Throwback Thursday: new arrivals

Recently, I finished my work on developing the images from my Iceland trip in June. The wildlife images were the last I developed, as usual. A lot of great images were among them. I’m soooo happy about the outcome.

In the end, I developed about 2200 landscape images, 2100 wildlife images and 211 monochrome images.

I wanted to have some of them for the wall of my home office again. Unfortunately, I was unable to decrese the number to only 3 as I had initially planned. So, I ordered 6 instead: two images each of puffin, razorbill and red-throated loon. They arrived on Friday.

so, this is the final wall, now 😊

Yes, I know, not all of the prints are balanced.

As usual, click on the images to resize them 😊

This weekend I finished also the coffee-table books: one for the landscape images and the other one for the wildlife images. The monochrome book is alreday here. I had to finish it earlier because I got a test coupon.

Take care!

Throwback Thursday: Yearbook

Last week, I mentioned my yearbook. Today, I want to tell you, how to create one 🙂

Each December, I copy all my edited / developed images from the past 12 months into one folder of my hard-disk and rename them to have a naming schema YYYYMMDD-HHmmss- in front of the original file name. Next, I remove all tags and stars from them by using a light-table software to have no filtering at all. Now, I can flip though all of my images and give them stars again. Starting with 1 star for the outstanding images. After that, I can filter again and select all images with 1 star and start again flipping though the already marked images and give a second star to the outstanding images. Repeating this three times I got the top images marked with 5 stars.

You can also ask someone for help: a friend or a family member. But, what are the  quality characteristics? An images must be sharp (expect, you’re looking for a kind of abstract images), well exposed (having details in the highlights as well as in the dark shadows), a balances horizon and have a good composition. Although, inexperienced people can’t name, why an image is better than another image, they are often able to rank them.

What does good composition mean? It’s not that easy. You can study for years to try to learn what composition mean. Different teachers stress different aspects. But, there are a few basic rules. Instead of writing my own thesis on this, I have a link to Wikipedia for you as an entry point.

Now, that you have a selection of your images taken during the last 12 months, you can start composing the book.

Here you have several options as well. I’d recommend, first finding a print shop and use their software for composing the book instead of creating a pdf and upload the final pdf. Try to tell a story in your book and align the images along that story. You could i.e. order the images chronologically (like a trip through the year), by topic (flowers, animals, landscapes, people, still-lifes, macro, …. ) or by the main color of the images (reds, yellows, greens, blues, monochromes and in-between the mixed colors like purple, orange, turquoise and so on to describe the whole rainbow in your book).

Don’t put too many images on one pages. Keep it simple. Your yearbook is the gallery of the best images of the year. Thus, put only one image in landscape format or max two images in portrait format on one page. Or one image in landscape mode on the left page and 4 complementary images in landscape mode on the right page. (i.e. a big landscape and 4 details in that certain landscape). Pay attention to have the images of the same size throughout the whole book. That makes the book look more even. Look for matching or complementary images on the two pages laying side-by-side. Choose a neutral background color for the pages like white, black or a grey tone and keep this color for the whole book. Don’t use cliparts and big texts. When necessary use a simple and neutral font like Helvetica, Times or Courier in sizes up to 10 point for regular text and 12 point for headlines (that’s bigger than in your newspaper! – try it with your home printer for a single page).

When you need an advice for a certain kind of software for any of the above tasks, drop me a note and I’m going a bit more in detail and name the software I’m using.

Take care!

 

Umweltfotofestval “Horizonte Zingst”

This post is a translation from my German blog, where you can find a gallery with some images taken during the festival to give you an impression.

End of May, I was in Zingst attending the annual photo festival  “Horizonte Zingst”. It’s called environmental photo festival, because it is focused on our environment and how we treat it. I was there for the first time, but it was held for the tenth time.

Zingst is located at the German coast of the Baltic sea in the state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It’s a small seaside resort.

For one week, photography rules the town. Many, many exhibitions are held outside as well as inside. More than 120 workshops were organised on so many different topics. And everything took place in a very relaxed atmosphere.

The festival lasts for 8 days, starting on Saturday and lasting ’til next Sunday, while the main time is Thursday ’til Sunday. All days have a full loaded schedule where you can pick the topics of your interest or just sit on the beach and enjoy the great landscape.

