Louis XIII

König Louis XIII in the musical "3 Musketeers" is a weak and easily to manipulate ruler. He does not know that his wife, Queen Anna, is having an affair. This gives the scheming cardinal an opening for an intrigue. Luckily, his loyal musketeers rush to aid him ...

König Louis XIII in the musical "3 Musketiere"

If you want, you have the opportunity to see the cast and the performance live in October. Check it out!

Pauline with Felix and other Fair Folk

My entry for the Strobist Boot Camp (BC3) assignment #1:

Pauline with Felix and other Fair Folk

When I read the assignment, Pauline Hermann was the first person that came to mind. I knew that I wanted to do a picture of her because I admire the work she does in my community.

Pauline Hermann is a native Freising artist specializing in the various fairy creatures (the Fair Folk) of the area. She initially started to create the fairies her grandfather told her stories about when she was a child. When she ran out of space, she converted a room of her grandfathers old house to fairy living space. With time, the house has filled up room by room ...

During long walks in nature, the fairies seem to find Pauline. She then offers them a home in the house so people may become re-acquainted with the enchanted fairy world and the special ways of its denizens. Pauline believes that it is important in this very rational age for children and adults alike to elope to a magic realm every once in a while in order to stay connected with the creative and imaginative powers that are inherent within all of us.

I had planned to spend an hour on the entire shoot, but I overran the time by over 100% ... My initial plan was to light the background and throw just a tight spot of light on her face. But that did not work out, I needed more separation from the background. So I set up the hairlight (which I don't usually use) and over an hour was gone by the time that looked right.

Then Pauline sat for me and we chatted and I shot away another hour. Finally, the doorbell rang and we had to stop. I can only thank Pauline for being so patient - I hope she had as good a time as I did and is just as pleased with the results!

Rehearsal of the "Joseph"

Last weekend I had a really fun assignment shooting a rehearsal of the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. It will be performed May 13th and 14th in Freising by a cast of almost 300 people.

What I saw was breathtaking - a stunning performance. Even though the performers are all laymen and -women, the choreographer, director, voice coaches, etc. are all pros working pro bono - and it shows.

Here are some impressions, you can find more on my Flickr! page in the Joseph set.










In case you have been looking carefully and feel confused: there are two different narrators to cover all four performances. :)

Surfer riding the Waves

Apparently the Eisbach in München is a hot place to ride the waves on a surfboard. As you can see from the photo below, it is not very wide (only a few meters) and there is quite a crowd queued up on hot summer days waiting their turn. There are many, many more spectators milling about, so if you are a beginner, you might want to choose someplace more private to fall in. :-)

This surfer did quite well, staying on the board for a long time while riding back and forth as the waves took the board:

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I like the stark contrast between the foamy white spray, the rich green of the water, and the dark silhouette of the surfer. Look at how the line formed by the torso and head is mirrored in the lines of the waves in the background.

To me this picture shows the dynamic, fluid unity that the surfer needs to achieve with the water in order to stay on the board.