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Easter 2010 – Barcelona

By andre_, on June 10th, 2010

Another trip, made in April this year.
“Children in Barcelona” was the starter, and now the Whole Trip to Barcelona is on line, as the main course.

Four days, few quarters, many kilometers walked through the city.
About sixty photos, here (over more than 360 made), less correlated each other than any trip.
I don’t know why, but this peculiarity is quite important, enjoying the galleries.

The photos are mostly BW, partially because of the wheather, but more often because it’s the best way to describe every big town…

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Also the Sagrada Familia is in BW, in my sight, as well as the Joan Miró’s handworks.

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But there’s something that claim the colors.
Casa Batlló, Parc Güell….

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So, let’s start from THIS PAGE.
a_

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Children in Barcelona

By andre_, on May 4th, 2010

A cloudy day during our last trip, in Barcelona.
Plaça de Sant Felip Neri, near the cathedal, in the Barri Gotic (the medieval nuke of the city).

A group of children play, run and shout in the old, fashionable place. Maybe they were pupils from the near school.

Normally, I don’t like take photos of children (actually, I don’t like children at all), but in that very moment, with the low contrast from the diffuse light, the scene was very involving.

And I stole some photos.
All in less than two minutes, from different points of view, and without any change in my gear.
All the photos I’ve taken are shown here.

These first two are my preferred, but I recommend to enjoy the pictures from the gallery below, one after another.

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…And the children didn’t notice me, kept on playing.
a_

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The spider’s lunch – some macro

By andre_, on April 23rd, 2010

A cloudy day, last September.
The right day for a little macro shooting, near Randers, where I live.

My camera, a couple of macro lenses and the ring flash (Metz 15 MS-1).
It’s all I needed to describe some little tragedies.

Or some lunches, it depends which side of the table you are sitting on….

Spiders are the characters in every shoot.
Flies, mostly, are the meal.

A pair of solitary eaters:
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    NIKON D700 at ISO 200 - Focal length 60 mm at f/16 , 1/250 s
    © 2009 andre_

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    NIKON D700 at ISO 200 - Focal length 60 mm at f/16 , 1/250 s
    © 2009 andre_

And two fellows… that fight for a succulent fly:
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Öland – The last page of Sweden 2009′s trip

By andre_, on March 14th, 2010

The last days before coming back to Danmark.
An unusual landscape, after many days sourrounded by woods, forests and lakes.

A flat island, and almost completely devoid of trees: Öland.
Peculiar….
So peculiar that I’ve taken about 150 photos in these two days.
And I’ve chosen one third, to show you.

Because a lot of photos are needed to describe properly the various landscapes….
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D700 at 200ISO, 20mm f2.8 AF, f11, 1/1000sec, bias -1EV

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D700 at 200ISO, 20mm f2.8 AF, f8, 1/500sec, bias 2/3EV

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D700 at 200ISO, 28mm f2.8 AF, f11, 1/500sec, bias -1/3EV

The typical windmills (corrently about 250, on the over two thousands existent an hundred years ago):
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Sigurd runestone tells a saga

By andre_, on February 6th, 2010

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D700 at 200ISO, 16mm f2.8 AF, f5.6, 1/100sec, bias 0EV

“Otter was one of Rodmar’s three sons. When he fished for salmon, he took on the shape of an otter. On one such occasion, the Æsir Loki, Hörnir and Odin happened by on their way to Rodmar’s house where they planned to spend the night. The Æsir thought that an otter skin would be a suitable gift for Rodmar. So, Otter was killed by a stone Loki threw at him.

Later that evening the three Æsir went to Rodmar and showed him their prey. Rodmar became angry, and demanded that the Æsir filled the otter skin with gold as penance for the crime. Loki went to the Anvara river and used his net to catch the rich dwarf Andvari, who had taken on the shape of a pike.

The dwarf purchased his freedom with all his gold he owned, except for one gold ring. But the gold was not enough to fill the otter skin. One more piece of gold was needed. Andvari tried to hide his ring. When Loki ripped the ring from his hand, the dwarf spoke a curse over all who come in contact with the gold, especially the magic gold ring.

Once Rodmar had received the gold, he did not want to share it with his other two sons, Fafnir and Regin. Fafnir became enraged and killed his father to get at the gold. Thereafter, Fafnir took the shape of a snake and brooded on top of the gold in his home, in a place called Gnitaheden.

Regin, the other brother who was a smith, wanted his share of the patrimony and planned to seize the gold through trickery. He brought Sigurd, who had earlier become his foster son, into his plans. He forged a razor-sharp sword, named Gram, for Sigurd.

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D700 at 200ISO, 20mm f2.8 AF, f8, 1/160sec, bias 0EV

Urged on by his foster father Reign, Sigurd dug a hole in the ground at Gnitaheden, where Fafnir (in the shape of a snake) used to slither his way to a lake to drink. When Fafnir passed the hole, Sigurd stabbed him through the heart with his sword, Gram. Fafnir died and Sigurd was given the name of Fafnesbane (the slayer of Fafnir).

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D700 at 400ISO, 20mm f2.8 AF, f8, 1/125sec, bias 0EV

After the deed, Regin asked Sigurd to roast the heart of Fafnir over an open fire. He wanted to eat the heart so that the soul of Fafnir would not die, because after all he was Regin’s brother.
Sigurd accidently burnt himself and put his finger in his mouth. He got Fafnir’s blood on his tongue. Instantly he could understand the meaning of the birdsong.

The birds warned Sigurd. Regin was planning to kill him, partly to revenge his brother Fafnir, partly to get the treasure for himself. The birds advised Sigurd to kill Regin.
Sigurd sought out Regin and cut off his head so that he would escape his thoughts in the future.

Then, Sigurd travelled to Fafnir’s home, where he found the disputed gold and many other precious objects. He loaded the treasure onto his horse Grani, a direct descendant of Odin’s horse Sleipnir. However, Grani refused to move from his stall before Sigurd himself mounted.”

800px-Sigurd
Drawing source: Wikipedia

This is the Sigurd Fafnesbane history, according to the Vöslunga saga.
We found this peculiar runestone (poetically called Sö 101) close to Rasmund (near Eskiltuna), where it was carved in XII century.
Maybe it isn’t the best Sigurd stone, for the artistic contents, but it’ s probably the most complete description of the Saga.
Large (at least six meters), the stone summarize some anecdotes of the story:
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Another stage of the Sweden’s journey – The Göta Kanal

By andre_, on February 3rd, 2010

Note: The holiday is on line!
In the “trip” category, starting from THIS LINK

In a trip in southern Sweden, one of the charatheristic sights is the Göta Kanal.
Built in the late XIX Century, this 190Km long canal has boon its importance to link the Vättern lake to the Baltic Sea.

We met a pair of the 58 locks, where we could admire the perfection of the engineering works, opposed to the complete inability of the tourists to manage it.
The result was funny…

Undoubtedly, the locks are a good subject for the photos…
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D700 at 200ISO, 20mm f2.8 AF, f8, 1/640sec, bias -2/3EV

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D700 at 200ISO, 20mm f2.8 AF, f8, 1/800sec, bias -1 2/3EV

A good location to shoot a portrait:
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