Each day, there are several exhibition openings with speeches or at least an interview of the photographer. You can learn the idea behind the images or about her style of work. I’d recommend, visiting the exhibitions of your interest at least twice: first alone and for the second time when the photographer is there. Im my gallery I have some impressions of the exhibitions for you.

Each day there are also lots of workshops you can attend. There are workshops for beginners as well as for pros. You can learn the basics of photography or special techniques and sharpen your skills. In sum there were about 120 workshops held during the week.

On the beach they set up a big screen every evening to show a compilation of what happened during that day, called “Bilderflut” (image flood). In approximately 1 hour you can have a brief overview of  what happened during the workshops and see resulting images of the participants. It’s kind of a news show on television but with 2 anchor men standing life in front of the screen and the movies (short documentaries) are not the screen behind them.

You can attend it while either sitting in the sand, standing on the pier or (if lucky enough) sitting in one of the deck chairs of the beach club, set up only for supporting the Bilderflut.

the media team has a very hard job. 8 guys starting on 7 a.m. each day to film and cut the movies to bring them life in the evening. The result is not only played on the big screen on the beach, but also streamed to the internet. At Facebook (unfortunately nor on Youtube), you can follow the show, even when not in Zingst.

Central point of reference it the Max Hünten Haus. Max Hünten was a painter, born 1869 in Düsseldorf. During the 1920s he move to Zings after having visited The Darß, a wild forest between Zingst and Ahrenhoop. Nowadays the area is a preservation zone. That forest is untouched since many centuries.

Max Hünten also was a photographer. At the local history museum they have found 500 glass plates. It’s the same technique Anselm Adams has used. The 500 glass plates were taken during the 4 years lasting world travel of Max Hünten from 1910 to 1914. The treasure was the initial impulse to establish Zingst as a location for photography. It’s also the spectacular landscape and the special light here at the coast, that make Zingst a special location. So, the festival was founded and backed by some of the major companies in photography.

As a festival focused on the environment, you can see many images showing the beauty and the ruined beauty of our plant. Photo students, photo journalist as well as established landscape and nature photographers displayed there fantastic images. I really recommend having a look on the gallery in my German post.

Between Thursday and Saturday, the town became even more crowded than the days before. I guess, not only because of the very nice weather and the prolonged weekend (that Thursday we have had a public holiday, so that many took the Friday as a bridging day off). During those so-called core-days, they also have had a photo market in town. Lots of tents holding booths of dealers and the major photography companies. You were able to chat with sales engineers and expert adviser, try gear or even get some gear lent to test it outside in combination with your own gear. What a chance!

I guess, that this wasn’t my last visit in Zingst.

Here I have the “Bilderflut” of the last night (Sunday). It’s twice as long as the shows of the other nights. But, it gives you a brief overview of the whole festival. Even it is stored on Facebook, you can watch it without begin a member of Facebook. Btw. at minute 44:50 you can see on of my images as a part of “Best of Zingst” in the category “Landscape” as #3 out of 15.

Much of fun!

Thank you for 500 subscribers!!

Thank you guys. Thank you very much.

This morning I got notified by the WordPress backend about the 500th subscriber. That’s so fantastic.

You keep this blog running since September 2009 and nearly 1000 posts up to now. Your likes and comments are my motivation to continue this work. In the beginning, there were few or even no feedbacks. but, over time the number of feedbacks increased. And I’m very happy about that.

It takes me some time each week for thinking about new themes for the next posts,  introducing you to certain parts of this beautiful planet, taking you virtually along on my trips and investigating some fact about country, region, culture, history, animals or plants. But, as long as there is someone who likes what I write, I like to do it.

So, again, thank you very much for your support!

 

Happy new Year!

Happy new Year for Everyone!

This year lays in front of us, just like an empty sheet of paper. It’s waiting to become lettered. Which are your plans for the future? What will happen unplanned? Which unexpected events might become a more or less important mark on your personal sheet of paper? Which will find their way on mine?

Some plans are already in a state to become realized. Others are still vague. And many, many events are even not in my mind.

I also have a German Sylvester tradition for you. For many decades each year many TV stations broadcast a sketch on December 31st here in Germany. It’s recorded back in 1963 in a theater. Both actors are British: Freddie Frinton and May Warden. The whole story runs in english. In the opening scene a german speaking narrator sums the play up. In the 1960s there were not many people speaking or understanding english here in Germany. So, this was quite necessary for the audience on the TVs.

