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Brass Bands

Last weekend The International Youth Music Festival took place in Zurich.  We joined the throngs of spectators for the march music competition on Sunday afternoon and managed to take in a couple of offerings in the concert competition too. Despite the somewhat meagre points “our” Stadtjugendmusik Winterthur marched splendidly and their concert was a joy to the ears!

Photographically speaking it wasn’t easy. The sun seemed to be generally in the wrong place and created strong shadows which made correct exposures a real challenge. All the youngsters kept marching and not one band stopped and smiled at my camera. In the concert hall the natural light was not quite enough to produce beautifully crisp pictures from a distance.

The three images reproduced here were taken during an evolution in the march music competition.

Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
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It’s that time of the year again…

… when the sun shines directly into the local station’s pedestrian subway, casting fascinating shadows of hurried legs, laptop bags and rolled up newspapers.

Station: Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone.

In the evening, just opposite the village station, a refreshing pint and a browse through the newspaper under the shade of a horse chestnut tree.

Refreshing Pint: Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone.
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English Impressions – One

A week has passed since I spent a really enjoyable short break in England. Two days in South Lincolnshire, and a further couple of days in London.

The wide, sky filled fen landscape never ceases to fascinate. But I’ll begin my blog coverage not with the vast, flat landscape but with three black & white impressions of where I stayed.

The Music Room: Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
The Walled Garden: Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
The Butter Churn: Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP

 

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Stagnation

Whether it’s due to an acute lack of motivation or simply due to the cold dark mornings and evenings, but somehow my photography has stagnated a bit over the last few weeks. Well, think positive! Spring is making its presence felt and lots of new photo opportunities are surely in the air -)

Melting snow: Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
Boat: Panasonic DMC-LX2; Developed with GIMP
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Pure New Wool

Listening and watching the media this week, one could easily be forgiven for thinking that temperatures around these parts never actually drop much below freezing at this time of the year.

Agreed, it is quite chilly and overnight temperatures of -15°C are not too common where I live. But is it really necessary to interview minor celebrities on the subject of suitable clothing and how they combat the cold… clothing wise? It’s Winter for heavens sake! As a general rule it it can be said that in Winter it’s a good idea to wrap up nice and warm.

Deafened by the sound of chattering teeth while waiting for my train in the morning, I can only assume that many don’t eat breakfast and don’t wear the right clothes.

My suggestion to all those early morning shiverers:  Throw away all that man-made fibre stuff and wear proper woollies, and consider a piping hot bowl of porridge for breakfast instead of a low fat, bowel moving yoghurt!    oh dear.. am I beginning to sound old?

Pure New Wool: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/400s; ISO 100; Developed with GIMP
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Rainy Night

As promised yesterday, here is an evening photo of the current weather situation. I’m quite weather neutral really, rain or shine I enjoy snapping away and have nothing against a stroll across fields during a downpour. Having said that though, wet weather, although fascinating to capture, does pose problems. Who wants to get a nice new camera soaking wet? Apparently the average digital goody doesn’t like water at all.

I’m not seriously considering a new camera at the moment.. well not really, but if I was, which models would make it to the final choice? The image below was captured with my mobile phone, kept dry by a bus shelter (well actually t’was a tram shelter but that just didn’t sound right). How many times during a photographic year do I really stand under a rain cloud and shoot pictures? My choice seems to be between the robust, rainproof Pentax or, if the photo magazines are to be believed, the superior image quality of a Nikon. Ah, decisions decisions.

Rainy Night: Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone. Developed with GIMP

 

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Happy New Year

Here’s a quick new year photo before the festivities start!   Not a very festive picture I admit, but the weather was slightly below average and the light somewhat dull and colourless.

A very Happy New Year to all my readers and fellow bloggers!

Yule Log: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/4.9; 1/200s; ISO 400; Developed with GIMP
Winter Scene: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/250s; ISO 400; Developed with GIMP

 

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Street Scenes

The Festive Season, time to have a beer after work, to saunter around the old part of town and admire the Christmas decorations, perhaps even do some Christmas shopping, but I don’t want to rush into things, there’s another whole week yet!

Trying to avoid images of Christmas trees, reindeer and Santas with sacks of goodies (plenty of time for that next week) I opted for a couple of wet street scenes.

Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone: Street Scene, enhanced by The Gimp
Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone: Street Scene, enhanced by The Gimp
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Short pause

It’s been quite a while since I last posted anything on this blog, and the reasons are many fold.

First of all I’ve been spending far too many enjoyable hours playing about with new laptop and PC 🙂

see the Hardware page on http://www.harding.ch/computer/compi-index.html

Then of course there was……

Work: I’ve either been leaving early in the morning or getting home late in the evening. Both seem to form a natural barrier against taking any sort of reasonable pictures.

The time of the year: During the summer months I tend to browse through Photo magazines on the way to work, and soak up motivation by the pagefull. But during the darker time of the year I’m seen standing on platforms and sitting in trains with my head buried deeply in a paperback – In case anyone’s interested, I’m about halfway through Ken Follett’s ‘Fall of Giants’ as always, a jolly good read!

Social ‘duties’: and last but not least, various Christmas markets, decorated shops and cosy bars all seem to compete for a slice of my time.

Perhaps I need a nice new camera to get me back on track? 😉

Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone: Wakey Wakey Rise and Shine! - too tired to take pictures.
Sony-Ericsson W995 mobile phone: It's 'that' time of the year again 🙂

 

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Waiting for Christmas

Despite the impressive golds and browns that are now making trees such a particularly attractive photo subject, I just couldn’t seem to get it right at the weekend. Having played for far too long with a bit of brightness here and some contrast there I decided to convert the photos to monochrome. “Sunny Woods” seems to have gained a little something and “Waiting for Christmas” hasn’t really lost anything…. perhaps.

Sunny Trees: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/5.6; 1/320s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP
Waiting for Christmas: Panasonic DMC-LX2; f/2.8; 1/80s; ISO 200; Developed with GIMP