blog on photography and little else

lost places

Mon, 25 May 2026 20:56:26 +0100

Nach langer Zeit bin ich zufällig über einen lost place gestolpert. Wir haben in Estland eine Woche Urlaub gemacht und in der Nähe von Narva das ehemalige Mereranna Sanatorium gefunden.

updowngrade

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 20:41:05 +0100

2015 habe ich das letzte Mal eine neue Kamera gekauft. 10 Jahre später ist es wieder Zeit für ein weiteres “UpAndDownGrade”. Ich habe das damals so empfunden und beim Wechsel von der 6D auf die R6 II geht es mir ähnlich.

verfall

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 20:56:26 +0100

English version: see below

Mein Englisch wird im Laufe der Zeit nicht besser und ich schreibe hier für mich selbst und kein bestimmtes Publikum. Also gilt ab jetzt man spricht deutsh.

love and hate

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 20:56:26 +0100

An onsite meeting brought me back to Dortmund where I used to live for several years. I was never a soccer fan and can not understand how people can have that much affection for a bunch of professional, overpaid athletes that happen to wear the same uniform.

Hope

Sun, 28 Jan 2024 17:09:31 +0100

Finally, the people seem to wake up to the ever increasing popularity of right-wing populist party AfD. Two weeks ago we joined “Hamburg steht auf”, a demonstration with an overwhelming 100.000 standing up to protest against faciscm and the AfD.

2024

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 19:01:02 +0200

It’s been more than a year since I last posted something. About time to change that.

Khrome

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 20:46:09 +0200

A new store dedicated to analog photography opened this summer in Hamburg.

Site update

Fri, 21 Oct 2022 20:46:09 +0200

This site was based on the long abandoned Koken framework. I had planned to migrate the content sometime in future to the static site generator hugo. This was not supposed to happen before my theme for hugo had most of the functionality required for a photo blog in place. But then my wife received a damage claim for supposedly violating GDPR rights with her website. That claim was based on the suspicion that loading fonts for her website from Google would expose private data (the ip address) of unsuspecting visitors to Google, thereby violating their GDPR rights. Fixing her site was easy. But the old version of this site referenced fonts hosted by Google as well. Fixing that would have been more difficult since I don’t know my way around Koken and the PHP language it was based on. Fortunately, I had most of the content for the site already converted. As a result you are now looking at a new version of this site that may be lacking some features but is not reliant on Google fonts anymore.

2021

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 20:46:09 +0200

Not much to write about 2021, at least not regarding photography. But I finally managed to add SSL to this site, so you should see a little lock symbol in the address bar. And I updated my photography related app Yafra.

2020

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 20:46:09 +0200

I’am listening to Linton Kwesi Johnson’s “Inglan Is A Bitch”, a song from the musical gem “Bass Culture”, I discovered only recently. The track might as well be titled “2020 is a bitch”. Personally, the year hasn’t been particularly bad for me(I am/feel privileged). But being in the Covid-19 pandemic for 6 months now has put the spotlight on so many shortcomings in our society that make me feel depressed. There is an ever growing gap between people like me, who are doing well and those that are being hit hard by the economic downturn. Global warming isn’t an abstract thing in the distant future, it is impacting my immediate surroundings already, but people are happily buying bigger cars like there’s no tomorrow. How is all of this going to turn out?

Container Ship

Tue, 09 Apr 2019 20:46:09 +0200

These are some of the pictures from a three week cruise on a container ship

Hawai'i

Tue, 09 Apr 2019 20:46:09 +0200

One month in the Hawai’i archipelago provided some expected and some unexpected photo opportunities.

Among the expected were beach, waves and surfers. Unexpected were rain forest next to dry eroding cattle pastures, wild chicken all over Kauai and an invitation to a sacred ceremony at Mauna Kea Protestors Camp.

The future looks bright

Sun, 20 Jan 2019 20:46:09 +0200

It is 2019 and this post does not take into account what is happening in the United States, Poland, Hungary, well, the world.

I have finally managed to get a photography related project off the ground. It is called Yafra and is an app that will allow me (and others, once it is release to the public) to record EXIF data for analog photography. I hope to release it early in March.

2018[updated]

Sat, 22 Sep 2018 20:46:09 +0200

Glenorchy

I didn’t take many pictures this year, apart from some iPhone shots during vacation. The battery in my Fuji 607 went dead, pushing Fomapan film is not a good idea, so I don’t have any 35mm or 6x7 pictures to publish here yet. The outlook for next year is better, so stay tuned.

