fotolog

Ende 2024 stellte ich fest, dass ich gar nicht so viel über den fotografischen Teil meines Lebens verblogge wie ich eigentlich gerne würde. Es passierte schon einiges mehr und davon würde ich gerne erzählen. Von meinen Einkäufen oder von Veranstaltungen an denen ich teilnahm. Oder die ein oder andere Erkenntnis nachdem ich eine Fotopodcastsfolge höre. Und so wurde die Idee eines Fotolog geboren. Das entspricht dann auch meiner Idee mehr aus dem Lernprozess zu zeigen.

Ein Zweifel begleitet mich stets bei so einem Format: Dass ich alle Themen, die mich beschäftigt haben, kurz und knackig unterkriegen will. Dabei hätte das ein oder andere Thema ein bisschen mehr Platz verdient und ein eigener Post hätte gut getan. Und natürlich, ob das Format überleben wird 🙈 Mal sehen, wie es laufen wird.

Nach dieser Einleitung geht’s nun aber mit dem eigentlichen Inhalt los.

Gelernt

Als ich dieses Format im Kopf hatte, war das Fotoprojekt 365 (FP365) noch kein Thema. Nun ist es fotografisch ein ziemlich großes Thema und in den ersten bald 40 Tagen habe ich bereits viel gelernt. Für diese Sektion wäre mir das zu viel Text und würde diesen Post sprengen. Daher heute an dieser Stelle nichts zu Gelerntes – außer dass ich schon viele Gedanken während des Fotografierens hatte.

Equipment

Im Dezember 2024 zog bei mir eine gebrauchte Filmkamera Minolta Dynax 5 ein. Der Erstfilm ist vor ein paar Tagen fertig geworden und auf dem Weg zum Fotolabor. Wenn die Fotoergebnisse passen, und mir damit sagen, dass die Kamera intakt ist, wird die Kamera ins Standardzubehör aufgenommen.

Im Januar bekam ich zwei analoge Point-and-Shoot Kameras geschenkt: Die Minolta 110 Zoom und die Traveler AF mini. Beide Kameras kenne ich nicht, habe mich natürlich trotzdem gefreut. Als ich in Berlin war, habe ich die Chance genutzt, den stationären Laden von Fotoimpext Berlin zu besuchen. Nach ein bisschen Beratung und Bedenkzeit habe ich mir dann zwei Schwarzweiß-Filme mitgenommen: Den ILFORD Delta 400 und den Fomapan 200.

Gehört und was ich mitgenommen habe

Reminder: Es ist nicht zu spät, um in ein Fotoprojekt einzusteigen!

Podcast Zwischen Blende und Zeit, Folge 340Q&A: Erste Schritte im 365-Tage-Projekt, Orientierung für Foto-Anfänger und Alternativen zu Instagram & Co.

Zwischendrin räumt Falk rigoros mit dem Anspruch an das Fotoprojekt 365 und dem Missverständnis von Lars auf. Ich war kurz irritiert von dem klaren „Nein, so nicht“, gleichzeitig legt Falk sehr gut dar, worum es im Projekt gehen soll und worum eben nicht.
Es gilt weiterhin: Wer noch ein Fotoprojekt sucht – einfach starten! Auch wenn die Hemmschwelle groß ist, jetzt noch einzusteigen … aber nochmal eine Sonnenumrundung warten? Das geht noch ein Weilchen…

Mehr Geschichte zum Foto!

Im Podcast ISO400 reden Flo und Arthur in Folge 165 darüber, im Podcast Fotografie Tut Gut 2.0 reden Falk und Michael in Folge 24 darüber und im Podcast What’s the Story geht es vorrangig darum: Die Geschichte hinter einem Foto. Auch ich habe es beim Post The ivy coat of the house gemerkt: Es macht Spaß und gibt dem Foto eine andere, zusätzliche Note.
Was ich damit sagen will: Ich habe auch Lust drauf!


Camera + lens: Sony alpha 99 + Minolta AF 50 mm f/1.7

German-english, english-german & Farewell!

To date, my posts have been published in two languages and this is how it works: I write the text in German. This takes one or more cycles until I'm happy with it. Pictures or photos are added and the post is ready to be published - for the German-language site.

