Markus' Photo Blog

Uhrenmuseum Wien

2012-01-03T12:29:00.008+01:00

Windischeschenbach

2011-11-27T21:07:00.004+01:00

Nationalbibliothek Wien

2011-11-13T16:19:00.032+01:00

Almost all of these photos were taken wide open (f/2.0 or f/2.8) at very high ISO settings around 3000 with a Fujifilm X100.

Takeoff and landing at München

2011-11-12T15:14:00.003+01:00

Valencia

2011-11-05T17:06:00.027+01:00

LX423, BHX-ZRH

2011-10-23T09:30:00.002+02:00

Flying home from Birmingham.

Dash 8

2011-10-01T23:03:00.000+02:00

Flying home in a Bombardier Dash 8.

Travel Preparations

2011-09-12T20:20:00.004+02:00

Amsterdam

2011-09-12T18:07:00.009+02:00

Sunset in Moscow

2011-09-12T17:49:00.001+02:00

Moscow

2011-09-08T19:29:00.001+02:00

Just returning from the ici7 conference in Moscow, Russia.

Berlin

2011-08-15T22:27:00.004+02:00

Just returning from an enjoyable short visit to Berlin where I stayed at the Ritz-Carlton. They have a nice Bentley T2 but refused to give me the keys...

Schrottsammlung

2011-08-15T22:24:00.003+02:00

Schrott in jeglicher Hinsicht...

B747

2011-08-14T09:36:00.003+02:00

Reval

2011-05-29T06:22:00.004+02:00

Ich sehe vor mich oder hinter mich:
ich fühle den Tod alle Zeiten um mich.

-- Revaler Totentanz

Alle alten Städte sind Nekropolen. Dies wenigstens haben sie voraus vor den jungen, den überwachen, den hurtig zur Höhe gewachsenen: Das Volk ihrer Toten ist unzählbar. Eine alte Stadt mag Menschen haben, soviel sie will; was ist die Menge derer, die sie bewohnen, vor der Menge derer, die sie bewohnt haben? Die in Häusern leben und über Straßen gehen, das sind ja die Wenigen; die Vielen aber wohnen in den grauen Kirchen und Gruftkapellen der Stadt unter den schweren, gemeißelten Grabplatten, unter dem Rasen der Friedhöfe vor ihren Toren, unter dem Steinpflaster ihrer Kirchenplätze. Die Lebenden sind ein Augenblick gleich der Gegenwart; die Toten aber sind die Unendlichkeit der Zeit und sind die Beständigen. Heute ist ihnen wie gestern und morgen, den Unterschied der Jahre kennen sie nicht, und sie sind in einer großen Gelassenheit.

-- Walter Bergengruen (1892 - 1964)
Der Tod von Reval
Kuriose Geschichten aus einer alten Stadt

Palindromes

2011-05-26T16:09:00.004+02:00

Yesterday, stuck in Moscow's traffic jam on my way to Домоде́дово Airport, I was wondering about Palindromes.

For example:

1 x 1 = 1 (trivial)

11 x 11 = 121

111 x 111 = 12 321

1 111 x 1 111 = 1 234 321

11 111 x 11 111 = 123 454 321

...

111 111 111 x 111 111 111 = 12 345 678 987 654 321

nice, isn't it?

[TIA]

2011-05-14T09:51:00.004+02:00

Incrementalism

2011-05-13T19:01:00.002+02:00

Almost a textbook example of Incrementalism. Seen in Tirana, Albania.

MarktCafé Münster

2011-05-02T20:24:00.001+02:00

Four Red Phone Booths

2011-04-22T13:47:00.007+02:00

London, 2007

Vodafone

2011-04-20T06:27:00.003+02:00

Cairo, 2009

Coca Cola

2011-04-19T19:03:00.002+02:00

Cairo, 2009

Bregenz

2011-04-16T19:29:00.004+02:00

In Bregenz currently the stage design for André Chénier is under construction.

10 photos

2011-04-03T19:38:00.002+02:00

Ten random photos from my weekend trip.

Madrid

2011-03-30T08:30:00.000+02:00

View on Calle Atocha from my room at the Hotel Nacional, Madrid, Spain.

