Photography
Shrike
A red-backed shrike out on our field, right in the middle of a flock of bee-eaters.
Starling
A young common starling in our garden, halfway through its first moult.
Feather
Went on a stroll with Tilian in the forest and met a nice couple along the way, they came down from Biberach in southern Germany by bicycle, around 550 kilometres over the last days, and continue to Leipzig. They are birders, so we spent ten minutes talking about the local population and their sightings from the last days. After I told them that bee-eaters are around they got overly excited and went off looking for them.
Water Tower
A repurposed water tower right next to the fields where the coal fire is still smoldering underground. No water in it anymore, only mobile antennas on top. A tower full of water would have come in handy right about now, but at least you get a good signal while the ground next to it burns.
For The Bin
I love how carefree they look. They probably have a lot going on with getting enough food before their big journey south. Today has been one for the bin, I won’t talk about it.
Not Sold Yet
This photo is a gap filler for an otherwise uneventful day. Before Tilian’s weekly sports session at the gym we tried badminton in the garden. This boy does not have any patience, he is not sold on the idea yet.
Sticking Around
It’s been a while since I saw one of the kestrels from earlier this year, so I assume this is one of them that stuck around.
Marshmallows
We spent the day and the night at our friends’ place for our annual camping tradition, which usually means tents in the garden, but after the heatwave we now have a lot of rain and cold nights, which we honestly welcome, so this year it was air mattresses inside instead. The rest of the plan stayed the same: grilling, lots of games outside, games inside, and a campfire with marshmallows at the end. Going to have a relentless week ahead of me, so this was a welcome escape from home.
Snack
I cleaned the card of the Canon R5 and found this sparrow with his spider snack, one of the first test shots I did with the RF 200-800.
Sunflowers
Got inspired by Jasper’s flower picture. The ones we have here are shielded off behind a fence and an angry dog, so I was sneaky.
Flugplatz Böhlen
This week the 34. Deutsche Meisterschaft im Ultraleichtfliegen takes place at a local airport (Flugplatz Böhlen). There has been visibly more activity in the air over the last days, so the boys and I went over after finding out there is free training before the championships.
IT Guy
I have always been the IT guy, for the family, for neighbors, for friends and their acquaintances. I am glad that part is over. Most of the problems were printers and bloated Windows installations. The internet has written plenty of bad things about printers, and I believe every word, printers are user unfriendliness by design.
Rain
Isn’t the bokeh behind this redstart lovely, taken with the RF 200-800, and that on a rainy day, after nine weeks of drought it rained for the first time this morning, at least a few hours of it. In the afternoon it stopped so it was time to get on the bike.
Schäm-dich
I enjoy cooking for Nadine. We both adopted the term “Schäm-dich” for food that should be under strict control of being eaten. The phrase is our translation of the English “shame stick”, which comes from a TV show with James Belushi, where it is a stick of butter rolled in sugar. In my head I misremembered it being related to Elvis Presley, who enjoyed a lot of Schäm-dichs.
Parasol
Today was a busy uneventful day. I took Kellin to get a large batch of beverages for the week, there is a Kaufland that now and then stocks drinks we do not get in our local supermarket, this week: German cider (“Apfelwein”), various IPAs and a pre-mixed Margarita. With Kellin there’s the number 1 rule, you go with him in the store and 15 minutes later he needs to pee. You can not avoid this. So we abandoned the cart, completed the job and went back in.
BBQ
We had a barbecue with Nadine’s parents and her grandmother yesterday. There have been wildfires in our area every day for the past days, all of them very small (so far), so we have been extra careful.
Mouser
Nadine took over photo duty yesterday. She does so well. She was photographing two young roe deers in front of our garden when a cat with a mouse in its mouth came by. Poor thing.
Hypo 1.16
Back from vacation, after using the previous Hypo release (1.15) on a few thousand photos in July, there were a few things I wanted to do better.
Haze
In the old open-pit mining area near Meuselwitz a coal fire has been smoldering underground since the end of June, complete with an official smoke warning for the area. The smoke carries a good ten kilometres into our village, the air smells burnt, it scratches the throat and hazes over the floodplain.
