I took a bunch of these pictures while I was walking through the old city with a friend. Occasionally I work very well when I’m just walking with someone and chatting without actually paying much attention to my trigger finger. At other times I get too distracted and don’t get anything at such times. In the end I can’t really say whether I work best alone. It depends on the mood of the day and the camera. With my Zorki I need more concentration while shooting, so it requires a bit of patience on the side of someone walking with me. The Olympus needs less attention, but if I get too distracted then I might miss moments or ruin the framing.

All pictures taken with: Olympus Pen E-PL3 and Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 ASPH.

I just love the sword!

On the bridge it says “Neugier”, which is curiosity in German. Not sure what that’s all about.

Pictures of people reading are much more interesting than pictures of people typing on their phones.

This little one wasn’t paying attention to the crowd at all …!

Cuddly dolphin on a bench.

Quite different conceptions of snack food. And yes, melon is great snack food as long as you have a knife with you. Alternatively you can crack the melon open on a stone, but it might be a little messy!

Nope, the punk didn’t get any change from them.

Stripes and dots. I bet the doll fell out a couple of times.

A marketing scheme for a newly opened shop involved strangely shaped balloons for the kids.

Mmmmh, cupcakes.

Taking a dog shoe shopping seems like a strange idea.

Outside a hairdresser in Düsseldorf. You can compare it to the picture of the scene outside a hairdresser in Neuss and will realise that Düsseldorf is much more “hip”.

Strange bag moment.

Opposites.

This sculpture by Karl Henning Seemann is called “Auseinandersetzung” (something like “altercation”). The people in the background also have a potential for conflict it seems.

Offering a sandwich to his companion.

Oh, yeah, pure anarchy, everyone is laughing …!

That big …!

The little one was engaging with the street artist in a rather bold way, although she seemed rather shy as well.

Not without her doll …!

Father and child moment.

That guy was rather creepy. I guess that’s what happens if you’re supposed to be a huge cup of coffee all day. By the way, such marketing schemes are not really as common in Germany as in the US. The first one I’ve seen since the guy in the easter bunny costume at Leipzig Hauptbahnhof about a year ago.

This was actually taken a couple of days earlier while travelling from Berlin to my dad’s place. I thought I’d just add it to the post since it was taken in the same city. Not sure what to think of the tattoo. Probably his birthdate.

 

Speaking of which, yesterday was my own birthday! I had a really great day, primarily because it was the first birthday in at least 7 years that didn’t involve any health issues, all thanks to the paleo diet, a few supplements and one off-label medication. Although obviously I’m not healthy, I’m slowly getting to a point where I can at least live a relatively normal life despite having two chronic diseases. For anyone who thinks that the paleo diet is restrictive I can tell you that we certainly didn’t have problems finding special food to celebrate the day: extremely tasty Duck a l’Orange and Apple Almond Cake!

In the afternoon we took the mountain railway up to Igueldo, one of the three mountains of San Sebastian. The view from there is just spectacular and there is a little amusement park up there that makes the whole place seem somewhat surreal as well. There weren’t too many people, but I still managed to shoot a couple of rolls with my Zorki. And since my wonderful parents gave me a new scanner for my birthday – Epson Perfection v700 Photo, a huge step up from my v330 – you will get to see the results as soon as I get around to developing the rolls.

You might not know this, but actually almost all my equipment was given to me by the wonderful people around me. My Canon, three Canon lenses, my Olympus, the Panasonic 14mm lens and now the new scanner came from my parents; my Zorki 3C, my Yashica, as well as my old scanner were presents from my husband and recently my friend Damien gave me a collapsible Industar-22 50mm lens for my Zorki as well. Since I don’t have any income due to my health, my work would not be possible at all without the generosity and support of the people around me. I am very very grateful for that! I would also like to thank you, my readers, for all your support and interest. Lately not one day has gone by without one of you sending me a message or a comment that made me smile. Really, thanks guys, you rock!