Hermitage

2011-03-13T16:02:00.036+01:00

Light and Time

2011-03-13T10:20:00.006+01:00

Berlin

2011-03-08T20:46:00.009+01:00

Warnung

2011-02-26T15:53:00.004+01:00

Gestern in Berlin: zumindest wurden wir vor Betreten des Restaurants gewarnt. ;-)

Pocket Watches

2011-02-20T09:31:00.000+01:00

Shop window in Madrid, Spain.

Mercado de San Miguel, Madrid, Spain

2011-01-23T12:21:00.006+01:00

Full Moon

2011-01-23T12:16:00.002+01:00

Photo taken on a Swiss flight from Madrid to Zürich on January 19th, 2011.

Giraffe

2011-01-15T20:43:00.002+01:00

Seen at Düsseldorf Airport. Lomography 30mm lens, f/8, handheld approx. 30 sec. Expired Kodak ISO 400 colour negative film.

Gamla Stan

2011-01-06T19:51:00.011+01:00

Ach

2011-01-02T13:36:00.003+01:00

ACH

Ach, noch in der letzten Stunde
werde ich verbindlich sein,
Klopft der Tod an meine Türe,
rufe ich geschwind: Herein!

Woran soll es gehn? Ans Sterben?
Hab ich zwar noch nie gemacht,
doch wir werd’n das Kind schon schaukeln –
na, das wäre ja gelacht!

Interessant so eine Sanduhr!
Ja, die halt ich gern mal fest.
Ach – und das ist Ihre Sense?
Und die gibt mir dann den Rest?

Wohin soll ich mich jetzt wenden?
Links? Von Ihnen aus gesehn?
Ach, von mir aus! Bis zur Grube?
Und wie soll es weitergehn?

Ja, die Uhr ist abgelaufen.
Wollen Sie die jetzt zurück?
Gibt’s die irgendwo zu kaufen?
Ein so ausgefall’nes Stück

Findet man nicht alle Tage,
womit ich nur sagen will
– ach! Ich soll hier nichts mehr sagen?
Geht in Ordnung! Bin schon

-- Robert Gernhard (1937 - 2006),

Lichte Gedichte

Zürich, Haffmanns, 1997

Click!!

2011-01-01T00:03:00.001+01:00

Demel

2010-12-29T15:34:00.002+01:00

Zanzibar

2010-12-26T19:59:00.005+01:00

dise insel genannt zanzibar hot umbfangen 2000 meil die hott ire aigene könik und ire besunder sprach und die inwoner petten abgötter an sind gross leut gleich wan ir einer hatt vier unser man sterck und ir einer isst so vil als ander fünf menschen sie gin al nacket und sind all schwarz leut fast ungestalt mit grossen langn oren, weiten münden gross schreckliche augen, hend zu viermalen grösser dan ander leut hend. ire weiber sind auch also graussam anzusehen wie die man. dis volk nert sich der datellen milch reis und fleisch kein wein wechst bey in si machen aber gut tranck von reis und von zucker grosse kaufmanschaft geschicht beij in von ambra und von helfont zenen do sindt vil helefant leven und leoparden auch gyraffen und leonzen und vil andere thier di fast ongeleich unseren thieren sindt dis beschreibt marco polo in dritten puch an dem xij capitel.

This island, called Zanzibar, has a cicumference of 2,000 miles; it has its own king and separate language; the inhabitants worship false gods; they are big men, and they are strong as four of our men, and eat as much as five of them. They all go naked, and are all black and very much mis-shapen, with big long ears, broad mouths, dreadful eyes, and hands four times bigger than the hands of other men. And their women are as ugly as are their men. These people live on dates, milk, rice, and meat. Their country does not produce wine, but they make a good drink of rice and sugar. There is much trade in ambergris and elephant tusks. Many elephants, lions and leopards are found there, as also giraffes, and dogs, and many other animals, very different from our animals. Marco Polo in the 3rd book and the 41st chapter [Pipino's version] describes all this.

[Translated by E.G. Ravenstein, London, 1908]

Dürrenmatt

2010-12-14T19:42:00.001+01:00

«Der Mensch ist das einzige Lebewesen, das weiss, dass es sterben wird. Die Verdrängung dieses Wissens ist das einzige Drama des Menschen.»

-- Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Motion artefacts

2010-11-27T17:32:00.006+01:00

These images, taken with a Horizon Panoramic Camera on a flight from Lugano to Zurich in 2007, show interesting motion artefacts. The Horizon has a 28mm f/2.8 lens (and quite a good one I have to say!) which rotates during exposure, thus covering horizontally 120° field of view. Due to this rotation, different areas of the film are exposed at different times - this is why the propeller's blades are curved and why the shadow of the blades doesn't correspond to the position - the picture is exposed from left to right. The exposure time was probably 1/250s or 1/500s however it takes much longer than that for the lens to rotate accross the film's 'plane' (which in fact is a cylindrical surface).

Fisheye

2010-11-20T16:21:00.009+01:00

Horizon

2010-11-20T15:20:00.001+01:00

28mm Horizon 120° lens, Fuji ISO 400 colour negative film which was still in the camera, processed last week about 3 years after its best before date.

Redscale film

2010-11-20T11:50:00.003+01:00

Actually it can get worse: same 30mm lens, redscale film which got scratched in the lab. Because of the red tint blemishes can't be corrected in the infrared channel by the scanning software.

Lomo 30mm Panoramic Lens + Kodak Gold

2010-11-20T11:08:00.004+01:00

It won't get much worse than that. ;-)

Nürnberg

2010-11-19T23:49:00.004+01:00

Genua

2010-11-13T15:30:00.010+01:00

Among my recently rediscovered unprocessed films I found these pictures, taken with a Horizon panoramic camera (which covers a 120° horizontal field of view with a 28mm lens) on Fuji Velvia 100. I remember I was staying at the 'old' Savoy Hotel which after its renovation never was the same - so I must have taken these pictures in early 2007.

Old Film

2010-11-12T21:47:00.005+01:00

Last week I discovered a roll of half-exposed film in one of my cameras. The pictures were taken in 2006 or 2007, the film was already expired at this time. I remember I took those pictures during the winter at the Beselerplatz in Hamburg-Othmarschen where I used to live at this time.

Order confirmation

2010-11-06T14:39:00.001+01:00

I ordered something at lomography.com. This certainly is the most unusual order confirmation message I've ever received. ;-)

Sunrise

2010-11-06T07:31:00.003+01:00

Night and Day Globe

2010-11-05T16:52:00.031+01:00

Due to a delayed flight I spent yesterday the afternoon at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport where I spotted a nice toy in the Gadget shop.

The more I looked into it the more I was impressed by its elegance, simplicity and sophistication. Although 'Made in China' it isn't cheap plastic and rubbish, it's based on a remarkable design by French inventor Fabien Vienne and protected by an EU patent.

This Day and Night Globe is a clock which has two revolution frequencies:

(1) The globe rotates around the sunshade once in 24 hours.

(2) The globe's axis itself revolves once per year.

Thus it displays accurately sunrise and sunset, the real solar time and the seasons simultaneously for every location on the earth. You can instantly see why the days are much shorter in Stockholm than in Zürich at this time of the year.

The clock is delivered in pieces and one needs to assemble it step by step which was quite fun - everything fit perfectly, the quality is much better than I expected (seeing the "Made in China" sticker on the box. ;-)

The base is an acrylic gear driven by a small electrical motor. This gear transforms the slow but still visible rotation of the motor gearwheel to one revolution of the whole system per year. It also drives the sunshade inside the globe which revolves once a day. It is quite heavy and made of nice, clear acrylic material; the axes are made of metal as you can see in the pictures.

First one has to attach the four support rods which will support the time ring.

The time ring is aligned in a way that midday (12 p.m.) matches exactely the 21st of December on the calender scale.

Next the globe support cup is inserted;

the teeth on the crown gear (three gear wheels in an 120° angle around the support cup) interlock with the teeth on the gear around the hole in the bottom of the southern hemisphere of the globe.

This gear will revolve the globe once a year around its axis.

Now the sunshade can be attached to the metal axis inside the globe - this axis will turn by 360° once in 24 hours.

On the day side of the sunshade a bright LED is attached - the electrical connection is installed in the metal axis.

On the LED there is a grey band. This band needs to be aligned parallel to the sunshade and will project a dawn area between night and day.

Now the globe can be closed.

The time can be set by aligning the date hand with the current day on the calender scale and turning the globe to a position that your reference city is aligned with its current time on the time ring.

Nice, isn't it? ;-)

Gears

2010-10-31T08:19:00.001+01:00

Have a look at these incredible gears by Clayton Boyer!

