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Tag: monochrome
Monochrome Monday 10-03
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Monochrome Monday 10-02
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Monochrome Monday 10-01
Today, I challenge you with a song from Münchner Freiheit published in 1987 (together with the London Symphonic Orchestra): Solang′ Man Träume Noch Leben Kann. Münchner Freiheit is also the name of a famous square in Munich and translates to “liberty/freedom of/in Munich”. They were very successful at that time and published many top-10 hits. This is one of those top hits. In Germany, this was their second most successful song.
- Ein Jahr ist schnell vorüber,
Wenn der Regen fällt,
Ein Meer voller Fragen.
Ich steh’ dir gegenüber
In Erinnerung vergangener Tage.
A year has passed quickly
when the rain falls
A sea of questions.
I face you
Remembering days gone by.
…
Versuchen wir es wieder,
So lang’ man Träume noch leben kann.
Let us try it again
as long as we can live our dreams.
I translated the first verse and the last two lines of the chorus for you line by line to keep as much as possible of the meaning. This song came to my mind when I started preparing today’s post. For 9 years I have published weekly a monochrome image here on my blog. Initially, this was my participation in Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness (Thank you so much, Leanne). When she stopped it a couple of years ago, I continued it on my own. (I’m happy, she restarted it recently). I love monochrome images. I love photography. I love capturing nature in all its glory. Often, I take images with the intention to process them in monochrome. Sometimes, I feel while processing an image, it would look great in monochrome.
You know, back in the 1980s, I run my own lab and monochrome films were more often in my camera than color (slide) films. I still love the gameplay between Lights and Darks.
The song “Solang′ Man Träume Noch Leben Kann” (as long as we can live our dreams) brings a couple of aspects together:
- today marks the 9th anniversary of publishing monochrome images regularly
- this year passed quite fast (again)
- don’t allow bad weather to stop your progress
- there’s so much more to discover in this beautiful world
- in each post, there are 2 people: me, as the writer, and you, as a reader
- each image contains at least one memory (open the link, scroll down, and read the second last paragraph)
- collect memories, store them, and repeat
- try to live your dreams. Enjoy the moment.
Today, I’m reviewing the monochrome images published here during the last 12 months and republish those of them, I like most. Maybe, you enjoy seeing them again, too.
In a background tab, you could have Münchner Freiheit sing Solang′ Man Träume Noch Leben Kann for you by clicking on the link. In case you’re interested in the full lyrics, they are also available in the usual suspects. Google Translate can help you translate them into your language or at least into English.
Btw. in 1988 they also published a version in English: Keeping the Dream Alive by Freiheit (they staged with this shortened name internationally), which was re-published i.e. by Kim Wild in 2013. Follow the link to Youtube to listen to that version, too. Although the English lyrics are nice, they differ from the German original. So, maybe it’s worth checking both versions. 😁
So, I’m starting today the 10th year of Monochrome Monday / Monochrome Madness. Stay tuned and
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Monochrome Monday 9-52
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Monochrome Monday 9-51
That day was a bad one. Heavy winds pushed low-standing clouds over the sea towards the coast. Clouds, full of water and ready to pour it over the scene. So, we had to secure the doors when getting out of the cars. A mixture of rain, hail, and snow welcomed us. No hard rain, but enough to keep some of us inside the cars. To make it even worst, the ground was covered merely with ice and rain poodles on top of them. Very careful movements were an absolute necessity. These were not the conditions we came for. What a difference to 2016, when I was there for the first time.
This time we needed the shortest shutter speeds, even when using wide-angle lenses. While setting up a tripod was possible in those conditions, it was impossible to use it. The wind not only pushed the tripod and made longer exposures impossible, but the guts were also even so strong to make the tripod tumble down. So, I opted for another way to get a long exposure of the waves: I put my beanbag on top of the concrete wall securing the parking ground from the cliff, and pressed the camera in the bag. That way, everything was stable enough for a 20-second exposure at 97mm.
For a long, I was hoping for such a location and the right conditions. You see, you have to be open-minded when arriving at a location. Don’t stick to the idea of recreating the images you have seen online, in books, or have on your bucket list. Look around and discover what the scene and the conditions have to offer. Benefit from what you have in front of you. In German, we have a saying: better the sparrow in the hand than the pigeon on the roof (Besser den Spatz in der Hand also die Taube auf dem Dach.).
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Monochrome Monday 9-50
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Monochrome Monday 9-49
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Monochrome Monday 9-48
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Monochrome Monday 9-47
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Monochrome Monday 9-46
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Monochrome Monday 9-45
Today, I have a more abstract image for you. Before reading any further, guess what you see in the image.
It’s a little dune of snow created by the wind. This was one of the pro sides of the regular strong snow storms we were suffering in Norway. The structure is approximately 20 cm long and 7-8 cm high. The low-standing afternoon sun trow that long shadow. It was located right next to the path we were walking from a panoramic viewpoint back to the parking ground.
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Monochrome Monday 9-44
recently, I stumbled upon an image of this tree online. My own images of this tree are all in color. But, that fellow photographer developed and showed a monochrome image of that tree. Seeing his image, I copied mine and played a little bit around. This is a second, more traditional, version of the image.
Do you like it? Or do you like the inverted version from last week more?
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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #240: The Road (most often) Taken
Ok, guys. It’s Saturday and so my contribution to LAPC is due. This week, John is our host. He asks for “the road most often taken”. But, instead of following the idea literally, he explains, he understands it more metaphorically and projects it to photography. So, he wants us to show images, more or less typical for us.