It’s the story of an old upper class lady celebrating her 90th birthday with her 4 male best friends, just the way she did for decades. Unfortunately, here friends already past away during the past years and left her alone. Despite that, she wants to celebrate her birthday following the same procedure as every year and so, her butler James has to be the substitute for each of her friends. And he does it the best way he can. The broadcasted version is about 18 minutes. Just in case, you have a problem to watch it, thy this version. It’s a bit shorter, only about 11 minutes. But, the story seems to be identical. At least, we have the same actors, but without the narrator. I’d recommend, trying the first link first.

I don’t know, why this sketch is so popular here. But, nearly every one knows the story and (thanks to the narrator) even people without any knowledge of the english language can understand it. Over the years many German comedians have made their own version of the sketch. Some of them are run in local dialects.

During the last about 8 hours of a year, this story runs on most TV stations. Either the original version or one of the dialect versions or even several of them are broadcasted. This movie belongs to Sylvester just like fireworks.

Happy new Year!

 

 

WPC: Ornate

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “ornate”

Who is the one, who owns the crown in being a genius of decorating architecture way over the top? Antonio Gaudi!

 

Take care!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

WPC: treat

This week’s topic for the weekly photo challenge by “The Daily Post” is “treat”

Clean water, clean environment, healthy food as well as physical and mental health. These are the true treats. Preserve and patronize them!

Take care!

(as usual, you can see the photo enlarged, when clicking in it)

A new theme

Today I changed my blog theme after 1,5 years.

Instead of ‘notepad’ I now use the theme ‘Abel’. I like a clear style with columns. And I also like having all those buttons below each post and always accessible for the reader. On the other hand, neither the buttons, nor the categories and tags should eat up notably room. The content is the main part of each post, and not the administration data and metadata.

As far as I can see, all the functionality is still there, but the look is fresher. Both columns changed position, to give more room to the content in the main column, when the browser windows gives the space.

What do you think? Do you like the new style?

Take care!

Liebster Award!

Last week I got a notification from a fellow blogger, Rashmi Kashyap. She nominated me for an award: Liebster Award

Although I don’t know the origin of the word ‘Liebster’ in this particular case, I assume it is German, because it is a German word meaning ‘most beloved’ and can mean a person as well as a thing or a place. In this context, this award could be donated to a blog, that the donator loves most. So, I’m very honoured by getting this award. Thanks you very much, Rashmi.

As the other awards, this one is connected to some rules:

Here goes the rules of this award, let me do the needful:

1. Link and thank the person who nominated you   – done

2. Answer the questions they asked you – done, scroll down

3. Pick eleven awesome bloggers to nominate ( preferably those with less than or around 200 followers ) – done

4. Ask them eleven questions – done

5. Let them know by commenting on one of their posts  – done

 

These are my answers on Rashmi’s questions:

What was your reaction to this award nomination?

As I wrote above, I’m very honored and pleased by getting the nomination.

 

Why people  should visit your blog?

See some photos taken in interesting places showing the beauty of nature and differences in culture. Get in touch with interesting places.

 

Share with us your most happiest moment.

There are so many memories of very happy moments in my life. I guess, the happiest moment was when I held my first-born child in my arms.

 

What prompted you to become a blogger?

The usual photo galleries don’t allow to write more than a title for a photo and my aim was to write a bit more on them, thus a wordpress blog became the appropriate platform.

 

Given an opportunity to pursue your hobby, what it would be?

No choise: catching light with my camera. 🙂

 

What do you prefer? A loner, lost in your own dream world or a popular bee surrounded with fans.

I like to be in company with a few good friends, but I’d prefer being alone with the beauty of nature, than being surrounded by dull and annoying blatherers.

 

Which has been your most successful post so far?

This one

 

Which is the first thing you look for as soon as you log in to your blog?

I don’t give much on statistics. I respond to every like or comment, at least I check every likers blog. But, my usual login is for writing a new post. I have a shortcut bringing me directly to the editing page.

 

Do you need prompts to motivate you? If yes, which was that?

No. As long as I have enough stuff for my regular schedule, I don’t need such prompts. But I like the weekly photo contest organized by The Daily Prompt, because I get a different view on my own portfolio.

 

Have you ever experienced writer’s block? How did you deal with it?