End of DST tonight

2010-10-30T19:49:00.003+02:00

At least in Europe daylight-saving time will end tonight. We'll get back the hour which was stolen from us half a year ago. I wonder why it doesn't feel as if we indeed did save any daylight...

My next two travel destinations

2010-10-29T22:06:00.002+02:00

das rod mer

2010-10-16T08:32:00.005+02:00

I looked up my next travel destination on Martin Behaim's 1492 globe. It's completely in the wrong place - the Arabs had at this time much more accurate maps of this region as this is very close to one of their most important places and still today there is an arrow in every hotel room, there are iPhone apps and GPS devices and Thuraya phones and info displays in airplanes pointing with satellite based precision to exactely these coordinates.

Wasserkraftwerk Rheinfelden [1898 - 2010]

2010-10-02T10:26:00.010+02:00

Das alte Wasserkraftwerk Rheinfelden - das älteste noch bestehende Flußkraftwerk Europas - wird leider sehr bald zerstört werden - dank inkompetenter Politiker und fanatischer Umweltschützer.

Schweiz aktuell vom 24.11.2008

Magenta/Cyan Anaglyphs

2010-10-02T10:02:00.004+02:00

Nürnberg

2010-09-29T12:53:00.001+02:00

Life expectancy

2010-09-13T11:09:00.006+02:00

First of all, there is absolutely no point in discussing topics like CO2 emission and global warming with non-vegetarians. I'm always amused when fellow men criticize me for driving cars which consume >20 l / 100 km of gas or for traveling more than 200 flight segments every year.

Or for using light bulbs instead of energy-saving lamps.

By far the largest source of CO2 emission - exceeding all planes, trains and cars on this planet in total! - is: cattle. If there is indeed global warming, the main reason is not my light bulb, its an exploding world population of which the majority of inhabitants on this planet seems to have a preference for eating meat. As simple as that. It's certainly politically incorrect to say this these days, but it's a simple -- and, pun intended, for some experts "inconvenient" -- truth.

Each year on the 1st of September the European Union bans a certain class of light bulbs. Last year 100 Watt light bulbs were banned, this year 75 Watt bulbs, next year 60 Watt light bulbs. Some uninformed people think this will make our planet a better place if they eat their steaks illuminated by fluorescent light.

I for my part loath the cold, flickering light emitted by energy-saving lamps. I even travel with traditional light bulbs in my suitcase. Every year I spend more than 150 nights in hotels and Hilton & friends choose to equip nowadays their hotel rooms with the cheapest and worst energy-saving lamps one can find on the market. Upon my arrival I just replace this offending technology by my 75 W and 100 W light bulbs for the duration of my stay. Most people will call this a bit eccentric and bizarre; fortunately I never really cared about what other people think about me.

The new EU regulations concerning light bulbs forced me to start stocking light bulbs about a year ago. How many bulbs should I keep in stock to avoid the day when I'd have to buy the last light bulb on the planet on eBay and finally arrive in a world where I can't find a single light bulb anymore?

Looking at the statistics, my remaining life expectancy is 39 years and 142 days. That means that from a statistical point of view I'm closer to my date of death than to my date of birth.

The average life expectancy of a light bulb is 1.ooo hours, i.e. 1 year for a light bulb which is used each day for 2 3/4 hours.

4o years x 2o light bulbs in my living room / year = 8oo light bulbs.

With more than 1.ooo light bulbs (assorted 200 W, 100 W, 75 W, 60 W) I should be on the safe side. 2.ooo would still be better.

There are effects which are difficult to take into account. For example there is a certain probability for me to go blind. In this case from a certain point in time on I wouldn't need light bulbs anymore - however in the process of going blind I'd probably need brighter conditions to read so these two effects may compensate.

There are technical risks as well:
- My house may burn down and I could loose all my light bulbs.
- The shelf life may be limited. How long can light bulbs be stored? Even in a dry environment and under moderate temperature conditions the vacuum sealing may loose its properties and maybe those light bulbs I stock today will die away within fractions of a second after flipping the switch in 4o years from now.
- ...

Nevertheless: even taking all those risks into account there doesn't seem to be a real alternative other than stocking light bulbs....

das hyrkanische mer

2010-09-13T09:58:00.001+02:00

One of my next travel destinations in the cartography of Martin Behaim, 1492.

