2237 – Stuck In The Middle With You

 Panasonic Leica DG SUMMILUX 25/1.4 ASPH  Comments Off
Dec 012012
 

I’m in Styria, it’s December, the weather is bad. Very bad. Remember “2202 – Walking In The Park I“, “2208 – Wild Leaves“, “2209 – Stardust“, “2217 – Running On Faith” and “2212 – Walking In The Park II“?

Well, I was in the same park again, but now everything looks dead and almost completely drenched of color. Browns are to be had and it is wet and cold. Being asked what I wanted to photograph on a day like this, I hesitated for a moment and then said that I would set my camera to B&W. And so I did.

When importing the images into Lightroom, they show up B&W for a short moment, but then Lightroom begins to render them in color, and when I saw the result, I immediately re-applied the B&W “Orange Filer” preset – for all images but one. This one. Everything else looked better in B&W. No wonder, the images had been seen and taken in B&W.

The Song of the Day is “Stuck In The Middle With You” by Michael Bublé. Today there is no link to Amazon, because I was unable to find the song. It’s on an extended extra version of the album “Call Me Irresponsible”, and that version does not seem to be available any more. One more example for the bizarre ways of the music industry. Hear it on YouTube instead.

2231 – Song Out Of My Trees

 Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f/2.0  Comments Off
Nov 252012
 

This morning weather was nice, only some decorative shrouds of fog far and between. I made two versions of this scene, this one from a single image, the other one a blend of three out of five bracketed exposures, blended manually in Photoshop.

I really should use Photoshop more often again. I’m already beginning to forget :D

The Song of the Day is “Song Out Of My Trees” from Henry Threadgill’s 1994 album of the same name. Hear it on YouTube.

2230 – Endless Cycle

 Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm f/2.8 Macro  2 Responses »
Nov 252012
 

Like all past weekends I’ve been in Styria again, and like all past weekends I have made images there and failed to post them :)

I’m going to make up for it now, while sitting on the train back to Vienna. This time I’ll stay till Friday again.

The Image of Saturday is a bunch of dead leaves on a grate. They are the stuff next Spring’s greens are made of, and that’s how the endless cycle goes.

In his song from the 1989 album “New York”, Lou Reed speaks of another cycle though. Hear it on YouTube.

2223 – Higher Ground III

 Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f/2.0  Comments Off
Nov 182012
 

Saturday I was driving from Carinthia to Styria, its eastern neighbor. The highway avoids the first of the two mountain chains in between, but it crosses the second one at a height of almost 1200 meters.

Just before the highest tunnel, the fog gave way to sunshine and I decided to take the exit to the old pass road, trying to look for a side road that would lead me up to sunny meadows amid frost-covered trees.

First I took the wrong side of the pass road, the one back to Carinthia, and when I saw that it only lead down in to the fog again, I turned around and tried my luck on the other side.

And really, I was lucky, a small road went up the mountain into a frosty forest.

I didn’t have much time to explore, but what I saw was a fantastic winter wonderland, only that the snow was just an immensity of icy needles. Inside of the forest it was as if snow would fall, and at the same time the sun came through. Magic!

It’s interesting how rarely we follow our dreams and desires. I have crossed that pass so often, quite a few numbers in the same weather conditions, frequently wondering if I should take the exit and explore the area. Until now I never did.

Like yesterday, the Song of the Day is “Higher Ground“, but this time interpreted by Barbra Streisand on her 1997 album of the same name. Hear it on YouTube.

2221 – Rhapsody In Wood

 Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75 mm f/1.8  2 Responses »
Nov 162012
 

No images made today, sorry. I’ve refactored a lot of code, made a resolution to buy the Olympus 17/1.8 (see Robin’s review to know why), and I have sold two lenses and my Nikon macro flash kit. I guess this is enough for one day :D

The Image of the Day is from last Sunday. I took it with the excellent Olympus 75/1.8, wide open at f1.8. A pretty unusual way to shoot landscapes, but beautifully rendered by this remarkable lens, it works well for me.

The Song of the Day is “Rhapsody In Wood” by Woody Herman. Hear it on YouTube.

