Good morning Toronto

Chicago

Finally I have fought my way through over 1,000 images which I had taken during our Easter trip to Chicago. An incredible friendly city that has so much to offer. Museums, architecture, sports, concerts, food, beaches, shopping....to only name a few. I will definitely be back at some in the near future and discover more of the "Windy City". Probably I am not the only photographer who has the problem of taking the first few days the typical tourist pictures. l believe that we all have to take the obvious photos and get them out of the way. Once these are done it is much easier starting to focus on your point of view. Showing with images how you have experienced the city. Besides I have to add that I only had received a short time ago my new 17-40mm lens which I hardly took off the camera. Usually I try to concentrate more on details but this time I did a lot of wide angle shots. I wanted to get to know my lens better and used it as much as I could. So if I go again my photos for sure will be very different.

Quo vadis Instagram?

A few days ago everybody read about one of Facebook's recent and more noticeable acquisitions: Instagram. If you have never heard of Instagram it is pretty easy to explain. Basically it is an app for smartphones that applies filters to an image giving it an analogue touch and easily shares it with the Instagram community and other social networks like Facebook or Twitter. As in most other online community you can follow people and favorite their photos.

In the beginning I very much liked the app. It was so easy to take a snapshot with your phone, apply a filter and share it with your friends or the rest of the world. I liked the simplicity and spontaneity with which other people would let me take a look at their daily little adventures. I saw it as an interesting contrast to the high quality work being shown of on sites like Flickr or 500px. But now I am seeing more and more users transferring images from their DSLR cameras to their smartphones, retouch them and share them with the Instagram community. These images are easy to identify since smartphone cameras still have their weaknesses and certain images simply could not have been taken with a phone.

Why do people do that? Aren't there sufficient places to show their work? Instagram was different. Less technique and more creativity. Now that is changing. I think Facebook will not be the reason that soon I might be moving one.

What do you think of Instagram and where do you see it?

Back from Chicago

We are back from a few wonderful days in the Windy City. Not bring we back little stories and interesting experiences but tons of photos which will have to sorted, tagged and processed. Although I enjoy doing the computer work it is tough looking through all the images right after coming back home from a trip. On the one hand I am always excited and at the same time disappointed to see my photos but on the other hand I think it would be better to get some distance. Who knows what is best. Anyway, I have already started the process and shared some photos with my family and friends. Soon I will create a little slide show for my blog. I always wanted to try that. If you have never been to Chicago and always go to New York instead. Give Chicago a chance. It has so much to offer. You want regret it.

First impressions Chicago

I can't help it but I am comparing Chicago to Toronto. Is it because people told us before that they are twin cities or is it just so obvious? I don't know but being on the 94th floor of the John Hancock Centre you can see certain similarities although a lot of Chicago's skyline seems a lot older than Toronto's very young skyline. Perhaps it is that both cities are build on a lakeshore?

Detroit Skyline

Since we have arrived in Canada we tried to get out of Mississauga each long weekend to see something new. Distances in North America are very different to what we are used to back in Europe. Just thinking that Ontario alone has three times the size of Germany is driving me crazy. This long Easter weekend we planned another road trip and currently we are on our way to Chicago. If you look on the map it does not look that far away but it still is a 900km drive. Before crossing the border we made a quick stop to take a few photos of Detroit's skyline. I wonder why the border control has to be so unfriendly most of the times. I am not deaf so there is no reason for screaming at me. However, I took this image with the IPhone 4 and retouched it with Instagram and Camera+.

Spring is coming

Last week we already had some very warm days here in Toronto. Temperatures rose up to 26ºC and we were not the only people that wanted to spend time outside, feel the warm sun and recharge batteries. Although the winter did not seem this hard this year it was still long and cold. I still take my camera outside and take picture during the winter but it is very difficult to take photos of people. Not only is it hard for the model and the photographer to be out in the cold and move little but although there is lot less light and it gets dark a lot earlier. Last week after work we took my camera and flash and headed out for a little walk near Lake Ontario. Since I have my favorite model always with me we took some shots with the softbox. During the winter it hardly came out of its bag. Now I hope that the winter is really over, spring fully starts and we can take lots of pictures like this.

Toronto FC

Here are a few impressions from my second visit to a MLS game: Toronto FC vs. San José Earthquakes. I had been to a Colorado Rapids game against LA Galaxy a few years ago. Although the quality of the players is inferior to the top European leagues I was suprised by the crowd (21,000) which made a lot of noise. It was raining, strong winds, about 10º Celsisus and Toronto was loosing 0:3 but the fans were still singing. That is the spirit. Too bad I couldn't support my compatriot Thorsten Frings who didn't play because of an injury. I already took a photo of him some time ago which you can see here.