Street | Urban | Travel | Photography by Marcus Puschmann
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…. Continue reading “Match Day”
I don’t shoot much sports, and of the more than 400 posts published on the “Streets of Nuremberg”, less than a handful were about sports photography. But yesterday was a kind of special day, as the Big Boy played his last career soccer match, and of course I needed to properly capture this on a sensor, as I did also with his very first match, exactly 4628 days ago. He went out in style, scoring a goal in the 2:1 win of his team that also secured promotion of the squad into the next higher league for next year’s team.
To see a few images from yesterday’s game, learn about my photographic approach to get a few decent sports photos plus a trip down memory lane to Big Boys’s first match 13 years ago, continue after the jump….
Finally the World Cup fever is properly settling in. I was in the kitchen all morning preparing food for a big soccer party with our neighbors this afternoon when Germany takes on Mexiko in their quest to defend the Cup. The weather is fine, so we’ll watch together in our driveway on the big screen. Plenty of food and drinks and hopefully a good match. Let the games truly begin…. Continue reading “Matchday”
The World Cup has kicked off in Russia. Soccer is the national sport of Germany, and 80 Million head coaches are trying to figure out the best starting lineup for the first match of the defending World Champion on Sunday versus Mexico.
As I write this I’m sitting on my couch and watch the match of tournament favorite France playing the Soccaroos from Australia. Amazingly, they are tied at 1:1 going into the last 15 minutes…. Continue reading “Game On”
In less than 72 hours the FIFA World Cup will be upon us. Strangely, here in Germany it is still pretty quiet around the Nation’s favorite sports team, and we are far away from the euphoric mood that rocked our country four years ago and that culminated in one huge party when Germany won the final against Argentina for our fourth World Title. Maybe it has to do with the meager results in the test matches leading up to the tournament. Maybe it has to do with the host country Russia, which is not really known as a soccer nation. I myself am rather bearish on our chances for defending the cup.
But at least we have a chance, as opposed to the US team that didn’t even make it through the qualifiers. Maybe players like this highly skilled soccer dad would have helped the Team USA to make the tournament. His dedication for the ball and the fun he had with his kids was contagious. Eleven guys like him would make for a formidable squad, I’m very sure.
Photographically I worked the scene a bit with this guy. In the first image I intentionally used the unsharp faces of the kids enjoying their ice cream to frame the soccer player as they passed directly in front of my lens, shooting at the long end of my 12-100mm F/4 zoom. This creative composition element created depth in the image, served as a frame for the main subject and also provided a juxtaposition between savoring food and doing sports. My other photos from the scene you can find after the jump… Continue reading “World Cup fever and some thoughts on composition”
The going gets tough in the next 10 days. Tomorrow I’m heading back to Portland for a brief 48 hour stint, only to return to Nuremberg already on Saturday. Next week is a big week at work with some high level meetings, and it’s the birthday week for Big Girl (Wednesday) and The Significant Other (Thursday), with the latter reaching the big 5 milestone 😉 , which will be properly celebrated with various events throughout the rest of the week and the weekend. So I know what keeps me busy the next week and a half.
Through all of this I will join the 10 Day Photography Challenge of fellow blogger Cassia Denner. I came across her blog while browsing through the photography feed in the WordPress reader, saw her post about the challenge and signed up. It will run from February 1st through February 10th. 10 days – 10 topics. All photos have to be taken by the contestants. Also participating in the challenge are the challenge host Cassia (thanks so much for organizing this), Ariana, Gracie, Jenna, Arabella and Susan, all in all a good mix of young and talented photographers and more seasoned veterans 😉 .
I have never participated in a challenge like this before, but I’m curious how it will pan out, considering that during the challenge I will be occupied with two intercontinental flights and tons of business meetings and birthday parties 😉 . But at least I don’t have to think what to post on the blog. I get my daily assignment, go out, shoot and post. I’m sure it’s gonna be fun! You will see the results on this blog! Game On!
Be sure to check out my free Learning Center, if you also look for tips and inspirations around photography.
Have a great Tuesday!
Marcus
Related Posts:
Weekly Photo Challenge: Growth
Weekly Photo Challenge: Serene
July is upon us and with it the time for glorious, fiery summer sunsets. In the colors black, red and gold. The colors of the German flag.
And the start of July treated us German soccer fans to two international titles. First the Under 21 national squad won the European title by defeating Spain 1:0 in the finals. And tonight our National Team won the Confederations Cup in St. Petersburg with a 1:0 win over Chile. And this with a B-squad, as the key players from the 2014 World Cup Winner were given the summer off to get the needed rest before the pending start of the new European soccer season that will be capped with the World Cup 2018 in Russia next summer.
The two victories give is plenty hope we can defend our title next summer.
Image specs are 1/3200 sec @ f/7,1 and ISO 400. The short exposure time ensure the rendering of the landscape as a black silhouette.
Have a great July!
Marcus
Related Posts:
Check out my Learning Center with all my free photography tips and inspirations