i·mag·i·na·tion - Photography

Sunset

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:35:31 +0200

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Here is a recent sunset as seen from my new appartment... I really like the new place, even though there still is a lot of work to do.

Roadtrippin' III

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:20:00 +0200

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I didn't try their Crepes, Smoothies or Wraps... but seeing that sign today I wish I had.
America was a mixed bag of everything for me. Some of my presumptions were met, some not, some things did manage to surprise me while others were shocking. Overall I think I can easily say that I liked it way better than I thought I would. Am I going to visit again? Certainly. Could I imagine to live over there? Why not, Boston seemed like a wonderful city to live in.

Then again it's hard to imagine what it would be like to actually live over there, my whole trip was far to fast-paced to come to a certain conclusion. Just to give you an example - when I left from Germany it was my plan to try as many burger joints as possible when over there, mainly because you can't get decent burgers in Germany and I do love burgers. This turned out to be an easy thing to do, I tried countless of those joints and pretty much each and everyone of them was better than what you can get over here.

On the opposite side though I have to say that I never tried to actually get something we Germans wouldn't call junk-food and apparently I never even saw a restaurant in which I thought they'd serve something else than junk-food. I am sure this is just an impression and surely the wrong one, but they definitely got a lot of junk-food places there.

Look at that picture! Isn't it just beautiful? Look at those signs! They're all over the place, just like you'd have imagined from the movies, television and pictures/press. They are so beautiful, I could have demounted dozends of them and shipped them over here to Germany in order to brighten up our cities. I love them and I've missed them ever since I am back in Germany. There is nothing you can find over here, that is even remotely as beautiful.

This particular picture shows "Claiborne Liquors" in Buffalo, New York. The "Try our..." picture up there was shot in Buffalo as well by the way.

I hit Cleveland and with it the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame on September 11th, hence the flag. Cleveland was a nice start for me, but there would be several cities on my route that I'd enjoy way more...

Roadtrippin' II

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:15:00 +0200

The lakes, the Great Lakes to be precise. They really are great.
Actually they are pretty unbelievably great for a guy like me. I lived close to the sea most of my life, the North and the Baltic sea are basically my home and usually there isn't a single day in my life when I don't see either of them.

The first of the Great Lakes I hit was Lake Erie in Toledo, eventhough my plane originally landed in Chicago and therefore I was way closer to Lake Michigan. I decided to save that one for later and rather start by heading out of Illinois and into Ohio.

Upon first sight Lake Erie disguised itself, as you can see in the picture above. Sadly I don't know anymore where exactly I took this picture, but it was somewhere in the Toledo area and it is some sort of bay, because you can see land all around the water. When I stopped to see Lake Erie for the second time, this time in Pennsylvania, in the city of Erie itself, it was different. There wasn't land all around and it took a while until I realized that this actually was a lake, not the sea. It mainly was the salt-water vs. fresh-water thing and the fact that it was very shallow that let me realize that this was in fact a lake, a huge one.

Ready for the next lake, I left Pennsylvania and entered New York, Rochester to be precise.

Above pictured Lake Ontario and the orange horse that accompanied me on my whole roadtrip. Even though Lake Ontario is smaller than Lake Erie, the way Lake Ontario opened up in front of me when I approached it left me speechless. If I hadn't realized it before - just then it was obvious why they were called the Great Lakes.

After my visit to Lake Ontario the next thing I saw, water wise, was the North Atlantic Ocean. It wasn't until I was on my way back to Chicago that I decided to stop by Sarnia, Canada in order to take a look at Lake Huron.

After I parked my car I took a small path down to the water, accompanied by a group of three or even more squirrels running right next to me I approached Lake Huron. The view over Lake Huron on this sunny and hot day was absolutely magnificent. I have to admit that I am not really smiling on that picture, then again I did drive for many hours and as said it was very warm that day. The view nevertheless was absolutely breathtaking. Unbelievable and unforgettable.

The last lake I managed to see was Lake Michigan prior my departure to fly back home. The pictures I took of it didn't turn out very well - but I have to admit after seeing Lake Huron, Lake Michigan didn't manage to sweep me off my feet. As it turns out I was getting used to those huge lakes, and I really liked it. Believe it or not there were many stops I made throughout my trip at which I couldn't help but be reminded of home, both weather and nature wise. Boston even reminded me of home culture wise - but that is a whole different story...

Roadtrippin'

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:37:00 +0200

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Yes, it's been a while. No, the story I am about to begin isn't exactly a recent one...
Last September I went on a Roadtrip through a part of the USA for two weeks and ever since I came back I thought about how to add a little something about my journey to my weblog. As it turns out I never quite had a good idea about that, especially because I in my opinion took just very few presentable pictures of that trip.

I actually took my Hasselblad with me on that trip but never even managed to unpack it. Everything was just a bit too huge for me, all these impressions, new things, new citys and people around me never quite left me enough air to breathe to actually settle down and take some decent pictures.

I take it that most of the people close to me know about that trip anyways, I told my stories quite a few times and that is another reason why I never even started to write something about the trip down here. Anyways - I went through my pictures again last weekend and found a couple of them that I deem good enough to show them off here and maybe even loose a few words about them.

The story which is about to follow on this weblog is in no means a complete re-cap of what I experienced and where I've been in the states, you probably should take it as more of a glimpse.

Overall I drove a total of 3000+ Miles, the areas I visited are the Great Lakes, the south border of Canada and the east coast of the states. The biggest cities I saw include Chicago, New York, Boston and Toronto.

Here is the full picture of where I've been and where I made my stops:

This whole trip had several purposes. First of all I finally wanted to see what everyone is talking about and as much of it as possible, Second of course a bit of sightseeing, then again the only real sightseeing I did was probably in New York. Third and last I went on a complete streetfashion rampage. I hit all the spots I could dig up, talked to lots of people and of course did buy a few pieces for myself. But more about all that probably later...

