spring to life

Closing shop here - the blog has moved

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:46:00 +0000

To integrate my blog with a gallery and portfolio website, I have decided to move from blogger.

The new site is http://markus-spring.info, and I would glad if you would follow me to this new home for my photography on the internet.

Thanks for your interest - we'll meet over at the new blog.

Markus Spring

Pellets Storage Room

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:39:00 +0000

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For 1.5 days now I have changed the computer keyboard (and the camera) for a power drill, circular saw, cordless screwdriver and so on. Reason was that the pellets storage room for the central heating needed an improved floor to ensure that the material is gravitation-driven moved to the conveyor screw. The old, already angled floor was not steep enough so that huge piles of pellets never got transported to the oven.

My father in law as house-owner was chief engineer while I worked as saw-servant and screw driver. The whole thing was made complicated by the existing floor that was already angled in two directions, so all metering had to take into account those non-horizontals and verticals. Furtheron leading the pellets to a circular transport area required sophisticated bended forms of the new flooring in order not to waste storage room.

Today we finished the bigger and more complicated half, tomorrow we'll do the rest so that the pellets can be filled into the room this week just in time for the arriving cooler weather. And having warmth out of a renewable energy source is a double comfy feeling.

this photo on flickr

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Summertime

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:02:00 +0000

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Here in Germany nobody uses the term 'daylight saving time'. It was introduced decades back under the pretense that it would support energy saving, but there are serious doubts: in the end everybody makes best use of the longer evenings, and many activities are connected with energy consumption. We use the term 'summertime' here, and that's the reason for the title.

I found it a quite creative way of tackling the DST problem in a zero-emission-clock, but of course nobody is allowed to be really picky about precision here.

Bakar is a place of narrow alleys - no vehicle traffic possible there - and one of those you see to the right. Of course there are several rings of motor traffic enabled streets, so it's only a small number of houses that cannot be reached by cars. To live there is not as comfortable as we would like it, but it certainly gives a good impression of a town that was built some centuries back and left in central parts untouched since then.

this photo on flickr

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Bakar Beer Poster

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:05:00 +0000

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I found this beer brand poster in a window in Bakar, Croatia. The bar behind it was as empty as this poster is weathered.

Meanwhile I am fiddling with the domain name system for my new web presence. What is easy and straightforward when you order domain and web presence in one shot can become at least a bit demanding when you distribute those parts on different companies. At the moment I keep my fingers crossed that by tomorrow the DNS will know about that 'markus-spring.info' domain and point to the correct server.

Update: http://markus-spring.info is now working. I have added another gallery to the 'peoples' category. Now I have to fix the rss links.

this photo on flickr

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Commuters Ghost

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:30:00 +0000

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Over at The Public Eye Martin Storz yesterday celebrated his post no. 1000. This is definitely a sign of perseverance, even more so as photoblogging in Germany (and in German) rarely leads to frequent commenting and lively discussions that can be seen in the English speaking net world. But even if you can't read German, his blog is worth regular visits - after all photographs are not that language dependent, and Martin's projects like 'Always take the weather' bring together different photographers and styles.

The two images shown today were made again when commuting. With the sun now setting earlier, twilight and night shots offer different moods. And the more I do live my photography, the easier it is to leave a bit the beaten tracks and take up not so populare approaches to picture making.

this photo on flickr

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Decaying Surfboard

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:40:00 +0000

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Living throughout the year in a small town in the alps, everything in a harbour is potentially interesting. At sunrise I found these reminders of a 'HiFly' windsurfer, turned into plastic trash over the years, hazardous waste if you would take it really correctly - but nobody does bother here.

The small series is visibly now on my gallery-website-to-be, still under a makeshift domain name here.

As soon as I have finished the works over there, I will shift the blog, too. But hardening the blog against attacks is serious work, and I don't want to hurry this. Experience has taught me that amount of time necessery to clean up after a successful attack is a multitude of the amount to be invested before.

this photo on flickr

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Background: Bakar

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:44:00 +0000

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With such a foreground, it is probably hard for a small town to survive. This coal loading/unloading unit claims a similar amount as the whole city of Bakar. Up to the nineties it served a coke oven plan, which is not running any more. It has had a changeful history: Up to the first world war, the Austro-Hungarian navy had one of its most important bases here.

In spite of the advantageous natural situation of the bay, the Italian army managed to capture it in a surprise attack of only 30 soldiers coming on speedboats. It took a probably a long time to overcome this defeat.

Now the croatian flag is flying high again, but Bakar has lost its importance.

this photo on flickr

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Traveler, when you come to Krk...

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:41:00 +0000

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... make sure that you get some of the finest liquor made on the island. That it is presented so invitingly makes the purchase decision not easier as there are so many different flavours. And the opportunity to taste could easily lead to a purchase bigger than originally intended.

