Oktoberfest by night

Oktoberfest is a 16-day beer festival that is held every year here in Munich. It runs from late September to early October. For more information and facts about Oktoberfest, here's the link to the entry in Wikipedia.

The Oktoberfest this year ended a few weeks ago - this was my second time experiencing it. During this festival, about 6 million liters of beer, 500k chickens and 200k pork sausages are consumed (based on 2003). The festival sees about 6 million visitors and about a billion EUR is spent during that time (based on 2003). That equates to about 1 liter of beer per person. That sounds decent enough but if you assume half the visitors to be children, it comes to 2 liters of beer per person. I could go on speculating and making my own assumptions but I'll stop my rambling for now.

I don't know the statistics for this year but I heard that the numbers dropped a bit. This was probably primarily due to the current financial crisis and to a lesser extent, some terrorist threats. Regarding the latter, I have to say that the German authorities did a splendid job and beefed up security tremendously. Of course, it was a little cumbersome for visitors but definitely safer - from terrorists at least (I heard an unvalidated report that there was a spike in crimes against women during this Oktoberfest).

Here are some photos of the Oktoberfest that I took from my apartment.

(Above) The Oktoberfest during the day. You can't see much of it in this one but if you look closely, you'd notice a ferris wheel - that's the Wiesn (the famous grounds where the festival is held every year).

(Above) You see much more of the festival at night. The lights from the Oktoberfest do indeed light up the sky. I had to use a tripod for this. I used ISO100, f16 and a 30-second exposure.

(Above) Once again, the Oktoberfest by night. I decided to catch more of the well-lit sky in this one.

joel@shutteria.com

Seeing Bristol

This photo blog post is about a recent trip of mine to Bristol, UK.

I've been to Bristol twice in my life and both trips were in this year. I was there on business. On my first visit, I stayed pretty far outside the city and closer to my office. I didn't get to see much of Bristol then but I did spend a couple of nights in London on the way back, which was very worthwhile. I saw much more of London than I did of Bristol in my first trip.

I decided to do things differently on my second trip. This time I stayed in the city center and was able to do some sightseeing during my stay there. Bristol is indeed a beautiful city. Here are some of my favorite photos.

(Above) Taken along the harbor. There are many bars and restaurants along the harbor and I had dinner in one of them on the first night - Pitchers & Piano.

(Above) As you can see, the weather was fabulous on the second day. As soon as I was done with my meetings, I rushed back to the hotel, grabbed my gear and went off to so some sightseeing and photographing. It was pretty late afternoon when I took this photo but thanks to summer, it was still bright. I love the deep color of the water in this one.

(Above) An old brewery between a couple of new buildings. I found the contrasting subjects rather interesting. I used the handrail and barrier to frame this photo. I increased the contrast significantly in post processing to keep the frame black.

(Above) A castle in the middle of the city. The grounds are pretty large and it's a great place to hang out on a nice, sunny day. I feel that the boat in the foreground adds some life and depth to this photo.

(Above) This photo was taken right outside the restaurant I had dinner in on the last night. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the place but it was recommended by a colleague of mine for having authentic "Bristolian" food. I tried to play around with lens flare in this photo. The sun was reflected by the windows and did result in an underexposed photo but I managed to fix it with a lot of fill light in photoshop.

Overall, I enjoyed my visit to Bristol and I hope you enjoyed this photo blog post.

joel@shutteria.com

Oktoberfest and Munich's skyline

This photo blog is about the Oktoberfest in Munich. You can see the Oktoberfest from my apartment. We're not living very close to the "Wiesn" (the open field where the Oktoberfest is held), but you still get to see it, especially when it's all lit up at night. Tomorrow is the last day of the Oktoberfest and I decided to take some night shots of this festival from my balcony.

I just took the panaroma below about an hour ago. I was so happy with the results that I had to share it straight away. It was created from a set of six photos and merged together in Photoshop. I used a small aperture of f11 and ISO of 100. Using aperture priority mode, the shutter speed was set to about 30 seconds. Of course, I needed to use a tripod. The sunset to the left of the picture has created some lovely colors in the skyline. You would also notice a well-lit spot to the right - that is the Oktoberfest. Look closely and you'll see a ferris wheel there.


