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Picture by Kevin Bauman

A foggy morning in Detroit by Kevin Bauman

I found this page the usual way – while looking for something completely different on the www.

The URL got me interested and I just couldn’t resist clicking: www.100abandonedhouses.com Come on! I dare you! All photographs featured are taken in Detroit, a dying city. It’s population has fallen from 2 million citizens to less than 800 000. So empty houses are certainly not a rare sight. The photographer, Kevin Bauman, captured the mood perfectly. Most of the images have the “Psycho” feeling to them but you can still guess their former glory.

The pictures don’t seem to be retouched in any way which gives them documentary value in a perfect world and somehow you think you are looking at photographs rather taken in eastern Europe then the US. It makes you wonder who lived there before and whether they were happy or not…

I have been asked to take pictures of Pauls and Michelles special day, a beautiful couple that decided to get married after many years and 3 lovely kids. The ceremony took place on the roof of the famous Fullerton hotel in Singapore in a very relaxed atmosphere.

My brief was to capture the moment – no staged pictures, please…

Anyway – not the reason for this post The reason is the built in camera and an application called: “Hipstamatic“. Here I have come far! From “I need my phone to make calls, if I want take pictures I use my camera” to posting pictures taken with my mobile phone on my blog! WOW!

The Hipstamatic application is just awesome! It lets you choose in between different lenses and films and voila: you get that cool, vintage/retro look in an instant. I love it!

Quite addictive too… You buy the starter kit first (not expensive at 2.49 bucks) and then they keep suggesting other lenses, films and flashlights to you which you just can’t resist! Guess whoever designed the application found a good way to make money! If you have an iPhone – give it a go!

Pegs.

Shelly to Curl Curl.

Winter in Sydney.

Cobblestones.

Almost there.

There are a few pictures of Ellie that made it all the way into the “PET” gallery on the main site but those didn’t. Nevertheless I think they are well worth showing. It’s a nice insight into what it takes to get those 20 good shoots. Yep, 20! Not just one

That's how a good dog behaves in the studio...

And now a big doggie grin, both of you - please!

You don't run around in the studio! I told you that!

I think Teal'c telling her off helped

When the other dog finally sits Teal'c usually leaves the studio...

That doesn't mean he isn't in for a treat too....

And the humans have to help too...

Sometimes you have to 'jump' out of the picture...

Now here I am with yet another blog! And what is the most difficult thing about a blog? The first post… Do I introduce myself? Do I write about why I want to write a blog or do I just start with a random post?

I have decided on a random post just to let you know that I’m here. Heeeelllloooooo!!!! There are a couple of reasons for this. FIRST: I don’t know yet where Im going with the whole blogging thingy and if I can keep it up and SECOND the first post disappears behind all the following posts anyway

So here a few ideas that are crossing my mind at the moment. I could write about cameras and pros and cons which I probably will at some point. Or some inserting Photoshop stuff but I think most of the time I’ll simply post the pictures that haven’t made my homepage. Those pictures usually tell the story behind the photo shoot and are doomed to disappear on some random back up hard drive. What a shame!

Furthermore I do take pictures for fun. I have been asked that question many, many times and I can only say – I love my job and even if I’m not paid I have my camera with me. Usually those pictures end up on friends living room walls (at least I hope it is the living room and not the guest toilet) or disappear in my Aperture library. What a shame! They library not the wall! And now I have found a new place for them: www.imcdesigns.com/category/blog

Stay tuned!
Cheers ilka