Leipzig
Before work we went to town for a walk. Nadine was after a hat, and is now more convinced than ever that she does not have a head for hats. I was after a new frame for my glasses, and she is now more convinced than ever that I should get my eyes lasered.
They are eating the bees!
The Canon RF 200-800mm f/6.3-9 is here, and what should have been a boring walk to test the lens turned into a stroke of luck: a swarm of bee-eaters was grazing the field, it must have been thirty of them, Tilian and I settled down in wait and watched the show. These are by far not the best pictures, either blurry or the chromatic aberration is visible. But again, bee-eaters!
Eight Hours
Back to work, eight hours back to back, and the only breaks I got I spent outside in the remodelled garden, enjoying the results. Earlier, on the morning tour with Aika, I spotted a juvenile female red-backed shrike sitting on a fence post. I love how carefree it looks, but I bet a bird’s life is not easy either!
Summer Vacation, Day 21: Groitzsch
The final leg, from Baarlo back home to Groitzsch.
Summer Vacation, Day 20: Venlo
This morning we took the ferry from Dover to Calais and drove from there via Antwerp back to Heiderust in Baarlo, the campsite we stayed at on our first night.
Summer Vacation, Day 19: Folkestone
From Hindon we drove via Stonehenge to Folkestone, staying the night at the Little Satmar holiday park in Capel-le-Ferne. Dogs are not allowed on the bus from the Stonehenge visitor centre to the stones, so Nadine opted for the 20-minute hike with Aika instead. The boys and I took the bus. On her way she spotted a pheasant couple while we relaxed in our seats. Overall the visit was worth it, crowds and all. I am surprised I managed to get a picture of Stonehenge without people.
Summer Vacation, Day 18: Hindon
From Porthcothan we drove 270 km to Hindon over the A roads and the M5, staying the night at Martha’s Down.
Summer Vacation, Day 17: Porthcothan Bay
It feels unexpected to already write the seventeenth post about our vacation. Time is flying. On Thursday we have a ferry booked at Dover back to Calais. Nadine has been planning our return route and one of the last highlights is a campsite that’s only open two months a year, on top of a stormy cliff: Porthcothan Clifftop Camping.
Summer Vacation, Day 16: Perran Sands
Today we stayed at the campsite and, it being a rest day, we explored the beach.
Summer Vacation, Day 15: Perranporth
From Hayle we drove up the coast to Perranporth, where we are staying at the Perran Sands campsite.
Summer Vacation, Day 14: Hayle
Half an hour’s drive from last night’s stay in Penzance was St Ives. Nadine’s non-negotiable visit this vacation was going there and exploring the town.
Summer Vacation, Day 13: Penzance
We moved on from Heligan to Penzance today, we are staying at Ponsandane Farm Campsite close to the beach. Only 70 km. We made a short stop at Mounts Bay to see St Michael’s Mount.
Summer Vacation, Day 12: Heligan
We spent the day at the Lost Gardens of Heligan. It was abandoned after World War I as many of the gardeners never returned from their deployment. The gardens were rediscovered in 1990 and are continuously restored. Local artists donate sculptures and next to the gardens various themed areas for kids have been introduced.
Summer Vacation, Day 11: Heligan
We transferred from Whitsand Bay to the campsite next to the Lost Gardens of Heligan. But only after we had an obscenely large all-vegan breakfast at the Cliff Top Cafe: English breakfast, banana milkshakes, baked potato, avocado and sausage sandwiches. If you ever get there to see the beach, this is a non-negotiable stop on the way down the cliffs. Driving, even the short distance to the new campsite, was difficult being stuffed with all the nice food. Once we arrived and set up everything, we explored the area and stopped by the Lobbs Farm Shop next to the gardens. The latter we are saving for tomorrow.
Summer Vacation, Day 10: Whitsand Bay
We stayed another night at Whitsand Bay and spent the day at the beach. The pools during low tide are a magnet for the boys, we carved our own rivers to have the pools stay filled up longer before eventually drying out. Nadine and Tilian played board games at dusk. Right before she first heard and then spotted a young dunnock. I finished The Last Day of Creation, the ending was too abrupt and I am mad about how open ended it was and quick it was done.
