TTL - Through Tom's Lens

Arena of Verona / Italy

Tue, 04 May 2010 20:08 +0200

Last weekend we did a spontaneous trip to Verona / Italy. Of course we visited the famous place with the balcony of Romeo & Julia.
Unfortunately, this place was too crowded to get any nice picture of it. Instead I took the opportunity to photograph the Arena of Verona at night.
You should visit this city, if you haven't already. It's so beautiful there. We absolutely enjoyed our stay although it was a bit short.

Brightly polished Audi A4

Sun, 02 May 2010 19:14 +0200

I took this photo of a brightly polished Audi A4 in Valencia / Spain.
Back then I decided to photograph it in black&white to highlight the reflections of the wall in the car's front door.

Girl with an iPhone - Black&White, High Key

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:11 +0200

This was one of the first pictures I took with my new Nikon D300, which is a mind-boggling camera by the way :-)
The picture shows a portrait of a girl, phoning with an Apple iPhone and wearing sunglasses of Emporio Armani.
I took the photo in black&white and shifted the exposure to create a gentle high-key portrait.

Pretty nice weather today :-) It's even nicer lying in the new sun lounger with a Corona and a cigar :-)
Unfortunately the battery of my iPhone run out. But no problem: I just load it with the new iPhone solar akku case I bought a few days ago :-)

Panorama of Cactuses

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:43 +0200

I found this interesting scene of cactuses in Moraira / Spain. Actually it isn't really a panorama but more a panorama like cut-out.
Anyway, it appears quite interesting to me. It's one of the pictures where you don't really know where to look at.
Every time I focus on a point within the picture there is another one in the near-focus field that attracts my eyes. Very confusing.
I am curious which impact this picture would have on canned people. I guess I'll give it a try these days :-)

Have a nice weekend!
Tom

TTL StreetView

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:24 +0200

In my absence the main street seems to have been repaired. Looks nice and clean, doesn't it?
The outer left and right lane are especially for cyclists.

Have a nice sunday!
Tom

Advertisement in the public, iPhone owners interest: I recently stumbled upon a great shop for iPhone accessories. It's called StyleMyPhone.de.
They have a big choice of exclusive iPhone Cases and I already ordered some stunning cases for my iPhone 3G.

Walking Path at Les Rotes | Spain

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:04 +0200

Let me show you a small part of the beautiful walking path at Les Rotes in Dénia.
If you manage to be in the vicinity of Dénia you absolutely should make a walk at Les Rotes.

Loch Ness | Scotland

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:09 +0200

Loch Ness - Thousand signs in one picture tell more then one word :-)

Merry Christmas

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 17:03 +0200

Merry Christmas to all of you!

One of my most magnificent Evenings, ever!

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:33 +0200

One of my most magnificent Evenings, ever!

Todays evening was one of the most magnificent evenings in my life.
It was so magnificent that I want to share it with you. Sharing and explaining such a thing is not that easy so
be sure you read every word very carefully. Forget what you have to do afterwords or what you did
so far. Just read along. But before I will tell my story open another tab or window of your
browser, point it to the following page and press the play button so that you can hear one of the songs I heard today. This will help you getting a better impression of my story.
Now that you are here again I can start:
I didn't know exactly what to do this evening. I had no plans at all. While eating I head a brilliant idea.
Something I wanted to do for a long time but actually never really did. Thinking back I wonder why. It was so fantastic that I will definitely repeat this.

Anyway, after dinner I started preparing. I put two slices of lime into aluminium foil and folded it carefully. I took
one cigar of my favourite brand (Yoja de Nicaragua) together with a cutter and a lighter. Then I took two
Coronitas, a bottled beer from Mexico better known as Corona in other parts of the world. Last but not least
I picked up a foldable chill out chair (thanks to Andre who bought it a year ago) and wend my way.
Oh, not to forget my iPhone and a pair of active, battery driven speakers.

Equipped with all that stuff I was heading toward the beach.

I chose a nice breakwater. Some made of many big natural stones not such a modern one made of concrete. One like this. When I
found a reasonably planar stone I set up my chair and had a seat. I put on music (the kind you are hearing right now
if you followed my instructions and other songs from the CD Hotel Costes. To be more precise I started with Hotel
Costes CD 9 minute 52:00. Simply awesome. You have to hear it!).

So, after lighting my cigar, opening a bottle of Coronita and putting a slice of lemon in it my most magnificent evening
was ready to start.
Do you know those kitschy sunsets at the beach from pictures and movies? Oh, they are awesome if you see them with
your own eyes.
Take a deep breath and imagine: Sitting in a chill out chair at the beach. Hearing the waves from front and back independently (because you sit right in the middle of two beaches on a breakwater). Smoking one of your favourite cigars and drinking your favourite beer. Then the horizon begins to darken and gleaming red, only intercepted by dark blue bands and areas. In the
middle of this wonderful mixture of colors are some tiny white clouds lighted by some of the days last beams of light. You can
see the silhouette of some beach houses and palms. A little more to the left you can even see a very thin crescent moon.
There is no one on the beach, just you. Smoking, drinking and listening to chill out music.

There are not many moments like this in life. The moments I am really excited about something are not seldom, but do you
know this special feeling if you are really and 100 percent happy about something? Happier then you are usually about something.
Just enjoying the very moment and not willing to spend a second thinking about something else. Trying to enjoy every
second of that moment before it is gone?
Whenever I have such a moment I get a big smile on my face and a goose flesh. Today, this moment held for nearly an hour and I got three times a goose flesh.

Dear, it was awesome! I enjoyed all of the beauty the sky was showing today.

It was almost perfect!

Almost, because it could have been even better if I could have shared this with my beloved one.
A pity you couldn't join me today, sweetheart! I would have appreciate your company very much today.

Anyhow. The picture of todays sky burned into the back of my head and I will probably never ever forget it.

Note: I didn't have my camera with me so todays pictures shows a picture I took in Spain in February this year.

Dude, pretty long posting today. The next postings will contain more pictures and less words, promise :-)

Cloudy in Spain

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:06 +0200

Hey folks,

since some people wondered why I am posting pictures of Scotland while I am in Spain:
the main reason is that I finally found some time to review those pictures and post processed some
that I want to share with you.
Anyway: today I had a nice walk on the beach. Since weather here in Spain currently is very unsteady I took an umbrella with me and of course my camera :-)
Beaches are always very beautiful and I enjoy it very much being there, but you can shoot the best and most impressive pictures on days like today: heavy clouds that seem to let down rain every second. For the picture posted today I waited until some sunbeams came through the clouds that lit up the beach. That's why the beach seems so bright in contrast to the dark clouds.

Yours, Tom

For all among you watching Two and a half men casually:
I learned some new very useful words and phrases that I want to share with all those among you not so familiar with the English language (like me).
I am sure that some of those words might be very useful in daily life situations:
a schmuck: a jerk
a moron: a person of subnormal intelligence, also: idiot
a fancy woman: an adulterous woman who has an ongoing extramarital sexual relationship with a man; also: mistress, kept woman
adulterous: not faithful to a spouse or lover; also: cheating, two-timing

Stay tuned for more useful words ;-)
Thanks to Charly Harper for this input :-)