Sunday 31st January 2010

On the way back from church in Bonn, I saw these flags nicely backlit .... can you see your country amongst them ?

(Nikon D5000 : Nikkor VR 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 : f13 : 1/750" : 40mm : ISO 200: 31.01.2010 13:05:22)

Saturday 30th January 2010

Another 10 cm of snow fell during yesterday evening and night, so it is now over 40 cm deep outside. I started to dig the car out from the 100+ cm high snow drift that was covering one complete side, but during that half hour as I watched the other cars sliding around past me, I decided that I didn't need to do any shopping or drive anywhere to take a photograph today after all !!
Hence this is the view of my back garden .... very pretty, now will the snow finally go away please !!!

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f9.5 : 1/350" : 22mm : ISO 200: 30.01.2010 14:17:13)

Friday 29th January 2010

It snowed heavily again overnight, so although today is the last Friday of the month (and hence time for the Cologne Mustang Car Club to meet up again), I could not get my Mustang out of the garage and up my driveway this morning (fat summer tyres and rear wheel drive on slippery white roads is not recommended). This is the Virginia Bar and Restaurant at Hitdorf (near Leverkusen) where we always meet for dinner, although only two guys brought their Mustangs this evening !!

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f4 : 1" : 18mm : ISO 200: 29.01.2010 22:17:22)

Thursday 28th January 2010

The temperature finally crept above the freezing point today, so the snow and ice lying around is now turning into slush and slowly disappearing. This is the seldom-used railway line that brings deliveries into and out of the Reifenhauser factory in Troisdorf, proving that there is light at the end of the (short) tunnel.

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f5.6 : 1/180" : 116mm : ISO 200: 28.01.2010 13:52:02)

Wednesday 27th January 2010

Another cloudy, grey day with temperatures around -5°C and light snowfalls .... this is the Rottersee at Troisdorf again (see Monday 4th January 2010), this time the entire lake is frozen over solid (and at least the first few metres of ice was thick enough to support my weight !!)

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f8 : 1/250" : 52mm : ISO 200: 27.01.2010 15:09:31)

Tuesday 26th January 2010

Cue the violins .... I left home at 8:00 am and didn't get back until 10:30 pm, having worked non-stop installing systems at a new customer site in Duesseldorf. I didn't get a chance to take any photographs during the day, and was so tired when I finally got home, that I simply pointed the camera and tripod at my back garden .... the alternative option for today was to photograph one of my cats, but neither of them would look cute for the camera, since they were both hungry too !!!

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f3.5 : 20" : 18mm : ISO 200: 26.01.2010 22:43:52)

Monday 25th January 2010

After a weekend of snowfall, everything was very white this morning. On my way back to the office after visiting a customer in Cologne and whilst driving past the Deutz cemetary on the autobahn, I saw a collection of trees covered in snow and ice that looked spectacular. After I left at the next exit and doubled back, I could not find that group of trees anywhere, so took this picture instead !!

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f5.6 : 1/125" : 25mm : ISO 200: 25.01.2010 15:23:57)

Sunday 24th January 2010

I took the slower back roads home from church this morning and at Remagen, I came across a dozen people who - despite the heavy snow falling - were getting their canoes ready for an afternoon paddling along the Rhine .... and when I asked the guy who seemed to be the instructor if I could take his photograph for this blog, he agreed immediately !!!
I hope that one of the guys can remember my blog address, because I couldn't pass them my business card !!

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f8 : 1/250" : 52mm : ISO 200: 24.01.2010 12:22:59)

Saturday 23rd January 2010

I had to spend today compiling my tax returns (for 2008 !!) - never my favourite activity, but the only incentive is the rebate that I should receive after the paperwork has been processed by the Inland Revenue in a couple of months time (plus the Euro 5000 fine that they have threatened me with if I fail to submit my papers before 13.02.2010 !!). Hence, despite the temperature of -3°C outside, I welcomed the excuse to rush out and take a picture today !!
These are the three small lakes just outside Waldbreitbach, which were built at the beginning of the 13th century in order to breed fish as an alternative sourch of food during lent.

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f5 : 1/20" : 65mm : ISO 200: 23.01.2010 15:24:12)

Friday 22nd January 2010

Concrete posts wrapped in lead sheeting, with different-sized painted discs attached to the top of them .... spotted alongside a Kindergarten in Troisdorf, I guess they are supposed to be figures of people made by the children .... unless someone paid an "artist" serious money to make these strange objects !!

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f5.6 : 1/125" : 29mm : ISO 200: 22.01.2010 14:16:06)

Thursday 21st January 2010

Carneval in Rio de Janeiro, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Fasching in Vienna .... this is an excellent excuse to have a massive party over the last few days prior to commencing 40 days of fasting leading up to Easter. The area around Cologne is no different, since the people here also celebrate Karneval, and it is a great (and expensive) honour to be chosen as the local Karneval Prince or Princess. This decorated wagon is parked up and ready for the celebrations of Prinz Lolly I of Troisdorf-Spich in the middle of next month, although it looks like the guy needs charging up !!