Summer Vacation, Day 9: Whitsand Bay
From Ladram Bay we moved on to Whitsand Bay in Cornwall, around 120 km, through Plymouth and over the Tamar Bridge. The campsite is on top of an old fort but pretty run down.
Summer Vacation, Day 8: Ladram Bay
We stayed at Ladram Bay for the day before moving on to the next destination tomorrow. The kids spent most of the day at the beach, Nadine and I took turns around lunchtime as Aika had to stay off the beach, while I was with the boys, she went for a long hike with Aika towards the east. She spotted firecrest, goldcrest, coal tit, wren, blackcap and treecreeper. The Canon R5 has been doing a great job during our journey but the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens stopped working reliably, after each picture the Canon errors out with a sync error between lens and body. It’s time for a service at Calumet in Leipzig.
Summer Vacation, Day 7: Ladram Bay
From Poole we moved on to Ladram Bay in Devon, around 150 km, with stops at the Spyway Dinosaur Footprints and Durdle Door. For the night we are staying at Ladram Bay Holiday Park.
Summer Vacation, Day 6: Poole
From Brighton we moved on to Poole, around 180 km. For the night we are staying at South Lytchett Manor in Lytchett Minster, a village a few kilometers west of Poole.
Summer Vacation, Day 5: Brighton
We packed up at Norman’s Bay and went once more to the beach for a swim. Kellin lasted for 30 seconds and Tilian could have gone on for hours. We went 50 km to the east to finally meet up with Jasper and Charlotte. For the night we are staying at the Brighton Club Campsite.
Summer Vacation, Day 4: Norman's Bay
From New Romney we moved on to Norman’s Bay. A short 55 km drive through narrow roads. Knock on wood, no misbehaving on the road today from my side - it feels like the drivers in the UK are very careful if they see someone with a foreign license plate.
Summer Vacation, Day 3: New Romney
From Orcq we drove 140 km to Calais, took the ferry to Dover, 1 hour and 40 minutes across the Channel, and continued 40 km to New Romney.
Summer Vacation, Day 2: Tournai
From Baarlo we moved on to Orcq, a village just west of Tournai in Belgium, 260 km in three hours with two breaks along the way. Tomorrow it’s only about 130 km to Calais, the ferry is at 12pm and we’ve got the flex ticket - we can board any ferry within a few hours before and after our booked departure time.
Summer Vacation, Day 1: Venlo
We finished packing the California this morning without any rush, we are traveling light; no big awning tent to assemble, no bikes, no roof box, just the pop-up tent that is with us again.
Woodpecker
I spotted a woodpecker couple roaming around my favorite tree outside of the village, the same place I photographed the young kestrel. I sneaked up behind a bush and held still for a few minutes until the male woodpecker landed 3m in front of me. Shots like this make up for weeks of dissatisfaction with my own photos.
Sparrows
Work is occupying much of my time. The morning walks are getting shorter, I met this Sparrow on one of them. Vacation is approaching fast and coincidentally the ROSE came back from repair. The experience with the local bike shop in Leipzig and the bike being sent to the ROSE HQ to get fixed went very smooth, all within warranty, but I haven’t had the chance to take it out yet - August at the earliest.
Bowl
Nadine did this delicious Asian-style bowl. She didn’t like it as much as I did, so when I said I love all of it, her reaction was rather skeptical. But I meant it! It contained a half-boiled egg from our hens, we wouldn’t otherwise eat eggs.
Flight
First time I managed to take a picture of a flying barn swallow, not decent but it’s a first! It’s been a challenge keeping up with daily posts, in the background work occupies a lot of time, mentally I am thinking about the road trip we are going to do starting next week. We’ll be visiting South England with a surprise stop at Jasper’s. I’ve been getting version 1.15 of Hypo ready, with real user feedback included, after it took off a bit when I posted to a Threads community.
Dive
Nadine did some great shots after the meadows have been mowed down in front of our garden. It attracts swallows, starlings, red and black kites, storks, to catch the rodents that have been surprised by the chaos of the tractor mowing it all down.
