spring2life take2

Krk, Croatia

Among the campers you find all kinds of preferences, sometimes also for the not so obvious things like this big wall clock. The image seem simple, however it took me to attempts to get enough evening sky and details in the lighted areas, and in the end I had to resort to a layer to intensify and darken a great part of the sky – plus partial noise reduction, as all this tweaking resulted in color noise coming up out of the blue.

Krk, Croatia

Not that the LX3 would be *the* camera I chose for low-light work, but it is possible. I truly despise public relation monsters like the MEGA O.I.S. name that Panasonic gave the image stabilisation mechanism, but I have to state that it works: a quarter of a second handheld yielding in sufficient sharpness for sure is fine.

Krk, Croatia

Omišalj, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

I know it’s a bad thing to spy at people through a long lens – Tyler, you know, this girlwatcher type – and I won’t repeat it in the next time. But when framing this image I mainly saw the size proportions of person and tires and that round/square contrast. Only afterwards on the screen I discovered the tired or annoyed expression of the man.

Krk, Croatia

On my last day in Krk there was an occasion to photograph reflections in the harbour, as the winds had pushed all dirt into a remote corner of the basin. The image above stood out during the first culling, the others remain to be inspected more thoroughly. The colourful dots are the reflection of a Croation flag (red, blue, white) attached to of the stays on a sailing boat.

This reflection series was made with long focal lengths, something I do very rarely meanwhile, even though a tele zoom was the first acquisition after the purchase of the DSLR – maybe a remnant of pubertary reflexes.

Krk, Croatia

After a long trip back home and a good night’s sleep I finally managed to update the blog: Here are the September wallpapers for your kind perusal. Maybe they can keep the feeling and smell of summer alive into Autumn.

Krk, Croatia

Just in time I managed to finish and upload my SoFoBoMo 2011 photobook, aptly titled Conditioned Krk for the countless air condition units it features. Those creepers have been subjects of a number of pictures I posted from Krk, and this year I’ve used the opportunity of SoFoBoMo’s fuzzy month and my summer holidays to build a book of these visual contaminants.

Oh well, I shouldn’t complain that much, living in a moderate climate most of times. Maybe some people of Krk take my visual notes and draw their own conclusion about how to devise their environment.

My special thanks go to Eric Jeschke for providing the LaTex sources of his own 2009 photo book under a Gnu Public License, which allowed me to achieve a compact web pdf in a very fast way, and at the same time creating a blurbable high-res pdf as well.

Update: The pdf is now available from the books section of this website as well.

Punat, Krk

Krk, Croatia

This week, one of Germany’s greatest humorists has died. The man on the beach is reading the most disreputable German boulevard newspaper ‘Bild’ (my keyboard cringed when I typed the word ‘newspaper’ in this connotation), which is famous for its large-letter black and red titlepage, with the sad news shouted at the reader.

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

For an old seafarer tribe as the people from the island of Krk, the boat certainly was as dear as cars are now. So it’s not astonishing to see normal boats, not the leasure type, next to many houses.

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Omišalj, Krk

I am more than happy that Police Chief Jim McDonnell (via conscientious) is not on duty in Omišalj. I am certainly not sure about the artistic value of the image above, but getting detained for it certainly would be a draconic measure. But with long hair and moustache, I might well qualify for a potential terrorist.

Oh America, how have you come down! Once it was an earmark of dictatoric regimes to go after people photographing clearly defined subjects of assumed strategic value – Yugoslavia, from which my current residence in Croatia stems off, was known for such rules. But making an assumed non-artistic value the criterion deciding over the harassment of a photographer is certainly a new quality in the erosion of those very Civil Rights for which the United States of America were rightly admired.

Krk, Croatia

The Kamplin is the main place next to the Bishop’s church in the town of Krk, and in the summer evenings visited by big numbers of tourists. In the mornings usually it’s quiet (and clean), good to visit when the shadows are still long.

Krk, Krk

Having fallen in love with the square format – the LX3 helped a lot as it offers it as a native format – I continue using it under much more difficult circumstances with the DSLR. There are two marks for the square in the viewfinder, visible but not really helpful when it comes to aligning lines with the frame borders or corners. Currently I lean towards slack framing, offering enough leeway to position a rectangular frame during postprocessing, but this is
a not really satisfying as it is quite imprecise. And I loose a bit the feeling for the image when not beeing able to use the SLR viewfinder as the tool it was meant for. Given that my DSLR in many other aspects allows to achieve fine results, an adjustable and configurable viewfinder (together with a much better rendering of shallow DoF) is at the top of an imaginary wish list.

Krk, Croatia

Omišalj, Krk

What happened in Norway simply leaves me speechless. As Juha I have daughters in the age where they go to summer camps, so I can’t simply push aside that terror. And reminiscences of 9.11. come back, when our foster son was so lucky to be stuck in a traffic jam instead of visiting as planned the twin towers on that day.

