24/12/2010

Due to an apparent error in my work-flow, today and the 27th will be without photos. I currently have no access to my working computer with the photos on it and thus no means to correct my mishaps either.

Christmas is the time of love, peace and happiness (the latter is really just a on-the-paper-thing, but it's a noble aim!) and for me also a time of relaxation after a lot of work and effort. I hope all my readers (I really don't know how many that is) will enjoy their holidays just as much as I will.

14/12/2010

Canon Powershot S90 -- 28 mm - 1/250 s - f 2.0 - ISO 80
Whee, one last cat in the snow. The snow had melted the last few days, but just as it was all gone, it all reappeared again yesterday evening again. Hurray for winter :)

08/12/2010

Canon Powershot S90 -- 28 mm - 1/20 s - f 2.0 - ISO 80
And some hot tea (and home-made cookies in the background!) against the cold temperatures :)

07/12/2010

Canon Powershot S90 -- 28 mm - 1/400 s - f 2.0 - ISO 80
Note the quick shutter time. Animal photography, as mentioned earlier, requires that. It also requires high burst rates, if possible, and very quick focusing.
Okay, you heard my complaints. This is why I want a Canon 60D + Sigma 50mm F/1.4. A setup that costs roughly 1300€. Oh, it'd also be perfect for portrait/people photography. Mmmm...

06/12/2010

Canon Powershot S90 -- 28 mm - 1/6 s - f 4.9 - ISO 80
For a change, a little bit political.
The scene was photographed at the central train station in Dortmund as I was travelling back to my apartment after visiting my parents. As you may or may not have heard, the minister of the inner of Germany has pronounced that the state of Germany is at risk of being attacked by terrorists. There are no details whatsoever, and the only thing that people see and feel are exactly those policemen, wearing heavy bulletproof vests, uzis, and always appearing in couples. They're most oftenly located at train stations. I haven't been around much, so as a lucky guess, they might also be visible at airports or in inner cities, but don't quote me on that, it really is just guessing.
Either way, after taking only two photos, I've been told to stop it, and the well-behaved citizen that I am, I did, and went over to have a talk. It was a short talk, such an uzi is really very impressive and you don't feel like talking much with such a person. The most interesting line that was said was...
"I think that it's still better that the state is doing something rather than not caring and not doing anything at all."
Here's my two cents: the terrorists already won if we're placing all kinds of policemen everywhere around the train stations. For all I know, it's still very easy to commit terrorist attacks, if you only care about it enough and have a decent brain and enough dedication. Those policemen won't be capable of preventing that, and neither will storing IP addresses for 3 years and neither will anything else. All that this does at the moment is scare the people. Scare me and my friends. It will alienate minorities and "usual suspects", immigrants and especially muslims. Eventually, that will just lead to more terrorism.
As a reminder: "terrorism", linguistically seen, originates from a latin word that can be roughly translated to "to scare". The only successful way to fight terrorism is not to be afraid and to solve the underlying problems that have caused this particular type of terrorism. This can only work in long-term thinking. It would take years and decades, if it's possible at all - because history teaches us that terrorism has always been present in one form or another. And we just have to live with that.

Update: I have just received information that the policemen now appear in groups of three instead.

03/12/2010

Canon Powershot S90 -- 28 mm - 1/50 s - f 2.0 - ISO 200
Tuesday morning, mathematics lecture. The prof decided that it'd be a fun thing if everybody could throw a paper plane. So we did :)

24/11/2010

Canon Powershot S90 -- 28 mm - 1/500 s - f 2.0 - ISO 80
Not the perfect weather for good photos recently, and with my first physics exam coming up, I'm afraid I won't have much very recent photos anymore. This one is still recent though :)

17/11/2010

Canon Powershot S90 -- 28 mm - 1/500 s - f 2.0 - ISO 80
A quite nice coincidence has happened as I randomly ran into pictures of a very thick fog in Toronto. Inspired by a number of very nice photos, I quickly realized that I never actually took photos of fog and would be rather clueless on what to look out for when doing so, and for this reason, I decided to find a guide.
Now get this: I read this guide on Monday evening, and as I woke up yesterday morning at 7:00 am (I even considered sleeping longer, but decided there would be some things that I should rather do than sleep - seven hours is enough, stop worrying about my sleeping patterns, everybody!) -, I indeed found a fog right outside.
Never before have I managed to get myself ready so quickly. I was outside at about 7:10 am.
Now, taking pictures of fog is still harder than the guide makes it look like. Most importantly, it takes a lot of experience (although that's true for any type of photography). You also might want to be better prepared than I was (gloves for cold temperatures were never mentioned in the guide!) and simply have more time and maybe more patience, too. I only had around an hour of time before it started becoming quite bright already. Then I had to go back to my apartment and finally go to university.
Today's photo was taken on my way to university.

15/11/2010

Canon Powershot S90 -- 105 mm - 1/640 s - f 4.9 - ISO 80
Winter is nigh. So don't expect many of those photos anymore. Just a few more. Because autumn is awesome :)

14/11/2010

Canon EOS 60D -- Sigma 50mm 1.4  - 1/80 s - f 1.4 - ISO 100
Okay, here's a story.
On Friday, I went to the city center, and while walking around, I found a large electronics store. I decided to go inside without an actual idea of what to do there. There was a sign which said what I can find where, I idly checked all the items... and found that it has a photography section. Well, obviously it does, I just didn't think about it before.
The thing is that I very quickly got lost there, first giggling at the prices and cameras offered (consumer-oriented, and consumers don't know what's good for them), and then found the dSLR section, with lots of nice cameras and lenses behind glass. After a few minutes, I finally got that courage to ask one of the salesmen to provide me with a camera.
To cut things short: this photo is the result of me toying around with a camera and an objective that I held in my hands for the very very first time. In a mall! I mean, can you actually imagine a more unfriendly environment to take pictures?
So here's my impression: I won't get around buying myself a dSLR and a 50mm f 1.4 objective, most likely the Sigma one, in fact. That's around 1,500 €. We'll see when I will have that money :)

10/11/2010

Canon Powershot S90 -- 28 mm - 1/20 s - f 2.0 - ISO 80
Introducing: MruczuĊ› (polish for "purr-y"), the male cat.