Spring Stone
After two days, and in the end two extra pairs of hands, to get the 300kg spring stone into place along with its water inlet and pump, countless trips to the hardware store, concrete, pipes and hoses later, everything is finally in place. I’m glad software development isn’t as hard as this.
Sandbox
Aika is spending more time sleeping in the kids’ sandbox than the kids themselves, luckily the thing is big enough.
Strawberries
Nadine’s vertical strawberry farm. We have two of them. I asked Nadine to comment and provide a nice fact: No comment was provided.
Clarity
It’s been 2 1/2 years since I started not drinking alcohol anymore. I don’t believe in moderation, as it’s either all-in or nothing for me. The taste of alcoholic beverages is great, the effects more so. Eventually I had to decide for mental clarity over taste and effect. Without regret. For taste, I am happy with non-alcoholic alternatives these days. Pictured here: a virgin Lemon Gin Tonic.
Scratch
Now in my phase of taking pictures of birds in funny poses.
Swans
A photo from two weeks ago, when Nadine went to one of the larger local ponds to scout for kingfishers. No kingfishers to be found, but a pair of swans bathing at dusk.
Hypo 1.12
Hypo 1.12 is out, under the hood I focused on a modularized app architecture for plug-and-play support of new camera bodies and RAW formats to make my future life easier, a slightly refined UI and UX, a reworked autofocus and subject visualisation. The latter I think is pretty cool and unique, I haven’t seen that in other photo culling apps.
Burger
Every weekend, Saturday or Sunday, is Burger Day. We’ve been on a plant-only diet for 15 years, last year we got chickens and a by-product is eggs. So that’s the only time we eat animal products. Burgers became a weekly tradition and we’ve nailed the recipe, it’s fun to prepare and a treat when friends are over.
Heat
Poor Aika is suffering with the heat. The hot ground will turn her feet to little stumps of coal, and the usually cold floor in the kitchen is climbing up to 30°C too.
Climate
Temperature and oxygen management of the house has become our side gig. Not sure if I should be happy that the inside temperature only gets up to 28°C throughout the day.
Stop Gap Swallow
Recovered my streak with a Swallow I met in the wee hours.
Good Night, Swallow
Swallows, swallows everywhere. Impossible to photograph when flying, easy when they are sitting. I caught these at sunset.
Excursion
The local NABU chapter called me late in the afternoon, out of the blue, asking if I wanted to join a trip in their “Treffpunkt Naturschutzdienst” format, this time to the grazing project at the “Aufschlussgraben”, Werben. It is a closed-off area meant to restore local wildlife and serve as a compensation area for the heavily farmed fields around it. The big tease was the breeding ground of 50 bee-eater couples, a bird I aspire to photograph.
Hypo 1.10
Hypo 1.10 is out, with better support for Nikon cameras and it’s various MakerNote implementations, Fujifilm RAF files, and autofocus points on Canon bodies.
Sponsor Post: Nadine's Morning at the Pond
Nadine visited the “magical” grey wagtail pond yesterday and was greeted with a variety of birds: red kite, grey wagtail, red-backed shrike, common redstart. She walked from one end to the other, chasing a golden oriole and a cuckoo, but neither sat for a photo.
Sit-in
Today I did my first sit-in at a pond. Nadine had reliably seen a grey wagtail on her commute over several days, so while Tilian was at sports, I used the time to settle down by a quiet stretch of water, with dead trees and slightly flowing water.
Warming Up
Spent last night fine-tuning the settings of the Canon R5 and I see myself getting more out of it compared to yesterday. The Sigma telelens combined with the RF-EF dapter seems to have issues with AF. I learned there are likely two issues, first AF pulsing and second a desync between the body image stabilization and the built-in lens one. Before trying out further I’ll update the firmware of the Sigma telelens, yes lenses have firmwares these days - what a time to be alive, and disable the body image stabilizer.
First Steps
I did the first steps with the R5: firmware upgrade, settings, sooo many settings. Overall this is a new setup to learn and it will take a while to master. Especially the Sigma seems to behave slightly differently with the EF-RF ring.
