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Posts Tagged ‘Photography’

Photo Time

20 Sep

Life has gotten away from me lately.  I have had so much going on between home and work that I haven’t spent as much time on my hobbies as I like.  I don’t think I have really picked up a camera for a serious day of photography in a couple of months.  Tonight I was going through pictures from our vacation this year and found this little gem from the U.K.

At least this past weekend I got a bit of a kick start.  A friend from work just got his first DSLR and he asked for some tips.  We went out for a couple of hours last Saturday afternoon and talked a bit about what he wanted to improve.  Then we spent a bit of time working through a few ideas.  Hopefully it will do some good for his upcoming trip to the U.S.

Afterwards we took a short trip to the local mediamarkt where my friend reciprocated and we discussed and reviewed LCD TVs.  I’ve been looking for one for several weeks now but I just don’t know what to get.  Right now it is a toss up between Samsung and Sony.  The one problem I am trying to overcome is the large number of windows in our living room.  With all the large windows I have a concern that the high gloss Samsung screens will be too reflective to view comfortably.  The Sony TVs seem to have more of a matte finish.  If anyone reading has experience with either brand leave a comment.

 

 

 
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Posted in Photography, Shopping

 

Alphorn & Photography

23 Apr

Farm Near Baldegg

Summer is right around the corner, the weather is getting warm and the crops are growing.  This week I decided to start the long Easter weekend with a short bus ride up to Baldegg for an open air Alphorn practice session.

There is something totally different about playing the alphorn in a field on the top of some hill or mountain somewhere.  It just sounds different, and you get a really great echo if you pick the right spot.  For my practice session I choose to play in a farmer’s field that is about a 10 minute hike from the Baldegg restaurant.  I pass the farm all the time on my mountain bike trail.

I was riding past the other day around 7:30 in the evening with my wife and it was so beautiful in the light of the late evening sun with the yellow fields that I just had to go back with a camera.

Of course that is what I did.  A half an hour playing the horn, waiting for light to be just right, and then a short photo session.  I probably could have waited another 20 minutes, but for the first attempt I was happy.  And I got in some practice for an upcoming concert in June.

I’ve been invited to play an Alphorn duet at a private party in June with a friend of mine that lives in the area.  It should be a good time.  All as I continue on my journey to be the best American Alphorn player in Switzerland.   I am even going to be featured in an upcoming English language magazine article about my hobby.    Who would have thunk it.

 
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Posted in music, Photography

 

Fasnacht Begins

03 Mar

Baden Fasnacht 2011

Today marks the start of fasnacht in Baden.  That means we’ll have a week of drum banging and loud trumpets outside our apartment until next Tuesday evening.  I decided to join in the fun today while the celebration as still fresh and wasn’t wearing on me yet.  I know by Sunday or Monday I’ll be ready for it to be over.

I took the opportunity to play with a few birthday gifts as well while I was out.  I just got a few colored flash gels for my flash guns.  I was using a red and green filter for the image above.  One guy approached me and asked if I was shooting 3D.  I thought that was a funny, but good question I suppose.  I’m sure I looked a little strange out there with my gear.

 
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Posted in Festivals

 

Airplane At the Swiss Transportation Museum

25 Feb

Swiss Air

Today is a photo post.  This was one of the many airplanes at the Swiss Transportation Museum in Luzern.

 
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Posted in Photography, Swiss Day Trips

 

Quiet Friday Night

18 Feb

Baden Police Office

A few weeks ago I brought in an old pile of photography magazines to work.  They had been collecting dust in my closet and since they were in English I thought someone at work might like them.  English literature and magazines are so expensive in Switzerland that many expats in the office freely trade books back and forth.

With all the technophiles I work with I was not surprised when the magazines were a bit of a hit.  It turns out one of my colleagues became very interested in HDR photography after reading one of the articles and we have been chatting about photography all week.

I give him a few pointers every day, he goes home tries it out, and then reports back on his successes and failures.  Sounds like he is making some progress towards improving his skills.

With all the talk about HDR photography it seemed like tonight would be a good night to get out with the camera and tripod to take a few photographs.  The police sign at the police station caught my eye this evening so I parked outside the police station for about 15 minutes until I got something I was happy with.  I like the outcome.  I was glad I was feeling a bit inspired tonight.

 
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Posted in Language, Photography

 

End Of The Year Photography Project

19 Dec

Assemblying This Years Photos

Every year around this time I start a project to assembly a collection of my best photographs and assemble them into a bound book.  The past couple of years I have been using the MPIX website site in the U.S. to get my books printed and I have been really happy with there products.

One feature I really like about MPIX press service is that they provide a small software package called the ‘ desktop solution’ that you can use on your desktop computer to create your photo book calendars, and some other fun things.  The application gives you much more control over many of the flash based photo book modules you will find built into websites like Snapfish.

