November 2009

A BW portrait again? Seems like I not very versatile but wait: It´s done with my 35L instead of the 135L in the last month image. These two form my personal dream team for portrait photography. They are also the main reason why I did never regret that I switched to Canon more than 2 years ago. These two lenses changed the way I shoot.

November was very busy for me. I had a couple of business trips and as a consequence November was very quiet regarding my photography. Till I met Harald I had only a couple shots from my business trips and some from a walk close to my new home. But regarding the walk: I have done this 2 years ago and the new shots are very similar. But when I knew that I will meet Harald it was clear that I had to bring my 5D with the 35L attached to redo the portraits I have done in August 2008. The only reason why I haven´t chosen the resulting shots for a picture of the month was that Harald already was the POM the month before!

But the location was so great ( Das Naturhistorische Museum Wiens ) and the image was awesome and so I tried again. I have to admit that I was not able to create an image that matches the ones I did in last years summer. I always failed to redo great shots. Maybe because it is not possible at all but the main reasons are:

1. the light was very poor this time. November is different from August. I had to use 1600ASA and the shutterspeeds were still inbetween 1/30 and 1/50s!

2. I failed as a photographer because I did not recognize that one part of his collar was stuck in his pullover.

but 3. and most important: Harald simply wasn´t the same. While there was a massive gain regarding his facial hair the cool expression from the first shooting was gone. He looks very friendly almost gracious. Well that expression combined with his beard who does spring in mind? Right: Santa Claus!

As you can guess: As I write these lines it´s the morning of the 20th of December. It is-13,3 Grad Celsius outside and we do have lots of snow. So will we have a white Christmas this year? Not a chance! The weather will change within the next days. The day before Christmas we will get 10 Grad Celius and rain! I wonder if I´ll ever have a white Christmas again.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas. I have to go out today to take some wintershots before all the snow is gone.

settings main shot: A-Mode: 1/50@f2.8, 1600ASA, BW conversion in Lightroom

second shot: A-Mode: 1/30@f2.8, 1600ASA, BW conversion in Lighroom