dear friends – sorry for the very few comments and replies from me but I have to ask you…
… something you maybe can’t answer. I for one am waisting my time for things like (the questions will say that)….
– why do I spend too much time for posting one photo to the Photo-Quest group today (without any success)?
– why do I need more time for editing my posts than for the words (see above)?
– why does something not work as it usually has to?
– why do so many people tell about sth. they want to do – and do not do that?
– why does a friend critisize my “absense” after never reacting on my comments and replies?
– why do I have the feeling that I’m wasting my time for things that are less important than the contents of a blog?
– why does the proofreader tool mark the word “Photomerge”?
by the way the photo has nothing to do with the content of this entry. I only placed it here to post it to another blog by using the URL – after I tried the URL ofjthis picture from my library. In both tryings I had no success and it made me feel that I’m waisting my time again to try to make a post.
– (this question will follow tomorrow)
The end of my weekend…
… was very short. The weather was good enough to start some outdoor activities f. eks. preparing the flowers and plants outside for winter and to fix up the terrace. I was too dirty to grab my camera – and there was no reason for it in fact. Late in the evening – we were bored by advertising TV every 20 minutes (OMG that sucks), each over 10 minutes (!!!!!!) – Instead of zapping over to other channels I made some shots with my 70-200mm lens what had the fine effect that I could make some exercises to keep it calm 😉
… and here they are:
Have some sunny days (something I’m missing)….
Mug Shot of Tony… and sth. ’bout the last week
… and a portrait of her and her sister Kari – our housemates…
… and something about last week..
I survived
these long and hard days and nights. Well the one who saved me was my friend – the photographer – who cancelled two jobs he asked me to be with to assist him. So my time schedule was not that tight. At least the “Easy Moving” Session was wonderful. We played more than four hours and I met a lot of old friends I didn’t see for years at that event. It was a fine place to reactivate good old contacts without talking about things like “Once upon a time in the stone age” 😉
It was worth that to practise and make rehearsals for that event – f. eks. I played my upright bass on “Riders On The Storm”. I know that this sounds good (different!) but the audience was surprised about that sound – they loved it – for lots of them it was a new experience – and I was asked to play in another band what means MORE GIGS!!! And I love to play live on stage ’cause that’s the place where music really happens not on i-tunes 😉
So clear that we’ll make it again – next year
Here you can see the place where it happened (at the center of the image that follows)
Some more shots will follow when and if I receive the photos a guy made on the event (and I feel they’ll be great)…
… to fulfill my tagword…
Seems that I forgot that I wanted to feed not only your eyes but also your ears with some stuff. I once posted some videos and photo-streams of my songs on Vox.com. When I realized that these files have been gone to kingdom come when I transferred my files to WordPress I said to myself: “why not rebuild them?” … Then I thought to myself: “Why should you take the same stuff while we are working on a remix of one song and add it with some new material to create a new video?” We are still on the way to remix “Valle Gran Rey” and make a new video of it. The next one should be “Cacatua Bar”. For my song “Your Crossroads” I’m in need of some (a lot of!) new video material to create a video at all. But there was one little piece of music that never has been enriched with some video material. So I found me some of the photos I posted here since I started to blog here, created a little photo-stream and activated a new YouTube account to post it to you
… et voila, here it is …
Gas Station HDR
this is one of three images I used for the HDR. It’s the one that is correctly exposed.
Then I added two shots one under and one overexposed and made a HDR of them. Here’s the result
The photos I made with the bracketing function of my D 5000 that is only limited on three layers. It’s a nice function to keep the result sharp and crispy. Now I’d like to find a body that allows 5 -or better – 7 layers for HDR-photos that is due to my budget. Any suggestions from you? 😉
Some weeks ago we tried several 7 layers_HDR’s but only one was successful because we had to adjust the camera (a D 70) each time for each photo. But this one was really good (what made me learn that the more layers the better the result).
I really hope for you that….