No. I usually write about trips. Thus, the photos and / or the locations give enough to tell.

 

Which is your favorite book and why?

There are a few of them:
amongst others

– The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
– The mists of Avalon by M. Zimmer-Bradley- World of Tiers by P.J. Farmer
– World of Tiers by P.J. Farmer
– Shogun by J. Clavell

All of these have in common, their authors were able to invent a complete independent world following its own rules and creating a kind of addiction. They describe their worlds so three-dimensional that I feel, being part of the story. Not only a reader, but also a character inside the story: to be in the thick of it instead of near by!

 

Here are my eleven questions:

1. What was your reaction to this award nomination?
2. Why people  should visit your blog?
3. What prompted you to become a blogger?
4. Do you need prompts to motivate you? If yes, which was that?
5. Which is the first thing you look for as soon as you log in to your blog?
6. Given an opportunity to pursue your hobby, what it would be?
7. Have you ever experienced writer’s block? How did you deal with it?
8. Would you like to be someone else (alive or death)? And if so, who?
9. What do you lack most in your skills?
10. Which of your skills do you like most?
11. Which advise do you have for a new blogger?

 

And finally here are my nominees:

1. Leanne Cole from Australia

2. Léa from France

3. Emerald Wake from Poland

4. Odile from France

5. Stéphane from France

6. Sharika from South Africa

7. Jeff Sinon from the US

8. Mark Kertesz

9. Robert from Germany

10. Liz from the UK

11. Lignum Draco from Australia

 

All of them inspire me with their photos. They are all very talented photographers, each on his/her own field.

Thank you all for inspiring me.

Take care!

 

Welcome to ..

.. Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

This years destination for our carnival escape was Barcelona. While I just finish my series on a spanish speaking country, I start with another spanish speaking city. OK, literally the people here speak Catalan and not Spanish. All signs are first in Catalan, next in English and third in Spanish. So, it’s quite easy for a tourist to come around.

Barcelona is a very interesting city at the Mediterranean Sea. An old town with many interesting buildings downtown, some famous buildings planed by the genius architect Antonio Gaudi and some remains from the 1992 Olympic Games.

But, first things first. We arrived at Thursday night and took the public transportation from the airport to the inner city. It’s easy and interestingly cheap, compared to Germany. Buying a ticket valid for 10 rides, each valid for an hour or so inside the inner tariff area. Although most of the interesting points are reachable by foot, it’s sometimes quicker to take the subway or even a bus.

I attached some photos taken in Barcelona

Weekly Photo Challenge: Split-scecond Story

This weeks assignment for photographers at The Daily Post is again very challenging. They asked to tell stories at several layers of the photo. This is what I picked from my archive. It’s taken at a soap box car derby.

The one driver has beaten his opponent, and looks back, where he is. But he has steered his car in the side fixing and it looks like he wants to flee.

Have you ever visited such a race? Our neighbor town organizes one every year in fall.

Take care!

The daily post – Letters

Thank you, Johannes Gutenberg for inventing the technic to print with interchangeable letters and making books an affordable good.

The photo shows old moveable letters from an old print shop.

This is my contribution to this weeks photo challenge at The daily Post, called “Letters”.

Choosing the right drink

In Cuba it’s quite easy to decide which soft drink to order and to choose you sport.

If you’re a girl, you have to skate in-line skates and drink orangeade.

If you’re a boy, you have to skate on a skateboard and drink coke.

Easy? Isn’t it? 🙂

OK, I’m kidding. But the cans are real. Indeed, boys and girls can certainly order and drink both soft drinks, as well as the third one with lemon taste.

Enjoy.

A little bit more on Trinidad

In Trinidad you can still find houses built in the 17th and 18th century. You can easily distinguish between these houses: the houses built in the 17th century have wooden window gratings, while the window gratings at houses built in the 18th century are made of metal.

Another interesting thing is the good optical shape of the houses. The government grants the colorful painting to the house owners for i.e. good work (a reward system idea in communistic systems). But, here it works. As you can see, nearly all houses in the old town of Trinidad (and also in the other cities I visited) the houses are in good shape.

Enjoy.

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At the flea market

Today was flea market day. Twice a year on a Sunday we have a big flea market here, organized by the city development organization. This time, the flea market was held for  the 75. time. Every year in May and in October it takes place. People search at their attic, in the wardrobes and the cellar, for stuff to sale. They rent a space in the streets an on huge parking lots.

