October 2011

Red October. This should have been the title of this months picture. So why is it not? The answer is simple: I like the picture above more than the images I took during my first business trip to Moscox. But lets start with Moscow first. For some reason I can not explain I always wanted to go there. As I said, I can´t explain but this place ( the red square ) was always special to me. But strange enough I never went there even after the wall came down I did not consider Moscow or Russia for a vacation. But the answer is simple. I hate to travel in a group and travelling to Russia is still not the same as travelling to France. You still need to get a visa first and you need an invitation from somebody in Russia to get the visa. So if you don´t know somebody in Russia and you don´t want to travel in a group either you are kind of stuck. I´m lucky because of my frequent business trips to Russia I got a one year visa for unlimited travel to Russia. So how was it? When I came to Moscow first I was shocked about the small airport and the long, long wa to the hotel. I think it almost 2 hours to get there. Hotel was close to the center but on the first day I was too tired to go to the red square. With all the interviews on the next day I wanted to be fresh so I went to bed early. But next day at lunch time we went there first time and in the evening for a second time. I was surprised the the red square is not that big at all. Don´t get me wrong it is far from being small but in my imagination it was gigantic and in reality it is not. It is a great place still where you can feel history. To me it is also something completely different. It is not European. It is Russia. You can see and feel it. But I also had the feeling that I would love to see how this place looked like about 20 years ago but you can´t turn back time. I also like to see this place in winter ( I mean covered with snow ). When I went there again end of November ( 29 and 30th ) there was still no snow. Next chance will be early February. Let´s see.

I took my Sony NEX with the 16mm with me as my Fuji X100 was still at the repair center in Germany. The Sony is very good but the 16mm does some strange things to light sources. It adds an enormous amount of lens flare to them. Still it is far better than my iPhone and any other compact camera in low light but I was confident that my Fuji would have dealt better with the situation ( meanwhile I got the prove since I went there again in November with the Fuji ). ISO was at 800 most of the time which gives good results with the NEX. The Fuji is even 1 to 2 stops better! The Fuji is also more pocket compatible ( winter coats and jackets! ) because the lens is so small. And it makes no noise which give me the opportunity to shoot very discreet. I love that. The NEX is louder than my DSLR and I ever questioning myself what is causing all the noise. There is no mirror flipping up so what the hell is the NEX doing to be among the loudest cameras of the planet.

Back to the image above. Why number 2? Because it is the second image of this kind. The first one I took in November 2008. It is one of a series of images. Lightlevel was very low so I had to crank up the ISO to 1600ASA to get a short shutter speed. After checking the first images I even changed to 3200ASA to reduce blur. I shot my 35L but had to stop down to f4 to make sure that they all will be in focus. The image above is far from perfect but it is my favouriteand here is why. Though there is substantial blur because of subject movement and it also apears that Leonie is slightly out of focus because she is much closer to the lens I love the shot. I love it because of the expression in the faces. They are all focused on her and nobody bothers with being photographed for a moment. This gives the image a very natural look and the blur adds to it. Today imperfection is rarely seen. Most of the images we are looking at today are perfect. Fashion, nature, travel even war images are perfectly composed and flawless. Perfection in such a degree starts to become boring. Sometimes I like a shot shown in an internet forum more because it is not perfect. Because it is not critically sharp or has some blur or lens flare in it but somehow the image got soul. Some fashion shots in magazines are already playing with that. Lomos and Holgas becoming more popular. There is a revival of Polariod! I got a SLR Magic 35mm/1.7 lens for my NEX which is not very sharp but creates a unique look. I´m not talking about all images should be blurry, unsharp or poorly composed but I recommend to play with it sometimes. Chop off some heads of people ( in the image! ), shoot from the hip and allow some blur. You will be suprised.

setting main shot: Canon 5D with 35L, A-Mode, 1/60@f3.2 at 1600ASA, BW conversion in LR