Signs And Characters

One thing I like about going abroad are the details that can be found in a foreign environment. At home we don't pay attention but when being abroad, the magic happens and those usually peripheral details become special. 

I have a weakness for typographies and signs. I love to listen to the stories those signs tell me about the foreign city. Unvisible things turn visible. Most of the photos were taken with my old camera.

Hamburg is "the" city in Germany when it comes to film productions.

Did you notice, there are also nice letters on the lefthand buidling.

Are there absolutely no cultural events that would be worth being announced? ;-)

Cool Letters. What I like about this station: old things may remain old. Not everything needs to be polished.

The Thalia Theater has a quite unique mix of various graphic designs. New meets old.

Navyblue and White - a combo you simply can't beat!

Inside the Thalia Theater. Beautiful, beautiful ...

Probably the most useful signs during my stay: showing me the way

Another pleasant graphic design. The appearance is a bit rough. But the letters are lovely

Black and white - a classic. Seen on the ferryline 62 on the Elbe.

I had no idea garbage bags would be pink!

I like how tse painted the comapany's name in old letters. Details like that make me melt away ....

In Hamburg lebten zwei Ameisen,
Die wollten nach Australien reisen.
Bei Altona auf der Chaussee
Da taten ihnen die Beine weh,
Und da verzichteten sie weise
Dann auf den letzten Teil der Reise.

(Ringelnatz on the Elbchaussee)

Catching Light in Hamburg

The days in Hamburg came with more sun than anyone would have expected. Very unusual and very gratifying in terms of catching light on my camera's sensor. Isn't this what taking photos is all about: light. Focussing on the light around us, in all colours.

 

 The first bush was crowded with bumblebees, a humming bush so to say.

 I did not expect to find Shibuya two hours away from Vienna, right behind the Gänsemarkt!

Container-ships, sailing eastwards, towards the harbour of Hamburg are very rewarding, especially in the late afternoon.

 The view westwards aint too bad, either!

 My dear friend, the Hamburg Stadrad. 

Thanks to the bad ergonomics my triceps improved over the past days.

 View from St. Pauli westwards. A view I never get tired of.

 I light momentum on site of the Elbphilharmonie. More pictures to come soon!

 Cherry blossoms out of focus. The blurry appearance somehow suits them them, right?

When I planned the trip back in October, I had expected Hamburg to be in a early stage of spring, which means tiny hints of green, during my stay in late April. The blossoms I found on every second corner surprised me and pleased me so much. Hanami in Hamburg, how nice is that!This is probably the most poetic Hamburg-posting that is going to happen.

Sunshine On The Alster

I referred to David Gray's song "Shine" when I was looking forward to going to Hamburg. I had no idea, how much bright, shining light there would be. Very untypical and absolutely pleasant it was.

Here is a tiny glimpse, the suitcase needs to be unpacked, gifts arranged and sleep needs to be caught up on ...

I can highly recommend the Alster canal-cruise. I did not fall asleep during the 2 hours on the boat. Usually half of the guests on the boat fall asleep as soon as the excitement makes way for relaxation, while listening to the captain's anecdotes, watching the birds and the waves ... zzzzzz zzzz zzzz


I was not on my own, dodo, who lives in Hamburg, had organised the trip and enjoyed it as much as I did. We were busy taking photos, on time to fall asleep. The next day we went on another excursion, we visited the Elbphilharmonie-site. dodo already posted beaufiful photos. A lot of work needs to be done until the opening of the concert hall is going to take place. But first things first, here come some crisp and clear impressions from our Alster canal cruise. The Alster was quite rought that day. Choppy water on the open water, not so much in the canals. Of course you knew that you would more bridges in Hamburg than in Venice.

Enjoy the scenic views:

Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in the back, oldtimer steam-boat St. Georg in the front

Alster Pavillon

 

 

 

All photos were taken with my brand new camera, DP2 Merrill. They have the camera on stock in Hamburg. Lucky me! The camera is able to captures details in a crisp and clear way like no other pocket camera or my Nikon D90 ever could. Take a second look at the wire above the bridge where the train is crossing, or the twigs of the tree to the right in the photo with the 2 villas. No chromatic aberrations at all. No purple shades of contures. The pictures are so large since the sensor is larger than the D90 sensor, I could crop any part of the picture and still have a decent poster in my hands. All pictures are JPGs straigt out of cam, no RAW files, no post-processing, fill light, what-so-ever. I can't recall what made me visit the SIGMA. Now I can say I am glad I did so! This time I take a pass on the watermarks. There is plenty of water on the pictures anyway. ;-)

Good night!
Paula