Weekly Photo Challenge: Sea — Part 2

As I wrote in my last post, this weeks assignment at the weekly photo challenge is “sea”.

You know, the sea has many aspects. I guessed, my last post containing only one photo, as I usually do, won’t be suitable for this topic.  There are so many words, suitable to describe the sea: wide, clam, endless, gray, green, blue, wild, rough, strong, mighty, unmerciful, deep, moody, impressive, playground. But, you can’t stay untouched when looking at the sea. Even, if you don’t like the sea.

Thus, I decided to put another post online.

All of these photos shown in the gallery below are taken

Weekly Photo Challenge: Sea

This weeks assignment at the weekly photo challenge is “sea”.

I love the sea. I love the endlessness and the special feature, that you can’t see the other end at the horizon.

There are much more photos in my portfolio, showing the different aspects of an ocean, but I picked this one, ’cause it shows, how small men are in relation to the endless sea!

 

 

 

Next stop: Hershey

Next stop … where?

In case, you’re from the US, you might know Hershey chocolate and you’re right. This village is built by the Hershey company for their cocoa plantation workers. You can find everything people need: a church, a kindergarten, a cinema, many houses and big factories. As a result of the Cuban revolution in the late 1950s, when all the foreigners were banned, the factories became abandoned and tumbled down.

There was also a railway to bring the cacao as quick as possible to the coast to be shipped to the USA. The railway is still in place and one of the last railroads with electrical power. We were supposed to go on a ride, but because of bad luck on that day the had some problems with the electrical power, so the train we were supposed to take had to be canceled.

Nevertheless, here are some photos Hershey Central. Next week, I’ll show you some photos of the village.

Have fun!

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Daily Prompt: Can’t Drive 55

Today’s assignment for photographers at The Daily Post is speed.

Here, where I live, the annual fun fair starts tomorrow. So, I guess, it’s more than suitable to pick a photo taken at the fun fair back in 2009. I hope, you can stand the speed and enjoy the photo.

The colorful lines in the foreground are a result of a fast-moving carousel. It’s like an octopus. Several arms are moving up and down while they are spinning around a center. Each arm ends in a few cabins, each for 2 people. These cabins are also spinning around, but they are spinning around their base at the end of their arm.

More on this year’s fun fair in a later post.

Take care!

setting up an hot air balloon

In my post on last Tuesday I proposed to write a post on how to set up a balloon. And, here it is.

A balloon consists of the basket, that’s the passengers compartment of the balloon, and the balloon itself. The basket is usually woven from willow branches. The balloon is made from a lightweight fabric. Both parts are transported with a special trailer.

First you get the basket and the sack containing the balloon from the trailer and attach the basket to the car to fix it and hinder it from flying away. Next you unpack the fabric, spread it on the ground and attach it to the basket.

In case you got the OK to prepare your start, fill the balloon with (cold) air by using a ventilator. At last you put hot air in the balloon by using the gas torch. Now a dangerous phase begins, because the helper have to hold the balloon open and have to avoid any contact of the balloon fabric and the flame. While the air inside the balloon heats up, the balloon begins to become lighter than the surrounding air and takes slowly up. The basket is lift by the balloon and the passengers can enter the basket to start their flight.

The hotter the air inside the balloon, the lighter it becomes. So, the temperature regulates the height and the wind sets speed and direction. Gone with the wind!

The sun heats the air over the ground. And that’s one reason for wind. But, wind makes ballooning dangerous.  So, hot air balloons usually start  in the early morning before the wind starts or in the late afternoon, when the wind already has stopped. A flight is about 60 to 90 minutes, because of the limited amount of gas on board.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Focus

This week’s photo challenge is about Focus.

Photographers are asked to focus on certain parts of their subject and leave the remaining parts in blur. In case they are unable to do it by using their camera, they are also allowed to realize their idea by using software. I personally don’t like the idea of using software, to manipulate a photograph.

Here is my contribution:

The more a child grows, the more his or her parents become needless. They step back and finally they vanish away. The stronger a kid becomes, the weaker the parents have to become.

God bless, for all the kids.

Take care!

 

urban hinterland

or back-country.