… time is by your side. I’m in urgent need to recreate now! Next week the days will be very long for me. Usually I can spend my time to recover in the evening hours – not so next week:
Monday (and I’m only talking about the evenings now!): preparing for some photosessions I’ll have together with my friend and some models (some special shootings we’ll make in a studio)…
Tuesday: Meeting with my guys for our new project “The Formerly Unknown” we’re starting now and it will be finished December ’11 (my job is the musical leadership and coaching the bands)!
Wednesday: last rehearsal for the “Easy Moving” Jubilee Concert
Thursday: Last rehearsal for my band “Blackout” for the Saturday Showcase at New Music School
Friday: Preparing for Saturday
Saturday: Showcase at NMS in the afternoon (3 hrs.) and Easy Moving Jubilée Concert in the evening
Sunday: I’ll be dead 😉
I’ll try to stay tuned – See ya! … and have a nice Halloween Weekend!!!
one more shoot I made yesterday (a little “encore”)
… one attempt of a HDR at the very early morning in my hometown at the railway station
and another one of the famous Bacardi works that supplies Europe and the eastern world with rum and whisky…
Rock ‘n Roll at the Duckpond…
… action within 10 seconds
not only for the ducks but also for me 😉
and a little Halloween messenger as an onlooker
… and I’ll check out to find some grease-paint tomorrow.
ENJOY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
no words…
... just pics
Just only to say “hello again”…
… there are some minutes left to make a little entry about “Spring and Fall” before I go to work
(inspired by “Photo-Quest #102” – thx Maureen).
Yesterday I relished a wonderful afternoon that started with some guitar lesson support I gave to my niece who visited my mom yesterday. She asked me for some basic fingerpicking styles (OMG – not my core competence). While she was practising – following my advises – I was in my mom’s garden to shoot some cherry tree leafs (#1)… Then I picked up the car to look for some maple trees (some of the few trees here that show some really wonderful colors here when fall comes and you don’t find them in such quantities as f. eks. in Canada or in the northern parts of the USA). OK I found a few of them, had some fun and when I came home to edit, convert and store the shots on my hard drive I stumbled upon one of the first 100 shots (while waiting instead of ironing – this job really sucks!) I made with my Nikon SLR – a blossom of the same cherry tree (#2)…
Here they are…
#1 Spring
# 2 Fall
Foggy Tuesday…
… at the railway station in my hometown. I screwed down to ISO 100 and made some time exposures (between 2 and 4 seconds)..
It was cold this morning and I discovered some cars where the windows were covered with frost *brrrr*. So strange living to see the first signs of winter.
Tomorrow will be the last chance to see some sun in Northern Germany, then the greyness and rain will domineer our souls. Time to start some indoor activities.
Something About Still Life Photography
Last Wednesday I started to create a concept for our common homepage (one of my tasks). I drove to Stade to present my ideas I had to my friend but he was sidetracked by so many “important” things so that I wasted my time waiting for him… Wasting time – not my thing! I discovered some nice accessories to create some still life arrangements
The rest of the story: No results except of a “Sorry that I had no time for you, but I had a lot of things to do” from my friend. So why did I spend my time to drive to Stade? For nothing? Ooooooh no!
– I have some new ideas to make some still life photography and the first two of them I wanna share with no one else but you!
– I’ll do more for myself (and believe me I’m selfish – NOT!).
– I’ll create my own homepage
Et Voilà! – here are my attempts
#1 “Big Brother Is Watching You”
# 2 “Views Of Application Photos”
a sunny and colorful weekend to all of you!
