spring2life take2

Probably just a formalist shenanigan, but to quote Tyler Monson:

“… why do I do what I do?
Because it makes me smile, inside, I think;
as simple as that.”

The name of these supermarkets was fascinating me since my first visit here in Krk. On the background of the socialist history of this country I found it even more interesting.

On the island of Krk, tourist season still has not fully started, clearly visibly through those caravans. Christo would have liked the wrappings, but in reality the look almost a bit out of this world.

I would not go as far as Earl here on ‘Meandering Passage’ to see bayonets coming out of that Yucca, but its gestalt for sure shows a certain aggressiveness, making it ideally suited to patrol the front yard of that house in Krk.

Found on the way to the harbour.

Playing in the shadows sometimes is the best part of the holidays. For fathers with cameras and daughters with books and games as well.

Here in Krk, blue sky and turquoise water render a superficially fine impression.

But this is not the Italian Adria, where armies of machinery and men each morning clean the beaches of all kinds of litter brought by nightly winds and waves, in order to maintain the (equally superficial) impression of clean littoral areas. The sad truth is that remainders of human activities of all kinds are returned by the sea to literally every meter of the beach. Sometimes this pieces can be deceivingly beautiful.

No twist in this image, no opportunity for a rant or talkin’ politics. Family holidays mean just some occupation with mundane things like driving, setting up a the caravan, getting the kids into and out of the water and so on. Private time was restricted to two images of the evening clouds and now some time on the WLAN to write a post.

But then – this means recreation!

In her comment to the last post, Martina pointed at the attempts of the people to make their environment more homely. This was probably the motivation, too, to set up this bird’s house in the front yard just 50m away from the scenery with the flower pots.

But in times of ubiquitous home improvement stores, this intended idyll can also be realised in the form of cast concrete lambs under geranium plants.

Strolling through one of the new housing estates here, I came across this scenery. It looks like the flowers in the pot will need a lot of manure and water to cope with these large floor and wall spaces.

The weather here on the northern slope of the Alps reminds me a bit of what Paul Maxim wrote not long ago about the weather in the Rochester area. What we have at the moment is more like a late winter with night temperatures below 10°C and 15°C during the day – only the intensive green of the flora is a proof for the early summer.

Taking the train for commuting at least means a relaxed situation without confrontation with testosterone-loaded freedom-on-the-highway seekers, given the waggon’s airspace doesn’t get completely pervaded by the busy chit-chat of students on a school trip. The extended living room, that is so often projected into a car, *can* be a major motivation. That it’s not a sustainable one can easily be blocked out.

Found on the descent from the world’s largest glacier cave in Werfenweng. In the cave photography is forbidden, at least for tourists, but it would be anyway complicated (and dangerous for non-climbers) to create a suitable lighting situation.

Here in Europe all new buildings have to be insulated according to highest standards. Those styrofoam boards are among the most important component to achieve lower CO₂ emissions while maintaining a high comfort level. And they have sometimes even optical merits.

Taking up the postings of Carl Weese and Tyler Monson earlier that day.

Having run errands for/with the family the last days forces me to resort to another image of the Wimbach Canyon, already subject of two postings in the last week. As Thomas had stated correctly: “One of those ever-greens”. And as long as it works, I don’t feel guilty, even if the Wimbach cascades are not of world class renown.

This certainly is a diametral counterdraft to yesterday’s Bus Stop photos. Prince Archbishop Markus Sitticus erected this garden with its aquatic surprises in the early 17th century for the pleasure of himself and his aristocats. Democratized now, they are visited by legions of tourists and provide a major source of income for Salzburg.

I am astonished again and again how much I have missed over the many years that I use this bus stop. Or expressed positively: Since working to develop my photographic skills my visual sensorium perceives interesting things in constantly increasing numbers. And the contentment lies more and more in discovering and in sharing subtle things than in waiting for a unique occasion and image.

