Sharp building

This is from a recent weekend in Vienna (Wien in German and Dunaj in Slovene), where I spent an afternoon walking around. I don't know what this building is, just that it looks like it's going to cut you apart.

Hold the line

Another photo from the DTM race at the Circuit de Catalunya - very simple, like the one before. This was before Saturday's qualifying, when they let fans stroll down the pit lane, past open garages, where mechanics are busy making adjustments to the Mercedes and Audis.

Night highway

I love nighttime photography - especially on Velvia film. One interesting thing about photos taken at night is that they have such strong colors. Our eyes tend to see less color in low light - walking in a dark forest at night, you see pretty much black and white (let's leave aside the fact that you are probably scared stiff by even the tiniest of sounds). But film (and digital cameras, of course) doesn't do this (and it doesn't get scared, either ;-)).

This shot has an exposure of around a minute or two, with my Konica on a sturdy tripod. I used bulb mode and a remote trigger, which has a small screw to hold it in place - this way you can easily take exposures of minutes or even hours.

Urban cowboy

I noticed this fellow sitting in a park in Ljubljana, framed between a couple of statues. Good thing I had a telephoto lens on my Konica, this is taken at 200 mm and also cropped a bit. The grain is mostly from the black and white film I used. I just love his hat!

Vertical

I only started climbing a few months ago, but have since become hooked. Towards the end of October, our friend Grega convinced Žiga and I to come once - we didn't need convincing after this first time. We've also taken a climber's course, where we learned the different techniques which sport climbers need in order to stay safe.

This photograph is from our first climb outside in the rock - up till then, we had only climbed on artificial walls. This was in November, and we left the cold temperatures of Ljubljana for the warmth of Vipava, which is much closer to the Mediterranean and thus much warmer.

One problem with photographing climbers is the perspective - quite a few of the photos look like the climber is actually just crawling on rocky ground. The best way to show off the vertical rock face is to be parallel with the climber, such as is the case here.

Old town

This was taken in Ljubljana's old town one lazy Sunday afternoon on black and white film.

Just chilling

I sometimes photograph parties and similar events - in this case for a student organization. I noticed this girl standing there, just relaxing, and I knew exactly what I wanted. I switched to my cheap Canon EF 50 mm F1,8 lens (this is probably the cheapest new lens money can buy, but it's got great optics and it's really light), but I knew that focusing was going to be a problem. I didn't want to use the focusing assist light of my borrowed Sigma flash because I was afraid she might notice that I was trying to photograph her. Instead, I waited with my finger on the camera trigger for one of the reflectors to throw enough light her way so I could get focus. Once this happened, I switched to manual focus (so the focus stayed where it was) and waited once again, this time waiting for colored light - once it came, I pressed the trigger and let of 3 or 4 shots, of which only one was usable.

The 50 mm lens is by far one of my favorites. When I bought my first one, it replaced the kit zoom on the camera I was using at the time (an EOS 400D, also known as a Digital Rebel XTi) for three months. The first time it was taken off was when the camera fell on the floor - the lens was destroyed, and I had to replace the bayonet mount on the body. I got another 50 mm not long after from some friends as a birthday present. I love prime lenses (non-zoom), my next will probably be Canon's 85 mm F1,8.

The Eternal City

You may be wondering (then again, you may not be) why Žiga hasn't posted anything in days. This is because he is in Rome - one of the most incredible places I've ever been to. I don't really have many photos from the week I spent there last year (mostly since my dad had already photographed most of the standard landmarks), but of all of the photos, this is probably my favourite. Yes, it's simple, yes, there's nothing technically special about it.

Having said that though, just seeing this photo brings back memories of the Colle Palatino in spring, with trees and flowers blooming like crazy, and the sign itself promising views of the Domus Augustana and the Circo Massimo (along with what I am guessing is the Stadium of Domitian?). Just looking at this, I can smell the flowers and feel the warm breeze...

Oh, hell. I really should get back to Rome one of these days.

Hop away

Walking through Tivoli park one day, I saw this scene unfold before me - a class of kinder garden kids was watching a squirrel (who was, in turn, watching them). I barely had time to take this one shot. It was taken on black and white film with my Konica, on which I had a 40 mm lens - this is why the squirrel (and the kids) is so small. This is actually already quite heavily cropped - with film, I can easily have it re-scanned at better quality, crop like crazy, and the results will still be excellent.

As with all photos here, you can click on it for a larger version (the squirrel is quite small). The grain is mostly because of the scanner, and partly because of the nature of the film used.

Ljubljana sunset

As I mentioned previously, Veliva film has awesome saturated colours. This is a cheap scan, it looks much better when viewed on a slide projector (which, in Slovenia, we call a dia-projector).

Number 22

A mechanic relaxes before a DTM race at the Circuit de Catalunya. I love saturated colours, and usually set Saturation at +3 in my digital Canon. With film, it's even easier - just use Fujifilm's Velvia.

Sk8er boy

My younger brother, photo taken on black & white film with my old Konica Autoreflex TC.

Time warp

Do we still remember the best and the most modern cinema in our capital, Ljubljana? On this photo, the way to the old cinema Komuna looks more futuristic than ever before.

This photo was taken yesterday late in the evening with my old Praktica L2 and Russian Zenitar 16mm fish-eye lens on Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 800. It is just amazing how slow you can hand-hold a lens this wide. In this case the exposure was about 1/30 s, but I can easily use this lens with even slower shutter speeds, down to 1/8 s - or even slower.

Coffee by the Atlantic Ocean...

This photo was taken in Portugal in Leça da Palmeira, near Porto. It is also very important when we catch the light, not only how we catch it. The wind was very strong and the waves were just magnificent, especially near the tea house seen in the distance. It was designed by the architect Alvaro Siza and the ambient inside is something completely different, connected with the rocks on which it sits. Also, the tea is very tasty. I got a cup of coffee instead.

So it begins...

This is a photography blog started by Žiga Veber and myself - Jure Forstnerič. It's a way for us to show some of our photographs, made both on film and digital, and to talk about something we both love - photography. The name comes from the fact that pretty much all of our conversations on photography happen over coffee. Lumina is Latin for light, which, in the end, is what we're after.

We're learning as we go along, and you're welcome to join us.

This first photo is also one of my favourites - taken close to home less than an hour before sunset.