Uploads from Sprengben [why not get a friend], tagged art, with geodata

The Way Down to Mordor – Lord of the Rings in New Zealand

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:00:00 -0700

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

Another shot of New Zealand! And what a shot?!?

Even though it might not look like it, this is one of the shots that took me hours to process. Normally I don’t need more then let’s say 10-20 minutes. But this one was heavy.

But I should first let you know how this photo came to life:

I was driving down from Abel Tasman National Park to Queenstown in my little Daihatsu which I borrowed at the south Island of New Zealand. I haven’t seen people for about three days. Remember, when you drive a car in New Zealand in winter and you are at the western side of New Zealand’s South Island you are really lonely.

As I drove down the road and listened to some nice Audiobooks which possibly kept me alive from dying of not being around people, I came across this long street. At the end of the street there were mountains. It had rained for days so that there where black clouds just in front of the massive mountains. At the top of the mountain I could see just a bit of light.

I was so impressed of the whole scene that I just stopped at the middle of the raod, turning on my full beam to take a picture of that scene. The problem with the photo was the large contrast in here.

I couldn’t take HDR because I wasn’t so sure about the setup of shutter, aperture and ISO settings.

And as I used the full beam I was honestly blind. My Iris was completely opened. My eyes were just not able to tell what to do.
So I set up my tripod there haven’t even seen a passing car and took approximately 5 shots of the scene. This is the outcome. A dramatic photo which is more luck then skill.

I hope you like it!

There is another funny side story which I want to tell you:

As I stood there having the cars engine and lights running I was wondering if I hear someone snorting. But there was no one. After my second shot I heard water rippling in my left ear.
I was a bit shocked as the whole scene was a bit daunting and as I was on my own and no one knew where I was exactly.
So I turned to my left and stared into 50 eyes.
On my left side stood a whole herd of cows watching the play.
I don’t know why but they all started to pee.
I was laughing out loud because all of this was just bizarre.

That’s it from me and my strange adventures!

See you around, take care and have a blessed weekend!

Love,

Ben

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Paris Hotel Las Vegas – Light Trails on the Strip

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:15:00 -0700

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

Hi Flickr friends,
Have been trying to get in touch with a lot of your streams after having finished my last trip. I really hope I have not forgotten any of you.
Thanks for being friends here, sharing the passion about photography, exchanging comments and fav’s and being a really cool network.

Today I upload a quick edit of the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. I was a bit too lazy to work on the haloing in the sky... My fault! I guess most of you guys have visited Las Vegas. If not I am not sure if I should recommend it if you haven’t yet visited. I mean it is kind of interesting and surely a crazy place but on the other hand it is as hot as in the desert there and you meet only crazy drunk people…

However if you want to visit Las Vegas you surely will have various impressions. Defnitely cool are the Hotels which must have been reeeaaaallllyyy expensive. There are light, shows, fountains, girls and cars everywhere all over each hotel.

For me as a mathematician, seing all these expensive buildings, I decided not to gamble because I am sure if the chance would be 51:49 for the gambler to win, the bank would not open up any table or game.

For me the song “Princess of China” from “Coldplay” somehow fits best to this crazy town. I know the title and the video do not fit at all but for me the music is as strange as this city…

Coldplay - Princes of China

Have fun watching!

See you around.

Love,

Ben

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Perfect Shapes of Singapore

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 06:00:00 -0800

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

Hey Flickr Universe, what’s up out there? Hmm I am getting old. Maybe I should stop talking like this!

However. I leave every comment and imagination to this shape up to you. As always if there are nice architectural achievements they are built in Singapore… God! This city seems so perfect to me!

Today I am not having many words. I am a bit busy but I wanted to show you a black and white image I shot approximately 4 years ago. Haven't done Black and white for a while.
If you want, post your favourite self taken black and white photo in the comment seciton. I am curious to see how you do it!

I wish all the best for your new weeks!

Ben

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Hari Merdeka - Independence Day - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:00:00 -0800

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

31 Minutes to go till the Malayan independence day (Hari Merdeka) is celebrated in Kuala Lumpur.
It has been a while since that day but I can honestly tell you I haven’t been much happier in my life than on this day. For me as a german it is sometimes a bit hard to be proud of my country because of what has happened in the past.
So as I attended the Hari Merdeka festival in Kuala Lumpur I saw all these people being proud of having their own country, free’d of a large empire under which they have lived for quite a while. It was more than overwhelming to see how all these people identify with their country and I nearly cried as all of them sang the national anthem in one voice.

