Alsace again

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Lyrt
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Alsace again

Post by Lyrt »

I went back to Alsace this past week but couldn’t come up with satisfying shots, unfortunately. The sun was high and capricious, the sky often pale and uncooperative, and I was myself bored with my ultra-wide-angle lens. I’m saving up for the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 which hopefully will help me find a renewed inspiration, but that won’t be next month because I just bought a Nikon F6. Also, iTunes sucks balls.

Ehem.
This is Colmar again. Below you can see La Maison des Têtes, “The House of Heads”, well, because its façade sports 111 human heads. It was built in 1609 for someone that was probably important. In 1902 (or 1903, I can’t remember), Auguste Bartholdi created the statue of the Alsatian Cooper that you can see on the gable. Yes, this is the same Bartholdi that made the Statue of Liberty, and Colmar is his hometown.
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Behold the Zinnkoepflé. It is the most elevated vineyard of Alsace and millions of years ago it was at sea level, so even today you can find endemic plants at its top (Pasque flower, globularia, orchid, erect brome).
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The very top of said Zinnkoepflé.
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And the view you can admire from atop.
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At the foot of the Zinnkoepflé is Soultzmatt, a small village with a too well-maintained church.
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Interlude. There were potassium mines in Alsace and I wanted to shoot that disused building. Unfortunately, I respected the law and did not trespass on it.
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Next to Rouffach is the the Château d'Isenbourg where I guess rich people drink wine. The vineyard is superb.
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In Rouffach you can find a church with nice stained glass.
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Swiss interlude. Colmar is only 30 minutes from Basel and 90 minutes from Bern. I decided to visit the unofficial capital of Switzerland and I was only disappointed by the stupid weather which ruined every shot. The Swiss have been infallibly polite and warm.


The Church of Sts. Peter and Paul. Totally unremarkable except it’s clean. Very clean.
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Ensign fountain. It’s very clean.
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City Hall. It seems clean.
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Kramgasse. No, I did not bother to straighten the horizon.
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Zytglogge (clock tower).
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House of Parliament. It’s very clean. Like the rest of the buildings of the city, it seems to be made of expanded polystyrene, as if it was built yesterday.
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Behind the parliament, you can see the Alps.
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Church of the Holy Spirit.
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Minster/ The Chapter House. A remarkable cathedral.
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Roofs and the Aar River as seen from the Nydeggbrücke.
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Back to Colmar! Here’s the reason I love Alsace so much. The sky is ever-changing and always offers stupendous lights (except when I have my camera). This is the view I had from my window.
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Random shot.
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More to come. I hope you are all doing fine. ;)
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Sam
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Post by Sam »

Ok, so pretty buildings and the Alps, I get that. But like, was there any sporting activity, like football, or did you go on a drinking jag so you could stumble back home and see if you recognized anything??????

Really nice countryside and those buildings are amazing. You do not get to see architecture like that very often in my neck of the woods in the US - the South.
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KAV
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Post by KAV »

And I have to take an alternate route because our 20 year old civic center and city hall are under major renovation and the McDonalds down further in both directions are being rebuilt a third time.
I want a Citroen CV2 and a year to get lost in Europe- make that two years.
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Blue As A Jewel
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Post by Blue As A Jewel »

This is very strange... just last night I was showing my wife these excellent pictures that this guy used to post ... et voila! Here you are!

Beautiful pictures as always!
- Ravi -

You can mistrust me less than you can mistrust him. Trust me.
gsgo
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Post by gsgo »

Thanks for posting, looking forward to the rest!
Good shaving,

Gary
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GregPQ
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Post by GregPQ »

These photos are so beautiful they hurt. I can't pull up any EXIF data, so I'll ask you which camera/lens did you use...

Greg
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Vive la Suisse!
Fiat lux, et facta est lux. Que la lumière soit, et la lumière fut. Let there be light, and there was light.
CMur12
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Post by CMur12 »

Yukio, as always beautiful photos. The scenery takes on an almost ethereal air, and I am very impressed with the skilled compositions of those interiors.

- Murray
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fallingwickets
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Post by fallingwickets »

As per usual, ditto on what Murray said, plus.......nice to see you out and about again :D

clive
de gustibus non est disputandum
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Lyrt
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Post by Lyrt »

Sam, the only sporting activity involved was walking and I did drink white wine with my sauerkraut. I suggest Pinot blanc. Those ten days were nice.

KAV, the Citroen CV2 is charming and a great idea since European countries are destroying (or letting die) old churches to buy speed radars. With your Citroen 2CV, you’ll quickly have to travel by foot which is a great way to not get speeding fines.

Ravi, Gary, Murray, Clive, thank you! I regularly check SMF but don’t post much anymore since I don’t have much to say with my beard.

Greg, I used my D300 with my Sigma 10-20mm for every photograph I posted. Most of them were shot at f/4 or f/8 when light was available. I personally am tired with it, it makes me feel every shot is the same. For instance, look at the churches; it’s always the same angles, the same feeling. The exif data won’t help you much either as most images are HDR. The countryside and Berne shots are the only “normal” ones and I had to do some adjustments to get back colours and details the sun burnt.

The only shot that I HEAVILY post-processed is the last one of Colmar. Here are the seven shots I used to make it:
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A normal shot with a few curves adjustments would look like this:
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The “raw HDR”, if it makes sense, looked like this out of Photomatix:
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And I made this:
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It’s more digital imaging work (or trickery if you don’t like it) than photography.
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Blue As A Jewel
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Post by Blue As A Jewel »

The way I look at it, photography is an art... with the advancement of both available hardware and software, the artist has simply expanded his pallette and skill... evident by the picture posts being made in this sub-forum...
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Lyrt
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Post by Lyrt »

Thank you, Ravi, here's one for you!

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Baloosh
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Post by Baloosh »

Lyrt wrote:Thank you, Ravi, here's one for you!

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Amazing. Do you happen to have the original version of this one (not the one auto-downsized for the forum)?

Or is this resolution the original size?

And lastly, do I have your permission to use this as my new desktop background? 8)
Jason
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Lyrt
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Post by Lyrt »

Hi Jason,
Thank you. Here’s a link to the original picture:
http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/1313 ... mapped.jpg
You’ll see some imperfections if you zoom in as it was a quick job (i.e. not meticulous) and you can do whatever you wish with it. It is protected by the rights of my ass. :o
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Blue As A Jewel
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Post by Blue As A Jewel »

Thanks Yukio - very cool!
- Ravi -

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Baloosh
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Post by Baloosh »

Yukio,

Thank you! Please stop by and post more often -- even if it's only about picture-taking and photography.
Jason
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Lyrt
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Post by Lyrt »

Mont Sainte-Odile is in the Vosges Mountains and has a convent at its top. I was supposed to photograph the church but unfortunately rich, happy people were marrying that day. I could only shoot the chapels and the cloister.

The chapel of angels:
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The chapel of tears:
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The cloister:
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More
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The view from atop:
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That’s it!
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