Second shot at the Moon

kenritley

My first attempt at the Moon was a disaster – a huge white splash. So I tweaked with the settings and have now gotten this, my second shot at the Moon:

According to my photography tutor (Chatgee Pee-Tee) my camera has a built-in image stabilisation that I never deactivated and which, although it is helpful for hand-held snaps, introduces “microwiggles” in tripod-snaps such as this. So, I am not sure if what I see here is the inherent roughness in the lens (my 24-120mm / F4 S “kit” lens) or the micro-wiggles?

So . . . am anxious to see what I can do next month!

là où l’Aar se jette dans le lac de Bienne – or, how the Swiss and the Germans label their water

kenritley

One of the most interesting qualities of the Swiss is that they are reserved: not necessarily shy or introverted, just deeply reluctant to do anything that would make themselves stand out.

Perhaps that’s why, in a country with dozens of rivers, they’ve decided to name most of them . . . the Aare!

The Aare starts as glacier meltwater near Grimsel Pass, then twists, turns, dives through lakes, splits into canals, merges again. And everywhere it goes, it’s still called the Aare.

In any other country, if a river split, one fork might keep the name while the others get new ones. But not here. In Switzerland, nobody wants to stick their neck out and declare, “I shall now rename this offshoot the… Neo-Aare.”

Nope. Just like its quieter cousin, the Reuss, the Aare is composed of various rivers, ditches, canals, and flows . . .  all politely calling themselves . . . the Aare.

While the Swiss politely avoid drawing attention to themselves by naming every river “Aare” and quietly pretending forks don’t exist, the Bavarians took a very different approach, most likely with some Slavic encouragement.

In Bavaria, no river escapes without a unique identity: The Regnitz, Pegnitz, Rotnitz, Pulsnitz. Each and every puddle gets its own title and backstory. That’s the Slavic influence for you: “nitz” everywhere, like the ancient Slavs looked at a stream and thought, “You’re special, little puddle. You deserve your own name.”

Meanwhile, the Swiss were still debating whether it was too forward to label their water at all.

Konstanz-Meersburg Fähre

kenritley

I took this snap with my BRAND NEW Nikkor 28mm F2.8 lens!  I’ve had a professional-level camera now for just around 6 months, and I am still a beginner. It has enough settings and controls (aperture / f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, light levels, etc.) to make any photo look stunning . . . but they only work once you know how to use them – and I am still far, far away from knowing how to use them!

TARDIS Blue

kenritley

 

I shot this snap of a door in the French village of Besoncon. I don’t know what kind of blue this actually is, but to me it is quite clearly TARDIS blue!  Perhaps the Doctor has fixed his chameleon circuit?

Une fontaine médiévale dans la vieille ville de Bienne

kenritley

I took this snap of the famous Engelbrunnen fountain in the town center of Biel, although to be honest the light was pretty poor:

I don’t know the details, but it looks 100% exactly identical to the famous fountains in Bern, created by Hans Gieng between 1542 and 1549 – and since Biel is so close to Bern, I am assuming this one came from him as well. Interestingly, the fountains in Zurich and in Bern originally used spring water — but today use this water as well, as an emergency backup in case anything happens to the main water supply. The Swiss love to be prepared!