What a denial of all values of humanity, what an insane perversion of religion believing that mass murder could be a necessary action. It is frightening to see how close the most adverse ideologies are again in the choice of their means. My heart is with all humans having to mourn the loss of a beloved.

Today’s image was made in Omišalj, in the north of the island of Krk. It is the leading image of a small gallery of black and white images that you can find here. And it’s also the last of this batch of Krk images.

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Omisalj, Krk

Lukobran, Krk

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Jezevac, Krk

Silo, Krk

Silo, Krk

Krk, Croatia

Jezevac, Krk

Jezevac, Krk

In spite of the danger of getting this image labeled as just another “marine painting”, I do enjoy the shades of grey and subtle colors. The bibble5 raw converter is a wonderful tool for me when it comes to carefully nuancing and enhancing without overdoing such color scales. Also the camera, a beaten Sony A700, seems to be good in delivering this kind of tonalities, whereas in the realm of saturated colors at least I am not overly happy with it. But it could be that my non-preference for very vivid images influences my evaluation here.

Omisalj, Croatia

Jezevac, Krk

Harbour, Krk

Post Office, Krk

Bus Terminal, Krk

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Update: “It was a challenging situation for all involved”– Home by George Saunders.
Thanks, Martina!

Dedicated to Martina of blackandwhitecolors. She’d definitely come up with a completely unexpected quote from the book she is reading.

Krk, Croatia

Krk Harbour

Here are the Wallpapers for July 2011, downloadable as usual from the wallpapers page. I had experimented with those harbour water reflections already last year, but found a different brightness distribution this year, as the boats “park” now in a different order.

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

It certainly looks somewhat sterile, and I don’t remember having seen any signs of inhabitants here.

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

I really have doubts if the fish would buy this…

Krk, Croatia

Having returned from my holidays, there are still some Krk images I’d like to share with you.

Krk, Croatia

Omisalj, Kroatia

Omisalj, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Bay of Krk, Croatia

Bay of Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

Silo, Krk

Silo, Croatia

Silo, Croatia

Silo, Croatia

Jezevac, Krk

Krk, Croatia

Konzum parking, Krk

Waiting for the shoppers to return, I tried some framings including the mirror, when suddenly the view changed and the lady’s silhouette added some “drama”. Basically Carl Weese’s recipe: Having an image 90% ready and wait for something that comes and completes the composition.

Kvarner Bay, Croatia

Wonderfully overcast sky – something I had feared in earlier days, associating it with dull pictures (which I made inevitably, even if only to fulfill prejudice) – presented me that graceful transition of sea into sky. I hope I didn’t miss too many dust spots. Back at home I will try to get it printed. As I have a lab that doesn’t “improve” the files you send, it might come out pretty well.

Krk, Croatia

Alas, no female silhouette available here. Robert Adams image of that brick house Denver 412. I tried to find the image on the internet, but was not lucky.

Shipyard, Krk

Andreas certainly is right: once you learn the square, it comes natural. This again was made with the SLR.

Krk, Croatia

Until I had bought the LX3, I had felt quite handicapped when trying to compose square images without any guidelines in the viewfinder. As I feel a certain affinity for that aspect ratio, most images with the LX3 I created in that mode. In the bright mediterranean light, the LX3 without EVF is no joy to use, so without any resentments the DSLR again became my tool of choice. And, unexpectedly, now I am much better in composing the image into the square. I admit, precision is sometimes still lacking, but framing a tiny bit looser and precisely cropping on the computer screen helps a lot. Anyhow, the viewfinder is not 100% precise, so making use of sometimes unexpected slack is nothing new for me.

Krk, Croatia

Krk, Croatia

I just had spotted the flower pots on the AC units placed on those balcony remnants, when…

Krk, Croatia

Using the SLR for street photography is always somewhat frightening, as the shutter sound is *loud* when heared from near. I hope that my subjects know that noise diminuishes with the square of the distance.

Krk, Croatia

The main ingredients for successful holidays are: mainly blue sky and reasonably high temperatures, bars and coffee shops, and not to many tourists (myself excluded, of course). Krk at pentecost offers all this, adding pre-roman, roman and venetian walls and houses plus excellent seafood. Content? Well, almost. My eyes are a bit restless, trying to look beyond the known.

The title for this image came up as a sudden association, but when searching for it, it turned out that I must have heard of or seen the masterpiece and originator of that title: Hokusai’s woodblock print of the series “Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji”, and the later adaption by Jeff Wall. Just see them here on the website of Tate Modern.

So the title is not original, but it’s matching well the image, which I enjoy very much because of its impromptu character, where small details like the carpet corners support that feeling of a sudden and irrevocable departure. And I chose this image to close the Krk series for this year. Expect to find now images from European sceneries of late summer and autumn here in this blog.

