Silent Observations

A Nubian woman clad in a traditional dress sitting in the door of her house in a Nubian village on the banks of the Nile in Upper Egypt
Silent Observations | Egypt | 2026

Life has its challenges at times, and these days it is difficult for me to find time to care for this blog. But at least I want to keep the series of 126 straight months of posting alive 😉. By leveraging a post I did the other week over on monochromia.blog where I have the honor of being a regular guest contributor. If you are into black&white photography, check out this blog as it features daily the work of some truly amazing photographers.

This street photo I took in Egypt last month. A woman sits in the doorway of her house in a Nubian village on the banks of the Nile in Upper Egypt. Wearing a light-colored traditional dress and headscarf, she holds a glass in her hands and enjoys a moment of silent observations. The photograph was made using the available late afternoon light. Sunlight falling across her face and clothing while the interior behind her remains in shadow. Shooting in monochrome was the easy choice. It emphasizes the contrast between light and dark, drawing attention to her expression and the everyday scene of village life.

Taken with my Nikon Zf and the Nikkor Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR, image specs 1/800 sec @f/6.3 and ISO 2000, 200mm focal length.

Have a great Monday

Marcus

Related Posts:

Street Photography Quick Tip (13) – Shoot in a Coffee Shop

Instant Inspiration (31) – Go for contrast

Some thoughts on monochrome shooting

Antelope Canyon in black and white

Full Moon

Monochrome image of a full moon shining into a bedroom casting beautiful shadows.
Full Moon | Genoa | 2026

The other week in our Southern Home in Genoa, I woke up in the middle of the night and noticed something different in the room. The full moon was shining through the bedroom window. I was immediately intrigued by the scene, the light kind of magic, the textured curtains casting soft silvery shadows onto the bed. It felt simple but special. I had to get up and grab my iPhone 14 Pro to capture that moment. Sometimes, the best scenes are the ones you almost miss.

Taken with my iPhone 14 Pro with the built in dark monochrome filter. No post-processing.

Have a great Sunday

Marcus

Related Posts:

Super Moon

Man on the moon

Fly me to the moon

Never give up

Stormy Highway

Stormy Highway
Stormy Highway | Bavaria | 2026

More monochrome photography in this post. Taken yesterday on a stormy highway while enroute to our Southern Home in Italy. No worries, I didn’t drive under the influence (of photography). Our e-car was driving autonomous on the highway in Southern Bavaria, supervised by Big Boy sitting behind the wheel. While I was snapping at the amazing cloudscape with ever-changing light with my iPhone 16 Pro Max from the passenger seat. To see more images of this photographic road trip continue after the jump….

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Hamburg Monochrome

Monochrome Elphi Hamburg
Wedding Day | Hamburg | 2026

I haven’t posted in a while, but life has been quite busy lately, especially in the job that pays the bills. But photography (and this blog) is never forgotten. Last weekend, The Significant Other any I headed to Hamburg for a dearly needed 5 day getaway. Obviously I took plenty of images during those 5 days on the snowy banks of the Elbe River. What I’m sharing today are a couple of monochrome photographs, a mix of street and other images (I have no clue what to call the three non-street photos). See the other images after the jump…

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A walk with my phone

Backlit mountain forest captured on a walk with my phone

Yesterday afternoon, The Significant Other and I went for a walk up the mountain behind the house we’re staying. Sure enough an opportunity to capture some of the surrounding beauty on a sensor. As “real” camera I brought the Nikon Zf plus some primes. And then there are the two iPhone cameras in my office phone (iPhone 16 Pro Max) and my personal device (iPhone 14 Pro). The camera I grabbed for our walk was the technically “weakest”, the iPhone 14 Pro.

Photography literally means “drawing with light”. There is no reference about technology in this. While having a capable device to capture light on a sensor (or film) certainly is a prerequisite, it is not the key component for taking good photographs. In fact, some of the world’s greatest images have been captured with technology that was far inferior to what we can use today. Photography is more about the eye, the creativity in our minds than technology. Taking landscape images, it is about light, contrast, color, shapes, textures and composition. And this for me is the fun when out and about, doing my “visual push ups”. So come along for a walk with my phone…..

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Uzbekistan explored – Desert City

Khiva Uzbekistan Desert City
Khiva | Uzbekistan | 2025

A few weeks ago, at the end of May, The Significant Other and I went on a 10 day trip to Uzbekistan. Since my teen years I wanted to tour the magic cities along the Silk Road that I read about in the adventures of Venetian merchant Marco Polo. With Khiva, Bukhara, Shakhrisabz, Samarkand and Tashkent we visited five Unesco World Heritage Sites along the ancient trade route between China and Europe. This post in my series “Uzbekistan explored” takes you along to a place that feels like it’s been untouched for centuries. But that’s exactly how it felt the moment we stepped through the gates of Khiva, the desert city in the far west of Uzbekistan, rising out of the stark beauty of the Kyzylkum Desert. An ancient Silk Road oasis frozen in time.

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Uzbekistan explored – People of Khiva

Girl in Khiva Uzbekistan showing me a heart with her hands

“Uzbekistan explored – People of Khiva” is the first in a series of blogposts about our recent journey through beautiful Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is an amazing place for street photography, the people super friendly and open to be photographed. Continue after the jump to see more street images from Khiva, our first destination in Uzbekistan.

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