2011 Wrap up

All in all, 2011 has been a good year. Professionally I joined a different group in January and had the opportunity to learn a lot literally from day one. I also had the opportunity obligation to do a bit of unexpected travelling, for example to New York, Tokyo and Christchurch, marking the first time for me to travel around the world. And then there was the holidays to add to this. No wonder the number of posts this year is an all time high. I hope quality did not suffer because of quantity. In the middle of everything else, I found time to organise my second exhibition which, if everything goes according to plan, will have a rerun in El Toboso later in 2012.


The new year starts pretty much the same. My job has new challenges and new opportunities, never a place to get bored. I have a business trip to New Zealand planned for January. As usual, many things can change, but if it actually happens, I should be able to find the time to take the photos I could not take last time. And from experience, there will be other trips during the year and I am looking forward to it.


However, as you know, this is all secondary, and the only things I wish for the new year for me and my family are health, harmony and love. You can never have enough of these.


In case you are wondering, the photo on this post was selected by my sister.


El 2011 ha sido un buen año, tanto en lo personal como en lo profesional. Por un lado mi nuevo trabajo, aunque parecido al anterior, me ha dado la oportunidad de hacer unos pocos viajes, con Nueva York, Tokyo y Nueva Zelanda en un lugar prominente de la lista. Pocos pero interesantes, brindándome incluso la oportunidad de dar mi primera vuelta al mundo. Si añades las vacaciones, no es de extrañar que el número de entradas de este año haya sido el más alto de la corta historia de este blog que ahora se acerca a los cinco años de vida. También encontré el tiempo para preparar mi segunda exhibición en Berlín, que tuvo una acogida favorable entre los amigos que vieron las fotos. Por casualidades de la vida, las fotos se volverán a exponer en el 2012, esta vez en su lugar de origen, El Toboso.

El nuevo año empieza más o menos de forma similar, con un viaje a Nueva Zelanda planeado en enero. Si finalmente voy otra vez a Christchurch, espero tener un poco más de tiempo disponible para tomar más fotos. De todas formas, la experiencia me dice que habrá más oportunidades para viajar por motivos de trabajo y es algo que me apetece bastante de vez en cuando.

Aunque todo esto es importante, lo que le pido al 2012 no son más y mejores fotos, sino salud, armonía y amor para mi familia. Nunca se tiene bastante de estas cosas.

La foto que acompaña esta foto ha sido seleccionada por mi hermana.

Glühwein

Tomada en el Mercadillo de época de Leipzig.

Felices Fiestas

Secando hojas de tabaco

Not sure how well it works to dry the tobacco leaves in December in Leipzig, but it definitely adds a touch of authenticity to the shop.

Gazelle

Tiovivo de época

Este tiovivo estaba en el vestíbulo este de la estación de Leipzig. Creo que era de los años cincuenta y éste no era el único coche con un aroma y un acabado especial. Una delicia para grandes y pequeños.

Retocando la realidad

La foto de arriba es un anuncio de una cámara que, por lo que se ve, tiene un zoom bastante bueno. Excepto que parece estar trucada (pinchar en las fotos para verlas más grandes). Y si han trucado esto, qué más habrán trucado?

Leipzig - Hauptbahnhof

While my daughter was in the Opera, I went for a walk and ended up in the main train station. They have a few old trains on exhibition. If you add the rain outside on Sunday morning, it makes for a perfect plan.

Natural vignette

I usually add a vignette to my photos before they are framed. I just like the effect. But sometimes, the photos actually look like that straight from the camera. Like this one I took in Augustusplatz in Leipzig some weeks ago.

Outrageous

I took this photo not because of its high artistic content (debatable), but because I thought it was funny to discount 5 cents on a pair of shoes which are 550 euros.


On a related topic, I guess some people must think, how come anybody can spend such an outrageous amount of money in a simple camera?

Homenaje a M. C. Escher

Mädlerpassage

Jägerhof - Leipzig

La gracia de esta foto es tener la paciencia de esperar hasta que no pasa nadie para tomar las fotos.

Ópera de Leipzig

A esta foto le falta espacio por arriba, lo malo de no tener un gran angular. Tenía el trípode en la mochila pero estaba lloviendo un poco y era un engorro sacarlo para hacer una panorámica en condiciones (aunque esta foto la hice a pie firme y no quedó mal).

Ashes

Products of India

One of the stands had a huge selection of indian spices. Maybe something for the foodies in Berlin. I was just happy taking a photo and I must admit I hardly recognise any of the names.