2217 – Running On Faith

 Panasonic Lumix G 20/1.7 ASPH  Comments Off
Nov 112012
 

This image pleases me mightily, in just the same way and for similar reasons as “2210 – Stardust II” does. Both have been taken with what Mike Johnston likes to call the “World’s Most Perfect Lens“, the Panasonic Lumix G 20/1.7 ASPH.

This was the last image that I have taken with that lens, I’m going to sell it.

Why? Why would anybody sell the World’s Most Perfect Lens?

Well, I’ve seen some images taken with the upcoming Olympus 17/1.8, due in December, and as far as I can tell, it is not a bit worse than the 20/1.7. To be honest, it is not better either, but it is an Olympus with the same kind of build as the 12/2.0.

I want it. I need it. I will get it.

And then? 12, 14, 17 and 20mm? Seriously?

Nope! The two Panasonic pancakes will go, and while I’m at it, the Olympus 40-150 will go as well. This frees two slots in my shoulder bag (the tiny 14/2.5 had already been crammed into a pouch meant for storage cards). One slot will take the 17/1.8, the other one the 60/2.8 macro.

Still, selling the 20/1.7 while the 17/1.8 is not yet available means, I’m running on faith. But then, what else can a poor boy do? :D

The Song of the Day is “Running On Faith” from Eric Clapton’s “Unplugged” album. Hear it on YouTube.

2216 – I’m A Steady Rollin’ Man

 Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75 mm f/1.8  Comments Off
Nov 112012
 

In the last post I’ve shown you an image taken with the Olympus 12/2.0, handheld at half a second. It was perfectly sharp.

Today’s image is sharp, but not as sharp as the lens can do. Still, it’s at least as sharp as most lenses can do. One third of a second, handheld, with the Olympus 75/1.8. That’s 150 mm effective focal length. Cool, huh?

The Song of the Day is “I’m A Steady Rollin’ Man“, the Robert Johnson classic, interpreted by Peter Green and Nigel Watson with the Splinter Group, taken from their album “Hot Foot Powder”. Hear it on YouTube.

2214 – Golden Autumn Day

 Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f/2.0, Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75 mm f/1.8  Comments Off
Nov 082012
 

We had a lot of rain here in Carinthia last weekend, and the next weekend is predicted to be equally wet, but at the moment we have wonderful autumn weather.

Today I was working, but when after some stress in the morning I hit a spot where I had to wait for other people, I figured I could as well take two hours off and go photographing.

I took the car and headed for a church on a hill, but when I saw the golden leaves of a forest not far from home, I stopped to take a few images. It turned out to be a good idea, because when I had finished, a veil of thin clouds began to blunt the bright sun and the colors grew dull. Still, I was satisfied, and instead of driving on to the church, I returned and continued working.

In my opinion two of the images make for pretty neat wallpapers, thus I have omitted the usual white border. One of them, an image I had to crop vertically anyway, now even comes in two formats, 16:9 and 16:10.

I have linked the thumbnails of the wallpapers to the versions on my Flickr stream. As usual, all images on my photostream are available in original size.

The Song of the Day is “Golden Autumn Day” from Van Morrison’s 1999 album “Back on Top”. Hear it on YouTube.

2212 – Walking In The Park II

 Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75 mm f/1.8  2 Responses »
Nov 072012
 

Although I’ve made a few images on Tuesady, none proved to be really usable. I may try to take one of them again next week though.

Instead I show you one more image from my walk in a rainy styrian park ten days ago. I have a few more, but I guess you’ve already seen the best.

The Song of the Day is one more time “Walking In The Park” from the 1971 Colosseum album “Live”. Hear it on YouTube.

2210 – Stardust II

 Panasonic Lumix G 20/1.7 ASPH  3 Responses »
Nov 042012
 

Contrasting yesterday’s image, here is another one along the same lines, this time fresh, taken just an hour ago. This is the basin of a fountain in a park in Villach.

The Song of the Day is “Stardust” from the 1990 Jon Hendricks and Friends album “Freddie Freeloader”. Hear it on YouTube. Oh and, while you’re there, you may also be interested in the album’s title track: Bobby McFerrin (Wynton Kelly), Al Jarreau (Miles Davis), George Benson (Cannonball Adderley) and Jon Hendricks (John Coltrane). Hear it! Really! I mean it :)

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