More 7x6

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 20:46:09 +0200

I finally had my first two color rolls developed. I just dropped them at the local drug store and received the results a week later. They were processed by CEWE, one of the remaining large companies in Germany, that still develops film. One film was from last years visit to Australia, the pictures turned out ok, but none of them are real keepers. The other roll were shot in different locations this year and I am quite happy with these two:

7x6 Scan

Sun, 03 Dec 2017 20:46:09 +0200

After receiving an LED light plate, I scanned a first batch of 7x6 negatives. See Brandt rusk factory for two new black and white pictures

Moving

Sun, 17 Sep 2017 20:46:09 +0200

My wife and I moved to Hamburg this summer. In our new home there is no space to set up a dark room, so no more printing of b/w pictures at the moment. For my medium format photography, I will probably adapt the proven hybrid process of developing film myself and then digitizing the negatives with a digital camera. Losing the darkroom is not a huge thing, because I’d rather go out shooting with all the great light up here in Hamburg.

Two Years ago...

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 20:46:09 +0200

… I posted a picture of a run over dead pigeon, stating that I was afraid that it was sign of things to come. Back then, I thought of plain violence. Although we had that in Germany with twelve people being killed by a terrorist attack in December 2016, I feel more alarmed and disturbed by what is happening in the United States right now. There is no obvious violence. But the possible damage goes much deeper, perhaps with a facade left intact, just like in the picture above.

Gone Surfing

Fri, 13 Jan 2017 20:46:09 +0200

I travelled a lot last year and finally accomplished something new in the field of photography. Leave the camera in the hotel and enjoy the day! I took less pictures than ever before while travelling, but was still happy with what I brought home and had a satisfactory rate of keepers.

More scheduled downtime

Wed, 21 Sep 2016 20:46:09 +0200

My darkroom wasn’t usable in the summer, because it still has light leaks. With fall approaching, it would be the right time to print some pictures. Unfortunately, this isn’t going to happen before November. Stay tuned for some analog medium format color pictures (hopefully).

Back from India

Sun, 04 Sep 2016 20:46:09 +0200

Traveling through India for four weeks resulted in a lot of interesting picture. While still sorting the rest of them, you can have a look at the faces of Rajasthan

Scheduled Downtime

Sat, 30 Jul 2016 20:46:09 +0200

Having not enough time on my hands, I recently spent more time on my other side project and not as much on photography. That being said, my focus will certainly shift back to photography over the next couple weeks, although I won’t be posting any new pictures or update this blog in August.

Busy Weekend

Mon, 13 Jun 2016 20:46:09 +0200

First, I took some pictures at a 6,7km fun run. The next morning, I went to see the Impossible Project factory in Enschede, The Netherlands and in the evening I did some urban exploration at an abandoned rusk factory.

Waiting again

Sun, 10 Apr 2016 20:46:09 +0200

I printed my first 10x15 cm pictures from 6x9 cm negatives last week and was quite surprised that the first test print turned out completely dark.

I had used the sample paper and exposure times similar to the last batch of 35mm film I printed. So what went wrong? Quite easy in retrospect, I didn’t take the more than six times larger area of the negative into account. As a result, a lot more light passed through the negative onto the paper and caused it to turn completely black. On the other hand, this did not translate into six times shorter exposure times, but that is something I have to figure out yet.

The wait is finally over

Wed, 16 Mar 2016 20:46:09 +0200

It took almost two months for the Moskva to arrive from a remote part of Russia.

She(?) appeared to be in excellent condition and I was about to load the first film. Fortunately, I noticed that the pressure plate was mounted the wrong way around before actually putting the film in. This was easy to fix and I exposed the first roll with various aperture and speed settings. The developed film looks good and I’ll either scan or print it tomorrow.

Darkroom 1.0

Sat, 20 Feb 2016 20:46:09 +0200

Yesterday, I set up a darkroom in the basement and did my very first print on Fomaspeed paper.

What a satisfying feeling to go through the whole process of doing test prints, determining the desired time to expose the paper, the actual exposure, moving the paper through the chemicals and the joy of holding result in your hands.

Going east (and even more retro)

Tue, 26 Jan 2016 20:46:09 +0200

waiting for a parcel from far far away…

Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive

Sat, 28 Nov 2015 20:46:09 +0200

I haven’t posted for a while and for several reasons. I spent most of October traveling South East Asia.

There were a lot of opportunities for taking pictures. But with all the resulting pictures comes a responsibility: Choosing only the best ones and throw the rest away. Chris Marquardt has described his workflow for doing that, but I am still having a hard time deleting pictures. And then there is the additional challenge of syncing my assessment of what is cool with what my wife thinks is a good picture. That is because christmas is coming up, and we have to agree on the selection of Asia pics to show to our family. In the end, this took longer than I anticipated. Some other excuses for not posting in a long time:

Dieselgate

Sat, 26 Sep 2015 20:46:09 +0200

I was busy doing other things, but while reading a long and thorough text on what is known about VW’s manipulation of the emission tests and how that story has been developing for about 10 years, I thought I might post an 2013 picture from Myanmar describing the issue.

A Busy Weekend

Sun, 31 May 2015 20:46:09 +0200

Our company participated with several hundred runners in a 6,1 km fun run and I was lucky enough to get a press permit.

No big deal, because there was no exclusive back stage or the like. But I enjoyed being able to move around unrestrained by guards inside the big soccer stadium where the run finished.