R5
I finally settled on an R5 I. After a lot of fun with the 1D-X II, I had been thinking for a while about how to get around the limitation of its 20MP sensor, and shooting the Sigma at f/8, where it is sharpest, I kept hitting the limit of how much detail I can pull out of a single frame.
Archive
I am consistently one day behind in posting a daily photo. This is from a second tour I made to see the kestrels in the barn across the street, this time with the Sigma TC-1401 1.4x teleconverter on the camera. My original plan was to find Nadine’s old BlackBerry Bold. I wanted to charge it and try it out after watching that BlackBerry movie which surprisingly wasn’t too bad. Liked it more than The Social Network. Taking daily photos that inspire me and feel genuine became a chore, I am forcing myself to keep doing them.
Sandbox
At 8pm 3.5 tonnes of sand finally arrived for the sandbox, and by 10:45pm 3 tonnes of it had disappeared into the hole. Finally we can see the end of the project. From here it’s fine work: filling the edges, irrigation, a lid for the cistern, lawn edging and plants, lots of plants.
Mushrooms
Nadine grew her first mushrooms, and they were good.
Kestrels
We spent the whole day in the garden on the old pond area, the sand pit is now officially fenced in with robinia logs and all the uneven ground around it is filled up with topsoil, and on Monday I order the next 1.5 tonnes of sand for the sandpit itself.
Hike
I went on a 15 km hike, I had the day off as it is a public holiday in Bavaria and I follow that schedule rather than the local Saxonian one. Half way through the hike Nadine picked up Aika, she deserved a break and I hadn’t had a single good shot on the Canon anyway - So I had to continue.
Stork
Saw mother stork watching over her chicks on my morning tour with Aika, someone local, can’t remember who, shared the fledglings already leave the nest for a few minutes at a time. That would make a great shot.
Blackcap
An early start at work and a late finish. Before work I took a long walk above the meadows, hoping to find the red-backed shrike again. He kept out of sight, but a blackcap sat still long enough for me to photograph it instead.
Fledgling
It is a good day when I manage a sharp picture of a bird, even better when Jasper and I send each other sharp wildlife photos on the same day.
Shrike
The battery of the Rose e-roadbike is dead, it has turned into a heavy brick on wheels. Why did I opt for an e-bike again? We’ll never know.
Poppy
After weeks of searching I finally found the male pheasant. Whenever I am out on a morning tour I can hear him without ever managing to locate him, and today I found out where he likes to roam, though he vanished into the tall grass just as quickly as I caught a glimpse of him. Next time I’ll get you. So a poppy for today instead.
Lazy
We had a lazy day. Nadine went for a photo walk but it did not yield any good photos. It gets more and more difficult to spot birds with the dense foliage. The boys and I visited my parents down the village, and we spent the rest of the day watching movies.
Knights Games Trebsen
Went to see the annual Knights Games in Trebsen. We left Aika at Nadine’s grandmother and drove to Trebsen, west of Leipzig. We had been there four years ago over Pentecost but didn’t make it to the actual joust back then.
Nuthatch
The nuthatch was as surprised as I was. Neither of us was prepared to be so close to each other. A quick burst shot later with the Canon, and we went our own ways.
Overcast
The weather is beautifully erratic, it just swings between sun, wind and rain all day.
Sparrows
Sparrows are both fidgy (difficult to photograph for me) but also plenty here, so it’s an easy target for a daily photo if you are patient. It was raining most of the day yesterday so sparrows sought shelter in our garden in the large pine tree and under the swing. I wonder if they realize how goofy they look.
Bounce
Took a lucky shot today of a fox jumping 500m away from me through the tall grass. Too far away, too blurry, too dark; yet I am delighted that I caught the moment by accident.
Cliché
Nadine and I were joking today, as we are approaching our 40s, that we start spending money on typical things: cameras, road bikes, coffee machines, birding stuff, sourdough and furniture in millennial grey. So here we go, we got a new coffee machine and I have been fiddling around with it for two hours already to realise the espresso beans we have are actually not espresso beans. I promised Nadine she will have her light-as-water coffee also with this machine. The clock is ticking against me on this one.