(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f4.8 : 1/90" : 29mm : ISO 200: 21.01.2010 15:26:51)

Wednesday 20th January 2010

I drove to the Industrial Estate in Siegburg to order a new set of winter tyres for the company car at lunchtime, and took this photograph of some of the electricity power distribution insulators there.

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f5.6 : 1/125" : 116mm : ISO 200: 20.01.2010 15:04:49)

Tuesday 19th January 2010

Another cold and grey day today (but at least my central heating boiler is working now and the house is slowly warming up !!). I left the office at lunchtime to walk around the childrens' playground nearby, but (surprisingly ?) it seems that I was the only kid stupid enough to be out there !!

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f4.2 : 1/45" : 32mm : ISO 200: 19.01.2010 14:42:23)

Monday 18th January 2010

Back in the office and catching up with e-mails today .... with lots of snow / slush lying around in the near-freezing temperatures outside, and my central heating boiler failed whilst I was away, so I have no heating at home until that is sorted out (I will clean the oil injector jet this evening in the hope that it will then fire up) .... I want to go back to Dubai already !!!
Anyway, the sun shone for a few minutes at lunchtime, so I went out in search of a photograph, and found this field full of solar panels in Troisdorf !!

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f6.3 : 1/500" : 200mm : ISO 200: 18.01.2010 13:54:14)

Sunday 17th January 2010

Time to repack my suitcases this morning and head back to Dubai airport for my return flight to Duesseldorf :-(
This is the enticing entrance to the Marhaba lounge in Terminal 3 at Dubai airport.

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f4 : 1/60" : 18mm : ISO 800: 17.01.2010 14:35:38)

Saturday 16th January 2010

I had a more relaxing day today, taking the last few photographs of one room and copying all of the photographs from the last week onto DVDs .... after which we went to Jumeirah Beach and I took this photo of the Burg Al Arab hotel at sunset.

Incidentally, you can see the photo taken by the camera in the foreground (right alongside my photograph, both taken at exactly the same second !!) at the flickr site of Ryan Shippelt who is the guy jumping with his girlfriend, Krysta Larson.

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f4.8 : 1/30" : 29mm : ISO 200: 16.01.2010 18:01:37)

Friday 15th January 2010

Finally, a day off today - so we went to Bur Dubai to look at the prices of a new tripod and other accessories, and took this photograph of one of the dhow cruise boats in the evening.

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f5.6 : 1.5" : 116mm : ISO 200: 15.01.2010 20:43:10)

Thursday 14th January 2010

In order to get an exterior shot of the building that I was photographing, I had to talk my way into going up to the top of this building in Dubai - in an exterior open lift with the construction workers !!! Wow, 30 stories is a long way above the ground, especially in an open shell and for someone like me that doesn't like heights !!!!

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 : f9.5 : 1/350" : 10mm : ISO 200: 14.01.2010 09:23:54)

Wednesday 13th January 2010

Today should have been my last day of lighting and photographing, but because I am running slightly behind the very tight schedule set for me, I will have to finish off tomorrow. On the way home this evening, I stopped and took this photograph of the Government building in Sharjah.

(Nikon D5000 : Nikkor VR 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 G3 : f6.7 : 1.5" : 55mm : ISO 200: 13.01.2010 22:23:38)

Tuesday 12th January 2010

Yet another long day lighting and photographing room interiors .... but on the way in this morning, I stopped to take a picture of this typical bus stop in Dubai .... which have double-glazed electric sliding doors and air-conditioning !!! Cool - in more ways than one !!

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 : f8 : 1/250" : 10mm : ISO 200: 12.01.2010 08:09:24)

Monday 11th January 2010

Yet another long day of lighting and photographing interior rooms .... after which we stopped off on the way home for me to photograph the Jumeirah mosque (Dubai). Unfortunately, some scaffolding in front of the building ruined the wide shot that I wanted of the whole mosque, so I took just this window instead.

(Nikon D5000 : Nikkor VR 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 G3 : f5.6 : 1/15" : 48mm : ISO 200: 11.01.2010 19:52:28)

Sunday 10th January 2010

Another very long day today, rushing around taking photographs of different room interiors .... after which I took this photograph of the Grand Millennium hotel in Al Barsha (Dubai).

