HamburgCam Photo Blog

The "New York Times" traveled to Hamburg - and liked it :-)

2012-02-01T11:30:00.002+01:00

Well, at least one of their editors did. The NYT has a feature in their travel section called "36 hours" where they visit cities around the world for 36 hours and tell you what they have done during this time. This can be a great timeline with tips on where to go for someone who visits Hamburg for the first time.

This is the first time that I link to an external site from my blog for someone elses view on Hamburg. But I really think that the author hit the bull's eye with his introduction to Hamburg: "NO one tells you how pretty Hamburg is."

That is the main reason why I'm writing this blog about Hamburg. Munich, Heidelberg or Berlin seem to be the main cities that international tourists visit when they come to Germany. But after Berlin, Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and deserves more attention. And it is pretty! :-)

So hop over to see what the New York Times has to say about Hamburg if you don't want to take my word for it ;-)

New York Times special - 36 hours in Hamburg

Drive In window Hamburg style ;-)

2011-05-18T16:42:00.000+02:00

Hamburg has many bridges and canals. According to Wikipedia, Hamburgs waterways are crossed by more than 2500 bridges. That is more bridges than London, Amsterdam and Venice combined! That makes Hamburg the bridge capital of Europe.

And the canals, lakes and rivers play a big role in recreation. Many places around the lake Alster rent out boats and canoes. And when the weather is adequate there is a lot of traffic on our waterways.

Business has taken this into consideration, too. Some places offer piers for hungy and thisty captains to take a rest and this place has a "paddle in" window for a drive by refreshment:

Drive In Window Hamburg Style from HamburgCam on Vimeo.

More miniature Hamburg

2011-04-19T18:39:00.000+02:00

Since the last one was so much fun and I'm trying different techniques to find the style I like, I put together onother video. Tiis is one of a tugboat coming from lake Alster and entering into one of the canals.

Untitled from HamburgCam on Vimeo.

Miniaturized Video of Lake Alster in Hamburg

2011-03-24T17:54:00.004+01:00

There are a few good apps that turn your iPhone's camera into a creative photo machine. But you can get creative with video apps, too.

Here is a short HD Video shot with an iPhone 4 and processed with a tilt/shift (miniaturized) effect.

Enjoy! :-)

Hamburg Alster Tilt Shift Video from HamburgCam on Vimeo.

How Analog is Digital Photography?

2010-03-21T01:11:00.013+01:00

Alsterfleet Hamburg
Photo taken with an iPhone

The alternative title for this post could have been: I now love my iPhone even more!

Actually, I was generally very happy with my 3G iPhone. But when it comes to taking pictures it pretty much stinks.

Maybe I am too demanding, but only 1 in 100 pictures that I took with the iPhone turned out in a quality, that I would actually dare to post it online. And those acceptable shots were generally taken in very good lighting conditions. Microscopically tiny image sensors and cheap plastic lenses can do no miracles. The images often turn out noisy, smeared and seriously lack contrast and sharpness. And they do so in a very ugly digital manner. I have gotten accustomed to not even bother to take out my iPhone when I would like to take a photo and don't have my DSLR with me. And that is really sad because I always have the iPhone with me...

About 20 years back I actually enjoyed shooting with cheap plastic cameras on film. I used to have a Lomo camera and the images came out in an unpredictable "artsy" way with thrown off colors and contrast that I really liked. But like many photographers I jumped on the digital bandwagon and rode the digital wave to perfection and happiness.

Digital photography has come a long way. With 20+ Megapixel on full frame sensors and lightning fast auto focus capability, it has become quite easy to crunch out very high quality images out of modern DSLR's. But as much as I enjoy this high image quality, I sometimes feel the urge for imperfection and a bit more of a manual creative trial and error.