In my case it was different: I knew the taste from a purchase earlier this year and was commissioned to stock for birthdays and christmas. Christmas, yes, you got it right: In only four months christmas will already be well over. So it does make sense to already think of some presents to avoid that december rush.

this photo on flickr

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Storytelling Door Handle

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:08:00 +0000

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Today I am on a short trip to Croatia again, helping my sister to clear up the caravan and prepare it for hibernation in a local garage. Travelling alone, I could afford to stop in Bakar, a former important harbour in the bay of Rijeka in Croatia. It once hosted one of the croatian navigation schools and was the home of a number of captains.

Now the street from Rijeka to Krk passes far away from Bakar - you see the audacious construction high over the roofs, and Bakar is mainly visited by little numbers of locals. The door handle in the main street tells this story very precisely.

this photo on flickr

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Hopes to Ashes

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:04:00 +0000

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It's easy to guess from the headline that I am not smoking. Not smoking any more, that is.

But here I was more fascinated by the replicating leaning forms that manifested themselves in the viewfinder. To emphasize this a little bit I used bibble5's layers for burning and a bit desaturating the borders. The more I play with this software, the more interesting it becomes despite its overly long beta status and still unresolved bugs. It is just the right tool for my way of handling the raw files, quite straightforward, no fancy effects, just carefully helping to show what's already in the raw file. As a linux user, all that lightroom and photoshop is a non-option, so I am even more glad that bibble5 now fulfills such a great part of my processing wishes.

And despite all criticism in the forums about bibble's slow development process, this definitely is not a case of 'hopes to ashes'.

this photo on flickr

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Diesel Night

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:58:00 +0000

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The triangle of blue colors grabbed my attention, and then the self-aware laziness of the pose on the billboard. The whole image speaks 'night', just the billboard seems out of any time context here.

It's not an image I would try to print really large - it was too late at night and the wine was too good, making me forget to check the f-stop and shutter speed, so sharpness is probably insufficient. But then I just might rely on Cartier-Bresson and proving that I am no bourgeois...

this photo on flickr

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06:06

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:05:00 +0000

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Mornings can be hard; The unread paper in one hand, the camera in the other, eyes still tired, brain slow - the night was just too short. Only 1 minute left until the train leaves. Fumblin' with numb fingers at the f-stop dial, knowing that some DoF is needed. 06:06 - just getting two shots.

They turned out to be the best of the day, a long working day. In the end well worth having carried the gear on the commuting trip to Munich. Didn't touch the saturation slider, I swear.

this photo on flickr

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Long shadows

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:47:00 +0000

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The days becomes shorter, the sun rises later, and the distinctive golden glow of the light is definitely a sign of ending summer. The good thing is that I don't have to get up that early to stalk the first light, and the golden gleam paints everything in the most favorable colors. In that way, parting with summer is easy, and the misty, cold, grey daysare are still far away.

this photo on flickr

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Old-style Merry-go-round

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:44:00 +0000

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Of course the kids made me go to the fairground - in the province, loud music, sales booths in the street and a merry-go-round are rare and therefore attractive. While I regarded the whole thing as less interesting than noisy, at least the old chairoplane provided attractive food for the lens. Stopping down to f22 produced the nice star effect, which was however invisible until I used bibble5's highlight recovery. To be honest, this produced some artifacts which I had to clean up in a last step with gimp (which was faster done than written).

The post-fairground part of the stroll for sure was a bit boring for the kids, but I did enjoy the in comparison even deeper silence of an off season tourist resort at the lake. Unterach at the 'Attersee' in Austria can be a wonderful place - the painter Gustav Klimt stayed here for quite a number of summer visits, and the light for sure has influenced his painting.

Both my images needed postprocessing, the fence door a good portion of burning to bring out the gestalt of the iron work, and the flower facade a bit of perspective correction. Interesting enough, several in houses in Unterach are inclined towards the lake, sign of a not completely stable ground.

this photo on flickr

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Cypress Soldiers

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:44:00 +0000

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Early morning has a quality of its own. The mind is not loaded already with all the associations and patterns of the day, and the thoughts can run freely. This new built house seemed to be guarded by the cypress soldiers, whilst an officer in yellow is in charge of the guardsmen.

In maybe two or three years these Thuja bushes will have grown to a veritable wall, completing the repelling expression of this house.

this photo on flickr

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Government Building - Beamtenstock

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:26:00 +0000

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At those times, when Bad Reichenhall was famous and rich and through it's salt manufactures contributing one third to the state of Bavaria's budget...

Can you imagine - a small place of only several thousand inhabitants contributing that much to a state's budget? (Now it is a small place of just a bit more then average prominence, still struggling to find it's link to presence and future)

At those times this place was so important that Ludwig I, King of Bavaria, sent his star architekt Friedrich von GÃ¤rtner to erect an administration building in the style of the capital's (the City of Munich) most important boulevard.

