New Design

As I mentioned earlier, I want this page pop a little more, and also show visitors highlights that are for sale no matter through which page they enter this website. I can easily analyze the effect of those changes by checking the so called "bounce rate" in Google-Analytics. So this is probably the last change of a progressive re-design, at least for the blog section. The shop and the gallery still look like before, but will be changed after this template proofs OK. As usual, your input is appreciated.

About the template. The original template is a music theme called Gramophonica, and can be found here. My picture in the header was originally taken by Elia Mariani (greetings to Italy!) on a beautiful evening in Brooklyn. I think that was in 2005.

So! Now you know everything about it.

Oh! And my 5D Mark II finally arrived. I ordered it together with a fantastic fisheye lens, but that's another story.

Prison Chess #11 - Thoughts about a series


So here is what I would like to do with the prison pictures. I would like to put them together to a series, each image accompanied by some text - text written by the inmate who is shown in the picture.
I find it interesting to read answers by different people to identical questions, so this would be one way to approach this. On the other hand, this might not give a person much space to express himself - it probably depends on how the questions are defined. Ideally, the viewer should face the inmate who is a perfect stranger and totally out of the viewers world over a somewhat intellectual topic.

To make this happen, I would have to try if I can get some kind of forms to the inmates, make them fill them out and get the filled-out forms back. I don't know if this is technically possible (it should be). If the inmates are willing to cooperate? Well that's also a question. However, before I try that, I need to come up with the right questions. Here are my first ideas. I don't want to waste this opportunity (if there is any), so your input and ideas are very welcome. Especially as comments, so we could discuss it here.

They might be a bit too straight forward, but everything is optional anyway.

Your Name and/or inmate number:__________

Your age:__________

Sentence:__________
(is that what it's called? I want to know why and for how long the person has to stay in prison)

Inmate since:__________

What was your occupation outside prison?__________

For how long have you been playing?__________

Your rating and/or chess achievements:__________
(I know there was at least one grandmaster among the people I photographed)

Do your have a certain strategy in chess?__________

Do you have any thoughts about life in prison and chess that you would like to share?__________

Your message to the viewer of your picture:__________

HDR Max Contest

Sent an image to an HDR photo contest. Not sure what to think about the concept of photo contests from a photographer's perspective. The company which is organizing it has a clear motivation, though. They want people to try and fall in love with their HDR software. My first impression: the program works nicely.

What I found most interesting about it is the fact that it can load RAW images. You can find more about it follwing this link.
If you are thinking about entering the contest: the deadline is today. I'm last minute...as usual.

Have a nice Saturday!...and maybe Sunday as well!

Zion's Red Church


Somewhere in Pennsylvania between Ashland and Central New Jersey.

I'm always amazed how different everything is just after driving two hours out of my regular range. I notice it on the people, their pace, the landscapes. This picture doesn't really show this. Those experiences are hard to capture and too subjective anyway.

I just know that once I left the US and I'm back in Germany, I will be sorry that I didn't explore this country more. I have seen a few corners, but I think a lot of beauty is hiding off the beaten paths and can only be seen after slowing down the pace.