The official start is at 6 o’clock in the morning, but many people set their stands up earlier in the night.  The first customers also come in these early hours to make their bargains. You can find nearly everything: clothes, shoes, toys, oil painting, antiques, used cell phones, computer parts, books, records and many other stuff, you won’t think of.

Certainly, a flea market also has a few booths, where you can by some sweets, beer, coffee, crepes, french fries and grilled sausages.

Today, the weather was not that good. Although there was no rain, but it was quite cold. Only 8°C made the salespeople at their stands feel very cold. And, because of the weather I guess, there were fewer visitors at the market, as usual, when it is warmer. So, bad luck. When I was at the market at noon time, I saw several people packing their stuff back in the boxes to bring it home again. Usually the market closes at 6 p.m and the first people start packing the boxes at approximately 5 o’clock.

Today’s gallery is quite long again. I hope, you enjoy it anyway.

Take care!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Infinite

This weeks assignment at “The weekly Photo Challenge” is “infinite” on in other words “without an end”.

I took the first photo in an abandoned coke oven plant.

I love such places. Unfortunately, they are rare and hard to find. And, most important, usually it’s illegal to break in such buildings. But, here we got permission to go and visit.

Have fun!

Maybe you’re also interested in my other series. Currently I run a series on Cuba on Thursdays as well as changing topics on Tuesdays.

A french market

Luckily the sun was back this morning. So, I was happily looking forward to the visit at the market scheduled for this morning. I guess, I won’t be fun, if it had rained like the day before, when we were in Paris.

When I was in Brittany and in the Normandie, we were looking for such a local market, but we were unable to find one or we were too late. So, I was quite happy, to have now the opportunity to visit a market. Stéphane at myfrenchheaven.com includes every now and than photos taken at his local market (i.e. here). So, I was quite curious, what I’d see.

Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh fish, seafood and meat, spicery, cheese, eggs, clothes, hats, shoes, jewelry, bakery products, coffee, tea, cooked meals, crepes, furniture and many more. I expected to find the fresh foods. and maybe clothes, but there were so many other things to buy (and to see). It was really amazing.  And it was very interesting.

Here we also have such markets held once or twice a week. But here the diversity of products is way smaller even on big markets. Here they usually focus on fresh stuff like fruits, vegetables, fish, cheese and meat. complemented by cleaning stuff and sometimes table cloths. Usually you can find two or tree stands of one kind, but that market had so many to offer. I guess, there were more than 5 stands offering fruits and vegetables and at least 5 other stands offering fresh fish. Nearly every product group was at least twice at that market, even the square isn’t that large. Wow!

Thus, today’s slideshow is quite long – sorry.

Enjoy!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: An Unusual POV

This weeks assignment at “The weekly Photo Challenge” is “an unusual point of view”.

I picked a photo taken last year at WIM.

It’s a very unusual POV or have you ever been inside a hot air balloon? Look, how small all these people are. And, the balloon isn’t filled completely as you can see on the ground.

Have fun!

Maybe you’re also interested in my other series. Currently I run a series on Cuba on Thursdays as well as changing topics on Tuesdays.

 

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.

The eagle has landed

OK, not literally.

Every action or event has its end. So, this flight also came to its end. We traveled about 4.5 hours and covered 163 km with an average speed of about 30 km driven only by the wind. According to my GPS our maximum height was 2,573 m. Stunning!

But, finally we had had to land again and were collected by a car to be brought back to our starting point.

As you might know, wind during the starting and the landing phases might endanger these phases. We landed right before the wind became too strong. Thus, we were landed smooth and save.

Enjoy the photos taken in this final phases of our flight and right after we landed. Maybe you might also have a look back to the other posts:

nightflight, the rise of aurora, It’s coming, geometric shapes and heaven above.

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Rolling, rolling, rolling

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I saw many vintages cars over there, for which Cuba is famous for. You know, when the Cuban Revolution took place in the late 1950s, they created a new government model following communistic ideas. As a result, Cuba was isolated and had serious problems getting modern technical equipment. So, the people took serious care i.e. for their cars. As a matter of fact, today still hundred-thousands of cars build back in the 1950s and earlier are still in use. So, they are more the 60 years old and are still rolling. OK, here we also have such old cars on the streets, but they aren’t in daily business anymore. Instead, they are pampered and well-tended, but used only for rare showcase events, because they are so precious (because they are so rare).