Well, that was then. Now it's still beautiful, especially early in the morning, when the low sun lets the sycamore trees cast their shadows on the facade.

this photo on flickr

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The call has ended

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:49:00 +0000

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Open for interpretations, maybe even inviting to it - I found this empty phone booth on a very late walk back home when the bus hadn't come, rain was setting, I was tired and all that. No "saturation to the max", I swear it. The magenta of the handset is like that (this is the brand color of German Telekom), and what is ok in this context can hurt your eyes when you see it on larger installations in historical places.

In case you haven't found and followed it on Joerg Colberg's Conscientious, writer/photographer Matt Mendelsohn's piece The Lessons of Lindsay is highly recommended 'though tough. And if you are at it, do read a Q & A with Matt about this story here: http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/2267. That this story was published in sportsshooter is a revelating thing in itself - more fitting papers had declined to bring it. Highly recommended.

this photo on flickr

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Krk Clocktower Angel

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:04:00 +0000

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Whilst the kids were fascinated by the wonderful missals in Krk's church and exhibition room, my eyes were attracted by the remainders of the wooden statue of an angel, up to 1973 situated on top of the cathedral's clocktower.

This clocktower is visible in many of the small alleys of Krk, and with it's green statue on top a nice counterpoint to the mostly warm colors on the ground

this photo on flickr

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World in a Bottle

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:58:00 +0000

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It seems as I can't escape the heat, so this beach photo is more then adequate. Today was an office day here in Munich, and temperatures in the street are up in the high thirties again. In a southbound office room this does mean quite a bit.

Fortunately enough Munich tap water is at least as good as Croatian bottled water, so my liquid level does not suffer - add a bit of coffeine to the (hot) water and I can be happy!

this photo on flickr

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Window Tomcat

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:29:00 +0000

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The holidays ended yesterday with a night drive back to Bavaria, and the first day working of course meant searching through a pile of emails and sorting and organising... Still the memories of Krk are vivid, and a number of raw files wait to be evaluated and developed. This self-confident tomcat was one of the rare Krk locals that did not avoid meeting hundreds of tourists that went by his window - the people usally do, and I can fully understand this: in the summer the population in Krk just triples, meaning that there is not too much left the way it is over the quiet off-season.

this photo on flickr

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From island to island

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:15:00 +0000

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Different islands, similar lanterns: Just have a look at Martin Storz' public eye blog. On Tenerifa he has found a shadow casting lantern, mounted on a skilfully crafted wrought iron arm. My Krk lantern shows splendid clear lines, but I fear this is not caused by the islanders' love for straight forms (there ceramics at least speak a different language) but because of the chinese lamp producer's knowledge about market acceptance.

In Krk you can find other lanterns, too. The one to the rights hangs in front of an architrave of probably venetian times origin.

this photo on flickr

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Hot days - lively nights

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:32:00 +0000

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When the days are too hot, life changes to the night. After a buzzing 37°C day, the Camplin, Krk's main plaza, was buzzing even at 11:00 in the night. I took out my venerable 1,7/50mm lens, and did I praise the Anti-Shake in the camera already? So that photographing lady's pose got fixed in 1/8th of a second, quite unthinkable in film times.

Mixed light situations are usually meant as a mix of natural and tungsten light. Not so to the right: the modern, energy saving street lights gave a light that was almost purely yellow and even manual white balance or postprocessing tricks cannot make a normal lighting out of this. But leaving it yellow and balancing it with the tungsten light of a gallery makes it interesting (for me) again

this photo on flickr

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Summertime

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:15:00 +0000

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Today is the 3rd day with temperatures high in the 30th (Celsius), and sitting outside is no real joy if the breeze stops. The good thing is that the internet speed in the campground lobby now is aczeptable - in the evening it reminds more of old 2400 Baud modem times.

Picturing heat is not simple at all. I should go out to the places were the asphalt is melting (almost), but honestly - I am not that motivated. Better get another espresso and water and wait till the sun goes down.

this photo on flickr

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Evening Sky, Krk

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:35:00 +0000

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In the narrow alleys of Krk the shadows of the houses make shure that it does not get unbearable hot (though unbearable is relative, today we had 37Â°C). However it gets dark pretty soon in the evening down there, and only the windows of the upper floors still catch some daylight or reflect it when seen in the proper angle.

The warmth of the day still lives in the colors of the picture to the right. In spite of the prevalent shadows, all areas still breathe warmth.

this photo on flickr

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Red Ship Reflection

noreply@blogger.com (Markus Spring) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:19:00 +0000

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The harbour water is not such an attractive medium - oily, smelly and so on, probably the same in every harbour of the world. Amazing enough locals are fishing there, and I guess even that fish is ending on the table.

But the reflective qualities of the water are still intact, and the way the ripples dissolve the form of the ships was really amazing.

Those images just required some adjustment of the black point and a bit tuning of the curves. It was already late in the day when I took the images and the low light required a high sensitivity resulting in higher noise levels in the shadows. But the Bibble5 beta did a great job here.

this photo on flickr