To me photography is art on a never ending learning curve. And art develops when you keep exploring. Part of exploring is to try out new equipment and techniques and these come usually in stages. I have seen different stages of photography. Maybe you find yourself or someone you know who is in one of these stages:

Stage 1

You have a point and shoot digital camera and snap occasional photos of flowers, cats and family

Stage 2

You want to print these images and learn to use the basic photo editing tool that came with your camera or computer

Stage 3

You feel like the little point and shoot camera limits you in what you want to do. If you just had a DSLR camera your images would look as good as ....... (fill in the name of someone you know who's photos you like)

Stage 4

You bought an entry level DSLR with a kit lens and thinking about making a living off of photography. Set the camera to auto mode and Ansel Adams - here I come!

Stage 5

You think that your photos look crappy! So it is not all about the camera after all? You feel the need to learn how to take better photos. You read photoblogs, buy a book on photography and attend a seminar. You start to shoot more in manual camera settings to get more control over the image. You are learning the rules of composition and the images look straight and clean. You buy a 18-200 better grade zoom lens to cover the whole focal range.

Stage 6

Your photos look better now but you want to learn how to use a serious image editor to get them to look more "wow". You read photoshop "how to" blogs, buy a book on image editing and attend a seminar. Now you are (over)editing most of your images to show off all the tricks that you've learned.

Stage 7

You are comfortable with your images and apply only reasonable post processing because you know that too much editing does not always make an image look better. Your friends start to say that you are a good photographer. You now feel limited by the creative capability of your mega zoom lens and buy a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens. You start to imitate styles of photographers that you like.

Stage 8

You use the 50mm lens most of the time and never shoot above f/2.8. You pay close attention to separating the main subject from the background by a shallow depth of field and a beautiful blurry bokeh. You start breaking the photographic rules that you have learned and shooting angles and colors start to get wilder. You shoot with manual exposure most of the time. Generally these image would not end up as image on a postcard of a major tourist attraction that many people would buy and send to their grandparents. But maybe the small artistic bookstore around the corner would be interested...?

Stage 9

A more serious DSLR (Full Frame) and more prime lenses (24mm, 35mm, 85mm, or 135mm) are on the shopping list. You have enough experience to know what to do in almost any photographic situation. Your images are pretty much perfect. That feels good but also a bit empty. You need new challenges

Stage 10

You went to a flea market and picked up a 30 years old analog camera and had a hard time to find a store that still sells film for it. You go through your first roll of film and catch yourself constantly looking at the back lid of the camera after each image. You realize each time that analog has no preview LCD screen. You have a similar hard time to find a store that still develops analog film and you are excited like a six year old on Christmas morning when you are handed the first envelope with your developed prints. You are disapointed like that 6 year old after Christmas morning when the content of the stocking was not what you wished for when you look at these unexposed images. You hate yourself for not knowing how to correctly insert a roll of film and got unexposed images. You research the internet to find a manual on how to correctly load a roll of film into the camera and start shooting your second roll of film. (Honestly, this happend to me). Now you are probably back at stage 7 on the photography stage scale but you feel like someone just beamed you back to stage 1.

Stage 11

You shoot more rolls of film and make notes on what worked and what doesn't. You do not look at the missing LCD screen on the back lid of the camera that often any more. You may even start to develop your own rolls and black and white rules. You definitely have a scanner by now and scan your negatives by yourself.

Stage 12

You go through phases of styles. Loving each while it last's but feel like that you need to develop you own very unique style. People start to recognize your images by that style. You shoot digital and analog according to the project that you are working on. Who knows, maybe you turn pro and become rich and famous.

So where do you see yourself right now? ;-)

I feel like I am currently caught somewhere in an analog stage. I just love the look and feel of analog. The grain (noise is digital, grain is analog) and the color shifts in analog images just have that look to it. I can't really describe it but I find it very pleasing - maybe even soothing.

Will I get rid of my digital SLR camera? No way! But I want to get better at shooting analog.

