Windmill

The Netherlands are famous for their windmills. In fact, the county pr0bably would not have come into existence without the use of windmills for pumping away the surplus water from the surface of the polders below sea level. The water pumping windmills were replaced by steam powered and eventually electric pumps which have a much higher capacity. Other uses for windmills were of course milling of grain or pigments, sawing of timber and extraction of oil.

This is the last traditional water pumping windmill left on the island of Texel

Empire Mine, Vice

While touring the Empire Mine State Park with Friedhelm and Nancy, I noticed this vice in the machine shop. Like most shops of the 49er era they made everything there. Not very much was purchased from the nearest Lowes, Home Depot or Mines-R-Us. Also notice the tools and metal in the background.

Bei einem Rundgang durch den Empire Mine State Park ist mir dieser Schraubstock in der Maschinenhalle aufgefallen. Wie die meisten Läden der 49er-Ära haben sie dort alles gemacht. Nicht viel wurde von den nächsten Lowes, Home Depot oder Mines-R-Us gekauft. Beachten Sie auch die Werkzeuge und das Metall im Hintergrund.

Perseids – Meteor Shower

Last year August (2020), together with Nancy, David, and Friedhelm we drove high up into the Sierra Nevada Mountains, along Hwy 108 in California. We settled at Donnells View Point, close to the Sonora Pass. I employed two cameras. One was pointed towards the “right side” of the Perseus Constellation, including the Andromeda Galaxy. I hoped to get longer meteoroid light streaks that way. The second camera was pointed about 180 degrees away, towards the South, including Saturn and Jupiter as well as the Milky Way. Here, I hoped to get even longer light streaks.

When tiny meteorites spin off the Swift-Tuttle Comet, those meteorites flying into our earth’s atmosphere, mostly Mesosphere, ionize air molecules generating positively charged ions that quickly grab a nearby free electron to neutralize itself. By doing so, excess energy is released as recombination glow that we then can see as light streak or “meteor shower”.

I took hundreds of photo over the course of a couple hours. But, last year my skills handling Photoshop was still evolving and I was not yet up to overlaying the photos properly. Well, this year I am much more advanced using Photoshop. And because this year (2021) there is so much smoke in the air from the Dixie Fire, hardly any meteor showers are visible and so I can finally show what I got from 2020.

First Photo: Perseids – Meteor Shower – to the “Right” of the Perseus Constellation

Perseids Meteor Shower

Second Photo: Perseids – Meteor Shower – towards the South, towards Saturn & Jupiter and Milky Way

Perseids Meteor Shower – Saturn&Jupiter and Milky Way

Shaped by the Elements

I photographed this tree at Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. The tree was shaped by the elements and depends totally on the elements. I converted the image to black and white to create more drama. In addition I used the natural and imaginary lines to emphasize the tree trunk. Enjoy!

This is the colored version of the image. Which image do you like better and why?

Fotomalerei

Heute gibt es mal kein “normales”Foto. Anke und ich waren ja neulich im Mühlenmuseum in Gifhorn. Dort hatte ich dieses Bild von Blumen in zwei Blumenkübeln (s. unten) vor einer Mühle aufgenommen. Ganz nett, aber wenig spektakulär. Also habe ich mir überlegt, ob man nicht doch noch etwas Interessanteres daraus machen könnte. Und hier ist das Ergebnis.

Today there is no “normal” photo. Anke and I were recently in the mill museum in Gifhorn. There I had taken this picture of flowers in two flower pots (see below) in front of a mill. Quite nice, but not very spectacular. So I thought about whether one could not make something more interesting out of it. And here is the result.

In Oebisfelde

Es ist wohl schon etwas länger her, dass der Besitzer dieses Fahrrades sein Eis im Burgcafé in Oebisfelde gegessen hat. Möglicherweise hat er alle Bücher aus dem Bücherschrank gelesen. 😉

It must have been a while ago that the owner of this bike ate his ice cream at the Burgcafé in Oebisfelde. Possibly he has read all the books from the bookcase. 😉