With the third Covid wave rolling with full force through Germany, we are now facing a socially distanced Easter holiday. It’s been more than a year since the pandemic started. A year of failed promises from the countries leadership. People are worn out, it is visible everywhere. We are all in need of closeness, being able to able to physically embrace our friends when we see them. You remember the times when complete strangers stood in our pedestrian zones holding up signs offering free hugs? Instead we now only talk from a distance. But what is the photographic lessons learnt?
Anyone home? This would be the title to this street photograph. But it also would have been the right question to ask the “Streets of Nuremberg” in the past weeks, the last post already dating back to the end of February. No worries! I’m still here, alive and kicking (as much as the Covid restrictions allow).
I simply took a break from blogging. I needed it, after five years of continuous content creation. But now it’s time to be back and continue to share my photographic ventures. Will need a few days to answer all comments and catch up with all of your blogs. I hope that you all got through these pandemic time unscathed.
What looks like a scene from the arctic is actually just a few kilometers from my house, on the Dillberg. With 600m (2000ft) above sea level it is one of the higher elevations in the area. A perfect place to for some sportive activities in the snow, properly socially distanced. Or as I call it, snowsolation.
This is my last street photograph of 2020. People passing through the old city gate under the Imperial Castle. Like castle ghosts. Using my Olympus OM-D E-M1X and the mZuiko 12-100 with a long shutter speed of 2.5 sec to create the ghosting effects through intentional motion blur, both of the moving subjects as well as light intentional movements of the camera (ICM) to blur the old stones in the ancient tunnel.
“Sharpness is a bourgeois concept” is one of my favorite photographic quotes, said by the godfather of street photography Henri Cartier-Bresson. Always be open minded when you are out and about shooting. Experiment with whatever comes to your mind. You digital camera (or your smartphone) is just like the shovel that you used to play with in the sandbox when your were little.
Make 2021 your year to be more creative with your camera! If you are looking for tips and inspirations, check out my free Learning Center.
I wish all my friends a blessed, happy, marvelous, successful, beautiful, inspirational, creative, wonderful and especially healthy 2021! May all your wishes and dreams come true!
To everyone out there, but particularly to all the many magic people I’ve had the blessings to meet virtually during my five years blogging on the “Streets of Nuremberg”, I wish a peaceful and merry Christmas and much love and laughters together with your family and friends. And please stay safe!
Do you still need a present? Well, you need to hurry. At least when you live in Germany. Tomorrow our government will announce that it’s gonna send the whole country into a total lockdown. From early next week until at least mid January, everything apart from super markets and drug stores will be closed. The originally planned easing of curfews over the holidays is likely to be withdrawn. Is it necessary? There is no doubt about it. The intensive care units in the Nuremberg area (as all over Germany) are filled to capacity. And cases are still rising significantly. There is no alternative to the total lockdown. It will be a very, very quiet Christmas.
Today I was revisiting some old photographs from the trip to Moshi, Tanzania, that The Significant Other and I took back in early 2016. I will apply a different editing style in Lightroom Classic, which will be fun. It is amazing, how different you look at your own images after having them let marinate on your hard disk for a couple of years. There will be quite a few posts coming with photographs from this trip. As it looks I will plenty of time to play with my archive in the next weeks. Oh, and I have got all my presents. Hopefully I will be able to see all the people to hand them over.
I never did post some images I took during our last trip to a museum, at least for the foreseeable future, as all museums are closed due to the Covid lockdown. While I brought the Olympus OM-D E-M1X with the mZuiko 12-100 F/4 for the tour through the exhibitions of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, I never really got into the flow that evening, so the yield was rather limited, but there are a few shots that are worth sharing.
“Instant Inspiration” 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.
Sunday late afternoon I took The Significant Other and her Mom on a walk on the Streets of Nuremberg to look at the christmas lights in the city. A perfect opportunity for some blue hour shooting.
This afternoon I pulled out some random shots from this week last year that I think I never posted. And you can clearly see what’s missing this year on the Streets of Nuremberg…
“Let it snow” is a pop song from 1945, mostly played during the Christmas season, written and composed by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne. Sung by many, the probably most popular version of this song is by Dean Martin. And a most fitting song for today, December 1st 2020, as the Streets of Nuremberg are covered by the first snow of the season. How is that for a winter cliché? And now I’m dreaming of a white christmas 🙂
This photograph of half timbered houses in the Old Town below the Imperial Castle was taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-100 F/4. Image specs are 2 secs @ f/8 and ISO 250, with a focal length of 31mm (equals 62mm in full frame). Camera was on a tripod. RAW conversion and post processing in Lightroom CC
Have a great Tuesday! And keep warm and stay safe!
It has been a while since my last episode of “Buy books not gear”. I firmly believe that, by reading good photography books, we can improve our own photography much more than by buying yet another new camera or lens. And with Christmas fast approaching, this post gives you a glimpse into a marvelous coffee table book about the photographic work of Linda McCartney, a life long avid photographer and first wife of Beatle Paul McCartney.
For the book introduction and a few of Linda’s photographs continue after the jump…
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