Fotoeins Fotografie

Fotoeins Friday: it’s spring (HD)

The two-letter abbreviation “HD” is not only about “high quality”, but it’s also the abbreviation used to represent the Heidelberg area on Germany’s vehicle (license) plates. As of posting, (northern) spring equinox occurred a few days ago (20 March), and it’s time for less grey and more sun, with fresh air and a great view over one of my “adopted hometowns.” The image above offers a view from the ruins of Schloss Heidelberg (castle), into the Altstadt (Old Town) and the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge), and west along the Neckar river towards the city of Mannheim and the Rhein river in the hazy distance.

I made the image on 14 Mar 2017 with a Canon EOS6D mark1 and these settings: 1/1000-sec, f/16, ISO1000, and 24mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-oeO.

My Vienna: the Biedermeier St. Marx Cemetery

Above/featured: Spring morning at Vienna’s Biedermeier cemetery.

In Vienna’s 3rd district, the St. Marx cemetery is the only surviving Biedermeier cemetery in the city. A visit now is a jump into the frozen past. The cemetery opened with its first burial in 1784. Closure of the city’s multiple neighbourhood cemeteries began in 1873 with the final burial at St. Marx taking place in 1874. Subsequent funerary functions were transferred to the newly constructed Zentralfriedhof located farther out from the city centre. The very leafy avenues and “leafy gate” are what’s left of the city’s only remaining 18th-century cemetery that’s now open to the public as a city-administered park.

Why Biedermeier

Biedermeier in Vienna corresponds to a cultural period during the first half of the 19th-century marked by increased industrialization in rapidly urbanized areas and strict censorship with the elimination of dissenting political voices. Instead of looking outward to change, the artist and design community moved to safer spaces in nature or to their homes. While innovation might have given way to a modest yet graceful and functional style, Biedermeier architecture in its neoclassical spin provided inspiration for subsequent Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) and Secession movements. An important Viennese architect of the period was Josef Kornhäusel who designed many buildings in the city. Important music from this period was composed by, for example, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, Schumann. One of the largest collections of Viennese Biedermeier art is in the Belvedere’s collection. St. Marx cemetery is a reflection of both city and age from the 19th-century.

St. Marxer Friedhof, St. Marx cemetery, Biedermeier cemetery, 3. Bezirk, Landstrasse, Wien, Vienna, Austria, Österreich, fotoeins.com

Cemetery’s main gate – 20 May 2022.

Information stone with visiting hours by month. Photo, 20 May 2022.

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Fotoeins Friday: winter scenes, nine (Südallgäu)

(8 March 2017.)

After spending most of the day at the nearby Fellhorn summit, I return to the alpine town of Oberstdorf in time before skies get dark quick. What’s appealing are the white-layered fields with a sprinkling of farms, huts, and houses. In the image above, the view above faces south across those very fields into the head of the Stillach river valley; a snow-covered ridge of mountains in the background is about 14 kilometres away along the Germany-Austria border.

I made the image on 8 Mar 2017 with a Canon EOS6D mark1 and these settings: 1/640-sec, f/22, ISO1000, and 80mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-ocR.

My Vienna: the Bohemian Prater & Europe’s oldest carousel

I’m on foot in Vienna’s Favoriten (10th district), slowly making my way uphill onto Laaer Berg. I pass apartment blocks and summer garden cottages and plots. After about 10 to 15 minutes, a clearing appears in the forest.

There’s a ferris wheel. There’s another ride with a vertical drop, some flat rides, even a small roller coaster.

The modest fairground is open on this warm late-afternoon in early-June, which means crowds are a little sparse with most kids in school and adults at work. Still, there’s a scatter of families: some with strollers, and others with young children dragging their parents to the nearest ride or closest treat.

There are spots to buy cold pop/soda, ice cream, and grilled sausage. There are also a couple of larger places for beer, wine, and typical Austrian “fare at the fair”.

And somewhere in the midst of a blaring soundtrack of top-40 and classic rock is home to Europe’s oldest carousel or merry-go-round.

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Fotoeins Friday: winter scenes, eight (Fellhorn)

I’m standing on the Germany-Austria border after having hopped off the Fellhorn cable car at its mountain station (elevation 1967 metres / 6453 feet). The skies have cleared just enough for a commanding view of the surrounding Allgäu Alps and Austria’s Kleinwalsertal valley below. In this image facing southwest are Möserbahn Bergstation at centre-right and Kanzelwandbahn Bergstation at upper right, above which is the peak Grosse Widderstein. Clusters of alpine skiers are visible as groups and lines of black dots on white snow.

I made the image on 8 Mar 2017 with a Canon EOS6D mark1 and these settings: 1/1000-sec, f/22, ISO1000, and 45mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-o88.