Rastro en Berlín

This is the photo that got me the bollocking from one of the sellers. After proposing to delete the photo, we got to talk and she gave me her card. This cute bags can also be bought on-line here (not my photos! I have no relationship to the shop nor do I endorse their products).

Spoonface

Amazing what you can do with old spoons, some imagination and a lot of craft. They are for sale in Maybachufer on Saturday mornings.

De muestra, un botón...

Visité el rastrillo en Maybachufer el sábado pasado y, aunque es bastante pequeño, había unos cuantos puestos bastante interesantes. Y como reza el título de esta entrada, de muestra, un botón...

I visited the flea market in Maybachufer on Saturday and, although quite small, it had some interesting stands. I got to talk to some of the people selling their stuff there, including a spaniard, one south american, one american and, finally, a German lady who gave me a bollocking for not asking for permission to take a photo of her stuff (not the buttons). I have to admit she was right and afterwards I went around asking for permission, and that´s how I got to talk to all those interesting characters. More tk...

Los mejores Puntos Suspensivos de 2011 - Best of 2011

This post has no photo, or rather, not yet. 2011 has been a prolific year in terms of photos for this blog, partially because of the travelling. I would like to know which photo you like best and, more importantly, why. Most people who read this blog never (or rarely) leave a comment. Until now. 


Please take some time and drop one or two lines with your favourite photo. Do it anonimously if you will, but do it. Would you like to have more text? More info on technical details? More ramblings? Less or no ramblings? Do you ever use my photos for something? Better titles?


If you want to know, this is how I came to the idea for this post. If nothing else, I know there is a broad audience. In no particular order, and just from the last few days, there are visitors from: Mexico DF, Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Almería, Sevilla, A Coruña, Santiago de Chile, Merelbeke - Oost-Vlaanderen, Berlin, Tarragona, Granada, Alcoy, Groningen, Madrid, Alcalá de Henares, Barcelona, San Juan de Alicante, Azuay, etc, etc




Esta entrada no tiene foto... todavía. El 2011 se ha dado bastante bien en lo que se refiere a la cantidad de fotos publicadas en este blog, y espero que también en lo que se refiere a la calidad. Me gustaría saber qué foto te gusta más y, especialmente, por qué. Normalmente casi nadie deja comentarios aquí, pero tengo la impresión de que hay más seguidores asiduos que los ocho listados en Friend Connect. Y me gustaría saber que tipo de fotos os gustan. Si prefieres hacerlo de forma anónima, adelante. Te gustaría que escribiera textos más largos? O cómo he hecho la foto? O menos texto? Usas las fotos para algo?

Por si te interesa, esto es lo que me dio la idea para esta entrada. Lo que yo veo en una foto rara vez tiene que ver con lo que tú ves en la misma foto. Sois varios y de muchos sitios los que seguís el blog. Según las estadísticas de los últimos días, ha habido visitas de los siguiente sitios (orden aleatorio): Mexico DF, Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Almería, Sevilla, A Coruña, Santiago de Chile, Merelbeke - Oost-Vlaanderen, Berlin, Tarragona, Granada, Alcoy, Groningen, Madrid, Alcalá de Henares, Barcelona, San Juan de Alicante, Azuay, y varios más que me dejo en el tintero.

Brunch

Para variar, una entrada no programada y con foto reciente, tomada hace sólo unas horas.

Kreuzberg - Graffiti

Una opción para mantener tu fachada "limpia" de graffitis es hacer un mural, ya que está mal visto que los graffiteros destrocen la obra de un colega. Este graffiti está al lado de la puerta de la entrada anterior.

Bitte keine Werbung

El cartelito enmarcado en azul dice "Bitte keine Werbung", que se puede traducir por "Por favor, no echar publicidad (en los buzones)".

Yo no sé si la publicidad será un problema en Kreuzberg, pero desde luego los graffitis lo son. Da pena ver calles enteras de esta guisa.

Chapas

Al ir a cruzar un puente sobre el canal en Kreuzberg me di cuenta de la cantidad de chapas incrustadas entre los adoquines. Ni que decir tiene que la mayoría eran de cerveza.

Festival of Lights - Berlin

Believe it or not, this was "right first time", which was sort of lucky because be the time I got to the N I had to stop to think how to do the mirror image (painting the letters from "behind"). 

There was somebody behind my camera watching me as I was light-painting. When I was finished he was kind of curious to see the result so I let him have a look at the screen. And he smiled.