And this is where I come back to the iPhone and its image quality handicap. As for most things today, there is an "App" for that. Many creative developers and photo enthusiasts have created downloadable programs to give the iPhone images a more creative and sometimes even analog look. The image quality from some of those programs technically degrade contrast and dynamic range of the iPhone photos even more. But some can produce whacky images that could have come out of a 35 year old plastic camera with a long expired and color shifted film. I love these programs and have been using my iPhone camera more in one week than in the past 2.5 years. If you have an iPhone and want to try out some creative stuff, just go to the photo section of the App store. There are plenty of photography Apps for many different styles and start playing and exploring untill you find something that fits your style - or the style that you like right now.

So how Analog is Digital? Judge for yourself. I took today's images during a 30 minute lunch break close to Hamburg's town hall. And yes, I do think these whacky colors are actually cool :)

Allianz office building Hamburg

Photo taken with an iPhone

Alsterarkaden Hamburg
Photo taken with an iPhone

Che statue as part of an art exhibition on Rathausmarkt
Photo taken with an iPhone

New office building in a 60's style image quality
Photo taken with an iPhone

Office entrance with reflections Neuer Wall Hamburg
Photo taken with an iPhone

Roman soldier statue on Rathausmarkt (he's with Che)
Photo taken with an iPhone

Rathausschleuse controls the water level of lake Alster

Photo taken with an iPhone

Staked chairs - no outdoor service today
Photo taken with an iPhone

Two towers that were build more than a century apart
Photo taken with an iPhone

Not again...

2010-03-12T10:26:00.015+01:00

I think that I was asking for it!

In my last post I was saying farewell to the winter and announced the first sightings of spring. Less than 24 hours later the winter showed me what he thought of my post.

He answered me with a thick New Jersey accent (picture Danny DeVito saying it): "I'll go w'enever I say I go!"

O.K. he did not actually say that, but he must have meant it this way when he dropped 20cm (8in) of fresh, thick, juicy snow on Hamburg that night. I think I'll better keep my amateur meteorology forecasts to myself from now on an leave it to the groundhog to make the call for the beginning of spring. Groundhog Day was February 2nd and the little rat forecasted 6 more weeks of winter. In my calendar those 6 weeks will be over in a few days. We'll see...

So what does that mean for my loyal photo blog followers? More winter imagery from Hamburg ;-)

At least this part of the Alster is not completely frozen anymore
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

This icicle on the street light was 1m (3feet) long. I call these "Lightcicles"
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

Somehow I was wondering if this bike belongs to Santa Claus
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

Public glass recycling container covered with snow
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

Icicle bokeh - seen on a public playground (click image to enlarge)
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

Today I'd rather take the bus...
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

What a winter!

2010-03-03T12:45:00.007+01:00

If you have been following the last few posts you are aware that we had quite a winter in Hamburg. It was the toughest winter in 3 decades! 11 weeks of snow and ice - so far. That was about your average winter in Hamburg in the 60's and 70's but nowadays we usually have much milder winters.

It was fun to enjoy the amenities of snow and a real winter for a while. By now people are pretty much tired of it. We are ready for spring!

Longer daylight hours and the first migrating birds returning to northern Germany are a pretty good indication that this winter will actually come to an end some time.

As a farewell wish to this winter I have a few photographic impressions of the Alster lake and Elbe river on a beautiful winter day.

Two ice skaters enjoying the winter. Ther Alster was never officially found safe to walk on this winter
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

Frozen paddle steamer sightseeing ship in the harbour
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II - 3 images merged into a HDR file and tone mapped

Tugboat "on the rocks" - Cheers!
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

Rickmer Rickmers museum ship tickled by ice
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

Elbe river - the harbour in winter mood
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

Alstereisvergnügen 2010 (sort of) and means of Transportation across the ice

2010-01-31T15:19:00.026+01:00

The Alster is open to walk on - sort of!

This lone buoy is frozen in the ice
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

While officials decided that it is not safe enough to officially open the ice for an Alstervergnuegen on Friday, tens of thousands were not able to wait any more and started to "flood" the ice. On Thursday it snowed again heavily and the ice is covered 15cm of snow (6 in). While this is not a perfect condition for ice skaters it enabled many to "safely" walk on the ice.

