Zaungast

I was a Zaungast in Copenhagen last weekend. Mostly drawn to flea markets somehow. I guess it's because you get to know something about the people when exposing themselves and their belongings on the street. And maybe also because your girlfriend finds interesting clothes there ;-) Zaungast by the way means as much as standing by the fence and watching. I hope I didn't have too much of a German stare. Does my writing sound like someone got naked on the street? That would be a misunderstanding then.

Anyway, it looks I've found a nice apartment on the northern tip of Germany now. Built in 1906 and pretty charming. So maybe at the next flea market I get involved and find something for that place. And if you wonder why I'm writing all this, I don't know. Perhaps I don't want to leave my Gast all alone in the quiet dark looking at a bike leaning against a Zaun.

Isles of Light

There are some parts of Hamburg that are quite popular among photographers. I walked around there for hours last night and had a good time snapping pictures of architecture - really pretty. However, on the drive back I noticed once again that for my kind of stuff I have to look elsewhere.

Tracing Stars III

Took my landlady's dog for a little midnight walk. Even though it was overcast all day it somehow cleared up at night. Saw this window across the street and couldn't help but try that. Stood there like an idiot for 50 minutes (after returning the dog) until I had enough.

From looking at my star trail pics you can easily understand that I'm working with high ISO. I'm forced to do that as my wide angle lens max aperture is f/4.0. Not that I would mind. Often I add noise in post processing as I like the gritty feel of it. It's a bit like the design of this blog here. It's not slick and all, it's somewhat raw ;-)However, next time I get the chance I'll try that with something like f/1.4. This should allow me to get the same strong star light with much lower ISO. Curious how that would turn out...

Tracing Stars II

It's time that my move to Northern Germany starts showing on my pictures. I took this one on the island of Fehmarn which is not far from where I'm staying right now. These days the moon is rising and setting at about the same time as the sun. Which means there is no moonlight all night. That's perfect for watching and photographing stars.

Wiesbadener Fototage

If you like star tracing as much as I do: I made one of those before. This other one is from Hawaii and I'm showing a print of it right now (along with two different kinds of long-exposure works) at Kaiser&Cream during the 8th Wiesbadener Fototage. Wiesbadener Fototage is a bi-yearly festival of contemporary photography with exhibition locations all over the city. This year's theme is "Im Laufe der Zeit" which means as much as "in the course of time." If you are interested, you can find more info here.