After an almost black and white image in October I´m back in bold colors. This picture was taken on November 12th on the Christkindlmarkt at the city hall in Vienna. Isn´t it a little bit early for this kind of stuff? You are right, but it´s business that matters and so the start the advent season in the middle of November. Usually I´m not avid for christmas fairs and avoid them and especially the one at the city hall. There are nicer ones at the Spittelberg or at the Belvedere or the Schönbrunn castle.

So why I went there? And why did I go there on the day of the opening where thousands of people are pushing themselfs trough the narrow corridors? The answer is simple: I borrowed a 1.4/30mm Sigma from a friend to test it at the weekend. I visited the Wiener Zentralfiedhof ( one of the largest cemetries in Europe with over 3.000.000 "habitants" ) in the morning and used only this lens and in the evening I went to the opening of the Christkindlmarkt to give the lens a second test. While it performed nice at daylight I think the strong point of this lens is indoors and at available light where contrasts are lower and the Bokeh looks very nice. After the weekend I returned the lens and ordered one for myself. I really love what it can do: To seperate the subject from the background even at such a short focal length. I will use the lens for indoor portraits mainly because I think that is what this lens is made for. If you just want to take landscapes you are better off with a 12-24 or 24-85 zoom. Enough said: Very nice special purpose lens.

Why this image: Because I love the strong colors. Red and gold are the real christmas colors and you can even see the city hall of Vienna in the picture. And finally I have to admit that I love Kitsch.

Now the advent season has already started and I wish you some peacefull hours and Merry Christmas.

settings: A-Mode, 1/125@f2, +0.3 EV, 200 ASA, WB: cloudy but corrected to sunny in Capture