Sitting in Portland, fighting a really bad case of jet lag and fully tied up in project work for the job that pays the bills, I needed to dig deep into my archives to find a “cheeky” street photo that I can enter into this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge from WordPress. But I guess trying to splash the photographer could pass as a cheeky act ;-).
Taken with my Ricoh GR II, image specs 1/500 sec @ f/6.3 and ISO 400.
KPW | Portland | 2017 1/40 sec @ f/2.8 and ISO 200
After a six week hiatus I was back in Rose City this week. And amazingly, the weather matched the season, with some beautiful and warm summer days. Despite a fully loaded schedule I managed a small photowalk last evening, just taking my tiny Ricoh GR II that I had brought for this trip and doing a bit of walking through a mild Portland summer evening. I was looking for the famous “Keep Portland Weird” sign that I haven’t seen before, and that set the tone for the rest of my walk. For some more “weird” photographs from PDX continue after the jump… Continue reading “Keep Portland Weird”→
What a week, what a trip. Portland (Oregon), Cypress (California) and Plano (Texas) all in one week. Some readers asked about some shots from Southern California. There are non. I did have a dinner at Huntington Beach, but it was dark and apart from this dinner event there were only airports, hotels, meeting rooms. After a full week away from home (I left last Sunday before sunrise, will return this Sunday late afternoon) I’m looking forward for some nights at home, before heading back to the US (Detroit) the week after next. Right now I sit in the Lounge at Atlanta’s Hartsfield Intl, waiting for my transatlantic flight to Paris. There is nothing glorious about Business Travel. Photographically I’m happy noneless, ’cause I got this great shot of the Heineken Bar I already posted. One good shot a week makes me happy 🙂
I’m sitting in Texas right now on a quick business two day in-and-out trip but no real photo opportunities, not even at the airport. This one is from the archives (well not really, I took it last week in Munich), but I thought I do a quick post to welcome December, the 12th month of this blog 🙂 . And seriously, I’m ready for some real snow, although as a frequent traveller, I should rather be careful what I wish for.
The photo was taken with the Ricoh GR II at 1/60 sec F/3.2 and ISO1600 at the Promenadeplatz in Munich. I’m finding that lately I’m drawn more to color street photos but I guess that comes with the season. And seriously, there is no sane reason to convert a blue hour photo to black & white!!
Following up my last post “Rainy Streets” I’m presenting Episode 5 of my popular Instant Inspirations. Don’t use the dull and wet November weather as excuse to not go out shooting. On the contrary, this weather provides for great opportunities to bring new creativity to your photography – go out and shoot puddles! To find out how and see more examples, continue reading after the jump….
Hangman’s Residence | Nuremberg | 2016Today’s episode of Nuremberg Explored features the Henkerhaus (Hangman’s House), built together with the adjacent Henkerturm in the early 14th century as part of Nuremberg’s medieval city fortifications.
Situated in a sandstone bridge directly over the Pegnitz river the Henkerhaus is the former official living quarters of the executioner of the free imperial city of Nuremberg. The historic building houses a museum that offers fascinating views into the job and the criminal history in medieval Nuremberg. Much of the information comes from first hand, as Franz Schmidt, the most famous of the city’s hangman’s provided insights into his life by leaving us his diaries. Nurembergs Hangman’s lived their isolated lives in these quarters for almost 400 years from the 15th century to 1806.
The buildings on the left are the Wasserturm (Watertower), built in 1320-1325 and the Weinstadel (Winehouse), a historic half timbered house that today is used as a student dormitory.
I took the photograph with my Ricoh GR II with 1/6 sec, f/2.8 and ISO 1600. B&W conversion in Lightroom CC.
November is upon us. Many persons I know dread this month, as it is the month of remembrance of the dead, the month of grey, foggy, cold dull days. There is lots of work in the garden to prepare it for winter. With the change of the clock to winter time this past weekend it is practically dark by 5pm. It is also the transition month between the last warm days of the year with the explosive colors of autumn and the happiness and joy of the upcoming festive season.
Even though daytime photography is practically limited to the weekend as daylight is limited to my working hours, November has great photo opportunities on its own. The fog that frequently enters the city and creeps along the banks of the Pegnitz river makes for great images when combined with the rays of the street lanterns and silhouettes of people rushing by. And its the best time to go out and do some night photography, something we now can comfortably do directly after work, without having to wait until 11pm like in the summer months.
Nuremberg provides for some awesome night photography opportunities, as you can see from the example above. I took this image from the Maxbrücke towards the Henkerhaus (hangman’s house) with its double arches crossing the Pegnitz River. Visible in the background are the twin bell towers of St. Lorenz Church.
I took this image with the Ricoh GR II. Specs are 1/4 sec at f/2.8 and ISO 1600. I rested the camera on the stone railing of the Maxbrücke and used the self timer to avoid shake. I always find it amazing what this small cam is capable of producing in terms of IQ.
The cold season has truly arrived in Nuremberg, it’s been gray and rainy all day. Not that fall wouldn’t provide good photo opportunities, just think about the coloring leaves and wet puddles that can be used to capture street scene reflections (reminds me I need to do an “Instant Inspiration” on that).
This street scene I took near the front of our German National Museum (Germanisches Nationalmuseum) on the South Side of Nurembergs Old Town.
Image taken with the Ricoh GR with 1/125 sec @ f/5 and ISO 160.
After receiving so much positive feedback for the kickoff of my “Instant Inspiration”series (link to episode 1 at the end of this post) here is episode 2: Go out and shoot a motion blur image. These two photographs I took in the Munich subway with my Ricoh GR II. I used Shutter Priority to set a low shutter speed of 1/6 sec (top image) and 1/8 second (image below), both were shot at f/11 with ISO 1600. What also works in these images are the complimentary dominating colors blue-green and red-yellow. The photo above I shot out of the train window as it arrived at a station. For the image below I stood at a platform shooting the arriving train with a waiting commuter in front. So next time you want to do something against your photographers block go out and shoot a motion blur photo using slow shutter speeds. You are invited to show your results by posting a link in the comment section. Go out and have a blast!
This is it, the final warm weekend of the Summer 2016. Have been enjoying a cup of Espresso on the terrace of my mother’s nursing home in Nuremberg. We’re expecting a marvelous Sunday as well tomorrow.
Image taken with the high contrast program of the Ricoh GR. 1/500 sec @ f|6,3 and ISO 250.
Doing a lot of flying these days. Last week Berlin and Marseille, today London and tomorrow Stockholm. This shot I took this morning in the tunnel of Terminal 2 in Heathrow airport while heading for a 6:30 am return flight to Frankfurt and on to Nuremberg. Boy was it hard getting up at 3:30 for a 4 am Taxi ride to the airport. Continue reading “Street ? Airport ! (3)”→
Street Photographers tend to fall in two categories. There are the hunters, and then there are the gatherers. Does that concept sound familiar? After all, humans have been hunters and gatherers forever. Continue reading “Are you a Hunter or a Gatherer ?”→