There are so many kinds of photography like landscape, architecture, people, street, fashion, macro, or food, to name only a few of them. Since I started photography back in the early 1980s, my focus is primarily on nature and monochrome. Thus you can find me more likely in rural environments than in urban ones. I love observing natural landscapes and wild animals (wildlife), especially birds.
In my early years, I took over photography jobs for an advertising agency on a regular basis and photographed the given subjects with monochrome films which were developed and printed in my own lab. I still have my love for monochrome images, as you can easily see when browsing my blog.
Thus, I decided to pick a few examples for today, where nature and monochrome are combined. All of the images are taken during my latest trip to Norway, from which I returned on Wednesday night.
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to John’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
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Monochrome Monday 9-43
recently, I stumbled upon an image of this tree online. My own images of this tree are all in color. But, that fellow photographer developed and showed a monochrome image of that tree. Seeing his image, I copied mine and played a little bit around. In the end, I got this: monochrome and inverted.
Do you like it?
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Monochrome Monday 9-42
mirror on the wall to my feet, who is the fairest of them all
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Monochrome Monday 9-41
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Monochrome Monday 9-40
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Monochrome Monday 9-39
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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #235: Shadows and reflections in monochrome
That’s a topic, I like very much. Thanks, Patti for having chosen this for Lens-Artist’s Photo Challenge this week.
When there is light, there is shadow. Especially in monochrome, these shadows become extraordinary because the colors are not distracting your eye. Thus, the patterns pop out much stranger.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Patti’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
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Monochrome Monday 9-38
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Monochrome Monday 9-37
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Throwback Thursday: Hermannsdenkmal (Hermann’s memorial)
This memorial is dedicated to Hermann aka Arminius (appr. 17 b.c. – 21 a.c.), the son of a chieftain of the Cherusker people. There’s not much known about him. As a child, he was taken from his parents and brought to Rome to educate him and make him a real Roman. He learned well and joined the army. As he was quite talented the Romans sent him back to the region he originated from and made him the leader of a military auxiliaries troop of locals.
After a while, he was able to persuade the locals to fight against the Romans. His troop was responsible to protect the roman army and their civil staff on their way back from the wild area east of the river Rhine back to the fortified cities east of the river Rhine, a trip the roman army did each fall to stay in the cities for winter and not in tents.
On this trip, the track was attacked by the Cheruskers and maybe also other tribes. It seems, no Roman soldier or civilian was able to escape as there are nearly no reports available.
For a few years, archaeologists are pretty sure about the place of that battle because of the found artifacts. Before, there were a few other possible places considered. Nowadays we know, this monument is not in the right place. It’s approximately 100km south of the site, where roman remains were found, which seem to be left after that crushing battle about 2000 years ago.
On a scouting trip this summer, I used the opportunity to visit this place with my wife. We were there for the first time. It’s a small place, but with an impressive history. I’m not very happy about the look, the mood, and the appearance of the memorial. But, considering the time when the memorial was planned and constructed, I have to admit, it fits in the time. Not only in Germany these glorifying and heroizing monuments and buildings were set up. You can find similar buildings in all parts of the western world.
While I already used parts of the text above on Monday for Monochrome Monday, I have a total of the memorial for you today. It was built from 1838 until 1875. The whole memorial is 53,46 meter high, while the statue alone has 26,57 meters. Until the Statue of Liberty in New York was built in 1886, this monument was the highest in the western world.
The memorial is set up on top of a 386 meters high hill in a way, that Hermann can look in the plains down to his feet. You reach the memorial from the back. To look in Hermann’s face, you have to pass the memorial and walk downstairs to a terrasse and turn around, like I did for this photo. Otherwise, you can already see him from the plains below. But, nowadays it’s not so easy anymore to see the memorial from the plains because the trees grew since the 19th century.
You can even climb up the memorial. Right below Hermann’s feet is a balcony surrounding the statue. You can even climb up inside the statue up to the face. I skipped climbing up the memorial because of the still unclear situation with COVID-19 at that time.
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Monochrome Monday 9-36
I want to introduce you to Hermann aka Arminius (appr. 17 b.c. – 21 a.c.), the son of a chieftain of the Cherusker people. There’s not much known about him. As a child, he was taken from his parents and brought to Rome to educate him and make him a real Roman. He learned well and joined the army. As he was quite talented the Romans sent him back to the region he originated from and made him the leader of a military auxiliaries troop of locals.
After a while, he was able to persuade the locals to fight against the Romans. His troop was responsible to protect the roman army and their civil staff on their way back from the wild area east of the river Rhine back to the fortified cities east of the river Rhine, a trip the roman army did each fall to stay in the cities for winter and not in tents.
On this trip, the track was attacked by the Cheruskers and maybe further tribes. It seems, no one was able to escape as there are nearly no reports available.
For a few years, archaeologists are quite sure about the place of that battle because of the found artifacts. Before, there were a few further possible places considered. This monument, set up in the late 19th century, is not in the right place. It’s approximately 100km south of the place, where roman remains were found, which seem to be left after that crushing battle about 2000 years ago.
On a scouting trip this summer, I used the opportunity to visit this place with my wife. We were there for the first time.
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Monochrome Monday 9-35 and Lens-Artists Photo Challenge 231: “Favorite Images of 2022″
A new year also means reviewing the past year. As a good tradition, I already did it under two different aspects. First, I published my “Top 9 of Instagram” and second, I picked my favorites from six categories.
Today, I’m presenting my top monochrome images.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to John’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
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