Travel Photography

You’ve got a Friend
You've got a Friend

You’ve got a friend | Gosausee | 2018 | 1/125 sec @ f/5.6 and ISO 200

“You’ve got a friend” is a great song by Carol King. If you don’t know it, look it up on Youtube. Big Girl got a new friend while hiking on Lake Gosau in the Austrian Alps this afternoon. The butterfly initially was attracted by Grandma’s shoes, then hopped over onto the legs of The Significant Other. Then he transferred himself onto the fingers of Big Girl. He sat on her hands for a good 15 minutes. The amazing close-up shot you can find after the jump…. (more…)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Twisted
Legs

Ricoh GR II | 1/40 sec @ f/2.8 and ISO 200, 18 mm focal length

“Twisted” is the prompt of this week’s WPC. And I have just the right street photographs for this challenge, with pedestrians having a twist and doing the twist. Both images were taken in Portland, which is also a good fit for this week, as this is where I currently am, doing another two-week work stint in the Pacific Northwest.

The Move

Olympus PEN-F | 1/250 sec @ f/5.6 and ISO 1600 |120 mm focal length

The good news is I’ll be enjoying the long Memorial Day weekend over here. I haven’t decided on any plans yet, but there will be plenty of opportunity for some extended photography. And the weather should also be quite ok. Now I just need to make it into the weekend….

Wish you all a great Wednesday!

Marcus

Related Posts:

Willamette Blue Hour

The Streets of Portland – Finally

The Hood and the Flowers

Hiking on the Oregon Coast

Weekly Photo Challenge: Liquid

 

Backlit Fountain Street Photography

“Liquid” is the theme of the WPC Weekly Photo Challenge this week. So let it be wet! My title photo is a street photo from downtown Nuremberg.  The image was taken with my Olympus PEN-F with the mZuiko 14-150mm F/4-5.6. Image specs 1/250 sec @ f/5.6 and ISO 320. Have I mentioned before I am a big fan of shooting into the light? You just have to make sure you measure for the correct exposure, as back-lit images tend to be too dark, as the camera “sees” too much light, especially with matrix exposure metering. In these situations it is best to switch on center weighted or even spot metering and put your metering point(s) over the area you want to have correctly exposed. In this case I exposed for the hair of the girl, which had a great midtone contrast.

For a small collection of more liquid street-, landscape- and travel-photos I invite you to look after the jump…. (more…)

NYC Experience – Empire State Building
Empire State Building 06

View towards North East

This episode from our week in NYC I takes you up one of the most iconic buildings in the world, the Empire State Building, located on the west side of Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets. The Art Deco skyscraper was completed in 1931. Including the antenna it has a height of  1,454 feet (443.2 m). For a bit about the building and more photos continue after the jump… (more…)

NYC Experience – Day at the Museum
AMNH NYC 08

Watch your back | New York City | 2018

One of the largest museums in the world is the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City. It is situated across the Central Park in the Upper West Side of the Big Apple. Opened in 1877, the museum contains over 33 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains and cultural artifacts, of which only a small fraction can be displayed at any given time. If you have seen the 2006 movie “Night at the Museum”, you know that this exhibits can come to live at times. For more about the museum and more photographs from our visit continue after the jump…

(more…)

Spring in my City
Imperial Castle

Castle Gardens | Nuremberg | 2018

A side product from Tuesday’s coaching session in Nuremberg’s historic Old Town were some of my own photographs from my blooming city that I need to show off. Enjoy more images after the jump… (more…)

NYC Experience – Lady Liberty
Liberty Flag

Liberty Flag | New York City | 2018

The most iconic monument in New York City is doubtless Lady Liberty, the most famous statue of the world, guarding the entrance to New York harbor since 1886. For a bit more history about the Statue of Liberty, info about our visit and more photographs, continue after the jump…. (more…)

NYC Experience – DUMBO
Bokeh Bridge

Bokeh Bridge | New York City | 2018 | 1/10sec @ f/4 and ISO 200

DUMBO stands for “Down under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass”, the Brooklyn neighborhood on the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. Originally a ferry landing, with 19th- and early 20th-century industrial and warehouse buildings, the area is now a hip and expensive neighborhood with plenty bars, restaurants and fancy apartments in the converted brick buildings.

