Culture | Fotoeins Fotografie

Posts from the ‘Culture’ category

“Science is an integral part of culture. It’s not this foreign thing, done by an arcane priesthood. It’s one of the glories of the human intellectual tradition.” – S.J. Gould.

T06 Heidelberg: Church of the Holy Falcons Featured

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The Church of the Holy Spirit stands tall over Heidelberg’s Market Square. But up top its central steeple is an annual springtime renewal: a new family of falcons.

For a number of years, volunteers have managed the “nest box” in the steeple above the clock face, and run the Wanderfalken website. A couple of falcons pair up, mum lays eggs in the cozy church box on high, and parents raise the chicks over a timescale of weeks: until the chicks “disappear” in flight. All of this is in view of everyone who has Internet access.

The nest’s entrance faces “out” to the east, as seen in “Webcam 1” with Heidelberg’s Karlsplatz and Kornmarkt visible. Webcam 2 faces “in” to the “back” of the box, and Webcam 3 from the outside faces west to the roost next to the entrance.

*Church of the Holy Spirit, facing west from Marktplatz (Market Square): 1x digital zoom.*

*Falcon nest in the square above the clock face. In shadow to afternoon light, you can barely discern the presence of a falcon on the perch. 10x digital zoom*.

I made the first two images above with an iPhone15 on 13 May 2024, plus remaining same-day screen captures from webcams on the Wanderfalken website. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

T04 Darmstadt: fossil site Messel pit

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Located near the town of Messel outside of Darmstadt, about 20-minutes south from Frankfurt by train, the Grube Messel (Messel pit fossil site) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed since 1995. With perfect hindsight, it’s hard to believe people once wanted to use the pit as a garbage dump. Most fossils found thus far are dated to an age of about 48 million years (48 Ma, middle Eocene).

*Near-complete fossil of equine-predecessor “propalaeotherium voigti” (c. 48 Ma). The size is comparable to a small present-day dog.*

*Fossil of possibly world’s earliest python: “messelopython freyi” (c. 48 Ma). The fossil itself is comparable to an adult human hand.*

*About 60 metres (200 feet) deep and 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) wide, the pit area remains an active archaeological site.*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 11 May 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

T03 Darmstadt: gutsy city, Mathildenhöhe

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In Darmstadt about 20-minutes south from Frankfurt by train, the Mathildenhöhe (Mathilda Heights) Artists’ Colony is a UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed since 2021. Pictured in afternoon light: at left, the Wedding Tower by J.M. Olbrich in 1908; at right, the Russian Chapel by L.N. Benois in 1899; and at lower-centre, the Lily Basin by A. Müller in 1914.

I made the image above with an iPhone15 on 10 May 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

Fotoeins Friday: Berlin Neue Nationalgalerie, 2 of 5

I’d been to Berlin countless times between 2002 and 2020, much of my time inhabiting a lot of different spaces and streets. In late-2021, borders and skies slowly reopened to international travel, as the world began turning a corner in an early post-vaccination age. I hopped some 8000-kilometres to the other side of the planet for 10 days in Berlin. I also finally returned to visit the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) for the first time in over 10 years. From their collection, I highlight this month five works of art from the early 20th-century.

Die Skatspieler (The Skat Players), Otto Dix, 1920.

I made the photo above on 26 Nov 2021 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and these settings: 1/125-sec, f/3.6, ISO4000, and 18mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-rM5.