Micro-Wave

It is time for another time lapse movie and this is my shortest one ever. It's not a short movie, not a miniature one, no, it is a micro one. Made from 22 pictures that were taken this August at the North Sea in Belgium. I didn't use a tripod and consider the tilted horizon an expression of my artistic freedom:

World Tour Part I - Darmstadt

Ta da! I am presenting you with the first part of a new photo series in which I am going to show places of the world, big or small, remarkable or not so much. We are beginning with a "not so much" candidate, Darmstadt.

In Darmstadt, you can always go for a walk:


whether you have four paws or two:


You can confess your sins:


or just admire the pretty colours and the beautiful architecture of the Russian Orthodox church:


Afterwards, you can have a quiet little chat in a secluded place:


And if you contemplate moving there, you should know that some of their houses, namely the Hundertwasser complex "Waldspirale", are not exactly straight:


but very colourful and royal looking:

Monkey business reloaded

A monkey is just another human .. that's the impression I had the other day in my favourite zoo in Leipzig.

They are pensive:


observant:


like to laze around:


take care of their kids:


and sometimes just sit together to eat and gossip:

Always a topic: weather

As opposed to Spain or Italy, the weather here is everchanging and so we always have a reason to complain.

It's raining:


Foggy:


Or it won't stay that nice for long:

On The Beach

If you know me, you will have heard me whine before about how far the sea is, how there is even a dearth of lakes, that it all is just not like in L. Well, on the Pentecost weekend, I accidentally discovered a lake, some 50km (30 minutes) away from my place. Won't tell you exactly where but I will show you what it looks like:

The path that is leading to the secret lake:


the local flora:



and fauna (in the form of a great crested grebe):


and the lake itself:



PS: And of course (of course!) the title carries its soundtrack within.

I beg your pardon...

... I never promised you a rose garden. But if I did, it would be the "Rosengarten" (sorry, no English version of the site yet) in Bad Langensalza where you can find:

roses (obviously):






but also delphinium:

unmanned


and manned


and even lavender:


And that's a German rosegarden for you - no flower would dare to break ranks ;-)


An interesting technical aspect about these photos: I accidentally took my 100 mm macro lens only and left the tripod head at home, so I was limited to that focal length and tripodless shooting. I'm not showing you the misses but I still think I nevertheless managed quite a few hits :-).

1:25

I took the picture of these water lilies in Mini-a-thuer where everything is scaled 1:25. Now imagine that the flowers are, too...

Happy Birthday, Second!

"They say it's your birthday..." Have a great one, lil second :)

And as a special birthday gift for you - rain:

Geometrical Landscape

It's for a reason that they call my region The green heart of Germany:

Lake Side

Details when I get back..

Le jardin est tout vert*

Although this is a photo I took at the palace gardens in Würzburg, I read the headline on a café's signboard in Brussels. I found it original because it says "the garden is all green" but when I read it out loud, it sounded like all the lines at all the signs during the summer: "le jardin est ouvert" (the garden is open). So, intentional or misspelling?

Currant Impulse

They don't taste very good, they have too many seeds for such small berries and they're a pain to pluck. But they look as if they were made of pure crystal - white currants:

The Raven(s)

Not by Poe but by me:

Tea roses

Do they have the colour of tea? Do you put them on the tea table? Or do they smell like tea?

So many questions and so little time ;-)

Another little flower

.. and exactly the colour that was still missing in this garden:

Life In A Day

I was thinking whether or not I should somehow contribute to the movie, picturing life on the 24 July but then I don't have a video camera and I think time lapse films are not permitted. So my contribution is a photo:

The upside of summer rain

Yesterday, it rained for most of the day, to a point that it started to depress me. But when it was over, I could take this picture:

Far Far Away

...I've seen the morning in the mountains of Alaska
I've seen the sunset in the east and in the west...

Industry meets Nature

... in Würzburg:

Improving the world

R., my student, came in this morning with a little bouquet of cornflowers in a glass of water. "My contribution to improving the world", she said which referred to our conversation on Tuesday. "Beautiful", I said. "Perfect for decorating the classroom." "They are to take with you..." And so I did: