i basically just put a flash behind eva, blasting at the white wall and a flash in a reflective umbrella in front. so not quite zack’s setup, but the closest i could approximate in our living room. i didn’t quite get the lighting ratios right, so i had to add a touch of fill slider in lightroom, next time i’ll know better… but see for yourself:

Eva on white

as you can see on some pics, i had banding/sync issues with the cactus triggers. i’m going to have to see if that can be corrected.

Benni invited us round to his place last night to celebrate him turning older than he’s ever been before. here’s some pictures of the evening:

Benni's Birthday, 12/3/10

Benni turns 23. :)

flash gallery

alternatively, here’s a flash gallery:

quick update: eva and i have moved and are more or less finished with the move. flo & ursi came for dinner last night and brought some flowers with them. i love the way the colours just pop against the black background of our *massive* windows.

more tulip pictures on my flickr page.

well, the last photo blog-post was from the landesfestumzug. since then, i’ve had the chance to photograph some tame wildlife, sports action, concerts, candids and some sailing.

IFI staff day, 24/09/2009

we had an IFI staff day towards the end of september. it was an organized trip with an action-packed morning, good lunch, followed by a lazy afternoon with huskies and birds of prey and a bbq to round it all off. here are some pictures:

IFI Staff Day — Hochseilgarten Kramsach

Fun and games and lots of adrenalin at the high-rope course in Kramsach.

IFI Staff Day — Husky-Ranch Angerberg

Relaxing afternoon with huskies.

IFI Staff Day — Birds of Prey

Impressive demonstration of owls and eagls.

IFI Staff Day — Archery Session

Playing with bows and arrows before a BBQ at the high-rope course to round off the day.

surprise class regatta, YKA; 26-27/09/2009

the YKA hosted a surprise class regatta at the end of september. i sailed with andi on graffiti again (the same skipper i sailed with on the lago di garda at the end of august). we won the regatta, which put andi in the overall winning spot for the austrian class association.

saturday was windy-ish, on sunday we spent most of the day hanging around waiting for wind. when it did turn up, it was flukey and turned and died down just before the only race for the day was about to be started. gave me a chance to get some pictures while out on the water though:

Surprise Regatta, 27/09/09

Regatta for the Austrian Surprise class hosted at the YKA, 26-27/09/2009.

Weltfest at the Treibhaus, 02/10/2009

emir, a good friend and great percussionist, volunteers at the integrationsbüro here in innsbruck. they organize a large “world festival” every year; this year, emir asked me to join the photography team of 4 photographers to photo-document the event. we basically spent the evening enjoying the festival and taking bucketloads of pictures. i really enjoyed the evening, and hope to be invited back again next year. here are all the pictures:

Weltfest 2009, 2/10/2009

I was asked to take pictures at the Weltfest in the Treibhaus.

a separate post will follow soon with the pick of my favourites and a bit on equipment and workflow.

hintersee, nr mittersill; 14/08/2009

this one’s been on the backburner now for a long while. when eva and i were tripping back and forth between tyrol and salzburg for two weeks this summer, we also detoured to one of my most favourite locations in the mountains – the hintersee near mittersill. this is a tiny little mountain lake created by an earthquake 800 years or so ago and a fantastically picturesque location. there are some very nice landscape pictures and a couple of quirky ones of eva here:

Hintersee, 14/8/2009

Short walk at the Hintersee near Mittersill with Eva.

that concludes the looooooooong backlog post. to quote the master of available light, joe mcnally, “more tk…”

saturday afternoon, we went to ebbs for coffee and cake. the place we went to (i can’t remember the name) has an amazing view of the inn valley around kufstein:

Little chapel

View southtowards Kufstein

on sunday, i had a surprise call from my mother that she was in kufstein. so, after breakfast, off for coffee. i knocked down the saturation on this picture in camera, trying to emulate the washed out colours of canons:

Caroleat Müllers Café

in the afternoon, we went for a walk up the thierberg in fantastic weather. it was signposted as 35 minutes, but it only took us about 20. would have been quicker if i hadn’t stopped every now and then to snap:

Cross

Stairs

the view from the top of the watchtower is fairly amazing:

The 2 KaisersZahmer Kaiser & Wilder Kaiser

there’s also a small little chapel as part of a hermitage. all in all, it was a fairly busy but relaxing weekend.

pictures

13 pictures from the weekend. nothing spectacular, but i’m slowly getting the hang of getting things right first time in camera.

Kufstein, 5-6/09/09

Weekend in Kufstein with Eva.

the services have now opened, so I think I’ll quickly grab a coffee…

magda passed away last weekend. the funeral service was today. i missed it. magda was an amazing person.no matter what, when or how, she always had a smile ready for friends. i never saw her without a smile on her face. she was cheeky, unbelievably sweet and the friendliest person (except for luis – long story) i ever mey. sym introduced me to her; actually it was more along the lines of her turning up in the bar we met a friend at and her saying, “i don’t know who the hell you are, you look ok though. what’s your name?
i was scrolling through my mobile last night and i found her number on quick-dial no. 9.

magda was a great person. i feel honoured to have been able to know her. she was a student of political science here in innsbruck and probably mad in most people’s view.
i know a lot of ppl from her circle of friends. she wasn’t mad, she belonged where she was. magda was not afraid of saying or admitting who she was and what she believed in. i admire that in her. the most touching thing about magda was her pride in her younger sister. magda always denied it, but the two of them were so alike in how they bore themselves and talked with people that it was almost impossible for me to tell them apart without glasses – even though magda’s sister is about 6″ taller and a lot slimmer. they were so similar that the relationship was visible without even knowing them. magda was also highly protective of her little sister and so very very proud of her.
i love my sisters, but i don’t know if i can acheive the same pride in them that magda showed for her lil sis. she loved her to bits and she managed to give me goosebumps every time she talked about her. i’ll admit it freely, i was falling in love with magda. she was, and still is for me, a fantastic person. i will miss her private little smile she saved for people she liked and loved.
her funeral service was today. i sadly missed it. i have, however, lit a candle for her on my windowsill. i wish that more people could have known magda than did. i wish i could have known her better and i regret not spending more time with her over the past years.
i will always remember her fantastic smile she saved for people she liked. she was beautiful and i will miss her.
magda, tke care of yourself. i hope to see you again. i’ll miss you. very much. i loved you.

magda was hit by a drunk driver on the wrong side of a motorway (the drunk) while travelling as a passenger in her family's car in south-tyrol. she was thrown from the car and died immediately, from what i've heard. the rest of the family, her boyfriend included, were only lightly injured. she leaves her parents and a younger sister behind whom she loved to pieces.

now playing: pachelbel, canon and gigue in d major (courtesy of swiss classic) [followed by dvorak, symphony from the new world, 2nd mvt] – how does the radio know what to play? i don’t know how else to honour her memory; these two pieces – even if they may never have been in the sort of music she listened to – sum up my feelings. magda, i’m looking forward to seeing you when this dream is over and the next one begins.