Dreaming of the new collection for this autumn...

A wonderful graffiti on a corner in Barcelona...

... taken outside of Barcelona Airport

I have been traveling last days and just returned home... no exiting long trip far away... to compensate my silence a first impression from Barcelona Airport.

... it took me some time to post this image. For me the image does transport a decisive moment there however is no motion, no person.

What makes it possible to feel a decisive moment without those elements?

One part can be found in the light... the light here is something like the saying that you can not step in the same river twice...

On the other hand we're left alone with the question if there is someone out there in the light. Will the person show up in the image in a moment or did someone just disappear... you never will know what I saw.

The decisive moment solely exist in our imagination, we see something what is not there: an imaginary decisive moment!

.. one year ago in Aleppo, another moment, another street.

Enjoy!

Another decisive moment or 3 and a half.....

A decisive moment from Aleppo (Syria).

During the Syria trip I visited a small village with Beehive houses (one on the background of the building), it was empty and nobody seems to be at home. Then the girl showed up and waved to come in for a tea.

Streets in Syria were too full for me, I did manage some portrait (see previous posts) but I just have a few shots from the streets. Today a first one:

I do have my difficulties to choose photo's from Cuba for the Blog, today a streetshot and... Tomorrow a slideshow with Streets of Cuba! (Promised!!)

After years of maintenance quite a lot of things still are working in Cuba, Trains however today are not a good way to travel; they either are delayed or canceled. We tried to book a ticket but everybody told us to take the bus.. I took this photograph and we went for a bus to leave La Habana.

...it's a matter of seeing and pressing the button on the decisive moment (and of course to be there at the right time)

These days I am lazy and do not find too much time to work on the huge amount of material I have from Cuba. To give a sign of life today a streetshot from Habana.

after a break of some weeks (we where traveling and visited Syria) I today continue with some more street shots from Cuba.

these boys lost something..

.. they did not found what they where looking for. I think the boys and the mural are a nice repetition.

for some reason I returned home from Cuba with quite a lot of dogs in the photographs.

Here another one...

Enough material for a "dogs category" of the blog.

There are 2 triangles in this street-shot, one a positive and another one a negative shape.

Well, next days I will try to post more from our trip to Cuba earlier this year.

As mentioned before, I not only took portraits in Cuba. Today I show you a result of my "experiments" in street photography.

This boy was playing in the entrance of a building. In his private baseball training he was throwing a ball against the wall.

During our trip I did some first steps in street photography. We therefore walked a lot in cities. Of course eye was on the street but also inside buildings. This proud girl and her brother where playing with a hoop in the entrance of a building.

Tomorrow another shot into an entrance...

Let's continue with some more street photography..

By the way, I did some management on the categories (in the side bar on the left and on top of each posting) now they should be usable to show postings with content of a similar type.

Today another dog in the street.

Nice shirt!

In Cuba I did some first steps towards street photography.

What is the dog looking at? We never will know, I followed the dog after taking this photograph and did not look into the building.

From the technical point of view this photograph is not perfect, the eyes of the boy are slightly out of focus...

... it is the boy his expression which, compensates the technical flaw. The boy is highly emotional somewhere between being sad, proud and afraid. Mixed feelings are the richness in this portrait.

... quite a lot of (photographic details) have been changed since I returned from Cuba. Work from there is no longer only in square format, the format is chosen more related to the content. Besides this, the subjects of my photography are also street shots and the sepia toning disappeared.

Bellow another "street" shot:

Quite a lot of changes, I feel comfortable about them, what do you think?

I am having a cold these days, already 5 days.. maybe the change of climate between Cuba and Central Europe caused it. Today I could not sleep anymore and had some energy to produce this photograph of a boy I saw in a local shop in Trinidad.

I am back home from Cuba, lots of RAW files are there to be processed. As usual it is difficult to start working on the images possible worth to be shown. For the moment a first image which, was taken in La Habana at the Malecón.

During this trip I not only have been taking portraits, I also experimented with street photography.

Last months I re-discovered my 50mm lens. To use that is a refreshment with inspiration rather than a limitation. I will try to explain what is happening and give some idea about my experience. Last week I have been in Barcelona only with the 50mm lens in the bag.

Photography is about seeing and recognizing the subject. Having a camera with a zoom lens the eyes of the photographer also are in "zoom mode".

When using only 50mm lens for weeks the eyes will be adapted to non zoom mode. The effect of not zooming with the brain helps to see the scene better.

Sure, there is always the question, what do I put in my bag.. leaving home with only a 50mm lens can be a bit scary. In the beginning you will feel that you missed opportunities because not having zoom lenses in the bag. After a while you don´t have that feeling anymore....

Making the composition in the viewfinder with the limitation not beeing able to zoom requires more concentration but with less parameters focus gets even stronger on seeing.

No zoom means, one parameter more to play with. I found this gave place to another parameter while taking the photograph. Since I started to use 50mm almost exclusively I am much more aware of apenture and the resulting DOF.

It seems with the 50mm lens to master technique became more easy and the burden to find subjects is lower since eyes are not zooming in and out. I can recommend to get a 50 mm lens and see the world in a much simpler way.

... one more from the "orphanage"

another candid shot, taken from our taxi during the India trip in January 2008

When I take photographs of people, normally it are portraits where the person knows very well that I take a photographs. Sometimes however the situation is that nice that I can't resist to press the button.

These men on the beach of Puducherry (India) where standing there and this was exactly such a situation for a candid "street" shot.