Festival of Lights - Gendarmenmarkt

By the time we took this one, my feet were already starting to complain (sort of chilly night!). I have the feeling it would have been better to do the photo with some light available, but you can not have it all.

Looking at it now, just wondering if from the composition point of view, it would have been better to keep walking a bit to get the concert hall properly into the photo. But then, without a wide lens sometimes there is so much you can do.

Festival of Lights - Kaisersaal

Las dos damas del fondo no dejaban de hacerse fotos en el espejo (con flash!) y con la cantidad de gente que había esa noche era imposible sacar una foto limpia. Por suerte, esto siempre está disponible así que ya volveré alguna otra vez.

Festival of Lights - Potsdamer Platz

Festival of Lights 2011

Autumn is here

Since I always schedule the entries, they may be a bit off by the time they appear in the blog. This was a couple of weeks ago. It is still sunny and unusually warm for November, but most leaves are now piling up on the streets.

Frozen news

This photo was taken a few weeks after this one, pretty much on the same spot and on a similarly sunny Saturday morning. But temperatures have dropped drastically, which you can guess from the change in  clothes.

Marketing Tools

My eye first caught the drawing, and only later I noticed the code next to it. Marketing works.

Getting close

Sol y Sombra

Holidays!

Potsdamer Platz - Sony Center

Creo que me gusta más esta panorámica que la que hice el año pasado. No tengo muy claro si esto se debe a un mejor ojo fotográfico.

I like this one better than this other one I took last year around this time. This is taken from the bar of the Cinemaxx on an exceedingly warm evening for October in Berlin. No surprise it was full of people.

Topographie des Terrors (ii)

This photo is taken from the "west" side of the Wall.

Topographie des Terrors

After ten years in Berlin, I finally found the time to visit this exhibition. the silence is impressive, inside and outside. People walk from one stand to the other, from one picture to the next and, more often than not, you struggle to understand how all this could happen.


Because of the silence it was quite embarrasing to take this photo, as the sound of the camera was like thunder on my ears and I sort of expected everyone to turn round and look at me. But nobody did. Maybe just too deep on their thoughts.

Capitales

I took this one in New Zealand earlier this year. At the time I was wondering if this was the same all around the world or if the signs are customized. I was actually quite surprised to see that I have been to most of these places, which reminds of a very old post.

Planufer

Theater am Planufer

Lazy Saturday morning

Lying on graffities

I saw this lady when I was walking along the northern side of the channel, but I could not figure out how to frame her into a photo without being too intrusive. I went to the opposite side and the photo was just there waiting to be taken. As an added bonus, she started reading a book.

Texting

I would have actually preferred her to be reading a book instead of texting something on her mobile. It would have been a slightly better fit for the Serenity series.

Otoño en Kreuzberg

Weather was great during the last weekend of September. I went for a short walk around here and got a few nice shots that will be showing here in the next few days, including a couple in my Serenity series.

Alemañol

De vez en cuando mis hijos nos regalan perlas de ese maravilloso idioma que es el alemañol. Por ejemplo, (entonando la canción) Cumpleaños viel Gluck!

One year ago

One year ago I was in Xi'an (China) and Hanoi (Vietnam), on a business trip. This year I would have had to go to Athens in a couple of weeks, but I kindly declined due to private reasons. The photo above was taken as I strolled away from the touristic center on my own. By the time I was really far away from my hotel, the battery of my camera said enough is enough, so I took this photo with my mobile (actually two photos stitched).
When I returned home, I bought a spare battery, which has served me well on a number of occassions. Still, all the batteries in the world do not help if you forget your memory card...

Jaque mate

My daughter has started learning how to play chess at school. We had a go at it some days ago and she still has to learn a few basics. For example, that it is ok to take your opponent´s knight and you do not need to worry about the horse´s well being. And that crying when somebody takes your Queen is not required. I did not foresee that and had to hug her while she was sobbing at the view of her Queen by the side of the board. I was trying to make the point that you should watch where you place your Queen, a chess board is a dangerous place. Luckily for me we did not finish the game, as her brother came with the brilliant idea to swipe clean the board in one single move of the arm...

Berlin 2011

Already 10 years living in Berlín. And so many wonderful things have happened in this decade...

Cast Iron District

Stolzes Käseland

We wanted to see how cheese is made in one of the local shops. To my big surprise, they had this up on the wall, in German. No idea where they got it from, but it was a nice fit to our multilingual family.