W)Taps x Size? x iPhone

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:17:47 +0100

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Me, myself and I - Feelin' good lately.
That shirt is one of the few items I brought with me from my trip to Milano last year. Hoodie with compliments to a friendly soul over at CT - from Size?, obviously. Not in the picture, 2006s Nike Air 180 Easter Editions.

When the Truth is found...

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 16:10:05 +0100

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... to be lies.
And all the joy within you dies.
Don't you want somebody to love?

(Picture: Library of the University in Kiel)

Riders on the Storm

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 16:00:31 +0100

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Into this house were born
Into this world were thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the storm

(Picture: Kiel City-Centre)

Family

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:36:26 +0100

My sister actually took this shot, but I am madly in love with it. What you see there is a good chunk of my Family walkin aside the seashore in Dagebuell at the Northern Sea.

Handheld @ISO100

Gloves

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:08:37 +0100

My girlfriends gloves on my table.

Tripod @ISO200

Bench

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:54:59 +0100

Handheld @ISO400.

Silhouette

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:52:41 +0100

Handheld @ISO400.

Water & Train

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:27:51 +0100

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So I bought an digital SLR the other day. Nothing fancy. Just something very old and cheap if you want to call it that way. I always thought I might buy an E-1 once the prices really hit rock bottom. I am not in the digital SLR business anymore and still I'll go out on a limp and state that it probably still is the best digital camera available out there - at least if you look at the price/functionality factor.

Of course it is a bit out-dated, of course you can get much more megapixels, a far more accurate auto focus and a gazilion of other gimmicks you might feel you need. Nevertheless the E-1's viewfinder is still one of the only ones I can look through wearing my glasses and still seeing everything. I think only the Canon 1Ds has a viewfinder that is somewhat similar to the E-1's.

Anyway, I think the camera rules and I am not looking into buying any more equipment for it that that one lens I already bought. I got my Hasselblad and I am gonna use it, but now that I got that D-SLR I might use it now and then too and maybe even get a little more life into this blog that has been so full of life many months ago.

Oh, and yeah. The shot above I made handheld @ISO400.

She came in through the Bathroom Window

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:25:47 +0200

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I've never been very fond of Mrs. Jolie, but there are entire sets of pictures of her taken for the apparel brand St. John that entirely blow my mind. They are magnificient in all aspects. You got to love B&W, it's the best. Make sure to check out the page, there's a picture archive.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Mon, 28 May 2007 15:56:00 +0200

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Despite of its deceptive title, I am afraid that this article is not going to be another movie review of mine. Fact is that I have seen less than a handful movies in the last 100 days and trust me when I tell you that that is one of the smallest changes that has been happening. Through the last months my life has been altered in pretty much all of its aspects. Right from the start of 2007 I knew that this year would come up with quite a few alterations and changes, but I obviously never expected them to be so drastic as they turned out to be. For all of you my dear readers this means that my weblog is going to change for good, in order to bring back at least a little bit life to this webblog.

For now I am going to stop writing movie reviews and focus this webpage on photography. Of course I am still a mad movie addict and maybe I'll be getting back in the swing of things, but I don't believe I'll ever start writing movie reviews on such a regular and constant basis again. I also won't post photography related things in such a regular basis as I did write movie reviews, but I'll at least will be trying to bring back a little bit more of life to the site than it has seen in the last 100 days.

I've bought myself a nice and very cheap Hasselblad 500C a couple of weeks ago in Zurich and she is going to be my new partner in crime, helping me to show you the things I am coming across in my new life. I've also bought myself a nice and shiny 20" Apple iMac which is unquestionable the best companion one could ask for in addition to my Hasselblad.

So this a farewell to all of you that are going to part with me due the changes that are about to happen. Thanks for your comments, your kindness and your loyalty through the last years, if it wasn't for you this site wouldn't have become what it was.

Right now I am not sure what this site will be looking like in the future, for now it will stay like this and I'll just change a few minor things. Maybe though I'll come up with a complete new design in the next few weeks to underline the changes that are happening. The article archive of the last years will always be kept intact, there is a lot of work in it and I am very proud of it, I'm just going to discontinue it and start off entirely new and different...

i·mag·i·na·tion
...or: the ability to visualize

Crappy Days...

nospam@example.com (Lewe) — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:36:00 +0100

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Things have been crazy this last weeks and I am afraid they're going to stay like this some longer. My girlfriend and me ran into some troubles with our appartment, as our landlord discovered Dry Rot in our attic. As the situation was pretty serious not only the attic, but also most of the upper floor had to be torn down, fixed and rebuilt and as we're located in this last floor, we had to abadon our home and move down into a (luckily) currently vacant appartment.

While this trouble easily would have been annoying enough in any regular season, it obviously had to happen in the most busy one. Up to today I am as far away from any Christmas-Feelings as I never have been before and I doubt it's going to get any better than this. Additional to this my weekends have been packed with stuff, including the delightful visit of Garvin this very last weekend.

I highly doubt there will be many posts of me before the arrival of 2007, I've already plans for both of the upcoming weekends and aside those I'll be working all the time.

To come up at least with a little something, I decided to bring you one of my very recent pictures I took. Just about 2 or 3 weekends ago, I went to shoot a roll of film in a wonderful forest, during some very nice lighting circumstances. It was the first time in many months that I found the time (and it didn't rain) to head out and go shooting. Two additional shots of this trip turned out fairly well and I am going to present them here very soon.

What you see above is a 6x6 shot I took with one of my dad's Kowa Six cameras - a lovely camera, which I'll be borrowing more often from now on as I feel...