Scouting
Trying out different paths in the morning to scout new places to take pictures of the local birds. Aika is getting more careful each tour and starts to sneak alongside me.
Cistern
Nadine and I have been crushing it on the pond excavation site. After yesterday’s placement of the cistern we finished plumbing and started sculpting the space. We moved a ton of sand today.
Big Friday
After a busy week I had Friday off. I went out early to get pictures of the local foxes and a pheasant I have been hearing every now and then. Couldn’t find either. Rest of the day we continued removing our old pond. We got the new 500L cistern in place, which is a big step forward. Plumbing next.
Guided Bird Song Hike & 840mm
Last week left me feeling that even a good camera kit doesn’t guarantee inspiration or good photos. I was looking forward to today’s trip to break the loop of dissatisfying pictures.
Fox & Wagtail
Contemplating to get an used Sigma TC 1401, could bring details I just don’t have during post-editing cropping.
Puddle
Nadine went out with the boys.
Greenfinch
Nadine got a shot of a greenfinch.
Sparrows
Sparrows. Sparrows Everywhere.
Canon Selphy
Got the Canon SELPHY CP1500 to print our favourite daily photos for the photo wall at home. I printed the first batch of postcard-sized prints from last week’s trips today.
Stork
One of the two local storks looking for small rodents and amphibians shortly after the meadow had been freshly mowed.
Blackbird
Got today’s daily photo. A blackbird sitting on our garage, 2 meters away from my office window. Easy and convenient.
Big Day
Twenty-four hours later, I am back on a work trip in Munich for two days. Took the Canon 1D X Mark II for the first tour in our local forest: a fox cub, a group of deer, a Eurasian jay, a starling, a barn swallow and a long-tailed tit.
Split
Three days to my trip to the UK. The week is nicely split between wrapping up work and packing for it. Surprisingly it is also the busiest work week. I guess you can’t plan for that.
Rooster
Rainy day in the garden and our mechanical rooster doesn’t mind. It spins like a windmill in any breeze, so I shot at 1/2000s to freeze it (1/250 would have worked too). It’s been raining all Sunday and it’s my first daily photo in the rain. Next Sunday I hit 100 daily photos.
Alpha
Switched from the Sony RX100 VII to a Sony Alpha 6400.
Redstart
Saw a young black redstart this morning on our roof.
Blossom
Spring is in full swing and I am ready for it. I got my new travel passport and ETA for the UK. 1 1/2 weeks to go.
Back to Back
All day back to back in meetings - high season is coming and we are setting goals for the last push before summer peak. Rushed out between breakfast and first calls on the go with Aika and capture a heard of sheeps chilling in the rain.
Mufflon
A Mufflon. Nadine’s nick name for me was mufflon when we got together. This year it will be 15 years since then.
Artemis
Jasper send me earlier a nice video about the Artemis II photos: ‘Explaining the Most Important Artemis II Photos’, conincidentially I got for Tilian, ok for myself, one of the LEGO Artemis sets. Nadine and I went out on a short photo walk, today’s photo is sponsored by her with post editing by myself.
Scammed
Last week I did not pay attention and entered my personal data with pictures of my travel passport into a fake UK government website to request my ETA for my forthcoming trip. Call me an official idiot.
Star
Back to running a birder website. I got lucky this morning with a Stork and a Starling
Flyby
A red kite passed a few meters above us on our Easter walk today. It was stormy, so the large birds stayed low.
Duck
I spotted this friendly duck in a small pond today.
Two Cameras
I went out this morning with both cameras, the two bird shots from the Canon and the frost on the bridge from the Sony.
Dissolve
One of the new windmills north of the village, dissolving in the mist. If you’re looking for something to read, Jasper published a good reflection about AI and his craft, and sent his March recap newsletter. And I successfully avoided any April fools jokes today.
So I Built a Mac App
Nadine and I shoot a lot of photos. A lot in the sense that we are still beginners and have quite an amount to sort through every time. But the amount of pictures is not what this is about.
Village Walk
A walk through the village with friends. Spring was showing up everywhere, the light has been so good again.