In Cuba, I saw many of them in the street, operating as private cars or as private taxis. Yes, although Cuba is a communistic country, they allow private businesses. Most of the cars, I’ve seen, were in perfect optical shape. Well-kept. But, according to our guide, the engines aren’t. They were replaced by Diesel engines by i.e. Toyota  back in the 1970s.

If you want to take a ride, you can hire a car for a certain destination or for a certain time. You only have to negotiate the price with the driver,  who usually is the owner of the car. There are also government operated taxis in the streets working on a fixed tariff and having a taxi-meter.

There are also other kinds of taxis in the streets, but I’ll show them in my next post.

So, enjoy some of the wonderful, old cars, I attached here.

While waiting for my next post, you might have a look on some past post.

A few days ago a photo calendar was publish, containing some of my photos. Currently you can order a german, an US and an UK version of the calendar. An austrian and a swiss version are on their way and need a few more days. I’d also put up a french and a spanish version, but I’m unable to write the  marketing texts in that languages 😦

In case, you’re interested, here are the ISBN numbers for the calendars and a link to a special partner shop at Amazon:

Cuba Cars 2014 (DE)

• A5 = 978-3-660-220005-6
• A4 = 978-3-660-220007-0
• A3 = 978-3-660-220006-3
• A2 = 978-3-660-220004-9

Cuba Cars 2014 (US)

• A5 = 978-3-660-220010-0
• A4 = 978-3-660-220011-7
• A3 = 978-3-660-220008-7
• A2 = 978-3-660-220009-4

Cuba Cars 2014 (UK)

• A5 = 978-3-660-23196-0
• A4 = 978-3-660-23194-6
• A3 = 978-3-660-23193-9
• A2 = 978-3-660-23195-3

Update:

Cuba cars (CH Version)

• A5 = 978-3-660-23280-6
• A4 = 978-3-660-23278-3
• A3 = 978-3-660-23277-6
• A2 = 978-3-660-23279-0

Cuba cars (A Version)

• A5 = 978-3-660-23276-9
• A4 = 978-3-660-23274-5
• A3 = 978-3-660-23273-8
• A2 = 978-3-660-23275-2

According to the publishing house, the ISBN numbers are internationally valid, and you should be able to get your copy where you’re living.

Take care.

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geometric shapes

When having a look from the sky, the ground looks much different and unusual compared to our usual experience. We see our common landscape from a different perspective. Many geometric structures appear below our feet: streets, paths, hedges, field borders or power lines. Most of them are straight. Men tend to build their paths  straight, while mother nature builds in unpredictable directions. We differ from this concept only in those cases, when we have to follow with our path a path, mother nature build before, like a creek, a river or a mountain.

Never the less, this concept looks nice from above. Enjoy the view!

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It’s coming

Yeah, here it is. Our star starts his work in this part of the world.

In my last 2 Tuesday posts I wrote about the night and the time before sunrise. Here we have the sunrise itself. Our mighty star is climbing over the horizon

Weekly Photo Challenge: The World Through Your Eyes

This is my contribution to the photo challenge organized by the dailypost, here at wordpress.com

Everyone of us has his or her own style of seeing the world. Some see the beauty, others see the waste and the destruction. Some even can find beauty in the destruction. Some see in wide landscapes other are focused on the details. Here in my blog you can find all of them.

My blog is, as you might know, focused on photography and travel. I like taking photos and I like to travel. Each photo and each post are my personal view of the world and you’ve the opportunity to accompany me on my trips virtually. Maybe, I’d even meet one or another in real life.

Today I picked a detail, I found in an industry museum. A former coal industry plant was closed many years ago. Later it was formed into a museum.

Come back, to see more of our world through my eyes.

In the meantime you can have a look on past posts.

Cuban people

Cuban people are usually not shy. They are open-minded. In Havana you can find people dressed up in traditional ways to earn money from the tourists for getting photographed. But you can also ask common people for a photograph. Be open and ask for permission. Don’t shoot hidden, from a distance or out of the hip.

Even the Cubans are poor, I was very surprised for not seeing beggars. Cubans want to earn money. They try to sell i.e. cigars, invite to paladars (private restaurants), offering taxi services or making music. Santiago de Cuba was the only town we visited, where