Oh yes, and the blog got a new feature: In the menu below the title you’ll now find a link to the “Image Mosaic”: Spread over 12+ pages there is just a compendium of most of the images published on spring2life. The singular images can be enlarged – as all images here – and the new Highslide-Javascript not only adapts to the screen size but also allows to play a slideshow. Enjoy.

Same harbour, different day, different direction of view. What is a nice and harmless (and not so enthusiasting) scenery nonetheless permanently photographed on other days, gets a nice twist when the weather threatens with a storm front.

I am still not sure if this is part of the official vocabulary or just an individual extension.

This is in a certain way a sentimental post: The Renault 4, or R4 as it was commonly called, was our first car, back in 1983. A robust vehicle with plenty of room for frequently moving students, a moderate appetite for the always expensive gasoline, and plenty of old fashioned technique that allowed (and needed) do-it-yourself repairs. The R4 was a successful vehicle with almost 10 millions sold, and production was stopped only after more than 30 years, with the last factories in Europe destroyed in the war on the Balkans. But in the former Yugoslavian states there are still a number of this cars earning their daily gas, appreciated for pretty much the same virtues that German students sought after, 30 years ago.

That this is a HDR image, converted under Linux with a lot of black magic, scripts, command line and all that, is certainly not visible. But I do like it exactly for this reason.

Another wrapped car on the camping site in Krk.

The corrosive qualities of the permanent and salty winds is reason for a number of car owners to wrap their most precious asset in protective foils. Of course the brand – reason for the pride of ownership – should remain visible

<p>Low morning sun and a narrow alley constitute pretty good ingredients for interesting sights. Sometimes all I need is a bit of leasure time and (after a morning cappuccino) just an alert eye.</p>

I just wanted to give you some more time to guess what it is .

Have a good start into the new week!

The subdued colors attracted me here, and the contrast of the old walls and the new Daimler. The barred windows belong to the Franziskan Monastery in Krk.

A second take on the shore plants in Krk. For both images I used the Sony 70-300G lens, the first one was taken with the maximum focal length and widest open f-stop of 5.6. The soft rendering of the out-of-focus areas combined with the perfect maximum sharpness I love very much in this lens.

Other than that my relationship with it is somewhat plurivalent: Since my first steps in photography I am in love with the compressed perspective of tele lenses, and the first lens I always got with every SLR was a tele or tele zoom. But since going digital I find myself to use it less and less, having discovered the possibilities (and challenges) of wideangles at or below 24 mme. So I carry the 70-300 less often, therefore use it less often. But when I do, I am very often astonished about the fine image that it allows me to capture.

I tried this subject with different light situations until I was happy with morning striplight that left the rocks in the shadows and deepened the black of the cracks.

The September wallpapers are available for downlad from here.

Just couldn’t resist the quote… as well as this wonderful combination of colors, pose and expression. I loathe those usual beach snaps, so you rarely will find me with a camera there (if at all, that is). But there are often some small details to record and remember, especially when the light gets softer and warmer late in the afternoon.

This post goes with special regards to Earl, who featured his morning coffee spot here! The coffee shop you see above is the eldest in the town of Krk, already mentioned in documents of 1763, thus the name. It has recently been revamped and for sure sports a fine place for an early morning cappuccino, especially when the crowd is still sleeping: They open at 07:00 and in the tourist season close only well past midnight. The coffee is as good as it can get, and leaning on a 500+ years old wall can give a special feeling.

The tourists are catered in shops everywhere, in shops with souvenirs of all kinds. But sometimes they have strange things in their displays!

Found in the alleys of Krk: The ingredients of this image come from a long stretch of time. The oldest for sure are the cobblestones, next comes the fountain, now deprived of the red communist star (visible here or here), and the youngest is probably the ATB. And me? I do enjoy the moment and the light.

Today was my last morning in Krk, and after my morning cappuccino in the harbour I found those two buoys absorbed in their tête-à-tête, but closely guarded by the port entrance light house.

The drive home was not so much fun then (Carl: my inner trucker seems to be miles away), but coming home was a joy. Relaxed (and somewhat deprived from, say, a fast internet connection) it is of course easy to indulge in things that were just commonplace before the holidays. Tomorrow I will have a look at the backlog of too many unread posts.

Krk suffers as all tourist locations under the extreme oscillation of population. Permanent jobs are quite rare, and a lot of commuting traffic (or emigration) the inevitable consequence. But a small number of local companies tries to make use of the location, combining quarry stone houses on roman foundations and venetian sprinkles with newest technologies. And, as I found out just now, the center of Krk with its numerous caffés is a free WiFi zone.

Steep shadows under the wires and ACs provide a nic(h)e playground for the viewer. Not that I am particularly fond of this decoration of a medieval town, but then: this is life, and optically interesting.