Some of 200 RAW’s I converted to JPEG’s today…
Holy crap – sorry for that but I love to be honest and that’s the only way I can express what I feel… It was a long time I spent on my computer today. OK the shots were ok what means there were nearly no edits to make before I converted them. But on the other side some other things had to be done (and I could do them while my computer is working – the “View NX 2” converter is very slow I suppose)…
– wash the dishes *sic*
– ironing *sic*
– home health care – my love caught a gastric flu *sic*
– go shopping (empty fridge) *sic*
– drive to the car wash – a little attempt of escape without success *sic*
I realized that it takes a loooong long time to convert photos from RAW to JPEG and I asked myself “does it make any sense to do that (a few weeks ago I read in some forum thatit don’t mean a thing if you edit your RAW or JPEG-files… So I said to myself “Take a file and optimize it in RAW and then go to Photoshop to edit it, then take the same files, convert them as it is and try to do the very best with them only in Photoshop”.
And the result is – you can believe me – I’ll never shoot in JPEG again. After five *sics* now a *YAY* ’cause this day ended good for me at last
Good night fellas,
c u tomorrow!
Duck in the Port of Stade – and some more…
This vain male mallard caused a nice intermission for me while I was shooting for a documentary about a crane that will be restored here in the port.
By the way Stade is a very old and beautiful town – not that far away from my hometown. Here a panorama stitch of 8 shots of the little port the duck (seen above) felt so good 😉
the following stitch I made from the other side of the harbor basin (from a position near the two ships on the right who lay in a package)
By the way the centre of Stade is very picturesque. Here my first – and I think succesful – attempt of making a stitch with my point & shoot in febrary last year…
OK back to the harbor… Here some more shots.
If you look at the right hand side of the first panorama you’ll see a ship with a red and green hull. It’s the “Greundiek” what means “green dike” . I had permission to enter the bridge of this museum ship to take some pictures from the “seaside” ;-).
They have a lot of hard work to keep the ship in good shape. It’s a permanently fight against rust. My respect to all these guys who keep that ship in shape and keep it up and running…
Check out the rudder house…
affectionately restored – like all parts of this ship
It was a great joy to show you a part of my little world. Thanks in advance for your heed!
Pumpkins & Plums
… a four course meal
The task for my love and the other members of a site called Lecker Kochen
was to create a dish based on pumpkins and plums. What a great challenge – and the result was *yummy*!!!!!
… and here is the recipe. It was a quest called “Kochduell” where my love – not me – took part in…
The rules were as follows:
#1 Use the following ingredients: pumpkins, plums, whipped cream and yoghurt!
#2 You are allowed to add all ingredients you have in your store – no additional purchase!!
#3 be creative!!!
and that’s what she made of it (for once in german – the little helper “translate. google.com” couldn’t help me to make a postable translation *lol*)
1. Als Gruss aus der Küche eine Kürbisterrine
2. Kürbissuppe mit Petersiliensahne
3. Schweinefilet mit Zwetschgen-/Zwiebelsoße, Kürbissoufflé und Kürbisgratin
4. Karamellcreme mit Rotwein-Gewürz-Zwetschgen
Zusätzlich zu den vorgegebenen Zutaten habe ich folgendes verwendet:
200 ml + einen guten Schluck halbtrockenen Rotwein, ca 150g Zucker, 1 Sternanis, 1/3 Stange Zimt, 1 Nelke, 4 Blätter weiße Gelatine, 1 L Gemüsebrühe, 1 Bd. glatte Petersilie,
abgeriebene Zitronenschale von 1/2 Zitrone, 4 Zwiebeln, 1 EL Himbeeressig, 1/4 Vanilleschote, 5 Eier, SAlz, Pfeffer, Italienische Kräuter. 4 Knoblauchzehen, einen guten Schluck Sekt (war noch da von unserem Nach-Konzert-Schluck, ist aber eine andere Geschichte) oder Weißwein, Butterschmalz und Olivenöl.
