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My entry for the Strobist Boot Camp (BC3) assignment #1:

Pauline with Felix and other Fair Folk
Pauline with Felix and other Fair Folk

When I read the assignment, Pauline Hermann was the first person that came to mind. I knew that I wanted to do a picture of her because I admire the work she does in my community.

Pauline Hermann is a native Freising artist specializing in the various fairy creatures (the Fair Folk) of the area. She initially started to create the fairies her grandfather told her stories about when she was a child. When she ran out of space, she converted a room of her grandfathers old house to fairy living space. With time, the house has filled up room by room …

During long walks in nature, the fairies seem to find Pauline. She then offers them a home in the house so people may become re-acquainted with the enchanted fairy world and the special ways of its denizens. Pauline believes that it is important in this very rational age for children and adults alike to elope to a magic realm every once in a while in order to stay connected with the creative and imaginative powers that are inherent within all of us.

I had planned to spend an hour on the entire shoot, but I overran the time by over 100% … My initial plan was to light the background and throw just a tight spot of light on her face. But that did not work out, I needed more separation from the background. So I set up the hairlight (which I don’t usually use) and over an hour was gone by the time that looked right.

Then Pauline sat for me and we chatted and I shot away another hour. Finally, the doorbell rang and we had to stop. I can only thank Pauline for being so patient – I hope she had as good a time as I did and is just as pleased with the results!

A total lunar eclipse was visible over Germany tonight. After an hour spent waiting anxiously, the clouds did finally clear and revealed the red moon:

Airport Eclipse
Airport Eclipse

My son is learning to swim and consequently I am regularly spending time at the pool. I recently took a camera along.

Swimming Lesson
Swimming Lesson

Stefan Schoberth of www.kinderschwimmen.de is watching a student who is quite low in the water …

Saved!
Saved!

… until he reaches solid “ground”.

I like how closely Stefan pays attention to the children, creating a safe environment for them to experience water on their own terms. It seems that it’s not just the children who are having a great time!

Swimming Instructor Stefan
Swimming Instructor Stefan

A word of advice: because a lot of intense sunlight passes through the giant windows the air temperature can easily reach close to 40°C (104°F) with high humidity. Cold metal or glas immediately collects a film of condensation. On the one hand this can quickly damage the electronics, on the other hand it is not really possible to take a picture through a fogged lens.

In order to avoid this, the camera and lens should have enough time to acclimatize and reach the ambient temperature. This is best done in an airtight plastic bag. I have had good results using Ziploc bags, such as Ziploc Double Zipper Gallon Storage Bags. Pick a size suitable for your camera. If you do not get the double-zipper bag, you can use two bags, one inside the other, to ensure that the content is really kept dry.

With seemingly nothing better to do than to crawl around on my belly wrangling a tripod with a camera, I found the this little baby fern:

Fern Spiral
Fern Spiral

I find the hairy stem of the fern quite lovely and I really like the way the fern spiral repeats itself in the background.

Under a hedge in our garden, a small colony of common wood-sorrel is doing quite well. Because of the warm weather, the wood-sorrel is now in bloom – an opportunity I did not want to miss!

It is shady under the hedge and when a ray of light penetrates through to the wood-sorrel blossoms, the blossoms light up like magic:

Common Wood-Sorrel Blossom
Common Wood-Sorrel Blossom

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