My Vienna: Schneekugelmanufaktur, home of snow globes since 1900

Above/featured:“Greetings from Vienna.” Vienna-themed snow globes, 25- and 45mm sizes.

The five-year old boy sat transfixed, flipping the paperweight then back the other way, watching the “snow” slowly float and settle. My fascination with snow globes didn’t wane, long decades after that very first memory.

In the Austrian capital city of Vienna, I’m visiting a small shop and accompanying museum to learn about the production of the “original snow globe” whose story begins with Erwin Perzy in 1900.

Perzy who produced surgical instruments was tasked to improve the output from the recently invented electric light bulb and further brighten hospital surgery rooms. He realized that a water-filled glass sphere containing loose reflective bits could provide a solution, except that the materials kept sinking. Flakes of white semolina tended to stay afloat longer; this experiment reminded him of light snowfall. After registering an official patent for the “Schneekugel” (snow globe), Erwin and his brother Ludwig created a shop to produce and sell small snow globes whose early designs included churches. Today, the 3rd generation of the Perzy continues to produce snow globes of various sizes; what material the “snow” is and how it continues to “float” remain secret.

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Fotoeins Friday: winter scenes, seven (Höfatsblick)

As part of the Nebelhorn cable car adjacent to the town of Oberstdorf, Höfatsblick station is one of two “mid-level” stations between base and mountain stations. But even at an elevation of 1932 metres (6339 feet), plenty of snow is found at Höfatsblick, and ski runs starting from higher up continue on down. With a lone skier in the lower-half of the image; this southwest view reaches out to mountains along the Austria-Germany border region (including Hohes Licht and Biberkopf) and beyond.

I made the image on 5 Mar 2017 with a Canon EOS6D mark1 and these settings: 1/640-sec, f/20, ISO500, and 24mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-o5V.

Am Quicken, Mittenwald, Karwendel, Bayern, Bavaria, Oberbayern, Upper Bavaria, Werdenfelser Land, Germany, Deutschland, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: winter scenes, six (Klais)

In the present-day town of Klais just west of Mittenwald, traces from 2000 years of history are revealed through the existence of a Roman road and a 8th-century church. A short venture through the forest to the “back” (south) side leads to an area called Am Quicken. There are a number of trails for hiking and cross-country skiing with views southeast and southwest facing the Karwendel and Wettersteinwand, respectively.

I made the image on 1 Mar 2017 with a Canon EOS6D mark1 and these settings: 1/1000-sec, f/22, ISO1000, and 35mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-o5r.

Karwendelbahn, Karwendel, Dammkar, Bayern, Bavaria, Oberbayern, Upper Bavaria, Werdenfelser Land, Germany, Deutschland, Tirol, Tyrol, Austria, Österreich, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: winter scenes, five (Karwendel)

Above Mittenwald and next to the mountain station of the Karwendelbahn cable car is a tunnel “underneath” the mountain to its “backside” whose alternate route is down into the Dammkar valley. Experienced and adventurous skiers make the short 400-metre trek through the tunnel to the Dammkar ski run (black diamond, off-piste). This is what it’s like to stare into the unknown maw of a deep mountain valley. When the snow’s gone in summer, the Dammkar is a mountain-hike down past a couple of alpine huts.

In southern Bavaria, Mittenwald is 23 km east from Garmisch-Partenkirchen; frequent trains between the two towns is only 20 minutes each way. Mittenwald is also served by trains north from Innsbruck.

I made the image on 27 Feb 2017 with a Canon EOS6D mark1 and these settings: 1/400-sec, f/22, ISO500, and 24mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-o2H.

My Vienna: how centuries pass at Judenplatz (Jewish square)

Above/featured: Judenplatz at night. The Holocaust memorial is in the foreground at centre. In the background are “To the little trinity” at centre and Misrachi House (Museum Judenplatz) at right. Photo, 10 Jun 2022.

At Judenplatz are clear visual reminders of the city’s first Jewish community in medieval times.

The first Jewish community in Vienna settled around present-day Judenplatz in the Middle Ages with mention in written documents dated mid- to late-13th century AD/CE. Daily Jewish life thrived around the Or-Sarua Synagogue, the Jewish School, and the Mikveh ritual bath. The community along with the surrounding Jewish neighbourhood came to an end with the Pogrom of 1421. Catholic Habsburg Duke Albrecht II rolled out a decree (Wiener Geserah, Vienna Gesera) which legitimatized the expulsion, incarceration, torture, and murder of some 800 Jewish residents; accompanied by destruction and forced takeover of buildings and property.

Below I highlight remnants and traces to the medieval Jewish community at this square in central Vienna.

Judenplatz, Vienna, Wien, Oesterreich, Austria, fotoeins.com

Facing northwest: B, Bohemian Chancellery; H, Holocaust Memorial; L, Lessing monument; M, Misrachi House; T, To the little Trinity. Photo, 20 May 2018.