12/31/2020
And here is a double exposure from New Year's Eve morning. Most modern digital cameras can't do this at all, but the Fujifilm X-T4 can, and there are even different options for how the images are combined by the camera. Invites you to experiment. An interesting feature of this function is that the camera also saves the two original files in addition to the finished JPG file - if you have set the RAW image format. So if you want, you can continue to work on and combine the two images later, for example with Photoshop.
The picture was taken at the 'Zimmerstraße' behind the shopping centre 'Loom' in the city centre of Bielefeld. The weather was pretty bad with cold continuous rain. But it was good for the picture result. Even though the picture was taken after Christmas, it reminds me of a Christmas tree. The sacred tree of consumption, so to speak. But consumption is of course not bound to any season.
Can contain traces of advertising
Sacred tree of consumption
12/26/2020
I don't know what was going on in the 'Stadthalle' (Conference hall) last night but it was pretty impressive. The whole month of December it was already lit up red from the inside. And on the night of 25 to 26 December 2020, there was a very special light show. I haven't read or heard about it anywhere. It was just luck that I passed by there early in the morning and then had a camera and a tripod with me. But as you know, you just have to have that sometimes!
Incidentally, the Bielefeld Vaccination Centre to fight the COVID-19 pandemic will also be set up in the 'Stadthalle'. Even if the light show may have nothing to do with it, it would be a nice sign!
A print of the second picture is available in my online shop. If you want to visit the shop, you have to leave this website: www.farbenfrohebilder.de
Conference hall illuminated in red
Conference hall on December 26, 2020 #1
Conference hall on December 26, 2020 #2
Conference hall on December 26, 2020 #3
12/22/2020
This year everything is different. COVID-19 pandemic, the second lockdown this year and the traditional Christmas market will not take place. Where there are usually stalls and mulled wine stands in the city centre and hundreds, sometimes thousands of people are out and about, it is now as quiet as it normally is only on an early Sunday morning.
Despite everything, the Christmas lights are up in Bielefeld's city centre and the Christmas trees in front of the town hall and on the 'Alter Markt' have also been put up. A little bit of Christmas spirit is coming up after all.
Christmas tree in front of the town hall
Christmas tree at the 'Alter Markt'
Strange Christmas
Saturday evening at 'Alter Markt'
Saturday evening at 'Obernstraße'
Christmas season at the 'Alter Markt' #1
Christmas season at the 'Alter Markt' #2
Christmas season at the 'Alter Markt' #3
Christmas season at the 'Alter Markt' #4
Christmas season at the 'Rathausstraße'
Bielefeld Marketing has come up with a particularly nice campaign. Every Christmas market in Bielefeld includes mulled wine, roasted almonds and gingerbread. Of course, you can't have that without a Christmas market either. That's why a package has been put together containing just that. A Christmas market for the home, so to speak. Also included are two special Christmas market mugs. You should know that Bielefeld has a new Christmas mug edition every year in December. This year, the motto is 'Staying home for Christmas'.
Staying home for Christmas this year
11/24/2020
It must be one of the ugliest buildings in Bielefeld. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, it is one of the most photographed. The old Telekom high-rise simply doesn't fit into the cityscape, it's much too high, if you will, it's the absence of architecture turned into concrete and it's also a bit run-down after almost fifty years. Now it is being renovated and I am very curious how it will look with a new facade. But it attracts - as already written - cameras almost magically.
Views #1
Views #2
Views #3
11/14/2020
Unfortunately, I didn't fly much with the drone this autumn. Either the weather wasn't good or I didn't have time. But I did manage to get a nice sunrise over the fields and the Teutoburg Forest near Bielefeld.
The two pictures were taken above Hoberge-Uerentrup. The Bielefeld TV tower on top of the ridge of the Teutoburg Forest is beautiful to see, and on the panorama photo in the distance is the city centre of Bielefeld.
Landscape at sunrise (Bielefeld-Hoberge, Germany)
Landscape panorma at sunrise (Bielefeld-Hoberge, Germany)
> Nature
11/09/2020
No real river flows through Bielefeld, but we do have some larger streams. The best known is the Lutter and this stream has an interesting history, because originally it did not flow from the southwest to the northeast through the city. As early as the late Middle Ages, part of the water was diverted to fill the moat in front of the city walls. Today there are no more city walls and no more moat, but the Lutter is still there. To prevent flooding during high water, three dammed ponds were built at the beginning of the 20th century. Today the ponds and the stream are surrounded by parks. The Protestant Apostle Church is located at the last dam pond with the number three.
Dam pond and 'Ev. Apostelkirche' (Protestant Apostle Church)
11/02/2020
Autumn landscapes in and around Bielefeld. All of the following pictures were taken in October and November 2020.
Farmhouse at 'Kirchdornberg'
Overhead line on a field near 'Kirchdornberg'
Power line poles in autumn
Autumn morning at the Teutoburg Forest
Landscape in October 2020
Autumn at ' Wistinghauser Senne'
Sand pit at ' Wistinghauser Senne'
> Nature
10/12/2020
I have used the last two or three weeks to photograph toadstools. Last year I hardly found any, so I had planned a little more time. Amazingly enough I found quite a few of the red-hatted guys. Even in places where nothing was to be found in 2019.
Fly agarics are not very rare in themselves. They also do not belong to the endangered mushroom species. All you need to know is that they do not just grow somewhere, but have certain preferences. Toadstools live in symbiosis with certain trees. The tree is supplied by the fungus with minerals, such as phosphorus, and in exchange the fungus receives products of photosynthesis from the tree. In the case of toadstools, however, this does not work with any tree. They need birch or spruce. So if you are looking for fly agarics, you should look for these trees.
Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) at 'Wistinghauser Senne' #1
Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) at 'Wistinghauser Senne' #2
Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) at 'Wistinghauser Senne' #3
Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) at 'Wistinghauser Senne' #4
Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) at 'Wistinghauser Senne' #5
> Nature
09/25/2020
It is well known that there are countless mushrooms and they surround us almost everywhere. Most of them we never get to see. Even the ones that populate the parks, meadows and forests in autumn we overlook most of them. A not so rare mushroom, but one that is nevertheless often overlooked, is the Common eartball (Scleroderma citrinum). It lives on sandy, dry soils and forms round to ovoid fruiting bodies. It does not have a stem. The fungus has no lamellae or pores. The spores are formed in the innards of the fungus. When they are fully ripe, the body of the mushroom simply bursts open. The fungus is poisonous and causes stomach ache and vomiting when eaten. I found the specimen on the photo below in a heath area. Well camouflaged and only to be seen from close up.
Common earthball (Scleroderma citrinum) #1
Common earthball (Scleroderma citrinum) #2
> Nature
09/24/2020
The mushroom photography of the last few days has also meant that I have been walking a lot in the forest. Here are some photos I took on the way. They were taken in an area called 'Wistinghauser Senne', which is situated between the villages of Oerlinghausen and Stukenbrock on the southern slope of the Teutoburg Forest. Something like 15 to 20 kilometres to the east of my home town Bielefeld.
Pine trees at sunrise #1
Old pine trees at dawn
Pine trees at sunrise #2
Wind turbines in the Teutoburg Forest
Canadian goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) #1
Canadian goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) #2
> Nature