This picture was taken with my Nikon D60 D-SLR, Nikkor AF-S 18-105mm VR lens and Slik Pro 400DX tripod.

joel@shutteria.com

Jakarta by night

I visited Jakarta a few weeks ago on business. I didn't really get to do any sightseeing but a colleague of mine did take me to a place to buy some souvenirs. I stayed in Hotel Mulia Senayan while I was there. It's indeed a very nice hotel and I would gladly recommend it. Here are some of my favourite photos taken during my visit.

(1st) A view of Jakarta from my room. I used a rather small aperture (f11) and long exposure time (about 30 seconds). A closer look at the street reveals the light beams created by head and tail lamps.

(2nd) Bedside notepad. I had just gotten my Nikkor AF-S 35mm f1.8 lens a few days before and wanted to experiment with the Bokeh effect as much as possible. I found this to be quite attractive compositionally as well with the pen serving as a leading line into the picture (and Bokeh).

(3rd) Nothing like unwinding to a cold beer at the end of a long day. This was taken at a bar in the Jakarta International Airport.

(4th) I spent the weekend with my family in Malaysia. I flew with Air Asia. This shot was taken from inside the plane. I used a pretty large aperture of about f3.5 as I needed to get the shutter sheet high enough for my camera to be handheld. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised with the depth-of-field in this one.

All photos were taken with my Nikon D60 and Nikkor AF-S 35mm f1.8.

joel@shutteria.com

Photo blog @ Karlsplatz, Karlstor

In my last photo blog post, I ended at Kaufingerstrasse. I continued along Kaufingerstrasse, away from Marienplatz.

At the other end of Kaufingerstrasse is a gate known as Karlstor, which is shown in the first picture in this photo blog post (above). For this photo, I set my tripod very low and found a spot where the sun was hidden behind the buildings. I did this to ensure that I had an overall well-exposed photo without flare and too many blown out spots.

The second picture in this photo blog post (above) is also of Karlstor. It's a different shot from the first one above. In Photoshop, I used the curves adjustment tool to dramatically increase the contrast and subsequently increased the saturation as well. I managed to get a retro look here.

Beyond this gate is a square called Stachus and there is a beautiful fountain in the center of it - shown in the third picture in this photo blog post (above). People often hang out here and sit on the stones surrounding the fountain. It was difficult preventing my lens from getting wet here. In fact, I had to wipe my lens with a microfiber cloth (that I always take along in my camera bag) several times. Anyway, I took this shot at an angle with the stones positioned further and further away to add some depth to the shot. I also wanted to capture that beautiful building in the background. The truth is, I don't know what is it.

Stachus was the end of the road for the day. It was about 9 am when I got there. After that, I made my way back to Marienplatz on foot and took the train home. I bought some rolls from the bakery on the way back for breakfast. It was a good start for the day.

joel@shutteria.com

Photo blog @ Kaufingerstrasse, Marienplatz

This is part two of my photo blog post on Marienplatz.

In part one, I ended at the Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche). Next, I continued along Kaufingerstrasse, moving away from Marienplatz and towards Karlsplatz. It was indeed a pleasant walk. It was still early and wasn't crowded yet. There are places to sit and relax along the way, beautiful plants and flowers, a nice fountain, fruit stalls, cafes, etc.

I surreptitiously took the first photo in this photo blog post (above) of this man reading his morning paper. This scene with the man reading his papers lends a sense of tranquility to the shot. I reduced the saturation, making it (almost) black and white to eliminate bright distractions in the scene. The red canvas sheet of fruit stall in the background for example, kept pulling away attention from the subject, which is the man reading the papers.

The second photo in this photo blog post (above) shows one of the many fruit stalls along Kaufingerstrasse. It had gotten very bright and sunny when I took this shot, resulting in a slightly blown out sky.

The third photo in this photo blog post (above) shows a poor man collecting trash from Marienplatz. Munich is one of the most expensive and wealthiest cities in Germany. Scenes like these are not often seen during the bustling hours of the day. Nonetheless, they obviously do exist. With this photo, I try to capture this contrast in society. In the foreground, a man is collecting trash for a living while in the background, you have George Clooney sipping his Nespresso.