When I looked for a suitable title for this post, I used a dictionary. You know, I’m not an English native speaker. So, I have to use a dictionary every now and then. But this time I wondered, because I looked up the German Hinterland and got back the English hinterland. What a funny coincident.

As I mentioned in my last post on Cuba, we also drove throughout the country. This post only has some photos taken a different places during our trip.

Take care.

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Only hot air

Even this is part of a German saying and describing what a bragger produces, the title fits perfectly for today’s post.

On Friday afternoon I attended another Ballooning Festival. This time I was in Kevelar, in the lower Rhine area. It was a small festival compared to the Warstein International Montgolfiade, I attended last September.  ‘Only’ 20 balloons and 8 model balloons were in Kevelar. But, it was a very relaxed atmosphere and it was easy to come in touch with the pilots. This time we were able to take photographs even while setting up the balloons. So, I have some very impressive photographs in the gallery. Enjoy!

I also recommend, paying attention on how big a balloon really is, compared to an adult human.

I split this post in 3 parts. This first part is for giving an overview. In the second part I’ll show the setting up of a balloon and the third part is for the night glow. That’s always the most impressive part of such a balloon festival. In case, there is one in your region, I’d definitely go and watch it.

We had a wonderful, sunny and warm day. Unfortunately we had a quite strong, choppy wind that cased the balloons to delay their start for about an hour. Finally the balloons were allowed to start. But not all of the balloons were able to start their flight. Suddenly heavy gusts came up again and pushed the remaining balloons back to the ground. One of the model balloons escaped from his owner and flew alone and unmanned over the next street. Fortunately the owner was able to catch it soon. The escape didn’t last long – pew! The other balloons in up in the  air were save.

No-one was hurt, so enjoy the colorful balloons. 🙂

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Leaving Havana

This is my last post on Havana, but not the last of my series on Cuba. Have a look back on the skyline and fantastic sunset.

Now, we’re starting our trip to explore other parts of the country. Different cities, different insights, different landscapes, but always interesting. Havana is Cuba, but Cuba is much more than Havana. So, be prepared for more interesting insights into Cuba.

For now, you could have a look back on the other posts on Cuba, which are already online to shorten the time until my next post on Cuba appears here.

Take care!

 

Daily Prompt: Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall

For todays assignment at the “Daily Post” I used the term reflection literally.

Have fun!

At night at Crange fun fair

Here is the continuation of my last Tuesdays post on my visit at the fun fair in Herne-Crange.

Today I don’t have to tell so much, because I explained most of the cultural notes last week.

For a  fun fair there is no entrance fee in opposite to the theme parks that don’t move. You have to pay for each ride by buying chips at cash desk and hand it over to the conductor right before you’re taking the ride or when entering the carousel. You can i.e. buy 10 chips and use them on any of the days the carousel is in town. In case, you know the next town, you can even use them there. But, they are only valid at the carousel where you have bought them.

At night all the booths and carousels are illuminated by hundreds of thousands of colored light bulbs. That creates a wonderful ambience.

In case, you’ve the opportunity to visit a fun fair, I’d recommend to go. If it is you first time, try to avoid a Friday or a Saturday night. These are usually the nights with the most visitors and it could be hard to enjoy the special mood in such a crowd.

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Daily Prompt: Moved to Tears

Today, the Daily Prompt ask photographers to show beauty. But, what is beauty? Is there a general definition, what is beautiful and what is ugly? Doesn’t this depend on the eye of the viewer?

My first intention was, to show a photo of a fledgling of an moorhen. These young birds are really ugly with their bald spots and ugly color combinations in skin, feather and pecker, but what would their mother describe them? Would she also say, their kids were ugly?

On the other hand: think of the fairy tale of the ugly duckling, told by Hans Christian Andersen. An duckling slipping in the wrong nest. Thus, being gray instead of yellow and bigger then his siblings. But, later in time, when he began to be an adult, the ugly duckling turned to be a pride swan.

Let’s dance!?!

I’m not the guy, who loves dancing. So, I wasn’t that much excited, when I read about the visit at Tropicana in our trip schedule.

But Tropicana is much more than a dancing show. Pretty girls, handsome guys, cuban music, artistry and beautiful costumes were on the stage. The audience got a can of cola, a 1/3 bottle of brown rum and a cigar per person for.