Images with two centers of interests have have to fight the problem of diverting the attention of the viewers focus. I hope the staging here is sufficient to give enought attraction to the nearer cascade before the gaze wanders to the bright spot in the background – and hopefully comes back. It’s a risk, but then it probably also is Robert Frost’s “road less traveled”.

The Wimbach (-bach is the german word for creek) brings the waters down from Mt. Watzmann, which has the most prominent shape of the mountains here in the Berchtesgadener Land. The creek itself runs through a short canyon, offering cascades of all sorts and in all lighting situations. Now in spring time they are abundant, and around every corner you find a new situation – good for my search for symbolic pictures of moving waters.

Forcedly spending some time at the fairground (too noisy, too many too young kids and too much alcohol around), I exercised my 85mm lens, trying to find out the right compression for that cacophonia of light and movement and sound. It was only when editing the images that I found that face included in all the screaming bulbs, words and signs. It seems I was prepared for the luck.

I have certainly a faible for forests. Of course you don’t find many natural forests over her outside of the national parks. What I do find interesting in those normal forests, owned by either farmers or the government, are those markings and boards, warnings or direction signs, which, once applied, are left decaying when they are not needed any more

You will have noticed that the sidebar now greets you with a kiva.org banner on top. Optical aspects aside – the colors of the ad can be distracting until you enlarge the main post’s photography by clicking on it – I found it high time to extend my private support of kiva.org by advocating it in public.

During my many travels outside of Europe I have seen too much poverty (and photographed) to just sleep well and enjoy my personal wealth. And I have met many many engaged peoply, working hard to improve their living conditions but meeting limits they cannot overcome by themselves. The lack of bank loans at reasonable conditions is one of them.

Microcredits can mitigate this problem, however most of the traditional banks seem to prefer high risk games instead of this hard groundwork. kiva.org steps in here and acts as a broker between lenders and loan seekers. If you are interested, please have a look at their website about all the details.

What is still making me sad is a fact confirmed by everybody with some insight into the microcredit, namely that the average credit risk is lower by dimensions when the loan is given to a woman. Just think of it: men, at least in the income groups where microcredits are requested, are as a species much less reliable partners for a bank than women are. No racism, just sad statistics.

Leaving that aside for the moment, the kiva website offers you a broad spectrum for investing – all over the world, as individual or member of a group, to individuals or collectives. Paying is made easy through PayPal, which according to the kiva FAQ does not collect fees on these transactions. And citizens of the U.S. can deduce donations to kiva.org from their taxes.

I hope I have encouraged some of my readers to do a lot of good even with small amounts.

Only some steps and minutes away from the last image I found this scenery. A subtle change in light directionality the selection of silhouetting branches makes quite a differance. I guess those images will make up for a nice diptych.

Evening light helped a lot to increase the magic of “The Paradise”, and my trusty tripod was absolutely necessary, as the light level dropped really fast due to the overcast sky. Even in-camera-stabilisation did find its limits there. Focusing was a bit difficult as I didn’t want to include too much background detail, but shallow depth-of-field rendered parts of the foreground unsharp. Well, there is no tilt-shift lens in my bag, so I had to take what was available.

A smalll evening photo walk with the local photographers group (not to confound with the duck’s camera club) gave some nice results despite of the grey weather and early dusk. Unexpectedly the air was almost quiet, greatly helping with the slow shutter speeds. The place is a local backwater, commonly denominated “The Paradise”. As the state road runs nearby, it is a noisy paradise however. But you don’t hear it in the photographs anyway.

I know I am late, but here are May Wallpapers.

Just across the Austrian Border, the traditional costume association “D’ Lattenberger” set up the maypole in the museum village of Grossgmain. Instead of the blue-sky-green-grass sceneries I’d like to present some details which make pretty much the essence of the procedure – which is the important thing, not the final result itself.

Approaching the venue of the traditional maypole erection ceremony, I passed this hat on a pole. But I did not greet it…