Since arriving in the Rose City Monday night, it has been pouring down. It has been cold and miserable. There is nothing but grey outside the office windows. No chance to grab the camera and go out and shoot some street photography. At least we were spared the snow-induced chaos that has hit the Seattle area and the Columbia River Gorge just East of Portland and led to massive travel problems. Colleagues that booked flights via Seattle did not make it to PDX due to cancellations. I instead had booked a “Southern arrival route”, flying to Portland via Zurich and San Francisco, thus avoiding any weather induced problems. (more…)
No, “say cheese” is not what I say when taking a candid street portrait of a complete stranger. Actually it is much simpler. Walking up, smiling, raising the camera, taking the shot, smiling again, maybe waving “thanks”, walking away. That’s standard street photography. About half of the people put up a smile and actually like having their picture taken, the other half doesn’t react much, and then there is maybe one in fifteen tries where the person signals they are not in agreement to have a stranger take their picture. In those cases I smile “thanks anyway” and walk away. No big deal. No reason to be anxious taking portraits of strangers.
Photograph taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4. Image specs 1/60 sec @ F/4 and ISO 250, 29mm focal length. I was standing directly in front of this guy, you can see my reflection in the window of the ice cream parlor.
To everyone out there, but particularly to all the many magic people I’ve had the blessings to meet virtually – and this year also finally face-to-face – during my three 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.
Merry Christmas from the Streets of Nuremberg
Marcus
Imperial Castle | Nuremberg | 2018
Christmas Reflections | Nuremberg | 2018
Christmas Market & Church of our Lady | Nuremberg | 2018
I’m back in the air, crossing the Northern Atlantic Ocean on my last trip to the Pacific Northwest. For this year, that is. I’m glad I’m flying directly to Portland from Amsterdam, saving me the hustle of a connection somewhere in the US, which would have been most likely problematic, given the winter weather that has hit many parts of America in the past days. We left Amsterdam with a ninety minute delay due to the late inbound flight from NYC, but will be catching up most of the time, which will put me on the ground in Rose City around noon and in the office around 1:30pm for a good half day of work, before I will hit the pillows after another 24 hour day. But there will be some incentives on this trip, like visiting a Blazers game tomorrow night and spending the weekend on the Oregon coast.
The photograph for this post I took with my OM-D E-M5 with the 14-150mm F/4-5.6. If you look at the image specs (1/100 sec @ f/5.4 and ISO5000), you can imagine that the image was taken in less than ideal light conditions, given the high ISO I needed to dial-in in order to generate the 1/100 sec shutter speed I needed to freeze the action. Can you guess what it is? Let me know in the comments. I will eventually post the solution there…
What are they thinking about? This series of shopkeepers, all waiting for customers, all lost in thoughts, I took while strolling through Genoa’s medieval old town. An awesome place for Street Photography.
1/320 sec – f/4.5 – ISO 3200 – 100 mm
1/250 sec – f/4.5 – ISO 3200 – 100 mm
1/200 sec – f/4 – ISO 3200 – 100 mm
Grab your camera, head to the streets and take a themed series of photographs. It helps to train the eye! Try it!
“Instant Inspirations” 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. Episode 27 is for you, if you are tired of taking the same “postcard” photographs of famous attractions that everybody else shoots.
When in Berlin the other week, we stepped onto Alexanderplatz where the famous huge TV tower is situated. Affectionately called “Spargel”, with its height of 368 metres (including antenna) it is the tallest structure in Germany, and the second-tallest structure in the European Union! Located in Berlin Mitte, you can take a lift 207 meters up and have a 360 degree view of the German capital! On top there is also a bar and a restaurant where you can eat and enjoy the fantastic view while sitting!
First reflex would be to take a photo of the big tower, maybe combine it with the red Berlin City Hall or the bell tower of the Nikolai-Church. The Postcard Shots. Which of course I have taken as well during prior visits. There is nothing wrong with Postcard shots. Everybody back home would be disappointed if you don’t have the classic shot everybody knows from magazines and coffee table books. So take one. But then, to satisfy your creative genes, go look for slightly different perspectives. For some ideas continue after the jump…. (more…)
After leaving the Oregon Coast, the next stop of our summer family vacation in the Pacific Northwest was Crater Lake. Established already in 1902, Crater Lake is the fifth-oldest national park in the United States and also Oregon’s only national park. For some more information and more photographs of this jewel, continue after the jump…. (more…)
After our adventures on the Olympic Peninsula we crossed the mouth of the mighty Columbia River into Oregon via the Astoria Megler Bridge (have done a post about it more than a year ago, which you can read here). While new for the family, this brought me back into familiar territory, as I have visited the Oregon coast numerous times while working my project in Portland. We stayed two nights, one in Garibaldi and the second one in Florence. To see a few photos from this stretch of our summer PNW tour, continue after the jump…. (more…)
Mount Olympus | 1/1600 sec – f/7,1 – ISO 200 – 150mm
Our summer tour through the Pacific Northwest continued with a trip to the Olympic Peninsula, west of Seattle. We have set up camp for two nights in a Bed&Breakfast in Port Townsend, from where we visit the mountainous part of Olympic National Park, then headed to the West for a night in Kalaloch at the Lodge, for a stunning Pacific Ocean sunset and trips to the only rainforests of the northern hemisphere. For a bit more info and some photos continue after the jump… (more…)
“Instant Inspirations” 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. Episode 26 is about shooting an optical illusion.
The shot above was taken with my Olympus PEN-F and the mZuiko 40-150mm F/2.8. Image specs are 1/250 sec @ f/6,3 and ISO 200, with 150mm focal length (300mm full frame equivalent).
What do you see? A ship, crossing the sky like an airplane? Let me tell you, there are no flying ships in the skies above Washington State, even with innovative aircraft manufactures like Boeing in the area. But why is there a mountain, the clouds above, and then a ship?
I took this photo up on Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. It shows the Juan de Fuca Strait below (the narrows between Olympic Peninsula and Vancouver Island), the sea fog near the shore and a some kind of freighter behind.
It is not always as it seems. Especially visually. Grab you camera, go out and look to capture an optical illusion. Please share a link to your results in the comments section.
