Take care!
Tag: fun
Lens-Artists Photo Challange 161: “feet & shoes”
This week, we have another hard challenge for me. Ann-Christine asks for “feet & shoes”, something I photograph only in extremely rare situations.
In the 1970s a young man from South Africa came to Germany to become a professional singer. Despite, German wasn’t his native language he sang in German, but with a very strong and easy-to-recognize accent. He performed Schlager, a specific genre of current music. I can’t describe it in my own words in English, so I looked it up in Wikipedia:
Schlager music (German: [ˈʃlaːɡɐ], “hit(s)”) is a style of European popular music that is generally a catchy instrumental accompaniment to vocal pieces of pop music with simple, happy-go-lucky, and often sentimental lyrics. It is prevalent in Central, Northern and Southeast Europe (in particular Germany, Austria, Albania, Bulgaria, Finland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Switzerland, Scandinavia, and the Baltic states), and also (to a lesser extent) in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In the United States it is also known as ‘entertainer music’ or ‘German hit mix’.
Typical Schlager tracks are either sweet, sentimental ballads with a simple, catchy melody or light pop tunes. Lyrics typically center on love, relationships, and feelings. The northern variant of Schlager (notably in Finland) has taken elements from Nordic and Slavic folk songs, with lyrics tending towards melancholic and elegiac themes. Musically, Schlager bears similarities to styles such as easy listening.
The German word Schlager is also a loanword in some other languages (such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Serbian, Russian,[3] Hebrew, and Romanian, for example), where it retained its meaning of a “(musical) hit”. The style has been frequently represented at the Eurovision Song Contest and has been popular since the contest began in 1956, although it is gradually being replaced by other pop music styles.
Over time, Schlager music has gradually shifted on to electronic music rather than generic pop music, due to its widespread use of synthesizers throughout its various implementations in recent decades.
He became quite successful and still performs on stage. One of his most popular songs was in 1975 “Deine Spuren im Sand”.
Ths refrain of this song is:
Deine Spuren im Sand (deine Spuren im Sand)
Die ich gestern noch fand
Hat die Flut mitgenommen
Was gehört nun noch mir?
Deine Liebe sie schwand (deine Liebe sie schwand)
Wie die Spuren im Sand
Was ist mir nur geblieben?
Nur die Sehnsucht nach dir
Your tracks in the sand (your tracks in the sand)
Which I found yesterday
Took the tide with it
What is mine now?
Your love it waned (your love it waned)
Like the tracks in the sand
What do I have left?
Just the longing for you
But, you an also have light-tracks. They can also vanish that easy.
Here I have an example of shoes, which can also vansih very easy. “Sweet dreams are made of shoes”, or was what did Annie Lennox sang?
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Take care!
Lens-Artists Photo Challange 160: “My inspiration”
Summer is over? When looking at the calendar, it’s not over yet. But, when looking at the weather, you might think we already have fall here in western Germany. Nevertheless, the pause for our main hosts is over and Patti is hosting this week’s LAPC. Look at her site, to see, how to participate.
When doing some analysis on your photo archive, you can see, what really inspires you, even if you did not notice it yourself. My inspiration is the beauty of nature: landscapes, flowers, pretty ladies, and colorful birds are populating huge parts of my archive. On the other hand, you won’t find many cityscapes, architecture, tech, or still lives despite I do them every now and then.
You need to do some research on the weather and light conditions as well as light directions. Maybe you have to get up early or go to bed late at night (didn’t I say morning). Try to understand the customs and behaviors of the animals I want to capture.
In the past, I already introduced you to some pieces of software, being able to support you’re analyzing your photo archive. The AI analyzes and tags your images. When done, you can i.e. lookup, how many images of yours are tagged with a certain keyword. This helps you understand where your most active field of photography is.
In case, you’re interested in giving Excire Foto a try, there’s a free trial available for download. When you’re willing to buy a copy, you can use EXCIREFIRE20 at checkout to save 20%.
Take care!
Lens-Artists Photo Challange 159: “Postcards”
We’re having a very interesting theme this week for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge hosted this time by Ana Campo, a guest host.
Over the last years, the traditional mail volume decreased, because our communications habits changed in accordance with the technical development. Most people have email and computers or at least a smartphone. Instead of writing on paper, we’re typing on a virtual or physical keyboard and sending out text messages or emails. Even invoices are arriving electronically. First countries already started to deliver mail less frequently. While we usually don’t get any mail on Mondays, I got news about Denmark, where mail is supposed to be delivered only once a week. The postmen now have more than one area to deliver the mail: each day in a different area.
