Zurich – Page 7 – David Kotz

Nightingales

The nightingales sing us awake every morning.

It’s 5:22 A.M. Time to wake up! sings a bird loudly from its perch in the chestnut tree outside my window. I sleep with the windows cracked open all night, so the early morning lights and sounds tend to wake me early. As spring arrived, I noticed the arrival of a new bird, one with an incredibly complex, non-repeating song, one I’d never heard before. It was mesmerizing to listen to it chatter away in complete paragraphs, then pause and listen for a response from a distant colleague on a tree down the street. I’m used to the early-morning birdsong back in New Hampshire – where it seems hundreds of birds start their mornings at 4:30am every June – but never before have I heard a song quite this entrancing. Read on, and listen.

Continue reading “Nightingales”

dr Rossmischteler – Röthlisberger

A self-portrait by Röthlisberger.

Today, a self-portrait by Röthlisberger, depicting a rather unusual boyhood occupation.

Return of the pansies

Another experiment with macro.

I went back to that patch of pansies on a new day to see if I could do a bit better with exposure, depth of field, composition, and other aspects of my photography. I’ve added the best to the macro gallery starting here; below, you see I found another visitor.

d’Gärtnere – Röthlisberger

A commissioned piece by Röthlisberger.

Another interesting statue by Röthlisberger, from the installation on Zürichberg.

Macro snail

Not the fastest critter I’ve ever photographed.

Now that my “hiking” constitutes long walks through the streets of Zürichberg’s hillside neighborhoods, I need to keep an eye out for the smallest of photographic opportunities. Today, I nearly stepped on one as I walked out the front door.

This little fellow was cruising across the path, literally 2 meters from our building door. I put on my macro lens, lay down next to him, and popped off a hundred photos. At one point he looked right at me – yes, I think those are eyes on stalks – just the thing any wildlife photographer loves to see in a subject. Indeed, this subject also had the advantage of moving more slowly than the pansies I shot yesterday. He was making his way around and over the colorful white & red blossoms dropped by the chestnut tree outside our window.

He is perhaps 5cm long when fully extended.
I’ve added full-res photos to the Macro gallery.

Macro pansy

Experimenting with a macro lens.

I’ve done very little macro photography, but while the flowers are blooming in Zürich it seemed to be a good time to pull out that macro lens (thanks dad!) and experiment a little. I found a bed of pansies, beautifully deep purple and dripping from a recent drizzle. Sitting on the sidewalk, while passers-by snickered at me, I snuck in close to these pansies and explored different approaches. Here are a few favorites – I often found it more interesting to zoom in on a droplet, or part of a petal, than on the whole flower. I have a long ways to go to get the right exposure, depth of field, and crisp imagery. Maybe tomorrow.

Same photos (full-res) in the gallery.

Fountain cat

Even the housecats enjoy Zurich’s many public fountains.

Finally, after more than six weeks without more than a drizzle, it’s raining. I went for a walk, as usual, but was diverted by some road construction and ended up on a path that tucks into the entrance to the neurology clinic at the nearby university hospital. There is a truly lovely fountain there, and I was not the only visitor. Like all of the many public fountains in Zürich, the water is fresh and drinkable.