Category: Around the Country

I’ve been having a bit of trouble with the K30 recently. The first photo or two have been drastically under exposed, after a couple of shots it’s then ok. Wait a few minutes and the problem is back. Strangely the problem doesn’t occur when usng the  camera’s ‘live view’, or when using manual lens. It’s not often that one can venture out in short sleeves at this time of the year, but the last few days have been very summery – staying at home this afternoon was no option. So with rucksack packed and sun hat firmly in place of we went for a long walk. I decided to use my very old 50mm manual lens. (I believe 50mm is equivalent to about 75mm on the DSLR) and despite the manual focus and manual exposure settings, it was quite relaxing not to have to zoom all over the place before pressing the shutter release.

Despite all those little jobs in the garden that tend to need doing at this time of the year, I decided not to overdo things…. so taking a couple of days off from wielding a spade we set off on a couple of train journeys. One day we travelled to Neuchâtel (Neuenburg) on the shores of the lake with the same name, and another day saw us in Brig, at the foot of the Simplon Pass. Photographically it’s always motivating to visit somewhere new but I usually have trouble deciding which images to publish. A traditional postcard view of a town or something more on the lines of ‘could have been taken anywhere’ ? For today’s posting I chose mainly the the latter.

At the very beginning of yesterday’s blog posting I mentioned that I’d just had a couple of weeks holiday. The phrase “two week holiday” tends to make me think of fourteen days sun, sea and sand and a warm breeze gently rustling palm trees. My holiday wasn’t quite like that, considerable amounts of time were spent tending the barbecue, pottering about in the garden and generally having a lazy time. But as relaxing as it was at home, we decided to take advantage of the good weather and made a short excursion over the alps.

During my stroll about town last weekend I captured these images of Winterthur’s railway station. There has been a ‘main’ railway station in Winterthur since 1855, but it wasn’t until the mid 1890s that it achieved its current form. As with most larger railway stations of that time, a certain grandeur is apparent.

Nowadays most railway stations of any size seem to have there own shopping centre. Winterthur is no exception and at the turn of this century ‘Stadttor’ was built, providing the station with a light, friendly shopping area.

Train stations also usually have a bus station not far away, and as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago (Taj Mahal) the bus station roof is perhaps not one of the prettiest constructions ever made.

Holidi has been laying under the trees in Winterthur’s ‘Graben’ for about 20 years. The 10 metre long wooden sculpture is very popular with the locals, but is unfortunately slowly rotting away. Although children do still climb about on him, his state of decay is causing safety issues, and so he will be moved… to a cemetery.

Thoroughly enjoying my stroll through the town last Saturday morning, I decided to repeat the exercise this morning and was pleased to see that Holidi was still reclining gracefully under the trees. Just a couple of streets away the Saturday market was buzzing with people, but at 8.30am the place where Holidi lives was still very much asleep.

It’s difficult to imagine that in 1980 these trees and restaurant tables were simply car parking spaces. (above)
Despite another thirty degrees summers day, Autumn is beginning to make its presence felt and is surely just a cold front away.(below)

Not only did I stroll around the town’s railway station last Saturday morning, I also ventured off into the town centre. Before the day warms up the place is just littered with empty chairs. During the day the Cafés begin to fill up of course, and during a balmy summer evening there will most certainly be not a free seat for miles.

Busy enjoying the long, sleepy days of summer I tended to neglect Vic’s Blog recently, but with the mornings becoming decidedly cooler, I thought it would be nice to go for a stroll with the camera once again. Wanting to avoid all the Saturday shoppers, I took the half past eight train into town and wandered aimlessly through the pleasantly empty streets.

The railway station is currently being built, changed and improved, and I stumbled across this temporary pedestrian walkway upon leaving the rear of the station.

There are still some magnificent old buildings around this part of town, let’s hope nobody decides to build yet another shopping centre.

I’m sure the back of the station will be wonderful when it’s all finished.

The front of the station was modernised a few years ago, providing the station with nice new shops (the white building on the right). Then the bus station was revamped, and the somewhat tired bus shelters were replaced with this, a large modern construction regarded by many as an engineering masterpiece, which I’m sure it is. It has 180’000 holes in it, providing a light and friendly atmosphere, which I’m sure it does. But somehow I just can’t get to like it at all.  Although undoubtedly both artistically and technically a fascinating building… in my very humble opinion it’s in the wrong place.  The once inviting entrance to the nearby department store has been plunged into eternal shadow.
The thing is simply in the way…
as if someone had plonked a large dustbin in front of the Taj Mahal.

During the last several weeks it would have been easy enough to capture sun drenched images of ice cream licking, sun bathing folks quenching their thirsts with anything wet whilst enjoying the hot lazy days this summer has brought us. However, taking photos of people is not really my thing, so after waiting for a group of sweating tourists to fill their water bottles, it was the birds I pointed my lens at.