Ich hoffe, da ist nichts bei, was nicht den Anforderungen auf “Sowieso da” entspricht…
Noch eins vorweg: Ich habe einen Hokkaidokürbis gekauft, ca 1800g, und den als Erstes zerlegt, die Kerne und das Faserige entfernt und in grobe Stücke geschnitten
Zutaten für die Kürbisterrine:
250 g Kürbis
0,2 L Gemüsebrühe
1 Zwiebel
2 Knoblauchzehen
150 g Vollmilchjogurt
1/4 Bd. glatte Petersilie
abgeriebene Schale von einer 1/2 Zitrone
Pfeffer / Salz
4 Blatt Gelatine
So geht das:
Je 2 Gelatineblätter in kaltem Wasser einweichen. In einem kleinen Topf die kleingewürfelte Zwiebel und eine Knoblauchzehe andünsten, den grob zerkleinerten Kürbis zugeben und ebenfalls mit andünsten. Mit Salz und Pfeffer kräftig würzen. Die Gemüsebrühe zugeben und köcheln lassen. Wenn der Kürbis weich ist alles pürieren und 2 von den eingeweichten Gelatineblättern zugeben und gründlich verrühren. Eine kleine längliche Plastikschale (1/2 Liter Fassungsvermögen) mit Klarsichtfolie auslegen und die Kürbiscreme einfüllen.
Den Jogurt in eine Schüssel geben, die zweite Knoblauchzehe durch die Knoblauchpresse in den Joghurt geben. Die Petersilie fein hacken, von einer halben Zitrone die Schale abreiben und beides in den Jogurt geben. Mit Salz und Pfeffer abschmecken. Die Gelatine auflösen, ein bis 2 Esslöffel vom Jogurt einrühren und alles schnell und gründlich verrühren. Vorsichtig auf die Kürbiscreme gießen.
Die Terrine abkühlen lassen und zum Festwerden in den Kühlschrank stellen. Die Terrine am besten Morgens oder einen Tag vor dem Essen zubereiten, damit sie fest genug wird. Zum Servieren die Terrine stürzen und pro Portion eine Scheibe abschneiden, auf einen Teller legen und mit einer Scheibe Baguette und etwas Petersiliendeko anrichten.
Fertig!
Zutaten für die Kürbissuppe:
500g Kürbis, grob gewürfelt
1 Zwiebel
0,75 L Gemüsebrühe
1 Knoblauchzehe
1 EL Italienische Kräuter
100 ml Schlagsahne
3/4 Bd. glatte Petersilie
Pfeffer und Salz
ca. 75 g Schweinefilet
So geht das:
Die Zwiebel und Knoblauch würfeln und in Butterschmalz und Olivenöl glasig dünsten. Kürbis zugeben und kurz mitdünsten, Salz, Pfeffer und die Italienischen Kräuter zugeben. Brühe angießen und ca 20 – 25 Minuten köcheln lassen, bis der Kürbis zerfällt. Mit dem Pürierstab zerschreddern. Sekt oder Weißwein zugeben und noch einmal gründlich aufkochen lassen. Schweinefilet sehr fein schneiden und unmittelbar vor dem Servieren in die Suppe geben.
Die Sahne halbsteif schlagen und die fein gehackte Petersilie zugeben. Pfeffern und Salzen. Die Suppe in Tassen oder auf Teller gießen und einen schönen Klacks Sahne darauf geben. Fertig!
Zutaten für das Hauptgericht:
600 g Schweinefilet – remark: we decided to have some pork tenderloin that weekend, so it’s due to the rules – INVENTORY – not? 😉
2 Zwiebeln
6 Zwetschgen
einen Schluck Rotwein, halbtrocken
1 Essl. Himbeeressig
Kürbissoufflé:
250 g Kürbis
30g Butter
50g Junger Gouda
1 Eigelb
2 Eiweiß
Pfeffer und Salz
Kürbisgratin:
200 g Kürbis
125 g Junger Gouda
50 ml Sahne
So geht das: Zunächst den Ofen auf 180 Grad vorheizen! Keine Umluft!
Kürbisgratin: Eine kleine Auflaufform fetten. Kürbis in dünne Scheiben schneiden und eine Lage fächerartig in die Auflaufform legen. Salzen und Pfeffern und mit ca. 25 g kleingewürfeltem Gouda bestreuen. Darauf eine zweite Schicht Kürbis legen. Sahne mit einem Schluck Wasser mischen und darübergießen. Salzen und Pfeffern, in den Ofen schieben. Ca. 20 Minuten backen, dann den restlichen kleingewürfelten Käse über das Gratin geben und noch einmal 15 Minuten im Backofen lassen.
