wjl – Page 115 – Wolfgang Lonien

March 5, 2018

Some very interesting interpretations

I have just finished reading the “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell, which I’ve got as a birthday present this year. This is David’s third book, and also the third one I’ve read – after I saw Cloud Atlas the movie by Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis.

And tho the book and the movie tell the same story quite differently, both are really really beautiful, with the movie being a bit more difficult to understand in my opinion. Anyway, love them both. And here’s a very interesting interpretation and kind of conclusion for those who might ask what these are all about:

Yeah. Heavy on philosophy of Nietzsche et al, but the main message is simple to understand. And now I’m actually interested in a series of the Wachowskis which they did after Cloud Atlas, and which seems to have a quite similar message. That one’s called Sense8, and it belongs to Netflix (let’s see where and how I can see that one without being a subscriber to them):

Enjoy. I certainly did.

March 1, 2018

Meet Esperanza…

The teacher who managed last Sunday’s concert at our local music school asked me about Jacob Collier, because he saw a video I posted here. And he also asked if I’m a musician since he also follows Jacob since quite some time, and this is a pretty advanced level of composing and performing.

Well – here’s another one of whom I’m glad that some day I just “discovered” her. As far as I remember I read somewhere that she’s also the youngest ever musical professor at the famous Berklee College of Music. So ladies & gentlemen, dear readers, please meet Esperanza Spalding. The video I just found today is from 2009 – still great:

Enjoy…

February 26, 2018

Cover of “As”

I’ve heard and seen Becca Stevens live in Frankfurt, where she performed as the opening act for Snarky Puppy. And Jacob Collier is a musical genius, mentored by Quincy Jones, and now he plays with people like Herbie Hancock. Here Becca and Jacob perform Steve Wonder’s “As” in a really nice way:

Enjoy…

February 25, 2018

Some scenes from a concert

Taken today, with my E-PL5 camera and the 25mm lens, and with the E-M10 camera and the 75mm lens:

I took many more, but gave them all to a teacher of the music school to distribute them to the kids’ parents. Hope they like them. And I hope that some of them allow me to show some more photos both here and in Flickr.

Thanks for viewing.

February 21, 2018

Some more recent photos, birthday presents

Here are some more photos:

Zuleikha needs glasses, so we went shopping for them. And I took some photos while she tried different frames, to show her how she looks from a slightly different angle. Like here:

Last Sunday I turned 61, and this is what I’ve got – a book, and a new lens for my camera:

It’s David Mitchell’s “Cloud Atlas”, and the Olympus Micro Zuiko Digital 75mm/1.8 lens. Both are wonderful. So the rest of this blog post’s photos were all taken with that new lens, either fully or near fully open:

This one was at f/5, with an overhead octabox and one of my studio strobes:

As you can see, that 75mm lens is perfect for head & shoulder portraits, and it reminds me a lot of my 135mm/2.8 which I had for my Canon A-1, and which I now also have for my Olympus OM-2N. The angle of view is very similar, with the 75mm being slightly tighter, and comparable to a 150mm lens on a 135 film camera. Might be a bit long for normal indoor living rooms, where our 45mm lenses shine, but outdoors, or for candids, or the mentioned head & shoulders, it’s just perfect. And for cats of course. Purrfect.

As always, thanks for reading.

February 11, 2018February 11, 2018

Some recent photographs

Here are some photos we took since Friday – half of which were taken with my camera, the other half with Mitchie’s:

Tulips, Moerfelden-Walldorf 2018

Tuna diva, Moerfelden-Walldorf 2018

Wolfgang, Moerfelden-Walldorf 2018 – photographer: Mitchie

Dying flowers and a bass guitar, Moerfelden-Walldorf 2018

Thanks for viewing.

February 11, 2018February 11, 2018

A project in need of help

Presented by Philip Bloom:

And yes, we’ve donated a bit. What we could. And even if you can’t, please help spread the word. Thank you.

February 7, 2018February 8, 2018

Some photos from an expired film

I had that DM Paradies 200 colour negative film which was in our bookshelf, and expired since over three and a half years. So I loaded it into my camera (see two posts below), and used it. And today I’ve got it back. Here are three photos like the lab scanned them off the film, with grain and not very high-res. I still like them:

My colleague Arno isn’t in the office at the moment. So today I put some of the prints from that film onto his desk for when he returns. I documented that with the digital E-PL5 and its kit zoom at 14mm:

Thanks for viewing.

January 28, 2018January 28, 2018

A photo of Tuna, from yesterday

This is on its way to become my most viewed photo on Flickr – it’s the one with the most “faves” already, simply overnight:

Update, from slightly past 9 pm:

– and it’s done it. Look:

It dethroned every other image in all categories in just 1 day. Crazy.

Thanks for viewing.

January 25, 2018

Still making music, still using film

I’m still trying to figure out what kind of bass lines I can contribute to Al’s latest piece; my first trials were a bit sobering. Not as easy as I thought it would be. Anyway; there is no deadline, and so I can take my time to think and try, and to come up with something nice for him.

Regarding photography: I wrote already that I’d put that old film into my camera, and since the beginning of this year I also took almost no photos of lifeless products – except two (or now, three). Once I photographed my bass guitar with the film camera, and today I took a photo of that film camera with my digital one, in the company. And when looking at that photo on my computer at home, I thought that I could do that better. So here’s my try from today:

Olympus OM-2N with two lenses, Mörfelden-Walldorf 2018

So I’m still using that film camera (I’m at exposure #21 I think), and I use it only for living subjects. Humans, cats, at least plants. But sometimes, just like above, a product photo is needed as well.

Thanks for viewing and reading.