Nürnberg

The sun is coming out again
Summer Smile

Summer Smile | 2016

After a few intense days researching the impact of the new European GDPR law going into effect next week (May 25th) my initial slight panic attacks have subsided. I think I think I know what requirements I need to fulfill in order to make my personal, non-commercial blog compliant, at least to a degree where I feel comfortable. There is still a lot of uncertainty out there, but I think it will be a process where we all (bloggers, lawyers, service providers) will need to learn how to adjust to adhere to the principle of data privacy, which, and I hope we all agree to this, is doubtless necessary, considering the recent data scandals of Cambridge Analytica and the likes.

After my initial rant about WordPress / Automattica I must concede that WordPress has come out with tools that we can use to mitigate a few of the GDPR induced challenges. As of me writing this post, these tools have seemingly come out only in the English version of WP, but should be available across all WP platforms shortly. You can read the WP announcement about this privacy and maintenance release here. Also, Automattica is now providing a Data Processing Agreement that will be signed by both sides (unfortunately only available for paid plans (so far)). So things are progressing, there, but should be monitored closely.

So what were my initial activities? I did some upgrades to the pages “About Me” and “About this blog“. As this is a personal blog I am not required to have a detailed, official contact page (Impressum), but I want to make sure people can understand who his behind this blog and  how to reach me. And I want to make clear that this is a personal blog with which I do not pursue any commercial interests. I also want to explicitly state that this blog about capturing life in the streets as it happens is an art form, as also recently stated by the German Constitutional Court. This should give some freedom about posting photography with people in it. As before, I have a clear statement that if anyone thinks a photography of himself or others is inappropriate, this person can contact me and I will take down the photo without discussion (has never happened in two and a half years of blogging – fingers crossed).

The other change is the publication of a Data Privacy Statement, which I understood every blog should have, regardless if commercial or personal. Again, there are mixed opinions out there, and I’m no lawyer to judge objectively. As personally I don’t have a problem with that I created a statement. There are German IT lawyers who offer for private bloggers for free the generation of a tailored DP statement based on a questionnaire they have on their website. You just copy it on a word press page including the reference to the generator website. I added some information I regarding the purpose of my blog and my service provider Automattica, including a link to their GDPR privacy page. Unfortunately for my English speaking blogger friends, this DP generation service is only available in German language. Research the web if in your country similar services are available. I will do a translation of it in the next days, as even a German blog in English language needs also to have an English DP page. The German version of my Datenschutzerklärung you can find here. It is also accessible form every page of my blog via the side menu on a PC and bottom menu on the WP mobile version.

DISCLAIMER: This is a best try at putting together a compliant DP statement, I am not a lawyer and the page has not been created by a lawyer. If you want to have a legally checked DP statement, you will need to spend money and go see a lawyer, that can create  a legally foolproof page tailored to your exact situation.

The next thing I will do later today is signing the Automattica Data Processing Agreement and send it to them for counter signature.

For now I will not turn off any features of this blog, and will wait and see how things will eventually fall into place and what needs to be done.

With my implemented measures (that were not all that complex) I feel comfortable taking the “Streets of Nuremberg” into the GDPR age. I will stay on top of this DP issue and improve this blog as I gain more knowledge. I will continue to write about it here and share my experiences.

But the good thing is I continue with my blog which I am passionate about.

The sun is out again!

Have a splendid weekend!

Marcus

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Learning Center is online

Weekly Photo Challenge: Liquid

 

Backlit Fountain Street Photography

“Liquid” is the theme of the WPC Weekly Photo Challenge this week. So let it be wet! My title photo is a street photo from downtown Nuremberg.  The image was taken with my Olympus PEN-F with the mZuiko 14-150mm F/4-5.6. Image specs 1/250 sec @ f/5.6 and ISO 320. Have I mentioned before I am a big fan of shooting into the light? You just have to make sure you measure for the correct exposure, as back-lit images tend to be too dark, as the camera “sees” too much light, especially with matrix exposure metering. In these situations it is best to switch on center weighted or even spot metering and put your metering point(s) over the area you want to have correctly exposed. In this case I exposed for the hair of the girl, which had a great midtone contrast.

For a small collection of more liquid street-, landscape- and travel-photos I invite you to look after the jump…. (more…)

To all the Moms out there
Mother's Day Rose

Mother’s Day Rose

On the second Sunday in May, most countries around the world celebrate Mother’s Day. And at least here in Nuremberg it started as a marvelous sunny spring day!

So for my Mom and all other Moms out there: This rose is for you!

Wish you all a great Sunday!

Marcus

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Street Photography Quick Tip (15)
Hey What's Up

1/125 sec @ f/2,5 and ISO 200, 25mm focal length

Street Photography Quick Tip 15 – Get close for more intense street portraits

In time for the weekend, here is episode 15 of my 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. Today’s post is about taking close up street portraits.  For a few, hopefully inspirational images continue after the jump… (more…)

Across the Aisle
Across the Aisle

Across the Aisle | New York City | 2018 | 1/60 sec @ f/4 and ISO 3200

Although a short week, due to a public holiday in Germany, I’m glad it is over. Looking forward to a weekend of rest.

Across the Aisle

Across the Aisle | New York City | 2018 | 1/125 sec @ f/4 and ISO 3200

Shooting street photography in a subway is not so difficult, and there are always interesting characters sitting across the isle. Everybody is either half asleep or occupied with the smartphone. A great place to shoot inconspicuous street portraits. Be ware to get at least 1/60 sec of shutter speed, as the trains are always moving and rumbling on their tracks, so make sure you dial in a fast enough speed, at least 1/60 of a second to avoid motion blur.