According to statistics, I saw recently, the only kind of mail increasing in volume is the postcard. More and more people travel. Although even images are sent in huge numbers each day from one end of the world to the other. But, to make proof of having been on vacation, sending a postcard seems to be the only valid proof. So, whatever your vacation destination is, you go to buy a local postcard with a stamp and write a couple of meaningful paragraphs to describe the beauty of your chosen location (even if it is the worst place you’ve ever been) to make the recipient envy.
I’m also usually sending 5 postcards. Not to make my family envy, but to get some niche mail to the recipient’s postbox and send them kind of a smile in the face. But, quite often I stood in front of a postcard stand unable to pick a postcard because all of them were soooo ugly. In the end, I’ve chosen the least ugly ones. I’m also using a postcard app every now and then. I like creating postcards with my own images on my mobile and sending them via email or text message service. One of the apps has a very funny feature: it sets a virtual postmark on the virtual stamp by naming date and city based on the GPS location data of your location while creating the virtual postcard. But, that’s unfortunately not the same as a physical postcard. (click on the image to see it better)
At home, we have a twine in the kitchen, right above the kitchen door, where we hang up all postcards arriving over a year with small clothespins. Unfortunately, the twine is currently nearly empty because nearly no-one was traveling over about the last 2 years.
Another option I used every now and then is a postcard printing service. I’m creating a postcard with an app on my mobile with my own photos, typing in the address of the recipient and the message. The service company prints the postcard and sends it via postal service to the recipient. This is great when being domestic on vacation. When traveling internationally, it’s not so good, because the stamp won’t fit the country you’re traveling in.
Sometimes I’m also using a piece of software on my computer to create postcards. Especially, when I plan to send them online. The app on my mobile is not bad, but the options are quite limited.
Today, I’m sending you a picture postcard. It’s not from LA, because I’m not Joshua Kadison. It’s from the small town, where I used to spend a big part of live, although not my hometown.
Each year in September, when not having a pandemic around, a funfair comes to town for an extended weekend. Therefore our old town is decorated with old clothing as you can see in the upper left image. This image was even added to our state library as a document of traditional habits and customs a few years ago. The upper right is taken in May when blooming Japanese Cherries are decorating the streets. The lower right image shows the castle near the town in winter. Up to the 1960s, the descendants of the original owner were still living there. Now, it’s owned by the city government and hosts a museum and a great hall is used for civil weddings. The 3 images on the lower left are also parts of the old-town, and in the middle one, you can see the maypole with the signets of the 13 neighborhoods.
I hope, you enjoyed the postcard. Remember, you can enlarge the images by clicking on it.
For finding such images in your archive, Excire Foto is a big help. When using EXCIREFIRE20 at checkout you can save 20%.
Take care!
Lens-Artists Photo Challange 158: “Along back country roads”
This week we have another guest host for The Lens-Artists Photo challenge: Beth. She reminds us, to not only discover the cities or national parks, where everyone goes to. Instead, discover the beauty of the backcountry or hinterland. Btw. hinterland is a borrowed word from German and means, you guess it, hinterland or as the Aussies would say outback.
For finding such images in your archive, Excire Foto is a big help. When using EXCIREFIRE20 at checkout you can save 20%.
Take care!
Lens-Artists Photo Challange 156: “black and white”
If I were asked, this could have been named by me. You know, I’m doing a lot of black-and-white photography. But, this time Anne Sandle is hosting the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge.
You know, I love black and white photography. Here, I put together a small collection. In case, you also love monochrome photography, feel free, to dig through my archive. You can find the relevant posts quite easily because all of them are tagged properly. Each Monday a new monochrome post is published and each Friday, I’m publishing on a blog dedicated completely to monochrome images. Right after the post is published over there, it is re-blogged here. Unfortunately, WordPress does not keep the tags. So, all of those posts are unfortunately untagged.
For finding such images in your archive, Excire Foto is a big help. When using EXCIREFIRE20 at checkout you can save 20%.
Take care!
Lens-Artists Photo Challange 155: “On the Water”
If I were asked, this could have been named by me. But, this time John Steiner is hosting the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge.
I love being near the water. Unfortunately, there is no lake or river in the town, where I live. I’d have to drive for about an hour to reach the next lake.
Water, especially the big ones, means life. You can get your food from out there, you can have beautiful scenes, you can have fun on top as well as under the surface. Or, you can simply sit or stand and stare in infinity to become calm and resized to your real size in relation to nature.
For finding such images in your archive, Excire Foto is a big help. When using EXCIREFIRE20 at checkout you can save 20%.
Take care!
Weekly photo competition: Joy
This weeks photo competition at “The daily post” is “joy”!
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.
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.
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.
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