Furthermore I want to give you a small thought on an interesting topic. Whilst you read have a listen to my favourit song. It is from the band: IMAGINE DRAGONS:

Imaging Dragons - Radioactive

For me as a western boy who lives a high standard of life and is able to travel the world , meet people and see places it is more than important to appreciate it. Actually the reason why “we” are rich is that there are some people in the world who have nearly nothing. When I spoke to people in Asia and told them where I travel and what I do they told me it is their dream to go abroad once. As these people earn approximately 50 US$ a month they would need two years to save for a flight to Europe or America without having bought something to live. As you can imagine it is impossible for over a billion Asians to ever visit “us”. So if you ever have the chance to give something back, do it and remember the jeans or the shirt you wear would be at least five times more expensive if it would have been produced by you and not an asian dude!.

Just a little thought in a laaaarge world.

So far thanks guys for your nice words, and friendship. I appreciate it and am thankful that with your like, comment or whatever I am able to do what I really love!

Love,

Ben

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Go Follow The Flock You Posers!!!

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 23:40:19 -0800

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

Hi there Flickr’s what a heroic title! It indeed has some truth in it. Especially in photography. There are always some hypes and some no goes but why always stick to the rules? Why not sometimes try another angle, color, post processing or whatever you want to do?

However, what you see here is a sheep flock running towards the lovely “Farewell Spit” at the South Island of my beloved New Zealand.

Have you ever been around a sheep flock?

Well me as an urban child have never had the opportunity to be around sheep before I entered ground in New Zealand. So for me it was really strange to see how fearful and in their fear, how dumb sheep are. I really took it as an offend that the Bible calls mankind as sheep.

But if you see sheep around their shepherd it is really interesting to see how they know his voice and how they are able to put childish trust in their “Boss”. Sometimes I think if I would be like this life could be easier and with less worries!

If you ever visit the Farewell spit make sure to drive till the end of the long long long road until you get to this lonely café!

It is worth it. You can hike the meadows and see wild animals. The funny thing is that you kind of get the feeling a dog must have when he is around people. You immediately feel like a stranger! So as I saw this sheep flock, I ran screaming at them, which caused them to flee to the ends of the world. This is when I took this amazing shot!

Much said, I hope it doesn’t bother you and you can stick to my sometimes crappy English. I apologize for it!

I hope all of you are fine and you had an overwhelming start in the New Year. I wish success and fun to all of you guys.
I am happy to be part of the community and I am stoked to see more good shots in 2013!

Love,

Ben

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New Zealand, a Dreamcountry - This is why Peter Jackson did "The Hobbit" there

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 06:35:00 -0800

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

Hi Flickr Friends! Thanks for your overwhelmingly nice words to my datalost. I am more than thankful for each of your condolences. I have been able to restore most of the Data. Some images are gone forever and some Photoshop files are crushed aswell.

However, as Peter Jackson's new movie "The Hobbit" starts soon I decided to post some of my New Zealand photos. On my recent world trip I was able to visit New Zealand for the first time in my life. I can honestly say it is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. To be honest, it was quite different than I expected it to be but it is always good if the things that are real are better than the things you make up in your mind.

So as New Zealand is the country of sheeps I won't bring you so many cityscape nightshots. Instead I will post some nice Landscape photos. I am more than convinced you will like them as much as my night shots.

Today I want to start with a little lake near to the idylic city of Queenstown. When I arrived on the southern Island I picked up a car with which I toured the whole Island. It was a small Daihatsu and I slept in it. This is the thing you do when you are a student budget traveller. It is somehow creepy but on the other hand these are the stories you will tell your kids.

This nice place I actually didn't really choose. I drove my car through the rainy night and stopped somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The next morning the sun woke me up with this nice view and a little good morning fog that gives a nice dreamy touch to the photo.

God I am so thankful that I am privileged to see so nice places.

But that isn't all of it. As I was in New Zealand in August which is actually their winter... There was no one around. I just sat there at the lake for some hours alone and worshiped all the beauty.

As you see I start to dream when I talk about this place.

Do you guys have placed that bring the same feeling to you? If so let me know. I am curious to know them.

Have a perfect week my friends,

Ben

P.S. Happy first advent!

