• Marienplatz – gorgeous orange walls that reminisce of the 1972 olympics that were in Munich
• Münchener Freiheit – recently renovated with wonderful blue ambient lighting
• Westfriedhof – nice lights hanging from the ceiling
• St. Quirin Platz – not really underground
• Candidplatz – most colorful station

I hoped for instant inspiration when arriving at those stations. Instead, all I got was total uninspiration. I didn’t know what to do, what to shoot, I felt helpless and stupid. But, being together with a fellow photographer, I just watched Anna doing her thing. And after a few minutes I started getting some ideas and into the groove, taking long-exposure pictures of incoming trains and escalators, enjoying the colors and trying out different angles.

The one thing I was quite unprepared for, was feedback from people. Not people, we were shooting, but people just passing by. Some were accusing us of spying for the Chinese (who’d be able to copy escalators by looking at my photos). One woman passed by, shouting at me that I didn’t know what I was doing and had no idea what I held in my hands. Apart from those episodes, it was quite a fulfilling experience.

And since I read a lot of stuff on the internet about photography, it might be helpful to provide a list of my ten most favorite info sources. Here we go:

1. This week in photo: This is one of those podcasts that I’m really happy about, when a new episode appears in my iTunes podcast subscriptions. It’s a weekly audio show about photography, gear and tips, that I typically listen on my way to work or wherever I go to.
2. TWIT photo: Also a weekly show, also available as an audio file for download, but way better when watched. Each week they invite a photographer and talk about her work, her way into photography and her tips. Less gear focused and more about the general ideas about photography.
3. Knackscharf, der Nikonians Podcast: A German podcast on photography with two very likeable guys from the Northern part of Germany. Despite the title it’s not that much focused on Nikon gear and has great tips for non-Nikon photographers as well.
4. neunzehn72.de: The blog of one of the two hosts of the above mentioned Knackscharf podcast (also in German). Lots of tutorials, reviews, tips. He writes on a daily basis and the content is really good.
5. Digital Photography School: Although I don’t spend as much time on this site as I used to, I found it the biggest source of inspiration and explanation of photography when I started taking pictures with a DSLR. Very well structured and tips for every imaginable aspect of photography. I spent literally days browsing through the content. Here I learned about aperture, shutter speed and ISO, and here I also got ideas for long exposure shots and the likes. I cannot recommend this resource highly enough.
6. Chase Jarvis Blog: Chase Jarvis is a Seattle based photographer with a lot to say and very willing to share his knowledge about photography. This blog is not updated as frequently as most other blogs, but the content is typically of high quality, especially about the photography and creative business in general. It also hosts one of my most favorite blog posts of all time “Photo Editing 101 – Surviving the Tidal Wave of Data“.
7. Flickr Blog: I still love flickr. Yes, it’s pace of innovation slowed down years ago, but it still has a vibrant community. The flickr blog got better throughout the last year or so by finding a lot of gems from the vast amount of content that is presented on flickr. Always fun to watch and often very stunning images.
8. Jasmine Star: Blog of a wedding photographer. She writes with a lot of heart and she seems to have it at the right place.
9. Lens-flare.de: A German blog on photography, not updated very regularly, but always good for finding pearls about photography from the internet.
10. Moment Junkie: This is one of those blogs that you can just snack away during lunch break. The best of the best in wedding photography.
11. Phototuts+: Very broad collection of photography tips. From lighting to finding topics for photo shoots, you can have a blast of inspiration from reading here. Good stuff.
12. PixelatedImage Blog: David DeChemins blog, where he posts updates on his travel photography. I like it most for its updates on recent ebooks. He has a company, Crafts and Vision, that publishes on a regular basis little ebooks on specific photography topics, typically for $4 or $5. For the price of a latte, you’ll get a ton of information. My favorite ebooks are Ten Ways To Improve Your Craft. None of Them Involves Buying Gear and Making Light, An Introduction to Off-Camera Flash.
13. Pixiq.com: Like the Digital Photography School a great resource for all things photo. I like that they have different sections for technique, gear, news and focus topics. Very well-organized and well written. I really like the weekly roundup of photography related links from the internet.

To keep up to date, I heavily rely on Google Reader, a tool that aggregates new articles that are published on the blogs and presents them in one “stream of news”. It’s quite helpful to be informed on all the latest blog posts.

1. You turn off your display, so no chimping after each photo … or anytime during the photo shoot.
2. You are only allowed to shoot 24 or 36 pictures, as if you had a role of film.
3. You cannot look at the pictures on a computer before you have seen them in print.
4. You take them to your photo printer of your choice and let them develop. This is quite difficult, since typically you have to look at the pictures to select the ones that you’d like to develop. But with a little squinting and maybe the help of a shop assistant, you’ll get there.
5. Since film was costly in the old days, you are spending the money, that you would have paid for film, for a good cause, i.e. make a donation to the red cross or any other charity of your choice.

On a sunny saturday in April the fabulous Anna, who visited us in Munich, and I took the challenge and went out to shoot. The most difficult part is always counting how many pictures you’ve already taken, but that’s part of the fun.

I really like about the challenge, that you take photos far more conscious. Every picture counts, so you think more ahead, spend a lot more time looking through the viewfinder to get the composition right and think a lot more about the correct exposure settings. Compared to a normal photowalk, the whole process changes from taking snapshots and keeping the best one to trying to get the best ones directly in camera and have as little as possible to delete later. I highly recommend to take on that challenge and see what it does to your picture-taking process. As always, best results are achieved when being joined by a friend. Oh, and please don’t forget about the fifth rule of ‘old school photo challenge’. We made out donation to the Springs of Hope Foundation in Kenya.

Since we ran out of time, we had to abort our mission after 20 pictures. Nevertheless, we brought the pictures to the camera shop, got them developed and had a look at them over dinner. Below are my 20 takes, straight out of camera. Not all are winners, but the keepers-ratio is above my usual average. Maybe we can get Anna to show us hers as well.

We arrived in Brisbane in the pouring rain, which was kind of a recurring theme and didn’t really boost my mood. It got better once I got some sleep. We drove into the city to meet Claire, which definitely was a highlight. It’s nice to have some friends that despite not seeing them very often, there is no awkward feeling at the beginning, but you just take off where you left two years ago.

The thing I liked about Brisbane was that it looked very modern. But that might be due to the fact that a lot of things had to be rebuilt after the big flood of 2011. Nevertheless, a very livable place.

During those three and a half days in Australia, we saw quite a bit and experienced some nice Aussie culture, like going swimming every morning, purchasing some Funky Trunks (excellent customer service at the Aqua Shop in Brisbane), seeing Surfer’s Paradise, experiencing a little bit of the country side, and getting the opportunity to hang out with friends and do nothing (thank you, Claire). For me it’s always one of the biggest treats during travel to have the opportunity for an afternoon or even a day of hanging around and not doing anything.

We left Brisbane in nice sunny weather with temperatures between 30 and 35 degrees, and came back to a snowy, sub-zero Munich. Home, sweet home.

Top moments:

• Swimming every day in an empty pool
• Walking home after the bus together with Harriet, while the sun set
• Swimming in the waves of Burleigh Heads
• Walking on the beach at the Spit
• Seeing Claire again and realizing that Sharon’s flat is awesome