Grace
Jasper sent me the STL file for a Ryland Grace figure from Project Hail Mary. Project Hail Mary is, for me, the best film I have seen in years, and I can barely wait for the home cinema premiere.
Kite
I’ve been avoiding working from my office space for the last three weeks. I overdid it on the walking pad a few weeks ago, and both kitchen and winter garden were more enjoyable with the warmth of the sun.
Blue Sky
A starling on the roof, a sparrow on a cable, and a red kite overhead, all three on the same blue day. Nadine caught a great shot of the red kite. I think we are both pushing what we can get out of the 90D and the 250mm lens.
Dodge
My father restores vintage cars as a hobby, and today we did a photo shoot together. The car is a 1932 Dodge Eight Series DK, fully restored by him.
Fog
A quick morning tour with Aika trough dense fog before a full day of building furniture. Writing this just before 9pm, still not done, lights next and then putting everything back in.
Dusk
A great tit on the evening walk with Aika. Low light, but it still worked out.
Blackthorn
A photo of a blackthorn, just coming into bloom. I am finding more and more enjoyment in dialing in settings manually, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and seeing what comes out.
Sponsored Post
Today was back to back, morning to evening. Today’s photo is sponsored by Nadine from her photo tour. If you look closely you see two sparrows.
Aika
We had parents’ evening at school. I asked to go on the school’s roof to take a picture of the historic water tower. It was dark, all images were blurry. So here is picture of Aika isntead. Nadine said there will be the time for a good shot of the water tower. It was not today.
Stork
I am trying really hard not to let this website become a bird-blog. But the storks are back!
Night Shot
Inspired by Jasper’s night shots and a video I saw on youtube last week that had a nice segment on post-processing night shots I tried to see what I can get out of the Sony RX100 VII.
Honeybee
Heard a swarm of insects humming and was surprised to find a bunch of honey bees on a willow catkin that early this year.
Buntspecht
Got a shot of a great spotted woodpecker. Almost gave up getting a good shot of anything today.
Overflight
A plane passing overhead I saw today while taking the dog out for a long afternoon walk. Much like me, flying into the weekend after an eventful week. The vignette effect in the picture was not intentional and I like how it came out naturally.
Rime
I walked the dog this morning, same as every day. The world feels caught between winter and spring right now. There’s still frost overnight, double digits by afternoon. How am I supposed to decide what jacket to wear?
Perpetual
Went for a walk in the woods with the neighbors and their dachshund, and Aika. Spotted a pheasant, a fox, a red kite, and a few deer.
Song Thrush
It’s not my intention to turn this website into an animal-focused photo blog, but here we go. Spotted a song thrush this morning. First thought it was a female blackbird.
Wild Horses
We drove to see wild horses. It’s a nature reserve one hour south-west of Leipzig. It’s called the Toten Täler (Death Valleys).
Moon
Nadine and I shot the half moon tonight. Otherwise an ordinary day, looking forward to a packed Friday and weekend. I asked her for a text for the post, she said: This is the moon. Sometimes you see it when it’s dark, sometimes even when it’s bright. Sometimes you see it never at all. (very SMRT)
Deer
Managed to capture a young deer in the nature reserve yesterday.
Emma
Emma lives in the next village and goes absolutely berserk behind her gate whenever we walk by. She could slip underneath it any time she wanted, but the moment the gate actually opens, she’s the shyest dog you’ve ever seen.
Woods
I went back to the woods looking for the white albino deer, and found a white albino doe instead.
Weir
Nadine and I went out on a photo walk today. We spotted a few animals but couldn’t get any good shots. We ended up at Weiße Elster weir (51.124943, 12.236676).
Dawn
I took Aika for a long walk at dawn this morning, carrying Nadine’s Canon with our new Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS STM tele lens.
Stump
Old tree stump next to the agriulture road out of town.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 7)
Last full day in Mayrhofen. A round of Hus, a Mario Kart World cup, three groups heading in different directions and Tilian finally spending his pocket money.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 6)
Mountain day for everyone. We rode up the Penken together, Tilian took second place in his ski school race, Aika had her five minutes of fame and we closed out the evening at Goldkind.