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Ambassador of the Night

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 20:10:30 -0800

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

Hey Friends,

today's photo is again of the beautiful city of Singapore.
I don't know why I am drawn to this city over and over again. Possibly it is because of the wonderful skyline, the warm nights, the beautiful sundowns, the incredible shows going on daily or the delicious food.

Whatever it is, there is so much to discover in Singapore. And if you just stop and watch a moment of peace, like this here captured in the photo you can imagine what heaven must be like. :)

Thanks for all your support. I am glad to have you guys around me

By the way… I just had a horrible data crash. I bought a new 2TB Harddisk. I moved all my photos to the drive and after two days it broke down completely. There is no chance of data restoring without paying at least 1000 Euro.

That’s really hard.

Luckily enough I could find a software which was able to restore the data from the old harddrive. Too bad that there was no folder structure left. I really had to sort all my images to be able to use my Lightroom catalogue… What a bummer! Be warned, Backup your images, never move them! The day this will happen to you, you will remember my words… It is endless pain!

I send out love to you guys!

Ben

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Sydney - The Everglow - The Beauty of the Pacific

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 07:05:40 -0700

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

Here we go MATES, another Sprengben nightphoto made from the top. I know, there are a lot of saturated colors in the photo but to all who don’t like it… Don’t like it!!! I love the photo, it is vivid it is mighty in terms of houses and it glows like a BBQ place when you are waiting for your perfect medium raw steak…

Ok I exaggerate but the glow really rocks in my eyes.

Whilst staring at the Photo I have a song for you guys that really fits well!

Mae - The Everglow

What can I say about Sydney? I love it but I know now I will generate some haters… Melbourne is the more liveable citie… I am sorry but that is what I felt!

By the way, if you ever plan to visit Sydney by night and you are hiking on foot like I mostly do, be warned that the Royal Botanical gardens close with the sundown.

If you plan to stay at Kings Cross be warned that you should really take the Metro or the Bus otherwise you will spent the whole night walking.

Don’t do it!!!

Have a great rest of the Week!

Love,

Ben

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A Ship on a Building, Water on Fire – Welcome to Singapore!!!

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 00:10:46 -0700

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

Hi Flickr friends! Thanks so much for your overwhelming response and really warmhearted welcoming! I am happy to be able to share some of my shots with you and have a look at yours!

On this photo you see the crazy Bay of Singapore. As I already wrote in the title there are some really strange things going on there which let’s the heart of a photographer beat much faster!

But as always I have a short story to tell to this image.

I nearly lost my camera this day as I had been awake for approximately 40 hours after an exhausting bus night travel from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. If anyone has ever done this, he knows what I am talking about! You can hardly sleep in these buses because they are weather too crapy or on the other hand to much cooled by the Aircon!
In my casde there was an Aircon which nearly killed my toes even though I wore shoes and my brilliand Soft Shell from The North Face.

However, without having slept enough I shot this image and then made my way back to my hotel. On the way back home I found one of these sweet benches standing around in Singapore. I lay down and immediately felt asleep inmidst of the city with all my equipment Plus Mobile Phone and Money…
But as this is not Bangkok, Mexico City or Los Angeles I woke up with everything at my side.

This kind of shocked me but now I am able to laugh about it!

I know I said this often before BUT!!! VISIT SINGAPORE!!!

It is amazing!

So far have a blessed weekend and see you around Flickr!

Love,

Ben

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Like Blood Through Veins - Kuala Lumpur At The Blue Hour

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 04:55:57 -0700

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

Hello Flickr, I am back from my trip around the world and I bring you my first shot of which all of you have hopefully waited for a long time!

I am so happy I had the opportunity to travel and take thousands of photos, meet new and old people and friends. It is such a privilege to be able to do it and I am more than thankful to your support. Without this whole Flickr thing I would possibly not able to do all of this.

I hope I will find enough time to post some of my shots in the months to come and tell you guys some cool stories. So far I wasn’t so sure with which Image from which country I should start but as my Harddisk is now completely full I decided to take a photo which I already transferred to my computer.

So here I start off with a shot from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The shot has been taken in the Blue Hour and turned out quite nice even though there is unbelievable much smog in the air which made the taking of the images quite impossible.

I choose the image because the blue hour is in such a great contrast with the yellow lights.

I hope you like the photo and I am really looking forward to visit your streams in the days to come! Again thank you so much for encouraging me and leaving all your nice wishes on my photos or in a privat message!

I sent love to your guys!