Fertig
Kürbissoufflé: Den Kürbis grob würfeln, in einem kleinen Topf in wenig Olivenöl andünsten. Einen kleinen Schluck Wasser zugeben und bei geschlossenem Deckel weichdünsten. Dann den Kürbis pürieren, das Eigelb, den kleingewürfelten Käse und die Butter unterrühren. Die Eiweiße steif schlagen und vorsichtig unter die Masse heben. Kleine Auflaufformen (ca. 8 cm. Durchmesser) fetten. Die Masse vorsichtig in die Förmchen geben (reicht für 4 Förmchen), mit dem Messer einmal am Rand entlangfahren, damit sie gut aufgeht und in den Backofen setzen. Ca. 25 Mituten backen, dann müssten die Soufflés schön aufgegangen und hellbraun sein.Beim Herausnehmen aufpassen, dass sie keinen Zug bekommen, dann fallen sie zusammen. Sofort servieren!
Schweinefilets: Die Schweinefilets in Medaillons schneiden. Die Zwiebel in halbe Ringe schneiden und die Zwetschgen halbieren. Die Zwiebeln kräftig anbraten und in eine kleine Kasserole geben. Die Schweinefilets salzen und Pfeffern und im Zwiebelfett kräftig anbraten. Bei mittlerer Hitze fertig braten. Die Zwiebeln in der Kasserole erhitzen und die halbiertern Pflaumen zugeben. Kurz weiterbraten und mit einem ordentlichen Schluck Rotwein ablöschen. 1 EL Himbeeressig zugeben. Zwiebels-/Zwetschgensoße zum Fleisch geben und alles fertigköcheln.
Nun noch alles schön auf Teller anrichten, dann ist auch das fertig….
Zutaten für den Nachtisch: Auch den Nachtisch am Besten Morgens zubereiten, damit er gut durchkühlen kann
80g Zucker
0,2 L Milch
2 Eier
2 Eigelb
50g Zucker
500 g Zwetschgen (6 Stück für das Hauptgericht abnehmen!)
1 Essl. Zucker
0,2 ml Rotwein, halbtrocken
1 Sternanis
1/3 Stange Zimt
1 Nelke
So geht das: Den Backofen auf 150 Grad vorheizen.
Die 80 g Zucker karamellisieren, 2-3 EL Wasser zugeben und wieder flüssig werden lassen. Das Karamell als Spiegel in 4 keine Förmchen füllen. Die Milch mit 1/4 aufgeschlitzten Vanilleschote aufkochen lassen. Aus den Eiern, dem Eigelb und 50g Zucker eine Creme rühren, die Milch vorsichtig unterrühren. Ggf durch ein Sieb streichen und in die Förmchen füllen. Die Förmchen in ein Wasserbad im Backofen stellen und bei 150 Grad ca. 25-30 Minuten stopckjen lassen. Kaltstellen.
Die Zwetschgen halbieren. Den Rotwein mit den Gewürzen und dem Zucker aufkochen und ein wenig reduzieren lassen. Zwetschgen hineingeben und kurz mitköcheln lassen. Abkühlen lassen. Fertig.
Zum Servieren die Karamellcreme auf Teller stürzen und mit den Gewürzzwetschgen servieren. GESCHAFFT!
Ich schwöre, das alles aufzuschreiben war anstrengender als das Kochen!
I lay down on the ground….
… I remembered that this was a title I used last year in the spring at Vox…
and that’s a way to find some new perspectives…
have a nice weekend!
An attempt of posting a youtube video
For the Ex-Voxers – most of you know this video 😉
For those who don’t know it some facts:
We call the project “Go For 2” The name of the song is “Valle Gran Rey”.
