explored – Olympic Peninsula

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Mount Olympus | 1/1600 sec – f/7,1 – ISO 200 – 150mm 

Our summer tour through the Pacific Northwest continued with a trip to the Olympic Peninsula, west of Seattle. We have set up camp for two nights in a Bed&Breakfast in Port Townsend, from where we visit the mountainous part of Olympic National Park, then headed to the West for a night in Kalaloch at the Lodge, for a stunning Pacific Ocean sunset and trips to the only rainforests of the northern hemisphere. For a bit more info and some photos continue after the jump… Continue reading “PNW Explored – Olympic Peninsula” →

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Instant Inspiration (26) – Shoot an optical illusion

Ship in the Sky | Olympic Mountains | 2018
Ship in the Sky | Olympic Mountains | 2018

“Instant Inspirations” is my series for you if you look for something to overcome “Photographer’s Block”  or simply want to shoot something that you have never tried, or at least not recently. Episode 26 is about shooting an optical illusion.

The shot above was taken with my Olympus PEN-F and the mZuiko 40-150mm F/2.8. Image specs are 1/250 sec @ f/6,3 and ISO 200, with 150mm focal length (300mm full frame equivalent).

What do you see? A ship, crossing the sky like an airplane? Let me tell you, there are no flying ships in the skies above Washington State, even with innovative aircraft manufactures like Boeing in the area. But why is there a mountain, the clouds above, and then a ship?

I took this photo up on Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. It shows the Juan de Fuca Strait below (the narrows between Olympic Peninsula and Vancouver Island), the sea fog near the shore and a some kind of freighter behind.

It is not always as it seems. Especially visually. Grab you camera, go out and look to capture an optical illusion. Please share a link to your results in the comments section.

Wish you a great Sunday

Marcus

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12

PNW Explored – Colorful Seattle

Sailor's View | 1/400 sec - f/8 - ISO 200 - 40mm
Sailor’s View | 1/400 sec – f/8 – ISO 200 – 40mm

Day 2 of our family summer trip through the Pacific Northwest had us venturing through the Emerald City. Seattle is a beautiful city. Contrary to popular belief, it is actually a quite sunny city, as also during my fourth visit I was kissed by the sun that brought out Seattle’s amazing colors. But see for yourself after the jump…. Continue reading “PNW Explored – Colorful Seattle” →

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