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 : f5.6 : 1" : 10mm : ISO 200: 10.01.2010 21:22:08)

Saturday 9th January 2010

After another long day (planning the rest of the weeks' photo shoots and taking some test shots), it was dark again by the time that we went out to dinner in Sharjah. When I saw this elderley couple (who were on holiday here from Pakistan and visiting their sons) standing between the illuminated fountains, I had to ask them if I could take their photograph, knowing that it would be a challenge to light their faces without burning out their clothes (especially since I only had my flashgun with me !!). For the third time, the first person(s) that I asked to let me photograph them agreed immediately !! Should I quit whilst I am ahead and before I get my first refusal ? I think not !!

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f5.6 : 1/30" : 44mm : ISO 200: 09.01.2010 19:12:54)

Friday 8th January 2010

After the overnight flight followed by a long day of lighting and photographing a ballroom that had been set up for a large engagement party that evening, Livia and I went out for a lovely dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen in Dubai (with the Address hotel in the background).

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 : f6.7 : 2" : 14mm : ISO 200: 08.01.2010 21:59:24)

Thursday 7th January 2010

I didn't manage to take my photograph for today until the evening, after I had checked in at Duesseldorf airport for my overnight flight to Dubai. Once again, the first person that I asked to allow me to take their photographer was this cashier at one of the Duty Free shops , and she agreed immediately !! So, now I can relax and try to snooze on the flight, ready for the busy week ahead of me !!!

(Nikon D5000 : Nikkor VR 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 G3 : f5.3 : 1/10" : 46mm : ISO 200: 07.01.2010 19:51:08)

Wednesday 6th January 2010

In total awe of another photographer (Rob Thomas) who has also taken up this challenge of adding a photograph every day of this year onto his blog (http://strangers365.blogspot.com/), but has stipulated that every day he will photograph a different and complete stranger, I decided that I too should venture way outside of my comfort zone and try to get half-decent portrait photographs on the fly (streets) without any safety net (home studio and equipment).

Talk about beginners luck - the very first person that I approached today agreed immediately to let me take his photograph !! OK, so he was from Kurdistan and didn't understand much German, but his only concern was that I was going to charge him money !!

So, here he is, a big (freezing cold) welcome to Mr. Brinotz (?) of Troisdorf, and his moment of internet fame (but alas no fortune !!). Unfortunately, he misunderstood my request for his e-mail address (so that I could forward the picture with a link to this blog on to him) and wrote down his postal address instead (which I didn't notice until I was back in the office with access to my reading glasses) .... that isn't going to cut much ice with hotmail :-(

(Nikon D60 : Nikkor VR 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 G3 : f3.5 : 1/15" : 45mm : ISO 200 : 06.01.10 15:39:12)

Tuesday 5th January 2010

I've had enough of the depressing grey skies, sub-zero temperatures and slippery white stuff everywhere here already .... so I went off to investigate whether it would be better to drive (as I usually do) to Duesseldorf airport after work on Thursday evening (you'll have to wait until Friday's photo to see which warm photographers' paradise I'm heading for and why !!), or catch the train from Siegburg to the airport terminal (via Cologne). Since my plane ticket includes a free train ticket from anywhere in Germany to the airport (which means that I will avoid having to fight my way past Cologne and Duesseldorf in the evening rush hour traffic, to catch a flight that won't wait for me with a non-transferable or non-refundable ticket), I have decided to let the train take the strain in 48 hours time. OK, after that rant and sidetrack .... back to today's snapshot, which was taken in the Siegburg Industrial Estate on my return to the office from the railway station.

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f4.8 : 1/90" : 36mm : ISO 200: 05.01.2010 14:14:32)

Monday 4th January 2010

I only had a few minutes today to go photo hunting, but found this boy testing the thickness of the ice on the Rottersee (in Troisdorf-Spich) with his sledge .... I was hoping that he would slip and fall in, but I couldn't wait any longer for him to oblige.

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f6.3 : 1/250" : 200mm : ISO 200: 04.01.2010 13:32:50)

Sunday 3rd January 2010

The passenger ferry across the Rhine from Linz to Remagen

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f5 : 1/100" : 36mm : ISO 200: 03.01.2010 12:04:14)

Saturday 2nd January 2010

Just as I was about to leave home to take the photograph that I had planned for today, these children rang my doorbell and recited some traditional poetry before inviting me to empty my pockets into their collection tin. Since it is snowing lightly and about -3°C outside, I decided to photograph them instead, and have postponed todays' picture until tomorrow !!

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f8 : 1/250" : 32mm : ISO 200: 02.01.2010, 11:02:02)

Friday January 1st 2010

I had intended to watch and photograph the firework display after midnight from my balcony, but the heavy mist that had been obscuring the view down to the Wied valley earlier in the day became a thick fog after dusk, so I drove down into Waldbreitbach and took some pictures from the bridge over the Wied river instead. HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

(Nikon D5000 : Sigma VR 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 : f5.6 : 10" : 44mm : ISO 200: 01.01.2010, 00:09:56)