Mayrhofen at Night
Nadine and I had an evening out in Mayrhofen. On the walk home, we stopped for a few neon sign photos.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 5)
Kellin was back on his feet. We spent the morning walking along the Ziller, rode the Zillertalbahn home and ended the evening at an escape room.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 4)
Kellin woke up with a fever, so my father-in-law and I stayed back with him while the others hit the slopes.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 3)
Up at 5. Getting better.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 2)
Day two started at 4:30 in the morning. The older one couldn’t sleep anymore. Great start to a vacation day.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 1)
We made it to Mayrhofen. Around 600 km, about 7 hours on the road with two short breaks. The drive was smooth, nothing to complain about.
Black Ice
Lots of black ice on the farmers road and large chunks of frozen snow on the sides which looked like icebergs. It’s been below zero for weeks and quite enjoyable. I dread when it all melts and gets wet again.
Bubblegum Blue
Saw this bubblegum-blue tractor during my daily tour with Aika. Everything is brown and dark in winter and I am a sucker for some color during my walks.
Wolf Tracking
Nadine went wolf tracking last weekend and took great shots. It took place across the Czech border and was organized by two wildlife academies: Funkenflug and Heidefeuer.
Abandoned
Came across this abandoned place. The window color (tm) gives it a nice contrast.
Overtaken
I went for a two-hour walk with Aika, didn’t get any good shots except the usual brick-buildings from across the river (51.140149, 12.230809). After two hours, a group of older road cyclists passed me, dropped a cheeky comment and sped off.
Melt
Nadine went to Czechia to learn about tracking of wolves and other animals. She took the Sony RX100 VII and I got to use her new Canon EOS 2000D. The kids kept me busy inside and outside, the only shot that I eventually kept was the one of snow slowly melting down our greenhouse.
Pheasant
Went for a long walk and did some meetings from the phone while the light was great outside. Saw a pheasant, a young buck and heron.
Two Dorks
Two dorks outside in our garden. Photo courtesy of Nadine.
Blue
I have been trying to be more active in the last days, averaging around 16.000 steps each day, both treadmill supported but also more walks with Aika. Today I came across this blue net hanging ourside of a barn and I just could not figure out what it’s supposed to do.
Soft
Fresh snow fell overnight, so naturally, you get a snow photo the next day. It has always been this way, and it always will be.
Mine (Pt.2)
I went back to the open-cast mining ground and found a great spot to photograph these massive steel giants that have scarred the landscape.
Windpark (Pt.2)
Hello Windpark my old friend! Next to walking in the mornings outside with the dog, I get to walk even more indoors now. We got a treadmill at home since yesterday and I spent my meeting-packed day walking.
Bricks
Week started well at work and I can use the morning hours again for a longer walk with Aika before hitting the desk. Winter mornings don’t offer great light, yet it’s the only time I have to take pictures during week days.
Mine
Tilian and me went to take pictures of the ‘open-cast mining ground’ close to our village.
Frost
Last night’s frost laid a soft film over all surfaces.
New Camera Day
The Sony RX100 VII is here! I took it out for a spin with the kids to the forest and the garage of my father. There is so much to learn about it.
Disappointed
The Sony RX100 VII did not arrive today. I rescheduled delivery from yesterday to today because of my work trip this week. Not sure what happened for it not to arrive but I’m disappointed.
Windpark
We have a new windpark north of our village. 250m high wind mills. The moon illusion hits hard with them, they overshadow the village from one end, and look tiny from the closer end. Strange to see.
Last Day Off
Vacation is over and I’m officially back at work tomorrow. A few impressions from today.
Vet
Neither Aika nor I woke up this morning and thought “Hey let’s rip out a toe nail, that sounds like fun!”. Yet here we are and we spent this afternoon at the vet.
Snow
First proper snow this season. The boys loved it. Aika was slightly annoyed.
Chicken
When I went out with Aika, I caught two of our four chickens in the garden. We have two Silkie chickens and two feather-footed dwarf chickens. The whole family loves them, and two eggs a day is a nice bonus.