991 - Mystery Train



In the morning I was in a hurry again, and being in a hurry is normally pretty adverse to being creative.

I solved the problem by letting the camera do on its own. This is one of a series of images that I took while being on the train. I pointed the camera out of the window, in different directions, in angles that I thought could probably make for an interesting image, and from that series of essentially random images I got at least this one.

In the meantime, after one and a half days in Vienna, I’m on the train back to Carinthia. Tomorrow night we’ll see an opera in Graz. Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the great Austrian master of Baroque music directs, no, not Purcell, not Haendel, not Bach, he directs Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”. More about that tomorrow night or Thursday.

Btw, while I sit here on the train and look through dirty windows, outside is fantastic weather, golden light, a sky mixed with blue and scattered clouds. It’s pure masochism to even look out of the window. Oh well 🙂

The Song of the Day is the Elvis song “Mystery Train”, interpreted by the Neville Brothers on their 1990 album “Brother’s Keeper”. Hear it on Deezer.


There are 10 comments

Seinberg   (2009-06-30)

Gershwin! Funny! My favorite Harnoncourt recordings are his Beethoven piano concertos. I prefer Pinnock for Baroque, but admit I've heard embarrassingly few of Harnoncourt's Baroque recordings.

BTW, was that image tone-mapped?

💬 Reply 💬

Andreas   (2009-06-30)

Ahh, Harnoncourt was one of those who started the period instrument frenzy. Already around 1970 he had complete recordings of all Bach cantatas. I saw him only once, two years ago in Salzburg, with Purcell's King Arthur, and he was fantastic. In two weeks I'll be in another concert in Graz, Haendel's Jephta, more like his usual stuff, but tomorrow it's Gershwin 🙂

As to the image, yes, in a way. Topaz Adjust remaps tonal values for all kinds of local contrast games. I guess you could call that "tone-mapping", although the focus is not HDR.

💬 Reply 💬

Seinberg   (2009-06-30)

Yep, Harnoncourt is a master. Maybe it's a bias towards the English that I like Pinnock? ;-) Who knows. I've just put on some Bach cantatas now, though, since you mentioned them! (Koopman are the only ones I have, though)

I'll have to check out Topaz Adjust. Never heard of it before.

💬 Reply 💬

Andreas   (2009-06-30)

Don't get me wrong, for Baroque, when I can get Pinnock, I always take Pinnock. Three years ago I even drove about 900km (distance on street) from Klagenfurt to Halle an der Saale (Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany) and spent a week there, just for one Pinnock concert 🙂

💬 Reply 💬

Anita Jesse   (2009-06-30)

Off topic, re. this post, but I viewed your book today and wanted to congratulate you. Not suprisingly, the thing I enjoy most about the book is what I always appreciate about your photographs. You have a distinct and effective style that sets your work apart. You won't be surprised to know that my favorite images are those the architecture and the sunrise sections. It all comes together for a very handsome book.

💬 Reply 💬

Andreas   (2009-07-01)

Thanks. To say that I enjoyed the SoFoBoMo experience, is really an understatement. I'm definitely in for next year.

💬 Reply 💬

Debra Trean   (2009-07-01)

great color as usual as well as a fun tilt and the reflection is a bonus!!

💬 Reply 💬

Ove   (2009-07-01)

What a wonderful photo, the colours are just plain .... urban? There is so much texture in it too, I really wanted to get near and look carefully, but smeared my monitor. 🙂 Then I tried to get a sense of how it smelled, outside that window, and did much better. Great photo.

💬 Reply 💬

Tom & Liz   (2009-07-02)

I love the new effects and the wild angle. Daily joy.

💬 Reply 💬

Juha Haataja   (2009-07-03)

Highly creative imagery - and very much appreciated!

💬 Reply 💬