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Pictures of Elijah in Freising

October 25, 2012 in Photo | No comments

The Performance of Elijah (by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy) in the Luitpoldhalle in Freising (Germany) was a delight for eyes and ears. After each piece I see now way to improve on a great performance and then the creative team blows me away with yet another superlative.

The stage was placed in front of the orchestra and only about 30 centimeters high. That way the audience almost sat on the stage. Smack in the middle instead of just along for the ride …

The orchestra was visible behind (and above) the stage through a translucent curtain. In this picture, taken during the preparations for the performance, you can get a good impression of the setup.

The stage for Elijah, as seen by the audience.

The orchestra, on the other hand, had a special view of the acting, which I found fascinating:

View from the orchestra on to the stage.

I huddled down in the middle, right in front of the stage – a perfect place for photography. What I did not expect was the auditory and emotional force of an Elijah belting out a solo at a distance of half a pace. That was an emotional roller coaster ride that I have never experienced before. It gave me a whole new, personal relationship with the oratorio.

The narrator before the second act.

All pictures are here for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

First Pictures of the Premiere Performance of Elijah

October 7, 2012 in Photo | No comments

Yesterday afternoon was the premiere performance of Elijah (by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy) in the Luitpoldhalle, in Freising (Germany).

The stage setting is fantastic and the performers blew me away. The impression was underlined by the fact the audience almost sits on stage.

Dancing ballerinas in white tulle glide on stage as angels.

Angels on Approach

 

Elijah stands above the priests of Baal and proclaims the death sentence.

Elijah sentences the priests of Ball to death

 

A boy looks into the distance and spies the first wisps of rain clouds while the people are desperate.

The Boy Sees a Rain Cloud

I’m really looking forward to experiencing the performance again today!

Photos of Chinese Factories by Stephen Wilkes

October 3, 2012 in Photography | No comments

Photographer Stephen Wilkes made photos of contemporary Chinese factories and the workers in them. An article explaining the background and his motivation is here. Well worth a visit!

Mountainscapes and Sheep

September 10, 2012 in Photo | No comments

My good friend Wolfgang has been very persistent in insisting that we take up hiking the mountains again, so that is what we recently did.

The plan was to go to the Rappensee and then hike some of the peaks there. I had spent the previous week (re-)paving around the house and my knees cried foul the second day. So I stayed at the Rappensee as he stormed the peaks. Fortunately, I do not need my knees to operate a camera.

Sheep grazing on the side of a grassy mountain.

Mountain Sheep

The dramatic clouds you see in the pictures are slightly misleading: while there were a number of clouds about, it was actually quite sunny and warm.

Dramatic lighting in the clouds as the mountainside and the sheep on it go dark in the dusk.

Dusk falls

 

Finally, here’s a panorama seen from the Seebichl:

Mountain panorama seen from the top of the Seebichl.

Mountain Panorama seen from Seebichl

 

I am really happy with the images and I am even happier that I spent some quality time with a good friend.

Bleeding Heart Flowers

May 1, 2010 in Photo | No comments

The windflowers in the last post are wilting away, unfortunately before I had a chance to re-visit them. Instead, the bleeding heart flowers are in full bloom – such is the cycle of life.

The bleeding heart, also known as Venus’s car, Dutchman’s trousers, lyre flower or by their latin name lamprocapnos spectabilis is originally from Korea and north and western China, but it seems to do very well in almost any temperate climate, so it is a very popular garden plant.

We simply let it grow and cut the wilted stalks short in the fall and they come back year after year.

Bleeding Heart Flowers in a Row

Bleeding Heart Flowers

In order to take the photo, I mounted the camera on a tripod and used an insane amount of extension (over 50 mm for a 70-200 mm lens). Despite an aperture of f/16, the depth of field is extremely shallow, about 2-3 mm in my estimate. That, combined with the light wind that moves the flowers like swings on a playground, made it challenging to get sharp images.

What really amazes me is how the lower white parts of the blossoms are textured. I had never noticed this with the real flowers before taking these pictures. Which just goes to show how photography can expand your awareness of the world. 🙂

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