Finding very good deals, I splurged and bought myself two wonderful cameras recently, one is the professional film camera, Minolta Dynax 9 and the other is the excellent Minolta Dynax 7D, the bigger sibling of my existing 5D. The former, now sadly discontinued, I bought cheap because of a defect and so is sent for repair but I took the latter out for a spin yesterday and today. The 7D is a superb camera to handle, fitting like a glove into my hands, with every control at your fingertips like in the old film cameras and not buried in some hidden menu feature. Due to Minolta’s exit from the camera business there are some really good deals to be had for the 7D (or the 5D). If you are looking to buy a dSLR I’d very strongly recommend this (or the 5D). I’m sure you will not be disappointed by them.

This is from yesterday’s shoot. It is the shop front of the recently opened Peek and Cloppenburg store. The building was long time in the making, needing nearly four years to finish after a series of delays. Clothes are really good, but of course, it is uber expensive and only for those whose wallets are really heavy!

Since I haven’t shot anything new, here is something from my old film archives. This is from a trip to Keukenhof-the famous tulip gardens in Holland, roughly two years back. I’m not sure if you will like this as it is quite abstract and there is not much detail in the photo. But it somehow appeals to me.

This is from the same shoot as [this](http://www.visual.arthedains.com/index.php?showimage=143). I could not come up with PP I liked on this until now so it was just lying idle in the folder from that day. Today, I revisited it and got something a little more to my liking. I think the main spoiler in this photo is the light. I used the on camera flash for this and it is just not good enough for macro shots. I wish I could afford one of those ring flashes!

Thanks for the nice comments on the previous photo. Today’s photo is from the same shop window as the one [here](http://www.visual.arthedains.com/index.php?showimage=129). Only this time, I included a whole lot more in the frame. Somehow, I’m not very satisfied with the PP on this. Something is missing. But I decided to post it all the same. Do let me know what you think.

This is the final photo in a series of three photos of the Dom. This was a pretty difficult photo to shoot as it was shot in the night, handheld, and using the dim available light. With any other camera it would have been impossible to get a sharp image. But as my 5D has anti-shake built in I decided to give it a try. I got a decent shot on my second or third try, not completely sharp but that was taken care of by some sharpening while PP.

As I’ve a couple of things that need to be done before Wednesday I’ll be very busy and unable to post a photo tomorrow. So see you on Wednesday again!

Second in a series of three. This is the Dom from a different angle. I don’t know how much this photo works as I was shooting handheld and because of the high ISO used there is noise. But I kinda like the angle and it is one of my rare night shots.

Today, after a long time, I managed to go out and shoot something. This is the magnificent Gothic cathedral of Cologne, also the tallest Gothic structure in the world. It is one building that overpowers your senses with its sheer size. Even after being in Cologne for more than two years now I never got around to photographing the Dom (as it is called in German) properly. So I’m glad that I finally got some decent shots. This will be the first in a series of three shots. This one was shot towards late evening. I blew out the sky during PP to let the building stand out better.

The Dom has a lot of interesting history behind it. Including interruptions, it took more than 600 years for the building to be completed (1248-1880). It was even the tallest structure in the world between 1880 and 1884! It’s Sarcophagus of the Magi is thought to contain the remains of the Three Wise Men. It was hit 14 times during aerial bombing in WWII but managed not to collapse. And it also has the world’s largest free-swinging bell!

One suggestion, this photo is best viewed full screen. Press F11 to go into full screen mode (and press F11 again to exit it).

This was just an experimental shot but I like the way the composition works. I cropped it a little to make the composition even tighter.

I seem to be posting only b/w photos of late here. But I could not think of posting this in color. Instead of doing the same old thing with such shots I tried to do something new, as the title of the photo suggests. I hope you like the result.

I’m still depending on photos from about ten days ago as I haven’t shot anything in between because of the terrible weather here. This is from the same place as the one I put up yesterday. The lake had frozen and so people were having fun walking, skating and playing over it. Didn’t realize what the guy on the extreme right was doing until I came home and was reviewing the shots!

On another note, I finally decided to order the Minolta Dynax 7D as it was very attractively priced. I’m eagerly awaiting its arrival!