Worldwide Pinhole Day

Sun, 03 May 2015 20:46:09 +0200

This post should have been published on 26th of April, but I didn’t upload the picture until today, so this is a bit out of cronological order.

You can find my entry here.

UpAndDownGrade Part II

Fri, 01 May 2015 20:46:09 +0200

Another gear/software change. This time not entirely my own decision. Apple “announced”* last year that they’d cease support/development of Aperture.

I was hoping that the new Photos app that comes with Yosemite 10.3 would evolve into something that could eventually replace the abandoned Aperture. In terms of asset management, Photos turned out to be a complete failure to me. So when Lightroom 6 was announced last week, I decided to give it a try. Although I am not entirely convinced and ignoring the fact that Capture One by Phase One has the better RAW conversion, I am going to replace Aperture with Lightroom 6.

Easter

Mon, 06 Apr 2015 20:46:09 +0200

Easter weekend used to be a weekend were lots of peace rallies/demonstrations took place in Germay.

The strong symbol of these demonstrations is the dove of peace. Times have changed and I hope this one is not a sign of things to come.

Skateboarding

Thu, 26 Mar 2015 20:46:09 +0200

Went for a walk with my wife, she had her Polaroid with the new Impossible b/w 2.0 film with her.

The sun was already low and some skaters were practicing their tricks. I asked one of them to do a wheelie, so I could take the picture I had in mind. With exposure compensation to the max and shot against the sun, I am quite satisfied with it.

Snowboarding

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 20:46:09 +0200

some impressions from Davos, Switzerland

Je (ne) suis (pas) Charlie

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 20:46:09 +0200

I am certainly not Charlie, because (the authors of) Charlie (Hebdo) were far more brave than I will ever be.

And I live in Germany, with a government that happily sells tanks to Saudi Arabia, a country that has not only one of the worst human rights records in the world, but does not mind a ridiculous cleric decree that forbids citizens to build snowmen for religious reasons. Well, actually the problem is not about snowmen, but the fact that the german government does not have the balls to criticize the SA government for its support of extremist islamic terrorism or the punishment of blogger Raif Badawi because we have a good business relationship and rely on their oil.

Michael Kenna Retrospective

Sun, 11 Jan 2015 20:46:09 +0200

Two weeks ago, I went to see the Michael Kenna retrospective in Iserlohn.

There are more than 100 pictures to be seen in this exhibition and I left really impressed. The way these black and white prints draw attention to the finest detail and their clear, seemingly simple composition are well worth a visit to Iserlohn.

UpAndDownGrade

Sat, 03 Jan 2015 20:46:09 +0200

2014 brought an unexpected camera change. I was quite happy with my 5D Mk II and had no intention of replacing it any time soon.

But one night a got a call from Stefan, who is going mirrorless and sells his Canon gear. We quickly agreed on a price for his 6D and my 5D will go on sale this weekend.

Lactic Acid

Sun, 23 Nov 2014 20:46:09 +0200

My wife wants to start running again seriously, so she had her lactic acid levels tested in order to determine a good training schedule.

At first, her heart rate monitor did not work, so her pulse had to be measured old school

Photokina 2014

Thu, 09 Oct 2014 20:46:09 +0200

First time I ever went to Photokina. What can I say? Unless you need to make a buying decision, you might as well skip it. I am quite content with my gear, so most of the stuff displayed did not pique my interest.

LaPaDu

Mon, 01 Sep 2014 20:46:09 +0200

Boris and Chris did another workshop in Duisburg. You can find the pictures here

Another lost place

Thu, 31 Jul 2014 20:46:09 +0200

In Bochum, a town close to where I live, there used to be a factory that was producing aluminum products. It has been closed down a couple of years ago. Not too much to see there, but here you go.

Iceland 2014

Wed, 25 Jun 2014 20:46:09 +0200

Just returned from a two week trip to Iceland. Now sorting out the 1000+ pics I took. Until I am done, have a look at the usual cliches that come to mind when thinking about Iceland (sorry, no whale watching, northern lights or fermented shark).

Joining the analog trend

Sat, 17 May 2014 20:46:09 +0200

Since my wife wanted to know more about analog photography, we spend a weekend in Berlin for an absolutanalog workshop. I didn’t have an analog camera, so I was given an old Minolta X-700 with a 35 or 50mm prime lens and told to go shoot some film that we would develop later on. Something funny happened within the next hour.

Worldwide Pinhole Day 2014

Sun, 27 Apr 2014 20:46:09 +0200

Today is Worldwide Pinhole Day. This is my contribution.

The polaroids have left the building

Tue, 18 Mar 2014 20:46:09 +0200

I used to have my wife’s polaroids on this site. They can now be found here: arianescheer.de

About

Sun, 01 Sep 2013 20:46:09 +0200

Not much to read here, as the intent of this site is to show some of my favorite/best shots. Like this one, that I put on Flickr back in the day