Ben

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Shanghai Night

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:21:40 -0700

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

An interesting photo I found in my archieves. Of course I want to share it with you! It is not the most spectacular shot I did compared to some other photos but it somehow has this very special touch I think… It has been taken in a lonely alley in the Megacity Shanghai. I can remember pressing the release button and hearing the rich crashing of my Nikon’s mirror but I could not tell you where this place is and how and why I came along this special street.

Maybe you know this feeling. When I am starting to shoot my cityscape photos I plug in some nice music in my iPhone and lurk around searching for a spectacular scene or angle. This is definitely a special one I overlooked a thousand times. This Photo would have never been taken if I wouldn’t lurk around because this Photo is not a standard Shanghai shot!

| Charlie Winston - In Your Hands (official video) |

Feel free to check the link above. It features a nice song which has been quite inspiring to me throughout the last two years.

Perhaps it gives you motivation to be creative. If not it is still a great Song and Video!

So far I wish a great day and keep on posting your high quality images to Flickr. Altough I cannot comment on every single of them I really adore all your photos!

Ben

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Reaching Down From Heaven

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 01:02:22 -0700

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

How are you my dear Flickr friends? I am happy to have the possibility to post a photo again. The month’s before I was really packed with a lot of work at my university.

Today I show you a black and white edition of the German “Bundestag” in Berlin. What you see here is something pretty amazing. This is the Air Condition system of the Bundestag. I guess a lot of you guys do not know that the roof of the Bundestag is opened to catch fresh Air for the “Plenarsaal”.

At least I didn’t know this before I visited the roof.

I had the Olympic thought to erase all the people who stood at the roof. This was possibly the worst idea I ever had :) but it makes the photo very clean.

If you look close you will possibly find some mistakes.
I am somehow running out of words. That’s why I shut up now!

Thanks for coming by my stream and showing love. I really appreciate!

Ben

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Dove Fighting at the Duomo di Milano

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:01:23 -0800

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

hit “L” for a more spectacular view!
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Today there is a shot of myself. Normally I am quite comfortable not being in front of the lens but I thought I have to show you this amazing photo. When I travel I use to do this ridiculous thing. I jump in front of every cool sight I visit. This looks quite stupid but it is a nice remembrance for the location. I will show it to my grand kids when I am old…

So this is me at the Duomo die Milano in Europe's fashion capital. You can see I tried to dress adequate :).

The cool thing is that there are pigeons all over the place. Just like in Venice… You can see them pretty clear on the photo. If you move quickly they all try to fly away and make a lot of noise.

So here I jump in front of the dome and a good friend of mine was so nice to shoot.

…

Recently I get a lot of emails on the topic “how do you get all your views, your favourites and comments.” Well I want to share it here because time allows me not to answer every email instantly.

My personal 10 Rules to get attention on Flickr:

1.
If you want people to interact on your stream, interact on theirs. Tell them your honest opinion, be a reliable contact.

2.
Don’t advertise on other peoples streams. Too bad I did this in the beginning of my Flickr time. I am really
sorry for every advertisement I did on somebody's stream. People will hate you, block you and sent you some harsh messages.

3.
Try to post good, interesting and unique material. Don’t try to copy this person or that person. Find your own style and present it in a nice way. Also write something to your images like feelings you had when you took it or a song that comes to your mind when you look at the photo. Be creative! Because that’s what Flickr is about!

4.
Don’t try hard to be successful or something like this. Believe me you are not! Not even if you have 10 million views. For the big guys like for example Trey Redcliff or The White house this is just peanuts. Better try to have fun with photography because if you have fun the rest will come on its own.

5.
Try out some groups in the beginning. Even though all these blinking group badges are annoying it helps you to get some nice contacts. But find the point where to stop with this and get serious contacts with whom you interact ---> See point #1

6.
Try to get your shots on Explore :) (Somehow this only happens by accident every now and then)

7.
Don’t be rude because you think you are cool! In germany we have a saying:” Grüße die Menschen auf deinem Weg nach oben, denn wenn es für dich mal nach unten geht, wirst du ihnen wieder begegnen!“ which means: Be nice to the people on your way to the top because when you fall down you will see them again“

8.
Use Creative Commons to advertise your photos. In two or three years there will be tools to automatically detect who first released a photo. So why have fear that someone could steal your image. Professional companies don’t use your photos for commercials they fear lawsuits. Creative Commons works for your advertisement all over the world 24 hours without you being active.