When the Alster is frozen the regular means of transportation across the Alster such as the Alster Ships, Sail- and Rowing boats are obsolete.
Besides walking there are many other ways of getting across the ice and here are a few that I captured:

Many are playing ice hockey on the Alster
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

Ice skates are the most obvious things to bring to a frozen lake. And to play ice hockey with a few friends on the weekend instead of soccer is a nice change. You have to clear your own field with a snow shovel - a perfect warmup and maybe more of an exercise than the game itself.

Kid is being pulled on a sled across the ice
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

Many kids brought their sleds and their parents pulled them across the ice.

Kid is being slung around on a plastic pad.
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

A modern alteration of the classic wooden sled are these plastic pads that are light and a lot of fun if you are being slung around in circles.

Fire fighters sitting on their rescue dinghy.
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

The fire department is present around the lake to help out if someone breaks through the ice (remember, the Alster is not officially opened and close to bridges the ice is very thin). They have a special construction of a rubber boat with skids. This way they can safely approach the spot where the ice broke and the boat will keep them floating if they break in themselves. Fortunately, I did not see them having to rescue someone, yet. And they seemed pretty relaxed.

Small kid rides in a hi-tech stroller across the Alster
Photo taken with an iPhone

Small kids are being pushed over the ice in their strollers.

Man pushes his bicycle across the ice
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

Others pushed their bikes. It was too slippery and too crowded to ride them across.

Man cross-country skiies across the Alster
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

I have seen Cross-Coutry Skiing around the lake before. But skiing across it opens an incredible obstacle-less area. Probably the best you can get in the middle of a metropolitan.

Picnic utensils are pulled in a plastic sled
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

And this is the best way to transport your picnic utensils (Glühwein, Coffee, Tea and Cake).

Man rides on a Segway across the Alster ice
Photo taken with a Canon 5D MK II

And as always, there is someone that takes it over the top: A Segway on the Alster - come on! ;-)

Alster Ice 2010 - What a tease!

2010-01-22T23:24:00.008+01:00

This week we've had it all: Snow, rain and freezing sunny days.

Drained canal connecting the lake Alster with the Elbe river.
While the water is gone, the ice plates now cover the ground.
Phote taken with iPhone

Rain is a clear indication of temperatures above freezing and we've had two of those days last week.
You can imagine what this does to the much anticipated ice thickness growth of the lake Alster...

Rain on the Alster
Photo taken with iPhone

This weekend the thermometer should not go above -7°C (19°F) so we are back in the "ice growth" stage. But it seems like just when we are close to hitting the magic 20cm to officially open the ice for the "Altervergnügen" (they put stands selling Bratwürste, Waffels and Glühwein - that is hot red whine with spices) the weather decides to push the temperature just a notch above freezing and that sets us back a few centimeters. What a tease!

On my lunch break today I came across one of the oddities caused by this kind of cold weather. A fire truck was in action in front of the Sofitel luxury hotel and a fireman was carefully kocking off icicles from windowsill. There must have been a water pipe ruptured on the top floor of the hotel and the pouring water instantly froze. Falling icicles of this size can cause quite a threat to ones health if you are hit by it.

Fireman knocking off icicles (the white areas) outside of
the SOFITEL Hotel in Hamburg
Photo taken with iPhone

Frozen Alster Update and Soccer Season 2010

2010-01-14T10:42:00.013+01:00

Many of us are very anxious about the beginning of the second half of the Fussball Bundesliga (Premiere Soccer League) season starting on Friday. Hamburgs Premiere league team "HSV" is ranked 4th after the first half of the season. And Hamburgs team in the second Bundesliga "FC St. Pauli" is currently ranked 2nd.

Photo taken with a Hasselblad 500 c/m medium format
film camera and scanned

I feel equal excitement amongst Hamburgians about the chance to go skating on the ice of the frozen lake Alster. Forecasts at the time of my last post were predicting a possible official approval by this weekend. A little bit warmer than expected temperatures during last weekend crossed those plans though. The thickness of the ice had actually decreased a few cm. We need a constant thickness of 20 cm or 8 inches for the ice to be cleared by officials. Today we are at about 11cm or 4.3 inches.