Many of the houses in Krk are 500 years or even older. The arc in the first floor in this example can well be from Venetian times – the electrical wiring is definitely more recent, and indispensable for the energy hunger that is constantly growing. But as you can see to the right, this will be only an intermediary solution: preparations for underground cables are well under way in the old cobblestone alleys. But up to then, the open wires will provide interesting patterns in the sky.

The ubiquitous growing of AC units on the facades as well as the – connected – plein air electric wiring became the main fields of interest during my wanderings through the Krk alleys. The images need some editing and selecting, so I have postponed the creation of some galleries until I am back home.

But then, I will also order as many stocks as possible of mediterranean energy companies and public utilities: this seems to be an enormously growing market, and if we all have to suffer under a climate change, I do at least want to have my share (sic!) of it.

Found on the Krk Waterfront. I admit that sometimes I doubt the wisdom of the family’s decision to spend the holidays every year in the same place. But then: I don’t remember ever coming back with an empty memory card from my strolls through the city. So this decision can’t be too wrong.

Still wednesday, still wordless

Wordless wednesday. Enjoy!

Shipping Vessel “Karlo” in Krk harbour. Thanks to the intensity of light the dirt and grime in the harbour spill remains invisible.

Krk Harbour, before the Krk – Grad regatta started. There were a lot of spectators, both foreign as – in this case – local. The regatta itself was not spectacular in any sense, starting in an almost complete calm, and the bigger part of the high-tech yachts wasn’t (for me) either. But he was.

Nota bene the battery of trash cans in the background: Maybe the situation is a bit intimidating for the little boat.

Oh yes, and that was a situation where I was caught *without* a camera: ran back to the trailer, got it, captured just two frames and then car and trailer drove away.

The peak in tourist season is said to be over, but still hordes of tourists crowd the small streets of Krk. The morning is the best time to avoid this – for me demotivating – scenario, and often there are new, improvised and short-lived sceneries, ready to be savoured and transformed into bytes for further perusal. I like this jaunty proceeding, independent from complicated techniques, so very conversant with the camera that it becomes just a natural extension of the eye. Holidays!

Found during my morning strolls through the city.

There is not much left from the importance or even glory of the once ruling communist/socialist party and their world-shaking ideas here in Krk. The only visible leftovers are some fountains (like here) and plates, but besides that: Cuba libre is just the name of the drink, and this fountain is degraded to a cheap billboard. Not that there is any reason to glorify those times, yet some sensitivity for the history is everything else but superfluous.

Dagmar Franolic opened her show “Hello Tree” in the Gallery Decumanus in Krk last saturday. Until then I had seen aquarel paintings from her, but for “Hello Tree” she extended her technique and included collage elements, wooden blocks and multimedia to her palette. “Hello Tree” focuses on – hard to guess – trees, which are less prominent here in Krk than small alleyways and medieval walls, but nonetheless form an integral part of the city. The old Zürgelbaum (celtis australis) next to the main gateway is maybe the most promient specimen in town, but there are some very old olive trees well hidden in the north-east of the island.
You can see some parts of Dagma’s work also here on flickr

Blog note: Posting works now, but line speed here is terrible during tourist season, which makes reading an posting a major pain. Still no fun.



Authors’s note: Increasing the amount of voodoo and using a vpn to a befriended server, I finally managed to upload some images. In the end it was less about posting and more a personal challenge if my skills would suffice to overcome this provider’s faulty setup. Finally by pure guessing on my side it turned out that the MTU (Maximum Transfer Unit) of the network connection was by default set too high. One simple (again black magic) command: sudo ifconfig wlan0 mtu 576, and the network connection ran as it should and does everywhere else.

Linda Gordon’s biography of Dorothea Lange was given to me as a gift from a fellow photographer. And after having recovered from the travel and set-up chores, I started to read and was immediately fascinated by the intensity of this book. The many aspects of Lange’s life and story get unfolded and form an immense micro-history of that important time also in the history of the United States of America. Only one sentence in the foreword makes me hesitate a bit: Gordon compares the movement and effects of the New Deal with the feeling of a fundamental change during the last presidency election campain. And whilst I do wish she will be proven right, I could not help but notice a feeling of deep disappointment about the current development in the U.S.

The title of this post is the middle part of a Dorothea Lange quote. Developing the craft and art of seeing certainly is the key factor for any artisanal or artistic endeavour. And what I have read so far from Lange’s life, it was accompagnied by an openness to and in life, that formed many facets of her personality. I guess the latter is the real general key of personal development, also as a photographer, whereas the camera is the same kind of tool the individual scalpell is for the surgeon: indispensable yet in no way defining competence or skill.

I started this sequence with images from the island of Krk with a clouds scenery, and with an image of clouds I want to finish it. At this time of the year such evening clouds are not uncommon, as are heavy thunderstorms at night. In a trailer or even a tent these are memorable events. To emphasize the drama in the image I made use of the details-slider in lightzone, an instrument that I could not replicate neither in my favourite bibble5 nor in gimp.

