Weeping Willow

"'Why do willows weep?' said he,
'because they're dying gradually,
from the waste, from the factories,
down by the river.'"

Second sight

How's the weather going to be next week? Who is going to win the World Cup? When will the economy pick up?
Looking into my crystal ball(s), predicting the future should be no problem at all...

Colour-less

Last Sunday, I used my friend's bridge camera, a Canon Powershot, for a little experiment: His camera has the option of selecting one colour while focussing and in the picture, just this one colour will show while all the others appear b/w. The effect is a bit spooky, especially on flowers I think:

One ring to love them all

If you position a ring in an open book and the light comes from the perfect angle and with the right intensity, it casts a heart shaped shadow. This is my first attempt and yes, I blame the soft sunlight as well for results that are far from crystal clear...

New Cat On The Block

My parents' neighbours have got a new kitten, Mia, who - shocker! - feels better at my parents' than at her own home, being chased by a dog and pulled around by three lively brats.. err, children ;-)

Nightlife Reloaded

This portrait of the city at night was taken on the last day of Luminale, hence in spring. I wonder if it looks any different from those taken in winter. Does it?

Luminale VII (the end)

Everything is bigger in a big city...

Luminale VI

Firefighters - people who fight fire or those who fight with fire? Make up your mind now...

Luminale V

And this is the sycamore alley on said museum embankment at that night:

Luminale IV

One side of the river Main in Frankfurt is called Museumsufer ("Museums embankment") because obviously, it is paved with museums. This statue of light was standing in front of the Museum für Kommunikation and you have to admit that it could be a good conversation starter ;-)

Luminale III

I have to be immodest here but I think this picture is poster material again - the perfect composition of fountain, moon above and photographer+camera silhouette in front of it...

Luminale II

The name of this Statue, erected in 1985 in the park between Old Opera and ECB tower is "Aufforderung" (invitation or calling). You can use your imagination to figure out what it is inviting you to... Lit in green during Luminale.

Luminale I

This picture is the start of a new short series (a week at the most). Yesterday, Luminale 2010 ended and I grabbed the opportunity to take a lottt of pictures. I'll start by showing you the installation in front of the stock market.

On grey days...

... you have to look at the world through rose-coloured glasses ;-)

Fairy Tears

This photo was one of the first ones after getting my reversed ring and learning the technique of using it - in pre-macro lens times. The effect is similar to the one achieved with the macro lens even though it is more work to achieve it.
Anyway, this is what water droplets on a CD look like, seen through the other side of a 18-55mm lens without flash and post-processing.

Good morning starshine

Even though this is evening and another example of my experiments with street lights shot through self-made bokeh lenses, in the shape of little stars this time...

Pure Grace

There is no other expression I can find for this cat's pose...

Lichtblumen

I made some "bokeh lenses" yesterday and tried them out with the lights of the night. Now I just need to work on the foreground...

Happy Birthday, Ee!

Even though the flowers are just blue, not teal, I wish you a great day and a colourful year - have a blast!

Knotted

The other day, I bought one book on Celtic knots and one on Chinese knots for jewellery and now I'm starting to try them out. What you can see here are the second and third necklace I made. I quite like them and they actually look even better on a person's (my) neck.
Oh, and check out the bokeh :-)


PS: I'm sorry for still using only this one blog for photos but maybe it'll help loading faster if I only have the last 10 (instead of 30) pictures displayed on the first page.

Experiments with fountains

Warning: Today's pictures contain theory!
Don't be scared, it's actually not that bad, I'm just showing one picture that was taken with a high and one with a low shutter speed plus ND-filters.

1/100 s:



2 s:

Layer Cake

However here, the layers are not the classical cake-cream-jam but meadow, field and farther away hills, shot during a stop on my way back on Monday.

Tulpenbaum

My grandmother called Magnolias "Tulpenbaum" (tulip tree) because, well, the blossoms resemble tulips. This picture however is dedicated to my friend M. because she made me watch Steel Magnolias, her favourite movie, and I quite liked it, too.

Haunted House

This is a run-down house behind Apolda's train station, looks a bit like a haunted mansion in this photo I think.

Narcissist

I wonder why these little flowers are called narcissus, did they appear quite self-centred at some point? Their other name in German is "Osterglocken" (Easter bells), so there we have the theme again, for the last time this year I dare to say.

Happy Easter!

Yes, we dyed eggs yesterday. Yes, I made my mother hide them for me again. And yes, I know how old I am ;-)

Bauhaus for everyone

2009 was the big year of the Bauhaus school all over Germany and so today (one year late), I'm finally presenting you an oeuvre that is based on the painting of the church of Mellingen by one its representatives, Lyonel Feininger's. This tower shows his painting in a three-dimensional way and was erected in the 1990s in Mellingen, a small town near Weimar in Thuringia.

Heaven and Earth

I have some problems with landscape photography. Either the landscape is often boring here or it is just my inability to capture it well or you have the nicest view where you can impossibly stop to take a picture. This picture belongs into the third category - cheers to (occasional) speed limits ;-)

Bernd das Brot

Bernd das Brot is a grumpy character in the children's channel KIKA which is located in Erfurt, my state capital. And it is there that a Bernd monument was erected. Now I'm waiting for one dedicated to his colleague - Chilli das Schaf...