For the post to be done-done, the translation is still pending. To do this, I open my favourite translation websites and put the text into the translation tools. First, I copy the whole text into DeepL; for single words, I use dict.cc and for expressions consisting of several words I use linguee.de. I then copy the text which is spit out into the dedicated space for the English version in the plugin. Then I read through it again and finalise the English text as well. And then the post goes online.

German-english, english-german

After translating several texts, I have made some observations :

  • Very often I only realise how strange the original sentence, i.e. the German sentence was, when I read the English translation. Then I write the English version more clearly and then I go back to the German original and change it as well.
  • My writing style doesn't come through as much in English as it does in German. I think my writing style has its own personality in German. I have the feeling that I sound a bit flat in English. I can't translate my German tone 1:1 because I don't have the vocabulary to convey the nuances. I don't know what you call it, but I mean subtleties in the form of sentence structures or little words like tja, schon, doch(which have been translated by DeepL as well, yes, yes, yes) that create a certain effect. I don't know them in English, and DeepL is even worse. It goes beyond the technical translation.
    Real example: tja, schon, doch were translated by DeepL as well, yes, yes. 😆
  • Often, there are several English translations for a German word and then I have the agony of choice: Which word actually fits the context at hand/would be closest to my German original? Sometimes I feel it, sometimes it's a random pick 😀
  • I do have a little feel for the English language (*wipe sweat from forehead*): Some sentences sound very German after the machine-generated translation. I then change them and hope that they sound a bit more English afterwards. If you only knew what sometimes comes out haha
  • The German language has a very marvellous thing: compound nouns. Making up necessary words quickly and effectively. One of my hobbies is to give my photos funny titles by slapping various words together. And translating that into English and seeing how it gets mangled again is something between sad, amusing and disillusioning.
  • Proverbs & idioms I: Sometimes DeepL doesn't understand that I've used a proverb. Instead of suggesting a comparable proverb in English, it translates 1:1 which sometimes sounds very funny.
  • Proverbs & idioms II: On the other hand, proverbs are sometimes difficult for me in German and I make mistakes with proverbs. I once mixed two German proverbs together. But I only realised this because I checked the German proverb to be on the safe side after the English one seemed strange. Thus, I did have doubts about myself *laugh*

As I write this post, I can't help but think of TraLaLit – Magazin für übersetzte Literatur (TraLaLit - Magazine for Translated Literature). It was there that I learnt, above all, what translation work looks like and what the working conditions are like (critical). When we consider the access we have to books because translators do great work, it's questionable to the point of sadness when demands such as being named on the cover are not standard.

Mach's gut (Farewell)

And at the very end I eventually say it: Mach's gut, English version of maipenquynh. I will stop translating my posts into English until further notice. It used to be a pleasure, but lately it has become more and more of a burden. After I touched on the idea about putting an end to the English translation in my last blogger's life , I realised that this thought alone felt like a liberation for me. I don't yet know what I'm going to do with the previous translations. As long as I don't know what I'm going to do, I'll leave the button for switching on the top in the navigation bar. The German version will then also be displayed on the English version of my blog.

In case you were someone who read along on my English page:

Farewell!

The white polka dot shirt and the dot no one wanted | study logbook darning

The last piece I wanted to fix before the big trip in 2023 was a white polka dot t-shirt. The first piece was the patterned blouse and the almost-chameleon and the second piece was the white-and-red striped long sleeve and shades of white.

One dot that doesn't belong there: A hole

A hole had formed under one of the armpits. As always, the best place to be: right at the seam, or in this case even at several seams. The hole wanted to be where four seams met. After the second piece which was darned very relaxed, this flaw was more of the type ‘well, you can do it that way but you don't have to’.

before

It should be an invisible repair as good as possible. In hindsight, the third piece combined the difficulties of the first two pieces: Working along a seam and finding the right shade of white. Once again, I decided to use the weave darning method and regarding the shade of white, I chose the one that came closest to the white of the shirt and started. In the end, this repair was also easy to do. I made sure that I anchored my threads properly at the seams, but that was not all that bad.

after

And even though you can see the darned area very clearly in the photo, I hardly notice it when I'm wearing the shirt. And that's not because one just don't see it that often (I rarely walk around with my arm constantly stretched upwards). I have the feeling that the colour has somehow evened out with the subsequent wash cycle.

Didn't hurt at all! 3/3 items of clothing are ready to be dressed.

I may have used the end of the year tactically to post the last two items of clothing. In case you're still looking for New Year's resolutions, I've got an idea! 😀