One easy way to improve your vacation photos

September 14, 2014

Vacation Photos Vacations are always an exciting time for photographers: lot’s of new and exciting stuff to explore and most importantly time to pursue your passion. However, many people return with disappointing results. I have certainly had my fair share of this. While there might be a bunch of pleasing compositions in the final album, many photos fail to impress. One of the main reasons for that is most likely related to light. The quality of a light plays a major role in the creation of a beautiful photograph. It’s an important element that is easy yet difficult to control. The …

Side, Turkey – A short photo essay

June 29, 2014

Side, Turkey A few weeks ago I had the pleasure to go on a short family vacation in Side, Turkey. It’s a popular tourist destination. While the myriad of giant hotel parks is not that easy on the eye, the town of Side offers some amazing views. It’s an ancient Greek settlement and you can therefore walk through a bunch of well-preserved ruins. The beaches are quite popular as well. Unfortunately, most of them are overcrowded. The only exception of that rule is a small stretch of sand I found close to the town. Evenings Evenings were cooler but our trip coincided …

Evenings in Norway

May 10, 2014

Travel A few weeks ago I had another business trip to Norway. Unfortunately, the meeting schedule forced me to travel in the afternoon of a public holiday. Drowning in self-pity, I decided to bring my Fujifilm X-E1 along with two lenses (18-55mm & 14mm) to at least have some fun in the evening of that holiday. The camera does fit nicely between the cracks of my carry-on suitcase. It was worth it. Temperatures hovered around 20C/ 70F and the sun didn’t set until 9:15pm. Aker Brygge The first evening I walked around the lovely Aker Brygge area by the water. It …

Spring at the Italian Lakes – Lago di Garda

April 25, 2014

Lago di Garda One of the benefits of living in Munich is the proximity to Italy. That’s why I jumped in the car two weeks ago and ended up at the beautiful Lago di Gard 3.5 hrs later. Lake Garda is located in the northern part of Italy. It is a popular destination for many Europeans. It’s easy to understand why: the area is simply stunning. While I spent most of my time on a road bike, I did have the opportunity to take a few photos here and there. While on the bike, I used a small Garmin Virb …

The Canary Islands

February 2, 2014

Beautiful Canary Islands A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to return to the Canary Islands in Spain. Together with my family and friends, we took a cruise around this beautiful area of Spain including the remote Portuguese island of Madeira. Once again, I left my beloved Nikon D800 at home to save some weight and brought the tiny Fuji X-E1 along, instead. Three lenses were in my small travel bag: The Fuji 18-55, 55-200, a Samyang fisheye and some filters. It was a good choice. Below are some of the results. Canary Impressions The Canary Islands never fail …

Dubai in a day

December 23, 2013

Dubai Last weekend I had the pleasure of spending some time in Dubai. Having traveled there a bunch of times before, I felt a bit lazy and did not spend any time sight-seeing. However, that did not mean I would leave my camera back at home. Even a short walk to the next coffee shop usually offers some amazing sights in Dubai. The Twisted Tower One of the fun sights to explore is the 306m Cayan Tower (aka Twisted Tower) in the Dubai Marina. It’s not your usual skyscrape. It’s wicked, because it’s twisted! The window cleaners were out and …

Trip report – the Fuji X-E1 in San Francisco

October 22, 2013

Fuji X-E1 A few weeks ago, I wrote about some initial impressions of the awesome Fujifilm X-E1 camera. It truly is a beautiful piece of equipment. It just begs you to go out and take some photos. The best thing is that the Fuji X-E1 is pretty small and really light. That’s why I brought it with me on a short business trip to San Francisco last week. Here are some of the results along with additional impressions of the camera. Low light experience Upon my arrival in San Francisco around 8pm, I needed to do something to keep me …

Christoph Papenfuss Photography