One of the cool places in Krk, the cafe Casa dei Frangipane in the harbour, is named after the dynasty of the Frankopan, which was very influential in Croatia up to the 16th century. The Frankopan sovereigns tried to defend their estate both against the turkish invaders and the Venetians and where ultimately defeated by the Austrians, when Croatia got absorbed in the Austro-Hungarian empire.

¢ Carl Weese: Playground Slide, Wadesville, Pennsylvania

Personally I am less than convinced that we do kids a favour by presenting them such a color overkill like in the image above. I do fear that this conditions their perception to strieve for “louder, shriller, pushier”, and this principle is going to be applied not only to toys, but, to name a few, food, TV, school entertainment and the like. The designers of these (probably chinese) cheapo plastic slides have certainly accomplished a leap towards that kind of perfection, and the overall (sales) success probably proves them right. The trike in my earlier image has in comparison harmonic colors, and I won’t contradict Sherri regarding the attractiveness towards kids.

In most places of the island of Krk, the fire plugs are painted in (weathered) red. But wherever new units are set up, the standard color is a fresh blue, clearly signalling water. And they do make up for nice focusing points in their surroundings.

Whilst it made up for attractive subject matter, I admit being astonished about this amount of fenders, especially in a quiet harbour and a mooring area where the ships don’t stay even overnight. But then, who knows, maybe this is a local way of demonstrating power.

Back from my holidays since a week, I still have some images from Krk I regard as worthy to be shown, like these from the church and monastery in Glavotok. Sometimes this blue sky, old buildings and/or the sea can create almost a sensory overload for some precious moments.

At least since my unexpected encounter with Eggleston’s famous trike on a Honda Poster (here) I am somewhat sensitized for those small vehicles. So my heart leaped for a moment when I saw this symphony in blue, consisting of that chinese-made little threewheeler and the harbour scenery and intensified by the red tail light. Of course the trike did not stand in the right position for the image, so in constant fear of an impulsive accusation in croatian language I carefully repositioned it and took 4 handheld frames at slowest shutter speeds from the lowest position possible – difficult without an angle viewfinder or lifeview. The image is not 100% sharp due to camera shake, but nevertheless a keeper for me.

The two last years I have collected images of the red shipping vessels moored in the harbour of Krk. The best frames went into the small gallery “Red Ship Details” here on this site. In a certain sense finding these images was simple as red is compelling, almost shouting at you. Add to that the fact that where I live red is a rare color (only some train waggons are red) and it is easy to understand my fascination.

The new gallery “Blue Ship Details” is less “pushy” in its colours. The blue ships in Krk have wooden hulls and are generally older. Here my interest was sparked by the weathered surfaces and the blue-white contrast. These images are more quiet, but I love them not lesser than my red series.

As Krk has a strict regime on construction activities, the historic (aka 19th century) appearance of its structure is mostly intact inside the city walls. The houses are of similar height and irregular floor plan and the walls richly structured. Thus the interesting play of shadows everywhere. The challenge for the council now will be to find the right balance between the justified demands of the population for more comfort and the demands of tourism to retain that pittoresque appearance. At the moment there is an unlimited spread of ACs everwhere, which will certainly damage the attractivity of the city if not channeled where necessary.

The sun decided to work as an artist again: Sitting already low above the horizon and using the chimneys of the small and mostly old houses of Krk, she painted wonderful shadows on the facades.

Searching for the church of Sveti Krsevan, we stopped in the small village of Poljica for lunch. And a fine lunch this was, by far the best grilled lamb that I’ve eaten on this island. But really spectacular was the walnut schnapps, served before *and* after the meal. Sometimes it’s really good not being the driver.

Update: That home made sausage was served as a delicious appetizer. Wanderer, if you ever come to the island of Krk, do find your way to Poljica and have a meal there.

Off season here in Krk means time for the locals to sit and chat in places that will be humming from the voices of tourists within four weeks time

I am taking my holidays seriously: Instead of sweating for Sofbomo, I just see what comes along. Serious work has to wait a bit, it doesn’t really comply with family holidays anyway.

These days are the festivities for the name day of St. Quirin, patron of the church and the diocese. The local Brass Band gave a concert on the plaza.

Sveti A.C. - Saint Air Condition

Sveti Lutrija - Saint Lottery

Sveti Ljekarna - Saint Pharmacy

Today was the Feast of Corpus Christi, and as the town of Krk on the island of Krk is the seat of the bishop, there was a large procession through all of the alleys.
Krk itself is the town of Sveti Kvirin, Saint Quirin.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am the last to deny religious feelings, being Roman Catholic myself, but the places chosen for the altars awoke humorous feelings and made me invent those modern saints.

Found in one of the alleys in Krk, where ACs are blooming on the walls now like mushrooms in a moist forest.

Seen in the small village of Milohnići in Krk

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!