I love NYC

I love NYC  | New York | 2018 | 1/80 sec @ f/4 and ISO 640

From Manhattan it best can be reached via the A-Line Station “High Street / Brooklyn Bridge”. Form the station you can easily reach beginning of the famous walkway of the Brooklyn Bridge, or you can wander down to the East River  to take in the awesome views of the Manhattan downtown skyline and the massive two bridges crossing the East River, best seen from the Brooklyn Bridge Park.

I was quite amazed by the nice bokeh my mZuiko 12-100mm f/4 produced at its widest aperture, and I loved experimenting a bit in the waning light of a splendid NYC day.

Blue Hour Skyline

Blue Hour Skyline | New York City | 2018  | 1/13 sec @ f/4 and ISO 400

What also sets this lens apart, is the awesome lens internal image stabilization. I shot the next two photos with a shutter speed of 1/5 sec hand-held, and they are real sharp. This saves me lugging around a tripod, which is a key benefit when roaming a full day through a city on foot. Shooting low light with this lens and my Olympus OM-D E-M1 is so much fun. Despite the slow shutter speeds I could keep ISO at by, never exceeding 1600 (which is no problem noise-wise on the Olympus). And at f/4, the lens is still sharp across the frame and along the full zoom range. A great piece of glass.

Manhattan Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge | New York City | 2018  | 1/5 sec @ f/4 and ISO 800

If you want to rest a bit and are in for a pizza, directly underneath the bridges are various Italian restaurants featuring coal fired brick pizza ovens, something that is not allowed across the East River in Manhattan for fire prevention reasons. We went to Grimaldi’s on Front Street.

The Bridge

The Bridge | New York City | 2018  | 1/5 sec @ f/4 and ISO 1600

This photograph of the Manhattan Bridge behind brick buildings of Washington Street, with the Empire State Building visible beneath the bridge was on my “must have shot” list. During my earlier trips to the Big Apple I never made it to DUMBO, and I have a framed photograph of this famous view by German photographer Steffen Böttcher (“Stilpirat”)  hanging in my office. So sure we finished our tour with this iconic view, just down from the High Street subway station.

Have a great Wednesday!

Marcus

Related Posts:

My New York City Eye Opener

NYC Experience – Times Square

NYC Experience – Top of the Rocks

Weekly Photo Challenge: Bridge

My kind of Sunday
Sunny Sunday

Sunny Sunday | New York City | 2018

It’s sunny today in Nuremberg. In fact, we’ve had a unusually warm, almost summer-like week. Nature has exploded around us. I’m sitting out on the deck working through my NYC photos, still amazed by the swagger of the Big Apple. Is there any other city where dogs wear sunglasses?

Later today we’ll visit friends for a barbecue (and some drone flying). Life is good! Tomorrow I’ll head back to Portland, Oregon. Just for a week. And believe it or not, the weather forecast for the Pacific Northwest calls for sunny days and temperatures in the 80’s. Crazy world, but I’ll take it 🙂

This photo I took last weekend on the Brooklyn Bridge with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-100 F/4 Pro Zoom. Image specs 1/640 sec @ f/7.1 and ISO 200, 80mm focal length.

Have a great Sunday!

Marcus

Related Posts:

Life in the Big Apple

Street ? Lake !

Summer over the Imperial Castle

Rip City Experience

NYC Experience – Top of the Rocks
1 sec @ f/4 and ISO 200

View South towards mid-/downtown | 1.6 sec @ f/4 and ISO 200

In this episode about our week in NYC I want to take you up to the observation deck of the Rockefeller Center, called “Top of the Rocks”, just a few blocks to walk from Times Square. At 10:30pm there was no waiting line, so after showing our vouchers from the New York City Pass we could directly take the elevator up to the 67th floor, from where we enjoyed first views through glass panels (a bit protected from the cold winds), but then continued on to the open air viewing platform on the 70th floor. For a bit more info and some more photos continue after the jump…. (more…)