Slow down and take 2. At least.

I’d like to tell you the stories of four of my favourite images; all of them were captured after a day of quite hard work, after gently slowing down. Finally and in the end I got more and more creative. All have one in common: I always had to take two. At least two. Two photographs? No. So, two of what?

Story #1: Paris

After our arrival at the train station Gare de Lyon in Paris we were patiently queueing for a taxi to bring us to our appartment we rented in the middle of that splendid city. Although travelling quite comfortable by train and having just a minimal amount of bagage with us we were a little tired after the trip, nevertheless after the checkin at the  appartment we decided to go sightseeing right now and discover this fantastic city – without having a break. Oh dear, what a great city – and how far it is to walk all over the place! At the subway station Les Halles we spotted a lovely bistro and enjoyed a glass or two of white wine, finally calming down and relaxing. There were many people hurrying to the Métro just in front of us – and after a while, sitting there I finally got the visual composition of my image I had in my mind. I wanted to capture the modern architecture of the subway station – it is made of wood and plenty of glass – and combine it with the silhouette of the old houses in the background; of course all in monochrome and in direct backlight. So I was waiting for the right moment, took a few shots, and my image was done.

Slow down and take 2. Paris. Subway station Les Halles.
It took me a while and a glass of wine 😉 or two to slow down and getting creative.
RICOH GR II, 18.3 mm, ND Filter. Edited in Adobe Lightroom.

Story #2: Thun

Why is the air condition down? I mean, why is it right now? I was coaching in agile methodologies in a meeting room of my customer in Steffisburg near Thun, Switzerland, and the temperature was near 40°C (104 F) -at least it felt like that. At the end of the day my customer was really happy – I had given all I could, and I was totally exhausted. So we decided slow down and to have dinner at a restaurant in Thun. Being there, taking out rime and talking about some interesting today’s topics I was compensating the terrifying heat of the day with two liters of still water, an oversized pizza, a huge tomato salad, and a double espresso, and afterwards I deciced to stroll back to my hotel room to have a rest. On my way to the hotel a heavy thunderstorm was brewing on the horizon – and since having my camera with me all the time – I was hurrying to get the perfect spot for my composition. Here is the resulting image: Heavy thunderstorm over Thun.

Slow down an take 2. Thun. Before the Storm.
It took me a day of coaching at 40°C (104 F), two liters of still water, an oversized pizza, a huge tomato salad, and a double espresso and two hours to slow down.
RICOH GR II, 18.3 mm. Edited in SnapSeed.

Story #3: Zurich

After my coaching on a Saturday in June 2018 in Zurich I was calming down by clearing up the mess before leaving my meeting room. Closing the blinds and switching off the lights – and here we go. One final look back, and … wait, I had to loke twice. Did you see the sun reflections accross the blinds on the tables? I decided to clean up the room more carefully, positioning the chairs very carefully – in fact preparing the room for a photo shooting. Here it is, the meeting room after a coaching and cleaning session.

Slow down and take 2. Zurich. After the Coaching.
It took me a day of coaching, 8 double espressos 😉 , a cleaning up session and some silent minutes after the lesson.
RICOH GR II, 18.3 mm. Edited in Adobe Lightroom.

Story #4, Bern

I love coaching all over the place – and one day my coaching lesson was in Bern. It’s quite a long run from home to Bern, specially regarding the traffic jam during the early mornings rush hour. Before my coaching lessons I usually need half an hour to prepare the meeting room, to get all the technical stuff running, and last but not least some time for myself, to calm down and get ready for the training. To avoid the painful situation of getting stuck in the traffic jam I left home very very early, at 5 a.m. – before everybody else did the same. I arrived at Bern at 6.15 a.m. – hmm. What to do with all the time, my coaching will start at 9.00 a.m. – I am 2.45 hours early!?
What about having a cup of coffee, a double espresso and two french croissants? Truly a good idea. At the fuel station I was enjoying my coffee and the two french croissants and warming up for the day. Right accross the street a building made of aluminium was glittering and reflecting the early morning sun light. I was thinking about the right composition for that beautiful subject. Take care for the highlights! I slightly underexposed, protecting the highlights, and with the good dynamic range of my camera postprocessing and editing the image would not be too difficult – but capturing the road without any vehicles was a challenge.

Here is the final result. I love it.

Slow down and take 2. Bern. Before the Coaching.
It took me an early morning start at 4 a.m., sneaking out of my bed and flying over the abandoned motorways to Bern. And a rest with a double espresso and two fantastic french croissants. The rooftop of glass of my FIAT served as a futuristic table.
RICOH GR II, 18.3 mm. Edited in Adobe Lightroom.

In the end, there are some lessons learned

Running fast is perfect – never stop moving. Never.
Standing still from time to time can give you the inspiration and helps you getting the perfect composition and visualization for your ideas.

And please remember:

Always have a glass of wine or two.
Always have a beer or two, but real ones – Stouts or Porters. wow.
Always have a cup of coffee or two, or two cups of double espresso. Or more.
Always have at least two french croissants. Enjoy.
And always have your camera with you. No matter what brand. Yours.

Did you like these short stories?

Thank you for your comments!

Thank you very much for your comments in the comment section below.

Home
Thank you for reading.
You can sign up for my newsletter here.