HSV Stadium - HSH Nordbank Arena

Photo taken with an iPhone

The weather forecast predicts continuous temperatures below freezing for the next 5 days. There is still a good chance for ice skating soon but a 100% chance of the Bundesliga to start this weekend :-)

2010-01-06T23:35:00.012+01:00

Winter has a pretty tight grip on Hamburg these days. Tonight we are expecting -10°C / 15°F. If it stays this cold we might be ice skating on lake Alster within 10 days.

I remember that we walked on lake Alster almost every year in the late 70's *note to myself - I'm getting old*. The last time we were able to go onto the lake was in 1997, so everyone keep your fingers crossed.

But for now, let's take a photo winter stroll around the lake...

Click on the image to view it larger

Some take the stroll around the lake on cross-countrie skis.
Although, this is not a common sight ;-)

Race rowingboats tightly stowed fot the winter at
Rudergesellschaft Hansa.

Abandoned pontoon

The Alsterdampfer stopped their regular scheduled service.
They will go out on special tours as long as the ice thickness
is below 10cm or approx. 4 inches.

Summer 2007

2007-08-03T18:58:00.000+02:00

We are well into the summer 2007 and weather wise, we seem to be a bit unfortunate this year.

Although any meteorologist will have sufficient data to proof to us that this summer is well in the average boundaries of a "Normal" Hamburg summer, most people on the street will not agree.

With severe flooding in England, cold and rainy weather for most northern Europe and blistering heat in southern Europe, something just seems wrong. Is this the climate change or just an unfortunate summer for us here in Hamburg?

Last year was a perfect summer when it came to sunny days. The beautiful weather started just before the soccer world cup and lasted until October.

OK, enough complaining about the weather. The forecast for the next days is good, and we are all ready to do some catching up, chilling in the sun and enjoying the warm and long summer nights. I will try to capture some of the "Summer in Hamburg City" spirit for you.

Censorship in Liberal Germany?

2007-06-14T00:55:00.007+02:00

As I was preparing for today's post about Hamburg, I noticed a commotion on Flickr. Flickr is the online photo platform I use to upload my Blog pictures. Maybe I should say "used to use"?

Here is what happened:

A photo was posted on Flickr that read: Think Flickr, think! Against Censorship!
This photo was all of a sudden uploaded by more and more people and the photo explanation read:

If your Yahoo! ID is based in Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong or Korea you will only be able to view safe content based on your local Terms of Service so won’t be able to turn SafeSearch off. In other words, German users can not access photos on flickr that are not flagged "safe" ... only flowers and landscapes for Germans ...Copy and upload this picture to your account - show flickr who we are!

Now, I am really surprised! Germany is one of the most liberal countries in the world when it comes to nudity. No, we don't run around naked all the time, but we have legal nude beaches. It is also very common for women to sunbathe topless even in public parks and advertising on TV and in magazines show partial nudity as no big deal. We are not talking porn here (which is also legal with certain age restrictions), but maybe partial nudity that is often shown in a very artistic way.

Why on earth is Flickr (or its parent company Yahoo!) censoring Germany? There are plenty of Photo Communities that do no censor legal photos. It certainly can not be against the law here, so why does Flickr / Yahoo! act this way?

Now you have some idea, how liberal Germany is in this respect and why I am so ticked off by this.

From now on, I will post the photos differently to the Blog. Maybe, if Flickr lifts the ban on Germany, I will go back to linking the photos from there.

But for now, I choose not to!

P.S. Thank you to the duck and the statue that were a perfect match for my little Photoshop work ;)

Yahoo! (the owner of flickr) has posted the storie in the Financial News:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070615/flickr_censorship.html

This is Flickr's responds in their Blog and what others have to say about it:http://flickr.com/help/forum/42597/page5/#reply227666

Photograpers in Hamburg

2007-06-10T19:57:00.001+02:00

As this is a Photo Blog of Hamburg, today's entry is about photographic activities in Hamburg.

