End of Year...

I'm in front of my computer (obviously!) and have just finished retouching some images I took recently... This one I really liked... I mean I have been retouching these images for days and have the sniffles... All in all not in too great a mood, but looking at this image just makes me smile... To me there is something positive about the girl's expression... Something trusting as well... Maybe it makes me smile because I have been missing these qualities in myself these days... So, here's my New Year's resolution: More trust and openness!

Monaco, the place - not the band...

I always wondered about the name of New Order Peter Hook's side project... "Monaco"
I mean there are a lot of images and emotions connected to this name... Not really fitting to a band with that kind of music, you'd think... Maybe it was meant to be tongue in cheek... But when I accompanied Mona to an awards ceremony and was able to see the place I was even more surprised...
But see for yourself!



I guess I was in a good situation to experience the most "New Order"-like feel for the city as it was already autumn... The weather was way better than in Germany where we just came from, but still left me with a feeling of displacement in that kind of location...


















All in all I have to say I really enjoyed visiting the place. I met lots of wonderful people and found quite a different place than I had anticipated... That might have to do with it being off season, but Monaco felt to me like a glamorously slow beehive past it's glory... with many surprises off the main streets... So, maybe Peter Hook was onto something after all!

More travel and assorted iPhone images...

I don't quite know what to write about these images, or even what these images have in common... I mean they are all taken on a recent trip through Germany... Lots of input received here... The first image is taken in Munich... An S-Bahn station underpass I always found creepy...



Surprising things left over from the past.



On my way back to the Muensterland... Stopping by a friend's studio in Stuttgart... Looking out of his window...





Waiting for appointments in Hamburg... Luckily close to the habor... Love it there!



Demo in the middle of Hamburg... Police is demonstrating against the cut of their funding... Interesting scene...



Waiting for my train to Berlin...



And in the end all things turned rosy... ;) (showing off the hipstamatic app to my former roommate while having drinks in Berlin.)

Travels...

Time flies. Almost a month since I last posted anything... Here (again) images taken with my iPhone and the Hipstamatic app... Describes pretty well my mood when I arrived in Paris a week ago... It was still dark and there were heavy clouds when it got brighter... CDG is always interesting to look at and it's really needed as well as I had to walk what felt like hours... maybe mainly because I was tired and had watched the inflight entertainment rather than catch up on my sleep...

Lucky day!!!

When I was tasked to do a head shot for Kyle, I suspected that I actually might get a good shot out of it... This is a return to a more studio like setting (which I had eliminated from my portfolio a while ago to not confuse the viewers), but still keeping the narrow focus of my newer work... I shot this at home with a mix of HMIs and daylight... It was a fairly quick set up of maybe 35 minutes...

I absolutely love this image. There is so much in this image for me. To me it shows a lot of qualities of growing up... Partly still being a child, part being a man already... Strong features and a lot of attitude top it all off... Thank you, Kyle!

Two things I love...

When I was tasked to handle the contact with a German writer who wanted to interview the head teacher of the aikido school I practice at, Imaizumi Sensei, I was very excited... In a usual class setting he doesn't really speak that much, so I was curious to see what would happen in an interview situation... What would he share? What pieces of wisdom would he impart? When it turned out that the magazine actually chose me to supply the images for their article I was even more excited... I had been studying at the Shin-Budo Kai main dojo for about 8 years and finally it was time to combine two of the things / arts I like best: Aikido and photography.

I figured I would shoot two classes, the interview and a short formal setting after the interview... And was kindly permitted that setup...

I was of course nervous... I always am. And I get made fun of for it as well...
Usually I am my harshest critic, but in this case I felt I needed to make an extra effort because I wanted to be able to go back and train and not have the shame of a failed shoot follow me around...

And I found new appreciation for what sports photographers do... It is actually not that easy to show the most typical part of an art, a sport or a technique... While it was suggested by a veteran sports photographer to just light a scene and have set up techniques I decided against it... I wanted to capture some of the fun and intensity that I know exists in aikido... That came of course with a price: Low mixed lights and circular motions in changing degrees took their toll in regards to file quality: Noise and missed focus were not making things easy... But in the end I am very happy with what I got.

The images show the story layout for my portfolio & website. For me they show a mix of concentration, intensity and fun that makes aikido so special to me.

Well, summer is here... with a vengeance... Usually a slower time for me, I had big plans regarding finally starting this big project I'm trying to get off the ground... But more about that when I really have something to show... Shooting, post production and the heat have put that on the back burner for now... Not that I'm complaining... ;)
(at least not about the work!)

But to the subject (or picture) at hand: I shot it with my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app... I love this app... Wish there was something like that for real cameras... You take the shot and all is done... I mean I love the ability to take images closer to what I "saw" when I took the shot, but all the post production work is actually not that much fun... I'd rather go out and take more pictures...
In any case I love that it makes pix from the iPhone looking interesting... I mean the general quality of that camera (3 GS) is not that great, so every little bit helps...