The show started at 10 p.m. when it was completely dark outside. The Tropicana theatre is a roofless building, where only parts of the audience, the kitchen and the restrooms are solid buildings. The stage itself is open air.

When coming to the show, avoid bringing a camera or even a mobile containing a camera. You have to pay an extra fee of 5 CUC for taking photographs or hand your gear to the guard. I paid the fee and it was definitely worth the money.

When in Havana, I’d definitely recommend visiting Tropicana.

Have fun!

addendum:
These photos were all shot during the first scene in approximately 30 minutes. The dancers changed their costumes several times and displayed different styles in music and dancing, some accompanied by singers. I guess, I’ll show some of them, too, but later in a separate post.

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A day at the fun fair

As I wrote in my post on Sunday, I was at the fun fair in Herne-Crange last Saturday for taking photos. I love the sound and the certain smell of a fun fair. A German fun fair is usually for a few days in a city. In most cities the fun fair lasts from Thursday (or Friday) until Tuesday. In my region (Westphalia) there is usually a fireworks display organized and paid by the owners of the attractions at the last night.

You can find booths selling sweets like roasted almonds, roasted nuts, lebkuchen (gingerbread), candyfloss, fruits covered by chocolate or a special colored sugar, french crepes, fried mushrooms, ice cream, fish rolls, french fries and of course stands selling beer or bratwurst (fried sausage). At other booths you can buy gems, shoes, flowers, baseball caps, sunglasses. But there are also booths selling fortunes, angling ducks (with winning numbers printed under them) or angling prices by pulling bands. And of course lots of carousels, rollercoster, bumper cars and usually a ferris wheel

A fun fair is usually a big event, when it comes in a town. Parts of the town will be closed for the traffic to give room for the people to come and enjoy. The booths are set up in the streets or on places and even the big carousels are set up during a few hours. When the fun fair closes at i.e. 1 a.m. at the last night, they start dismounting at once. And most of the carousels are already gone at the next morning, about 6 or 7 hours after closing. Amazing!

In 4 weeks there is a fun fair here, where I live and I guess, I’ll be able to show some further photos and tell a little bit more. In case, you have a question, don’t hesitate to use the comment section below to send them in. I’ll try to answer it.

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People@Crange fun fair

Today’s post is a little bit out of me regular schedule. That’s because I proposed the two ladies to put that photo online today. So, here it is 🙂

Yesterday I was at a fun fair in Crange. Crange is part of the city Herne in the northern Ruhr area. The fun fair lasts nearly 2 weeks and is the biggest here in the region (although Duesseldorf, our state capitol, reclaims their 2 weeks lasting Rhine fun fair as the biggest in our state).

Nevertheless, I was there with some friends for taking photos and you will see them on the next two Tuesdays. First I’ll show some impressions of a German fun fair and next week I’ll complete it with some night shots.

 

Daily Prompt: Green-Eyed Monster

Showing ‘green’, as “The Daily Post” asked for is quite easy for a nature photographer. Everywhere you can find green plants or even green animals.

Happy Saturday. Maybe you have some spare  time this weekend, to have a look at my other posts, too. Have fun.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreshadow

My contribution to this weeks photo challenge at “The daily post” is this young seagull. I took the photo at the beach of Helgoland, a small island in the north sea in January 2011.

As the topic sais “foreshadow”, I picked this photo, because you can easily see, what will happen next.

Usually I don’t put more than one photo in a competition post, but I make an exception today for those of you don’t having an idea, what’s coming next, I put the complete series online here:

 By the way, as usual you can acquire licenses or prints.

 

public transportation in Cuba

In my last post, I wrote about the Cuban taxes business. Today I want to introduce you to the busses.

It’s really amazing, what kind of vehicles is used for being a bus. in Cuba. As you can see, most busses were intended to be a lorry. But after some small reconstructions they can be used as a bus.

Take a lorry, attach a ladder or a staircase and put some benches on the cargo area. At last put a roof above the cargo area and the bus is ready.

Enjoy the drive 🙂

There are already some other posts on Cuba online. While waiting for the next post, you could have a look on them.

Take care.

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