During our holidays in Krk I bought a bracelet and matching armlet from a local artist. The ‘Galerija Dagmar’ is located at the main plaza of Krk and is the showroom of a family of artists. The water colour paintings shown there carry a wonderful reflection of the mediterranean light, and the silver works have a strong unique and dedicated style.

Stowing away and hiding these gems for my wife’s birthday, I decided to use them as subjects for some photography. Confronting them with rock as in the leading image as well as seeing them on a plant as backdrop both seem to me valid interpretations of the jewellers work. The image on the stone received some desaturation as well as local contrast enhancement, whilst the picture with the plant underwent a careful orton effect treatment.

Living throughout the year in a small town in the alps, everything in a harbour is potentially interesting. At sunrise I found these reminders of a ‘HiFly’ windsurfer, turned into plastic trash over the years, hazardous waste if you would take it really correctly – but nobody does bother here.

The small series is visibly now on my gallery-website-to-be, still under a makeshift domain name here.

As soon as I have finished the works over there, I will shift the blog, too. But hardening the blog against attacks is serious work, and I don’t want to hurry this. Experience has taught me that amount of time necessery to clean up after a successful attack is a multitude of the amount to be invested before.

… make sure that you get some of the finest liquor made on the island. That it is presented so invitingly makes the purchase decision not easier as there are so many different flavours. And the opportunity to taste could easily lead to a purchase bigger than originally intended.

In my case it was different: I knew the taste from a purchase earlier this year and was commissioned to stock for birthdays and christmas. Christmas, yes, you got it right: In only four months christmas will already be well over. So it does make sense to already think of some presents to avoid that december rush.

Whilst the kids were fascinated by the wonderful missals in Krk’s church and exhibition room, my eyes were attracted by the remainders of the wooden statue of an angel, up to 1973 situated on top of the cathedral’s clocktower.

This clocktower is visible in many of the small alleys of Krk, and with it’s green statue on top a nice counterpoint to the mostly warm colors on the ground

It seems as I can’t escape the heat, so this beach photo is more then adequate. Today was an office day here in Munich, and temperatures in the street are up in the high thirties again. In a southbound office room this does mean quite a bit.

Fortunately enough Munich tap water is at least as good as Croatian bottled water, so my liquid level does not suffer – add a bit of coffeine to the (hot) water and I can be happy!

The holidays ended yesterday with a night drive back to Bavaria, and the first day working of course meant searching through a pile of emails and sorting and organising… Still the memories of Krk are vivid, and a number of raw files wait to be evaluated and developed. This self-confident tomcat was one of the rare Krk locals that did not avoid meeting hundreds of tourists that went by his window – the people usally do, and I can fully understand this: in the summer the population in Krk just triples, meaning that there is not too much left the way it is over the quiet off-season.

Different islands, similar lanterns: Just have a look at Martin Storz’ public eye blog. On Tenerifa he has found a shadow casting lantern, mounted on a skilfully crafted wrought iron arm. My Krk lantern shows splendid clear lines, but I fear this is not caused by the islanders’ love for straight forms (there ceramics at least speak a different language) but because of the chinese lamp producer’s knowledge about market acceptance.

In Krk you can find other lanterns, too. The one to the rights hangs in front of an architrave of probably venetian times origin.

When the days are too hot, life changes to the night. After a buzzing 37°C day, the Camplin, Krk’s main plaza, was buzzing even at 11:00 in the night. I took out my venerable 1,7/50mm lens, and did I praise the Anti-Shake in the camera already? So that photographing lady’s pose got fixed in 1/8th of a second, quite unthinkable in film times.

Mixed light situations are usually meant as a mix of natural and tungsten light. Not so to the right: the modern, energy saving street lights gave a light that was almost purely yellow and even manual white balance or postprocessing tricks cannot make a normal lighting out of this. But leaving it yellow and balancing it with the tungsten light of a gallery makes it interesting (for me) again

Today is the 3rd day with temperatures high in the 30th (Celsius), and sitting outside is no real joy if the breeze stops. The good thing is that the internet speed in the campground lobby now is aczeptable – in the evening it reminds more of old 2400 Baud modem times.

Picturing heat is not simple at all. I should go out to the places were the asphalt is melting (almost), but honestly – I am not that motivated. Better get another espresso and water and wait till the sun goes down.

In the narrow alleys of Krk the shadows of the houses make shure that it does not get unbearable hot (though unbearable is relative, today we had 37°C). However it gets dark pretty soon in the evening down there, and only the windows of the upper floors still catch some daylight or reflect it when seen in the proper angle.

The warmth of the day still lives in the colors of the picture to the right. In spite of the prevalent shadows, all areas still breathe warmth.

The harbour water is not such an attractive medium – oily, smelly and so on, probably the same in every harbour of the world. Amazing enough locals are fishing there, and I guess even that fish is ending on the table.

But the reflective qualities of the water are still intact, and the way the ripples dissolve the form of the ships was really amazing.

