Domain www.lutz-breden.com Blocked/ Deleted

I have decided to erase my domain www.lutz-breden.com, because i cannot find good reasons for me, to publish images under the roof of this domain. It makes more sense to me, to show images to a smaller circle of friends, for instance in the usual communities like photonet or fotoblurb.
The web is in my eyes getting more and more unsafe and for instance google image search shows me, how often my images have been copied all over the web. So i believe, it is better, to safe money by concentrating myself on my blog and to use the internet in a more private way.
But: From time to time i will show some new images here under this address. You will also find this blog in the usual google web search after typing my name.

Lutz Breden, in July 2015

Twist Dancers

An impression of trees and light, taken with a 50mm Nikkor on a DX-Nikon - with built in b&w transition. It does not necessarily have to be alway a zoom lens and a lot of post processing...

Occupier

I was walking near the fishery harbour of my hometown - they are building a lot of new halls there. The former nature protection area has at least partly become a building area - with some compensating area, but of course not of the same biological quality, as the original "Lune Plate" was. So i was a bit in a melancholic mood, when i walked between all the new buildings - mostly wind power factories. From the standpoint of composition i worked with the vertical lines here - with one "outpost" in the wildflowers. The symbolic "step" of the technical world into the realms of nature. This was my idea for the shot. Shown in colour, because i am a bit inspired by the colour photographs of William Eggleston in these days. I read about this great pioneer of colour photography, who was showing, that you don't necessary need to fullfill the clichés, when you work in colour.

X

I think, i already used this title before with another shot. This is probable, because i like the X-shape so much... ;-) I found this X in the fishery harbour of Bremerhaven, where i play from time to time with lines and shapes... I think, i should shoot more often in our harbour, i found a lot of interesting motives there on this shooting.

Light Mood

I really love to be out in the nature, especially before the day begins. This is a good chance to capture backlight situations like this one, if you are in the right place at the right time.
So i don't stop saying it: In my opinion sunsets or sunrises are interesting light situations und not necessarily a special cliche. To a certain degree almost each kind of photography is a kind of cliche - for instance portrait shots. Do we stop taking portrait shots, because we are capturing a cliche? I don't think so - each face is unique and something special. And i feel the same about landscapes and sunrises. To me interesting light is never boring and i hope, you feel the same about this shot here.

Apparition

Sometimes the leave-dress of a tree looks like a ghost to me. Here i found such an eerie "robe", what do you think? A spooky apparition, with open arms?
... Fortunately wonderdog big Moses was with me - so the ghost had no chance and vanished somewhere in the wood... ;-)

Horizontal Sunrise

I am convinced: Sunrises ARE good light, beside the cliche. But i have also to admit, that i was more looking for the cliche ;-), when i was taking pictures in my early Fotocommunity ("FC")-times, in 2004/2005. Mainly, because our Northern German landscape is not so very attractive for classical landscape photography - so i had (and still have) to search for special light or special technical ways (motion blurness, zoom-effects, long time exposure, using open aperture and so on) for creating interesting photographs.
At first i was a bit disappointed here, because the clouds were completely hiding the sun - it was simply cloudy that day - no sunlight was visible. But then suddenly there was that small light slit - and it was probable just because of this cloudshape, that the shot looks so special.
Of course this is no photoshop work, it is a "one shot" image. To me this is important, if we want to call something a "photograph" afterwards: It has to be a one-shot-picture. My opinion is: A true photograph has to have an aperture setting and a shutter time, otherwise it is a graphic, a montage or a painting. So once again: This is - after my own definition - a photograph.

Between Winter And Spring

I shoot more and more pure b&w and very often with the "in camera"-b&w mode. It is simpler, quicker and you concentrate yourself more on the main image elements and their b&w effects.
So it is not only "the best possible" technical image quality, that is important. More important is in my eyes the best possible image composition. (Important is for instance, that the exposition is done properly and that the photographer uses the right b&w settings.)
The digital photography generally is very helpful for developing the right b&w-mode, because it offers the photographer a preview directly after our shot. So we can change our settings directly on location, if necessary. But we should not switch between b&w and colour too much - the Leica M9 monochrome for instance is based on the idea of reducing the view to the main aspects of monochrome photography without the possibility of shooting in colour. Less is more!
The "in camera b&w mode" of ordinary DSLRs is in my eyes the "poor man's" Leica M9 monochrome... ;-)

36 birds

The world sometimes is a big theatre - and here we see (more or less) 36 birds "on stage".
The big view is strongly recommended, so that you can count all my birds... ;-)
Seriously: I work on a new image speech and have to admit, that i still like the look of 50mm (or similiar focal length in crop format, like 28, 30 or 35 mm) for my photography.

I-Pointment

8mm offers us a lot of room around our motives, as you can see.
I like to use my wide angle lenses mainly for two reasons:
1. For showing classical landscapes and using the lens everywhere, where i have not very much space, f.i. in small rooms. And
2. as a tool for extreme compositions, as a kind of creative "fun" lense.
It is a lot of fun, to put different image elements together and play with perspective and space.
I also must say, that a very good wide angle lens without distortion is not always the best lens for such "games". For instance the 8-16 Sigma is almost a kind of "corrected fisheye" and maybe not the first choice for classical "serious" landscapes, where f.i. a 10-24 or 12-24 Nikkor is probable better. But when it comes to creativity and biggest possible image effect, the extreme lenses are more interesting in my eyes.
This is the reason, that i recommend landscape photographers 2 or even 3 extreme lenses: One for classical landscapes, one for creative landscapes - and maybe an additional fisheye for "extreme fun". :-) 

After Harvest

In november our maize fields are showing a nice graphical effect. Wonderful long lines, great for photographic compositions. This image was made last sunday morning with the so called "kit lens 18-55mm", which is a good landscape lens in my eyes. The post processing of this image was made with Silver Efex 2.

The Appearance

A life sign. :-) I have to admit, that i did not spend a lot of time with photography in these days. A little break can be useful for making thoughts and really: I have several ideas for new and more serious shootings. But on the other hand: When i come back home after a long walk with my dog Moses, i have to admit, that i am mostly "a bit" tired... (Moses is not just a small dog, 40-45kg, so a walk with him is a kind of sport to me. I even lost weight on our walks ;-) - but i also loose a bit of my photographic energy.
I hope, that i can take Moses with me in the coming summer months, at least, when we go out in nature. We will see...

Pleased to meet U! :-)

My new friend and watchdog Moses completed my household since november - and as you can see here he shows a friendly and very "charming" character (with some mad undertones)... :-)
I have to admit, that it is not very easy to shoot serious landscapes with one arm, while big Moses is dragging at the leash - but on the other hand i am now much more frequently out in the meadows and woods of my hometown. In the meantime i can let him dig his holes without his leash and so i am hopeful, that i will be able to shoot some serious landscapes again. Though he is better in finding mouseholes than in finding good motives. Maybe i can trim him a bit in a photographic artistic direction, who knows?! ;-)

Bridge over Untroubled Water

Long Time Exposure with a strong Grayfilter is a good method to simplify photographs. Like other methods to simplify images (for instance by using open aperture or by using natural effects, like strong backlight, fog or motion blurness) have we a good contrast between the sharp und blur parts of the images. I especially like the quieteness and calmness of running water, it looks, as if it was frozen. The whole scenery looks bewitched and surreal - and this is the reason, why i like these kind of photography. It is a lot of fun, to find and photograph locations with moving objects, like wind mills, wind power wheels, all kinds of water etc.

Unsettled June

Well, it did not rain - but it threatened to rain, and as we know from chess: The threat is stronger than the execution! ;-)