Erdapfel

2010-09-08T18:23:00.004+02:00

My 1492 Martin Behaim Facsimile Globe, currently manufactured by James of Greaves & Thomas on the Isle of Wight, is almost ready. James kindly sent these images. :-)

Moscow - Red Square and Kitajgorod

2010-09-04T15:10:00.009+02:00

Yesterday I returned from a one week trip to Moscow where I stayed - as always - at the Metropol.

Moscow - Kremlin

2010-09-04T14:34:00.010+02:00

Moscow - G.U.M.

2010-09-04T14:24:00.013+02:00

Roman lead for neutrino physics

2010-04-25T16:17:00.006+02:00

Somewhen between 80 B.C. and 50 B.C. a Roman ship sank off the coast of Sardinia. Its cargo, more than 33 tons of lead, was recovered in 1988. Today this metal is used to shield neutrino detectors at Grand Sasso laboratory, located under 1,400 meters of (Italian) rock.

Recently mined lead always contains a small 'contamination' of the lead isotope Pb-210 which is (after some intermediate steps) a decay product of Radon-222. (Radon-222 itself is a radioactive gas produced via the Uranium/Radium decay chain.)

The problem is that Pb-210 is radioactive with a half live of 22 years. It converts via a beta-minus decay into Bi-210. Therefore recently mined lead cannot be used to shield the highly sensitive neutrino detectors.

Thus the neutrino physicists at Gran Sasso were happy to receive about 4 tons of 2,000 years old lead, where the Pb-210 content has decayed below the threshold where it is measurable in the background. Read the full story on nature.com.

Alps

2010-02-14T19:07:00.002+01:00

No RWY 36 anymore

2009-12-19T14:56:00.006+01:00

More than 20 years ago Microsoft's Flight Simulator (in CGA and later EGA on 4,77 MHz 8088 processors) used to be my favourite game. Still today, sitting in a plane approaching Chicago O'Hare, it is remarkable how well I remember every detail of this area although Chicago Meigs Air Field RWY 36 is history...

Cairo

2009-11-06T19:54:00.004+01:00

Größere Kartenansicht

The Marriott Zamalek is located in the center of Cairo - a good place to stay.

Giza Necropolis

2009-11-06T19:40:00.003+01:00

Autumn

2009-10-30T19:52:00.002+01:00

Klar beschildert.

2009-10-30T19:50:00.000+01:00

[YUL]

2009-10-30T19:36:00.002+01:00

Approaching Montreal Dorval Airport

Basel

2009-10-30T19:29:00.000+01:00

Blick aus dem Innenhof des Rathauses.

timecfg.txt

2009-10-24T09:20:00.001+02:00

copy into root directory. will be read during next start and deleted.

Tempest

2009-08-18T11:21:00.001+02:00

View from my balcony yesterday evening.

ResetReset

2009-07-06T19:33:00.003+02:00

battery/power reset:

1.) remove battery

2.) press power-off button 5-10 sec

3.) install battery again

port/PRAM reset:

1.) shutdown system

2.) press AND HOLD cmd+alt+p+r while pressing power-on button - hold keys until 3rd starting sound

3.) release keys.

Anatomical details of a tree

2009-04-16T13:15:00.001+02:00

Dubai

2009-04-15T10:05:00.006+02:00

Todessehnsucht

2009-03-24T22:54:00.001+01:00

Knoxville, TN

2009-02-23T14:59:00.000+01:00

View from my room at the Crown Plaza, downtown Knoxville.

Upload from iPhone :-)

2009-02-21T09:57:00.001+01:00

Basel

2009-02-16T16:17:00.001+01:00

Snow and desert

2009-02-09T13:07:00.004+01:00

brrrrrrrr

2009-01-10T07:31:00.001+01:00

brrrrrr

2009-01-09T04:19:00.002+01:00

Seatguru

2009-01-05T19:50:00.004+01:00

1/ Be early at the airport and ask for a seat at the emergency exit. If there are two rows at the wing exits, always request the rear one (the front one usually has fixed seatbacks).

2/ Have a look at SeatGuru before checking in.

Zürich Air Traffic

2009-01-05T13:43:00.003+01:00

This air traffic map of Zurich Airport is simply amazing. It works in real time as one can check with the arrivals displays -- and looking out of my window I can identify the planes on the sky. :-)

Thanks.....

2008-12-01T09:32:00.000+01:00

How the Hilton in London Kensington ranks the intelligence of its guests.