The photos were taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4. RAW conversion and post processing in Lightroom Classic CC.

If you want to pick up your camera this weekend and are still looking for some fresh inspirations what to shoot, visit my free Learning Center .

Wish you a great weekend!

Marcus

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Street Photography Quick Tip 6 – Shoot in a station

Instant Inspiration (11) – Change of Perspective

Instant Inspiration (21) – Shoot what attracts your eye

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unlikely
FCN, back again

FCN, back again | Nuremberg | 2018

The current weekly photo challenge (WPC) from Word Press’ “The Daily Post” has the theme “Unlikely“.  I deliberately waited until today to post my image for this week’s challenge, because the unlikely event I was hoping for happened just yesterday. After four years playing in the second German soccer league, our hometown soccer team 1.FC Nürnberg secured promotion to the first league yesterday by a 3:0 away victory in Sandhausen. This is special, as no-one really expected this to happen this year, as last season they barely escaped going down into the third league. And having suffered infinitely in the last years (the last national championship won was 1968), everyone really was reluctant to believe until it really happened.

So to the delight of the faithful fanbase the “Glubb” (affectionate nickname of the team) is back among the best German teams. The whole family watched the game on TV, combining it with a nice barbecue on the summer like day. After dinner my Big Girl headed to the teams location in town to welcome the players returning after a hilarious bus ride (at least according to the instagram videos posted by players) back from the game. 10.000 fans and the players then turned night into day.

My photo is from my last visit to a game a few weeks ago. Next week, after the final home game, will be the big party in the city.

Wish you a great start into the week!

Marcus

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Wait a moment
Emergency

Emergency | New York City | 2018

When shooting Street Photography, sometimes it is worth waiting a few seconds, observing an interesting scene. Below is the first photograph I took of that scene I observed in a New York subway station sometime after midnight. It was the high heeled lady holding the flowers that first caught my eye, standing elegantly in front of the rugged backdrop of the subway exit.

I moved to the front a bit, as I wanted to align the red flowers with the likewise red emergency exit sign behind her, wanting to create a visual line between the red and black subject (lady) and likewise red and black background (exit gate). The all of a sudden her companion put his hands in front of his face. Realizing this gesture I pressed the shutter once more, capturing a street photography with both visual interest, lots of gesture and a story behind (guess for yourself….)

Photo was taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4. Image specs are 1/80sec @ F/4 and ISO1600, 75mm focal length. RAW conversion and post processing in Lightroom Classic CC.

P4103875

If you are looking for inspirations around photography for the weekend, check out my free Learning Center .

Wish you all sunny Sunday 🙂 !

Marcus

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Spring in my City
Imperial Castle

Castle Gardens | Nuremberg | 2018

A side product from Tuesday’s coaching session in Nuremberg’s historic Old Town were some of my own photographs from my blooming city that I need to show off. Enjoy more images after the jump… (more…)

Another step down the road
Into the Sun

Into the Sun | Nuremberg | 2018

When I started this blog two and a half years ago, I intended it to be the diary of my photographic journey deeper into photography and to let interested readers participate in my learnings. Sometime down the road I started my two series “Instant Inspirations” and “Street Photography Quick Tips” to empower others to expand their photographic skills. As I wrote in the “About Me” of this blog, I had the hope to eventually one day generate some earnings from my photography to pay for my GAS (gear acquisition syndrome). While the GAS is pretty much cured by now, I finally did reach that other milestone.

Yesterday I held my first individual photography coaching session. We started with a two hour theory lessons around camera settings and controls and some photography 101, after which we roamed the streets of Nuremberg for a good 6 hours for a lot of practical photography exercise. We had a great time on a beautiful Mayday (May 1st is a public holiday in Germany) and I enjoyed myself passing on my knowledge of and love for photography. Doing this the first time, I learned myself so much about handling such an all day tutoring, which required plenty of on the spot adjustments, despite so much of preparation that I have put into this venture. I did get great feedback though, and in the end collected my very first ever photographic revenue.

With plenty of input to adjust and enhance my coaching concept, I will sure do this again once the next opportunity arises. It was another step down the road of my journey deeper into photography.

The photograph was taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4 , image specs 1/320sec @ F/9 and ISO 200, 12mm focal length. Jpg out of camera.

Visit my Learning Center with all my free tips and inspirations around photography

Wish you a great Wednesday!

Marcus

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Go out and experiment!

Big Blue
Sea Life

Sea Life | North Sea | 2018

I’m back home in Nuremberg, after an eventless, smooth flight across the Northern Atlantic.  The 9h 30 min flight from PDX to AMS (I was able to rebook to the direct flight instead going via Seattle) was long enough to watch two movies (“12 Strong” and “The Post”), enjoy a wood plank grilled salmon dinner and get in some sleep before landing in Amsterdam. There I had only 60 minutes connection time, so I was back  home in time for a late family breakfast. My long travel back at least helped my to unwind after a hard work week in Portland.

The photo above, taken with my iPhone somewhere from high above the North Sea, was actually the only one I got out of this business trip. The OM-D didn’t even leave her bag all week (is a camera a she??). The scenery with the wind park and the passing boat visually attracted me. The soft color gradient from dark to light blue, the lines of the offshore wind mills, the 90 degree angled line of the passing ship (the pic would have made a great entry to this week’s WPC challenge).  So I took my phone and clicked.

It made me feel good.

It was my visual push-up of the day.

Have an awesome and creative weekend!

Marcus

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The Earth from above in monochrome