Those images just required some adjustment of the black point and a bit tuning of the curves. It was already late in the day when I took the images and the low light required a high sensitivity resulting in higher noise levels in the shadows. But the Bibble5 beta did a great job here.

It is probably a question of personal affinity that I find the fishing boats on the pier in Krk so rewarding in terms of pictures. In spite of the small number of possible positions to photograph from I always find new things worth to be picked out.

Even the main winch offered new details again. Exposing and later on processing these images is a bit tricky as the red channel is often in danger of clipping, so dial down exposure compensation and do not “expose to the right” what would be my usual technique. Playing with layers in bibble5 then helps to bring out the details sufficiently.

The fine light in the afternoon in the many narrow alleys of Krk brings out shadows of all kind on the walls, which were already subject of a number of posts in the past. Maybe the Solar Electric Mantis was the most prominent example. Here is a more reticent specimen.

The electric lines are always good for a nice intermezzo with the sun rays, and so are the roofs and chimneys that get projected on the sometimes intensely coloured neighbouring walls.

And the obligatory ice cream for the patient daughters (not subject here) is the final reward on top.

Practising really pays out: I just had 20 minutes after a shopping mission, and those I spent sitting on a low window sill in the main square of Krk, watching the people passing by. In holidays situations, nobody seems to care about a guy with a camera, even with an impressive long zoom.

As I was in a playful mood, I started snapping the different feet passing by. Needless to say the ladies’ footwear was aesthetically much more pleasing (and moved way more elegant, too).

Strange enough all my efforts did not result in a single useful picture of the dogs passing by with the ladies, so I will have to take another chance and concentrate on the quadruped partners.

The colors of the mediterranean countries in the summer are blue and white, and most famous for this combination are the greek islands. Here in Krk you have to actively look for these iconic colors, I found it in an unusual place, high on the upper deck of a large fish trawler. The setting evening sun has muted the intensity already, humid air had softened the blue of the sky, but a bit of rust provides enough complementary color to give the blues their intensity back.

This is one of my preferred photographing styles: looking for form and color combinations and isolating them by a long focal length and a tight framing.

Not the blue sky nor the blue sea, just the pyramid shape of the young men grouped on the rocks made me take out the camera.

A second take of the same scenery shows more context, but alas, the “perfection” of the pyramid is already dissolved.

After a thunderstorm night with not much sleep my spirits returned only in the afternoon. Strolling through Krk town (a small town, really small with 5000 inhabitants) brought us in the evening to a small jetty opposite of the harbour. The beginning of the way was lined with cafes and a game hall, which offered a nice view from above on the gamers.

Leaving the touristic center decimated the number of shops and burger restaurants, and it was only the presence of the daughters which commanded me back to the camp ground instead of having a beer out there and a silent and drawn out view of Krk.

Holiday time again, for the daughters there exists only one place eligible for a holiday stay: Krk on Krk. OK – we avoided the traffic jams and travelled on sunday, giving up a precious day for an easy road trip. Still I was tired after 7hrs behind the wheel and threw my hat on the trailer bed – which had its optical merits.

another find from a stroll with the kids: a wonderful round tree shadow. the only difficulty was the photographer himself. i didn’t want to take a self portrait with tree, so after some difficulty i merged my shadow with that of the tree’s stem. oh yes, and the rarely used tamron 11-18 again performed well in this shot.

the already familiar alleys of krk showed different aspects in the late afternoon soon, walking them together with the kids. the earlier visits i had paid to them early in the morning, when light and air were cooler and daily life was just starting.

together with the family, working a scene was not possible – there is a certain incompatibility of family holidays and the slow, deliberate act of creating a picture out of the subject matter. but that’s no reason to complain, just a reason to adapt: seeing, spotting and making a bit-worthy selection of the framed subject is the matching style for these walks. and in this way i enjoyed it.

with only 3000 permanent inhabitants, the city of krk on the island of krk in croatia is really a small place. but wandering with open eyes again and again reveals beautiful details, those door handles among them, found on the church of sv. kvirin, the patron of krk.

and i never before found such a convincing example of form following function as this one.

family holidays in krk mean spending quite some time on the beach, often without the camera. but when i finally took it with me and dug out my 11-18 lens, it was quite nice to make a wide beach scenery out of a nice small spot. guess it should qualify for the mindful eye’s assignment of complimentary colors.

again bibble5′s region feature helped to emphasize the sky in addition to the polarizing filter. if you are not already determined on “your” raw converter, bibble5 is definitely worth more than a try. it is now even faster then the old version was and scales well with multicore cpus.

this was aroma therapee without the possibility to escape: sun drenched cedar woods on the west coast of krk island. you could walk for hours in a strong scent of cedar resin dissolved in the hot and salty coastal air. in a spa you would pay quite some money for this experience and the healing effect it is supposed to have on your bronchia

in krk, the mantis can be met not only in human incarnations next to discos (as i was told) but also in insect form in the woods, on stone walls etc. the only specimen i found was on a wall in the middle of krk town, albeit a capital example.