Thanks to the Internet, there are many ways of finding fellow photographers in any city. If you are fortunate enough to live in a beautiful city, there will most likely be plenty of events scheduled such as outings and small competitions.

As Hamburg is a very picturesque city, we have plenty of activities around photography. Today was an event scheduled by the Hamburg! Flickr Group. It was a beautiful day. Sunny, no clouds at 30°C!

The assignment for this gathering was as follows:

Every participant meets at 11:00 a.m. at the central station with a digital camera and an empty storage card. Then you are given a topic or a theme for which you have 1 hour to capture a photo and then meet at a new location. At the new location you were given a new topic and so on. This procedure was repeated 3 times. At the end of 3 hours you should only have three! photos on your storage card and they are uploaded from each participant to the Administrators notebook.

What made this event so challenging and fun?

- You really had to think of were you will get the scene for the theme within 60 minutes!

- You are not allowed to do any outside of the camera post processing! That was a really tough pill to swallow.

- You were allowed to take as many photos as you wanted, but you had to erase them before turning the storage card in. Only ONE photo per topic!

Interested in what I came up with? Not really? Here it is anyway:

1. Topic: Black & White

I switched the in camera processing to black and white with the highest contrast. This will give you very sharp B&W contrast. I decided on an architectural scene close to the "Chilehaus" which I mentioned in one of my first posts. I wanted to give it some symmetry and dimension.

2. Topic: abyssal / way down

60 minutes was too short to go up a church or tall building, so I decided on a very long escalator in one of the subway stations. I put the person in the bottom out of focus to make the photo appear deeper.

3. Topic: Pirates

This was probably the most difficult one to capture, as the room for interpretation is limited. I could have gone to St. Pauli and capture one of the Pirate flags that are a team symbol, but I wanted a "real" pirate. Then I remembered the most famous pirate statue. Well, actually the statue is not really famous, but the person was. His name was "Klaus Störtebecker" (Stoertebecker) and is said to have lived between 1360 and 1401. I remembered where his statue is located and jogged there. It was a total of 4 miles I had to cover in 60 minutes, but I liked the idea of taking his picture.

Have you ever tried a photographic challenge like this? I can really recommend it to you, as it boosts up your creativity as well as it will allow you to meet some fellow photographers in your area.

Globalization, G8 and Hamburg

2007-06-06T18:38:00.001+02:00

Globalisation
Originally uploaded by HamburgCam.

With the G8 Summit starting today in "Heiligendamm" about 100 miles away from Hamburg, the eyes of the political world are yet again on on Northern Germany. Hamburg has a very long history of trade, commerce and manufacturing. And this paid off in terms of wealth for the city. Most visitors are astonished how green and beautiful this city actually is. Although, most parts of the city were destroyed during World War 2, a lot of effort was put into making Germany's second largest city a very livable place.

Hamburg is the city with the most Millionaires, but it is also the city with the most charitable foundations in Germany. It is part of the "Hanseatic" style to give back to society.

I hope that the G8 protesters will get their points across peacefully and that the violent hooligans will not ruin their efforts. I don't want to get too political about the G8 Summit, but I wish for the outcome to be a consensus on protecting the environment and helping the people in need even more, than these nations already do.

Coffee Shop War?

2007-06-03T20:51:00.002+02:00

Starbucks vs. Balzac
Originally uploaded by HamburgCam.

As the world seems to be inhabited by more and more caffeine junkies, getting your daily dose of "Arabica or Robusta" beans in its liquid stage becomes almost vital to ones happieness.

Drinking coffee in traditional cafes has a long history in Germany. But until 1998, "Espresso coffee chain franchises" were pretty much unknown to Hamburgians. This changed in 1998 when a small local coffee chain opened their first coffee shop in Hamburg. It was called "Balzac Coffee". Up untill 2006, this was the major coffee shop chain in Hamburg.