The final photo in this photo blog post (above) is my favourite from the outing in Marienplatz that day. It does suffer from a bit of lens flare in the bottom right but I still like it. When I took this photo, I was a little tired from lugging my tripod and camera gear around, embarassed from the quirky stares of the people there and a little pissed off that I hadn't really gotten a spectacular shot yet. I wanted to capture the "street mall" side of Kaufingerstrasse and I think I achieved that with this shot here.

I used two trees to frame the shot. Their different distances from the camera gives this photo more depth. I took the shot low, just a few inches off the ground, to make things look larger than life. Call it a cat's perspective.

More to come in my next and final photo blog post on Marienplatz.

joel@shutteria.com

Photo blog @ Marienplatz

If you've ever been to Munich, you'd have most likely visited Marienplatz, which is situated in the heart of Munich. Marienplatz is usually bustling with people. Kaufingerstrasse, which is one of the streets leading towards Marienplatz is filled with shops for just about anything, departmental stores, restaurants, cafes - you name it. People often go there to shop, window shop, hang out, eat out, watch a movie or simply just chill. It's a very popular spot. Besides these, Marienplatz is the location where some festivals and events such as the Christmas Market, St. Christopher's Street Day and political rallies are held.

This is my photo blog post on Marienplatz.

On the 11th of July, I got up very early in the morning and went out to do some photo shooting. My stop was Marienplatz. I left my apartment at about 7 in morning hoping to beat the crowd to Marienplatz. However, when I got into the train I realized "I ain't gonna beat no crowd". The train was practically already full. So much so that I couldn't even get a place to sit. I was hoping that most of them would not be getting off at Marienplatz and that was true for the most part. It seemed that most of them were headed somewhere else. Anyway, the train ride took me about 12 minutes.

As soon as I got out of the station, my heart sank. There was a huge stage and some tents being set up for the St. Christopher Street Festival and they had sort of blocked that "great view of Marienplatz" I had been planning for before - see the first picture in this photo blog post. Anyway, I did the best that I could considering the restrictions at hand. I took out my camera , set up my tripod and started taking some pictures.

The most prominent monument you would see as soon as you get out of the train station in Marienplatz is the New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) - shown in the second picture in this photo blog post (above). This picture is a HDR image that was created in Photoshop using a set of three photos with different exposures. For more information on HDR photography, check out my introduction to HDR post. The light was still quite soft at this time of the morning and I didn't really have any problem with shadows. I went close to base of the building, tilted my camera up, composed the image and took the photos. I used a portrait (vertical) composition since the dominant subject is the tower, which stretches vertically towards the sky.

I don't know any details about this building other than the fact that it really looks captivating. It's white and has a certain Gothic look and feel about it. It looks even more majestic at night when it's lit up. That will be the subject for another photo blog post on night photography.

The New Town Hall also houses the world famous Carillon (Glockenspiel), which is shown in the third picture in this photo blog post. At 11 am, 12 pm and 5 am, the clock chimes and figures on this Carillon dance around for a minute or so. Somehow is was really difficult to get the photo straight. Thanks to digital photography, I was able to easily straighten the picture in post processing. I also reduced saturation and increased warmth in this photo to give it a sepia look. I feel that this gives the photo a nostalgic and timeless feel, which suits the Carillon.

As soon as I was done taking some shots in front of the New Town Hall, I made my way towards the Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche) - see the fourth picture in this photo blog post (above). There is a nice Biergarten close to the church and imagined myself sipping some Weissbier while admiring this majestic building on a warm summer day. I tried to capture that feeling in this photo. I set my tripod to the eye-level of someone sitting down on a chair in the Biergarten, composed the shot to ensure that I got the full tower in it, set the aperture to f22 and used my infrared remote shutter release to take the shot.

I decided to compose the photo above with some people in the foreground to better illustrate the size of the Church of Our Lady. I also like the reflections of the clouds on the windows of the building to the right. I find that reflections really do enhance photos.

I'll continue in the next post. Stay tuned.

joel@shutteria.com