9.
Use other Media to get your photos around. For example Twitter, Tumblr, a blog… you know all of these platforms. Mostly you are able to automatically post your photos to all these Websites without doing any hand clap

10.
Don’t take it too serious and eat chocolate! :)

I hope this helps! See you around

Ben

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Monumentum

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 08:30:00 -0800

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

hit “L” for a more spectacular view!
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It is March. For me it is kind of the beginning of spring! Best time to post an autumn photo :). Sometimes I wonder why I always post my photos in the completely different time of the year…

However. This photo was taken in summer. I used Photoshop technique to give the autumn touch. Some might think it is crazy but as I post processed the photo I really felt the autumn mood and the earthly tones. The whole scene reminds me on the Lord of the Rings scene where Merry and Pippin take the tree ride as they are persecuted by the ugly ORK!

You can see the “unprocessed” version of the photo in the comment section.

The photo was taken at a lonely road somewhere in Kyoto, Japan. I really stood in awe of this Monumentum. Let’s just think for a second I am 26 years old, you might be younger or older but how old might this tree be? 50 years? Naahhh more 200-500 years I would guess.

This somehow leads me to an important question which I wan’t to mention but not give any more thoughts on. How can it be that we, the western world, support cutting down these old trees all over the world for nearly no money only to get new furniture every other year. We don’t know how the world will be without these natural air cleaners…

Just a thought!

Anyways I think there are some really smart people who discuss on these topics.

By the way: If you think you need the new Nikon D800/ D800E/ D4 look at the photo and know it has been taken with and old Canon 350D with the 18-55 kit lens... :D

Ben

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My Lonely Island - Niijima Coast at Sundown

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:05:00 -0800

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

hit “L” for a more spectacular view!

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If you could take three things to a lonely Island, what would it be?

For me it would definitely not be my computer :) The cool thing about traveling is that you somehow get rid of all the media (Even though I like to be inspired by good music when I shot my photos).
It is like a blessing to not have all these media inputs. Therefor you are able to feel this world with different senses. If you aren’t connected to Facebook, Twitter and Flickr all the time you don’t need to care about these pages anymore.

So yes I think I would take a book, my guitar and a bunch of nice people with whom I would like to talk about all these deep things you can’t talk about when you are in your daily crazy rush.

If you look at this photo I recommend to get lost in this really nice song called “Lift Me Up” by MOBY.

::...
Moby – Lift Me Up
::...

Somehow the song and especially the whole Hotel Album has always been a welcome follower of me taking pictures. Why? Because the music is somehow empty like this image but still so beautiful and thoughtful at the same time!

The Spot you see here is the lovely Island called Niijima. You can find it six hours away from Tokyo somewhere in midst of the Pacific.

Have a perfect weekend everybody!

Ben

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Blade Runner Berlin

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:25:00 -0800

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

hit “L” for a more spectacular view!
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This is Berlin on New Years Eve. The Sony Center is a great place to be at.
At night time the whole place is lightened with different colors. The Photo is slightly surreal at least more than my previous uploads but I really like how the processing turned out. Especially the glowing lights you can see on the right and the lower parts give a special touch to this shot!

You might say this photo has too much saturation but in this case you have to believe me. It is crazy colored in the Sony Center.

Still having a lot of work to do. I work part time as a teacher for school kids in Robotics which is actually my occupation when I am finished with my Master. The three days to come the Kids are fighting to qualify themselves for the German Robocup. This is a competition where the best schools compete on each other. The winners are supposed to compete with the best schools from all over the world.

This year the World Championship in the Robocup will be held in Mexico. You can bet that I as a traveler have large interests for them to qualify for the Championship. If they do I promise you to bring you some cool photos from Central America and hopefully South America. I will keep you updated on this every now and then. So if you have a prayer… Send if for me and my pupils!

So far thanks for the overwhelming response to my images. I am happy to read from all of you even though it is tough to comment back on all your streams. Please don’t be angry if it takes some time for me to come back to your stream.

Until then have a blessed week everyone out there in the Wide Flickr World.

Ben

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Majestic Sunrise from the Summit of Mount Fuji

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:30:00 -0800

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

hit “L” for a more spectacular view!
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Are 11 hours of hiking through the night worth this photo?

I really asked myself this question as I stood at the summit of Fuji-San in Tokyo, Japan. Me and three friends started around 8 pm at the bottom of the volcano. We hiked up the whole night until we arrived at the summit around 5 pm. Gasping for air I stood there and watched the spectacular sunrise above the pacific.