Just in time for the Soccer World Cup in 2006 the world leader of coffee shops entered the market... "Starbucks"! Somehow, before then the major coffee shop empire had not targeted Hamburg as a potential lucrative market.

Today, the local chain of Balzac operates 34 shops in Hamburg, Lübeck, Berlin and Hannover. The Starbucks label appears on over 13.000 Coffee shops world wide.

Decide for yourself (if you get the chance), which coffee shop is your favorite in Hamburg. I already have my personal favorite :-)

Hamburg Beach!

2007-05-31T18:40:00.002+02:00

Hamburg Beach!
Originally uploaded by HamburgCam.

So you think that a Metropolitan City that is not located directly on an Ocean does not have a beach? Then you should sit down now as you might look at the world differently from now on!

OK, maybe it is not such a big deal for you, but it is for us "Hamburger" (since I started this blog, I have been wondering if I should rather call us Hamburgians? What do you think?)

Anyway, there seems to be a rumor floating around that the weather in Hamburg is pretty crappy. And yes, there were Summers in the past where one could have argued, that we are very fortunate to live in such a beautiful city - but God must have wanted it to be not too perfect. I admit that the sun does not shine as much as we would like it to. Although the past few summers have been awesome (to my recollection anyway) in Hamburg, sunshine is really celebrated.

Hamburg has probably the highest density of convertibles of any German city. So at temperatures just above freezing and a few sun rays, you will see some nuts people driving with their tops down in their convertible!

Other ways to appreciate the sun include hanging out and playing soccer in one of the countless public parks, sitting at the city lake "Alster" (or on one of the many other smaller lakes) barbecuing or going to the beach. Now, with the Baltic Sea and the North Sea so close, you can have saltwater touching your feet and sand accumulating in your shorts as quick as an hour drive from Hamburg (go to Timmendorfer Strand for example). But if you find it too much of a hassle to be stuck in the big "Beach rush" on the Autobahn, you might as well walk, bike or go by bus to the "Elbe Beach". If you don't mind looking at the worlds 8th largest Container Port at work across from your beach towel and Astra (Hamburg brewed) beer, this could actually have a very unique charm.

If you like it a bit more hip and loungy, there are also a few beach clubs with pool, hammocks and all day "Cafe del Mar" tunes accommodating your chilled drink of choice.

You are planning a beach holiday in the near future? Maybe Hamburg during the summer time should find a place on your list :-)

FC St. Pauli

2007-05-29T21:00:00.002+02:00

FC St. Pauli
Originally uploaded by HamburgCam.

The eyes of the world were on Hamburg this weekend for the ASEM conference.

But there was something else that moved us at least as much locally. The chronic underdog and almost always on "the brink of bankruptcy" second soccer team of Hamburg advanced to the second division of the german "Bundesliga"!!! The FC St. Pauli is for many Hamburger the team of hearts. Although not as successful as Hamburgs first team, the Hamburger Sport Verein (HSV), the FC St. Pauli has charm and determination. The fans are one of a kind and the stadium (Millerntor Stadium) as old and rotten as it is, has been called the "cathouse" of the Bundesliga. Many renown teams, such as the FC Bayern München, have lost in the past against St. Pauli in the Millerntor Stadium. It is said, that at St. Pauli different laws to soccer apply. The team has next to the official flag (shown on the photo) also the "Pirate - Skull and Bones" flag as symbol.

I am excited to see how the Pirates of the second Bundesliga will perform and stir up the next season :-)

Spacestation Hamburg?

2007-05-28T18:40:00.001+02:00

Spacestation?
Originally uploaded by HamburgCam.

Today is a national holiday in Germany. I was all excited to go out and take some nice photos for my blog, but Murphy and his highly annoying law came in my way! It has been cloudy and raining the whole day long :-(

My only chance for "dry" photography was indoors or actually undergrounddoors. I have been wanting to take a photo of the Gaensemarkt (Gänsemarkt) Station for a long time. To me, it always looked like the hallway of a space station. Thanks to the bad weather it was very empty and therefore a perfect location for me and my Canon. Eat that, Murphy!

