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Competition entry on the subject „Eyes“

In September, our local photo group „Fotofreunde Herborn aka. DieFotoMafia“ held a photo completion on the subject „Eyes“. As my 6-year-old daughter as my usual favorite model did not show too much motivation this time, I thought of an alternative. As „eyes“ also occur on dice and the German word for the grease drops on a soup etc. is „Fettaugen“ („fat eyes“), I improvised and turned a champagne bowl, some vegetable oil, water, syrup and two dice into my setup for the shot, and lit it with my mobile’s torch.

The result was stunning, I think, and it turned out at position three in the competition. I am quite pleased with this result.

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Mush(g)rooming for photos

Mushroom in the woods

These days, my family, some friends and I went exploring the fairy tale hike „Little Roothaar“ near Bad Laasphe. Apart from the lovingly prepared stations for the kids, I encountered some of the minute beauties next to the footpaths. They were please to model for some shots and the outcome was quite pleasant, I think.

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Head in(to) the clouds

This month’s topic of my group of co-photographers was „clouds“ so I browsed through my archive to find that I have already shot various images of clouds in all sorts of contexts over the years.

What do you think?

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My signature shot of Booze on the Beach… over the years

Over the last couple of years, I kept shooting a similar setup whenever we went for the final night picknick on the beach. This year was no different and the picknick on the beach of the German Baltic Sea in August resulted in this:

In previous years, these shots looked „same, same, but different“…

What do you think?

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Photowalk in Herborn – Vitos park

As usual, some photo friends went on a walk on April 1. This time, we chose to look for motives in the historic park of the VITOS clinics. The weather was fine this time. Unlike our previous attempt to shoot there last winter. This time, I was able to get quite a few nice shots of the architecture, the plants, and the historic cemeteries.

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Photowalk in Wetzlar (Germany)

Recently, a couple of photo friends and I went on a photowalk in the historic town of Wetzlar (Germany). The sky was overcast, the snow had almost fully melted and an almost constant drizzle lowered our expectations of good shots to a minimum. However, I accepted the bad lighting and weather as a challenge and here’s what came out:

  • Herold on tree with Leica background
  • Detail of giant camera and historic background
  • Sculpture of a jumping stag
  • Historic stairway
  • Wintery willow branch
  • Artistic masonry
  • Shades of grey and some color
  • Silver and brown leaves
  • Historic bridge
  • Sculpture in perspective
  • Historic architecture
  • Dolphin sculpture 1
  • CArving on half-timbered house
  • Historic shop sign
  • Love locks 1
  • Love locks 2
  • Menacing aries head
  • Graffitto
  • Dolphin sculpture 2
  • Graffitto detal
  • Reflections of historic church, candle and pews
  • Sculpture
  • Wintery reflections on the river
  • Shop window dwarf
  • Watchmake cornerstone
  • Sculpture and historic houses
  • Lego church spire in historic church

I think, they came out not too bad at all. What do you think?

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Spooky tour of the town of Herborn

These days, around Halloween, when it is getting darker, our little town of Herborn lends itself for an eery tour and our municipal marketing provides these tours, telling tall tales and spooky stories from the past while they go (only in German).

I was asked to take some pictures for later marketing of these tours and joined the guide last week.

However, the light and some settings were quite challenging as I did not have a chance to „stage“ any scenes but had to shoot them while the tour was running. Thus, I had to take what I could get and add some spookyness later, partially decreasing the saturation and sharpness and adjusting other bits and pieces in Lightroom.

Here are my highlights:

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Lucky shots at Lake Constance

Recently, we spent a family short break at Lake Constance in Bavaria. A visit to the archaeological museum on the lake shores gave me the chance to take some photos of the stunning scenery.

On that day, the weather was sunny and the museum was interesting. However, my highlight was a bright red dragonfly sitting on a wooden railing. Pure photographer’s luck, with the lake and the reconstructed stone-age buildings in the background.

Luckily, I had my trusted Sigma 18-250 mega zoom mounted so that I did not have to worry about object distance, bokeh and focus before the main motive escaped.

The insect stayed put and I had the chance to shoot a few different perspectives.

The results were stunning: the light, the background and focus shifts perfectly setting the scene for the main motive.

Meanwhile, I offered the museum’s marketing department to use the images. In return I got some free tickets for my next visit.

Not bad for some accidental free-hand shots, don’t you think?

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Monkeys in Salem

On occasion of our shortbreak at the Lake Constance, I recently visited Salem with its zoo/monkey enclosure. Currently, the site is home to more than 200 monkeys. With the very large area, this allows for (almost) natural conditions. This and the golden autumn sun were perfect for some „wildlife“ photography.

These are some of my favorite shots with an apparent insight into the monkeys‘ psyche:

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Classic cars in classic setting

Last month, our group of photographers got the chance to shoot 30+ classic cars in a deprecated factory setting. The opportunity was unique and my results alone were quite satisfactory.

A couple of weeks later, we were asked to follow-up on these shootings in a historic private park/estate, which was great again.

Here are just a few highlights.

Find more on our group website here.