While the software package is great, take note that currently MPIX will only ship to the U.S. and Canada.

But shipping is never my problem.  The really problem is sorting through the year’s photos and picking out the best.  This year I took over 13,000 photographs.  With such a huge collection it is really tough to select the ones I want to include in this years book.

Throughout the year I am a constant tagger of my photos, and I like to rate my photos in Adobe Lightroom.  That makes it much easier to find the best shots from that obscure little village I may have visited in some remote land.

So what are this years highlights from our continuing expat adventure.  Here is a short list

  • Snowshoeing in Amden, Switzerland
  • Trip to Portugal
  • The Cotswolds in England
  • Summer on Betteralp
  • Alphorn lessons
  • Nice and Manaco
  • Our trip to Innsbruck with friends

The book is put together and finalized now I just have to submit my order and I should have a nice keep-sake in a couple of weeks.  I can’t wait.

 
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Posted in Photography

 

The Christmas Tree Is Up

09 Dec

Sled Under The Christmas Tree

Keeping with tradition our Christmas tree was up early this year.  We have become accustomed to getting out the decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving.  This year was no exception.

On the weekend we put up the tree there was also a photography conference in Baden.  On my way out the door to the conference I noticed that the flea market was going on just outside our door so I decided to make a quick loop of the stands.

This was the first time in months that I was lucky and found something I had been looking for.  It was a beautifully well worn Davos sled.  I got the deal of the century on the sled (20 CHF) and ran back to the apartment with it before heading back out to the photography conference.

Of course when I returned home with my new prized possession my wife was a bit surprised that I had returned from the conference so quickly.  She was even more surprised by the fact that I was bringing in some old piece of junk.  I convinced her that it would make a great seasonal decoration.

Now the sled is sitting proudly under our Christmas tree.  I of course think it’s a great addition. But sometimes I think I sense my wife rolling her eyes behind my back.

 
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Posted in Photography, Shopping

 

Fall Walk Along The Vineyards

31 Oct

Fall Colors Above Wettingen

This was the first weekend in a long time that we had two good days of weather to enjoy.  There was a stunning scene of fall colors outside our window when I woke up today so it seemed fitting to get out with our cameras and stroll along one of our favorite paths along the vineyards in Wettingen.

This fall season I really wanted to work on capturing fall colors.  Looking at some of my past photographs I seem to not have done so well with fall foliage in the past.  This season I am going a little past my comfort zone. I am pushing the color saturation and also experimenting more with HDR.

I took an amazing amount of pictures today. Over 5 gigs in about 2 hours.  As I said it was just beautiful outside today.

Now that the clocks have also changed back for the winter season I’ll lose the last light after work.  I’ve got plenty of photos in my lightroom backlog to go through so I don’t suspect I’ll have a shortage of things photographic even with the coming winter months.

I hope maybe to squeeze one more weekend of fall photography in if the leaves and the weather will just hold out until next weekend.

 
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Posted in Photography

 

Baden On A Cloudless Fall Evening

28 Oct

Cloudless Autumn Evening in Baden, Switzerland

I rushed home from work to get a photo of the clock tower on a clear fall evening.  This is probably 1 of 5 clear fall days that I can usually expect in our little valley.  Glad, I made it home.

 
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Posted in Photography

 

Fall Hike In Apenzellerland

25 Oct

A Small Creek Along Swiss National Hiking Route 44

Last Saturday we took a hike along the Appenzeller Weg hiking path number 44.  My wife and I had thought this would probably be on of the last weekends to enjoy the fall colors so we got up early, and I sue that term loosly and boarded the train to Urnäsh.

The hike was billed as a 3.5 hour easy jaunt through the fields and woods between Urnäsh and Appenzell.  Knowing my obsession with the camera and the fact that we hit a detour or two we ended up taking about 5.5 hours to complete the hike including a lunch break.

The hike was beautiful and something I would like to try again in the summer.  While the fields were filled with trademarked swiss milk cows, the trails were strangely deserted.   I didn’t even see any of the now famous naked Swiss hikers associated with the region, how disappointing.

We ended the day in s’ Tübli resturant in Appenzell where I order one of my favorite versions of Alpener Macaroni.  The dish is called Tüblimaggarone.  It is a house special and the secret is substituting the traditional bacon (speck) with small slices of Cervelet sausage.

I highly recommend s’ Tübli.  They have a great menu, great food, and reasonable prices.  My wife and I escaped with drinks and dinner for two for 39 CHF, which is a steal in this country.  Most dishes are priced between 18-25 CHF if you eat off the daily menu.

 
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Posted in Food, Swiss Day Trips

 
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