2008 memories of the ’46 revolution on the balkans: a small standpost fountain, no water running any more, instead a lump of cement in the basin. the red so faded that it deserved to be upped during postprocessing. this all seems to be a sign of normalisation after 50 years of more or less strict socialist/communist government and strictly divided power blocks. now in croatia whoever can enjoys slowly growing prosperity, but there is quite a number who cannot. in terms of exchange, of seeing each other with less prejudice, that development i think for sure was a win.

another take on minimalism and a fond remembrance of the holidays. here in bavaria the mornings are already cold with 12° C, but there are good chances for a nice indian summer. the good habit of getting up early and do some photography i have kept alive, but in the moment the ‘creative juices’ are not flowing that well. but there is sufficient work on the raw files left, and sometimes the one or other image with potential turns up.

one thing that irritated me throughout all my stays in (sub-)tropical places was the extreme short dusk and dawn periods you experience there. sometimes i had the feeling that sunrise is only a 15 minutes affair, and sunset the same with only a short grace period until night falls in.

so i learned to cherish european twilight times even more, this wonderful transit from a warm, energetic sunlight into fainter illumination where only the clouds still hint to the power of the sun until it becomes darker and first illumination and later on the stars become visible. so i enjoyed the long holiday sunsets, even the more so as they left enough time to properly set up the tripod.

feasting in red was a major attraction in the past holidays. here are two last images, the upper one really grabbed me with its strong forms. red is a major signal color with its own significance in the human perception system, and it is a rare color in my habitat (of course these facts are connected, an abundant color could not have that signalling capacity). here in old europe, especially in the bavarian countryside almost nothing is painted in bright red, and cars that are have a decent ‘show off’ quality and therefore get despised.

but that croatian fisher boat wore an almost painful red, and when i saw it in the first morning sunlight this red was boosted by the low sun to almost insufferableness.

already back home, the holidays remembrances do not yet fade. in krk on krk (i love such puns) the lanes were busy from 09:00 in the morning to midnight, but merely steps away from the 2 main alleys i found this coffee still – of course a key stimulus for a heavy coffee drinker like me.

generally speaking, coffee was a key excellence there, a potable remembrence of the heavy influence of romans, later venetians up to post war italians: krk finally became yugoslavian 3 years after the end of ww2. and the taste of the coffee served in the bars is still very similar to italian tradition. but note, the style of preparation here is already more greek or turk, not italian any more

the little town of baska at the south end of the krk island, croatia, provided some surprises. a small settlement in the shadow of krk city, it has a lively history as a spa, beginning with the attraction of tchech tourists very early in the last century. now the new part with the resorts and the old center with its narrow alleys are well separate, and the view from this old part out into the bay is magnificient. But even more magnificient is the old cemetery on the mountain, where i found this double cross headstone with the double portrait on it.

the overview from the cemetery shows the bay of baska, impressive with those steep mountains on the surrounding islands. the port lost its importance as a protected bay for sailing vessels with the arrivals of the steamers that only headed for krk on krk. now tourism is the major source of income here, after the vineyards have been devastated during the socialist regime.

a photographers dilemma: securing the tent or getting the shot. in the end i (barely) managed to do both, very much to the contentment of the slightly upset wife. the storm was as heavy as the clouds dramatic, the latter visible as shown after some treatment in lightzone.

this kind of clouds i already knew from baroque paintings and i was more then astonished to see that postprocessing algorithms based on pure mathematics calculate similar enhancement as master painters already did hundreds of years ago. back home i will do some investigations for images with a similar sky.

my hometown seems to be a colorless, pale place in comparisons with the colors i see here in krk, croatia – or is it my eyes that suddenly open to see more then they use to do at home? george barr already had a go on this topic here and from what i know from fellow photographers, this seems to be a quite common problem.

at least here i seem to have overcome it, and so the days are – besides having fun with the kids – full of new things, images among them. vacancies at it’s best, that is.

early morning photo walks do have their merits besides the tourist places not yet being overcrowded. the light is wonderful soft, like in this example here with the net taking a rest off duty.

krk harbour is a busy place. during the day dozens of leasure boats fill the air with their noise, the sound of alternatively diesel or 2-stroke fuel is abundant. but what a bonanza in reflections, color patches, harmonious forms it is, especially early in the morning. stay tuned – there is more of it to come.

finally in holidays in croatia on the island of krk. too tired after almost 8 hours of driving to go out and make pictures of the evening light, at least i got up early and captured that fine layered island hills. beach life is not really for me – it bores after 2 hours – but the old city and the harbour promise a lot of visually appealing subjects. and as the campground sports wifi connectivity at the reception, i hope to be able to keep posting.

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