I can tell you the sunrise was majestic and definitely worth the hike! The bad thing was the descent. We arrived in a really aggressive mood around 14 pm at the bottom. You can or cannot imagine the scene.
The whole night there was the stress of hiking and after you got the present of seeing the sunrise you still have to hike down at temperatures close to zero degree with the fine stones that lash into your face and through your Jeans.

I am not sure if I would do the trip again but in the end it was worth it. So I possibly would :)

Besides this is one of the advanced shots. As the clouds are moving really really fast you are not able to do HDR techniques here.
The clouds they destroy the whole HDR calculation. As I browsed my shot I found 2 that are possible to be processed. One of them you see here.

The boundaries of a Raw file can be seen in the clouds at the foreground.
You see that in the parts of the image where the sun does not shine it is really dark. You cannot restore the parts from the file.

A gradient ND Filter might help here.

These days Flickr is like therapy for me. I am writing my Master exams and there is a lot of work. I don’t have that much time for photography. But after every test, like today, I upload a shot.

Also thanks for commenting, faving or showing love on my recent images. I read everything you guys write and try to come back to your streams as far as time allows.

Ben

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Lights on, Tokyo!

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:26:06 -0800

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

hit “L” for a more spectacular view!
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It has been a while since I have been in Tokyo but I definitely plan to come back, soon! Some days ago my Japanese exchange student friends left and I am really sad about it.

I actually watched the movie: LOST IN TRANSLATION two times just because of the good old times… If you don’t know it yet, watch it. It is a strange but really awesome movie.

This shot is from the top of the government building. I did some other photos from the same location. You can see them in the comment section.

As I am browsing through your Flickr streams I see that the Tokyo Sky Tree is close to be finished. I think it is going to be the highest building in Tokyo so I really have to come back soon, to bring you some new and fresh Tokyo shots from above.

The shot you see here has been taken shortly after the blue hour. One can still see enough light to recognize the buildings. It is just enough light to get a nice gradient between the light coming from the buildings and the buildings themselves.
I think the mood of the photo is pretty awesome!

Love

Ben

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Warm Evening Sun in Berlin

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:43:17 -0800

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

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Hey guys! Over here in Germany we have winter. But the streets aren’t paved with white snow and the smell of Gluehwein everywhere. We have constant rain and bad wheather over here.
I really dislike bad wheather. That’s why I upload a shot of the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin from the better times. I tool this on a warm summer day some month ago.
I wish a fun weekend to all of you!
Ben

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Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in!

nobody@flickr.com (Sprengben [why not get a friend]) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:52:47 -0800

Sprengben [why not get a friend] posted a photo:

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This is a verse from the Bible I discovered a while ago and I always wanted to use it for a photo of mine. I think it is obviously why I choose the title for this shot. There is the “Brandenburger Tor”, the most known gate of Germany and there is the Quadriga which looks as if they want to enter the gate in all their Glory. To emphasize the effect of entering something with glory and speed I used the Radial Blur Filter in Photoshop.
It wasn’t easy to not destroy the image with it but I think the effect turned out pretty well.
As I look at the image my eyes get really dizzy! What do you think? Is the image Top or Flop?

Also I decided to talk a bit on statistics on this image.
Lately a lot of my contact hit the 100.000 views mark. I am really proud of you. The reason why I want to share statistics with you is not that you think “how cool is he” or “man what an ass”.

The reason is motivation.

I want to motivate you to set a goal for 2012 and pursue it. I hit the 100.000 views exactly two years ago. A month ago I hit the 1.000.000 views. It wouldn’t have been without you that I could have reached this. So of course I am really thankful for all of you supporting me and viewing my Images.

If you are good in mathematics you see that it took me nearly two years to reach 1.000.000 views.
As I sat down and started my Flickr vision for 2012 I thought what do I want to achieve this year. After thinking a while I thought to change the two years into one year and the 1.000.000 into 2.000.000.

This means I actually need 2.000.000 views this year which is approximately 5479 views each day :-).

I really don’t know how I should do this but at the end of the year I will let you know if I was able to achieve this.

Again I want to motivate you to set your goals for 2012. If you are like me making crazy plans which cannot be achieved without much luck please write your Flickr goals for 2012 into the comment section.

I am really interested to see what you are planning.

Please remember that we are not competitors but friends . If your goal is to reach one view each day let me know. I am really interested to see it!

Ben

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