If you care to see a map of the Hamburg subway, tube or underground lines (what ever you call them) click on the photo below for a nice and big view of it.

Dangerous weekend?

2007-05-27T20:34:00.001+02:00

Dangerous weekend?
Originally uploaded by HamburgCam.

This weekend 46 delegations meet at the Asem-Foreignminister Conference in Hamburg.

In the past two days, there have been thousands of policemen patroulling the city and guarding places, where these ministers stay and meet. I have never seen this much police scattered all over the city of Hamburg before!

There are some protests in town, but over all, it is very quiet and peaceful. The police force shows presence, but does this in a very friendly and low key fashion. I talked to some of them, and they were very friedly and communicative.

I fell a bit sorry for them, having to sit in their patrol cars all weekend. Especially during this long pentecost weekend with Monday beeing a national holiday.

This photo shows a police van in front of the "Vier Jahreszeiten" (Four Seasons) Luxury Hotel in Hamburg. I would guess that some important people live there ;-)

UPDATE!!!
I am adding two more photos from today, showing the Cityhall and the security around it.

Prayer for Peace

2007-05-25T17:44:00.002+02:00

Prayer for Peace
Originally uploaded by HamburgCam.

This memorial statue is one of the many found on the church grounds of the St. Nikolai Church.

I thought this would be a good one to post for Pentecost weekend.

St. Nikolai Memorial Hamburg

2007-05-24T16:31:00.001+02:00

St. Nikolai Mamorial Hamburg
Originally uploaded by HamburgCam.

The St Nikolai Church was build and sanctified to the 'patron saint for seaman' the "Holy Nikolaus"

The first St. Nikolai Church was build in the 1350's but burned down a few times in its history.

Todays church (or what is left of it) begun to be build in 1846 and finished in 1863.

During World War 2 (July 28th, 1943) it (the nave) was hit by an allied bomb. The church tower stayed intact though and was partially restaurated. It stands today as a memorial for World War 2 and Hamburger as well as visitors are reminded at the destructiveness and horror of war. It really makes you think, how much different the cities who were affected by war would look like today. Makes the world much prettier without war in many aspects...

There are many statues on the churchground that deliver a peace message. I will post one of these statues in my next post.

Mast meets Seagull

2007-05-22T23:49:00.001+02:00

Mast meets Seagull
Originally uploaded by HamburgCam.

When you visit Hamburgs Harbour, you should not only look at the water, but also look up at the sky. Plenty of seagulls sailing along masts to spot.

These are the masts of the "Rickmer Rickmers" which was build 1896 ans is made out of steel. Since 1984 it sits at Hamburgs "Landungsbruecken" and is a public museum.

City Hall Hamburg - The "Rathaus"

2007-05-20T01:51:00.002+02:00

Rathaus / City Hall Hamburg
Originally uploaded by HamburgCam.

The old City Hall in Hamburg burned down in the "great fire of 1842"

To find a new location, deciding on the architect and actually completing the new City Hall took over 50 years!

The picture shows the current City Hall of Hamburg (Rathaus in german) wich was finished building in 1897.

The square in front of it is usually full of people. When the weather is nice, many "Hamburger" will enjoy their lunch break in front of the "Rathaus". There is also a restaurant in the basement and a Café in the courtyard inside the town hall.

If you happen to see a group of younger people, dressed in funny clothes, drinking alcohol and one of them sweeping the ground with a broom, you are witnessing an intereting tradition. The person sweeping has just turned 30 years old and he is not married, yet. His friends drag him to the town square and make him sweep the ground, untill a virgin girl kisses him and he is released of the sweeping duty ;-)

Tugboats

2007-05-19T13:15:00.001+02:00

Tugboats
Originally uploaded by HamburgCam.

Today, another photo from the Harbour. In order for the huge vessels to maneuver in the rather narrow port of Hamburg and the Elbe river, tugboats are needed.

One of those Tugboats has approx. 3000 hp!