My friend plays the lead electric guitar (a Gibson “Les Paul”) for the melody and made some improvisations over the groove. Additionally he played some acoustic guitars and arranged the funky part of the song.
I play the second electric guitar ( a “Strat”) – the second voice on the melody track, the keyboards, synthesizers, drums and percussion (most of that stuff on a step arranger), not to forget some acoustic guitars and the vocals.
The backline arrangements and my vocals I recorded at my home. The additional lead instruments and the other acoustic and electric guitars were recorded at my friend’s studio where we also produced it and made the final mix.
And here it is!
http://www.youtube.com/v/Jm61d_GdJ6g?fs=1&hl=de_DE
Thank you for your tutorial freedomsmith, but I have only a link on my post – no image…
What was the mistake I made?
My first impressions when I checked the file (particularly interesting for Ex-Voxers):
1. the quality of the video is much better!
2. I never heard such a authentic sound – so near to the master file we produced as a wav.file
3. It may take some time to upload the stream – particularly the best (720 pixels) version – so what!?
kindest regards
NMS Concert
… last saturday we had an event at the “Neue Musikschule” (new music school) in my hometown, where the audience lived to see various kind of styles how you can express in music. It was a teachers’ concert where some of the music teachers present their favorite music. By the way a cello teacher told me that we opened his ears for Rock ‘n Roll ;-). Feels like a “knightly accolade” for me. By the way he will arrange an appointment in Hamburg for us. We are still looking for new venues to play…. Back to the event. Full house and a great mood in the audience although it was hard for some friends of classical music to listen to heavy metal stuff as well as the ancient stuff presented on flute or cello for the Rock ‘n Rollers. But whhat this evening made unique was the diversity and the way the musicians presented their stuff. And at last it was the passion that communicated the great world of black and white music….
What I missed as a photographer (I made some portrait shots of the musicians for their private albums – sorry, no postings permitted – I promised that) was some more light from the front… Here one shot a friend of mine made of me and two no-portrait-shots where I tried to play with the rest of light that was available 😉
Sep. 24. – “More Autumn Moods”
After a long night (“Blackmore’s Night” live in Hamburg) yesterday I spent a very short time at my job finishing only the really important things. Some indoor jobs will follow the next days. So I decided to spend the last few hours before some rain and lower temperatures will dominate the following days – and the weather report is reliable indeed!So I made a little walk along a little river called Aue and rediscovered a youth hostel where I spent some nights 43 year ago. Once it was a fulling mill and was converted to a youth hostel in the 50’s.
Here some impressions…
Sep. 23. – The Day After…
Time to grab my new lens – a Sigma EX 70-200mm 1:2,8 – and make some exercises in free hand shooting what means for me “keep the camera calm – OOOOOOOOOOOOM…”. This lens has no image stabilisator and the same lens from Nikon was a bit too expensive for me. But I wanted the performance – NOW!!!!# 1 – Our cat Tony (hard to catch):
f = 110 mm
F 2,8
1/640 sec.
ISO 800
f = 160 mm
F/2,8
1/500
ISO 800
Sep. 22. – Beginning of Fall
After a lot of rainy days this wonderful scenery this morning – uuuuh what a wonderful day it was….
Sorry that I couldn’t post it earlier – too many things to do!
Good night fellas! See Ya tomorrow…
She’s a Sweety…
Lots of RAW’s a waiting to be checked and assorted. I spent some time for this work today in the afternoon after I made a last rehearsal for the upcoming concert next weekend (no time to blog then 😦 …) In a bunch of unsorted RAW files I found this photo of Kari, one of our three cats. She’s most photogenic of our babes. It’s one of the many shots I made of her with my 70-300mm lens a few weeks ago on our terrace… Some correction of white balance, saturation and a little bit “correction” of the colors and some gaussian blur filter for the background I had to make to accentuate her beautiful face… All of you who are passing by a wonderful and sunny weekend! … and may the light be with you 😉
My World 