David Hepler Photography Blog

The life of an American Photographer in Munich

Bike trip

After being on “vacation” for 1 1/2 weeks and pretty much only doing photography things, I decided to take a bike trip like I originally had planned to do during this time.  Originally I had planned on riding to Budapest, but I didn’t have enough time to do that.  So on Monday evening I dug out some old brochures that I ordered almost 5 years ago from the Bodensee (Lake Constance) Toursit board and on Tuesday I quickly went to the store to get a few things I needed from the sports store and some food from the supermarket. Late Tuesday night I got to packing and I took off for Lindau on Wednesday morning to ride around the Bodensee!

Some of you will find this hard to believe, but I DID NOT take my camera with me! The only thing I did was to write down the towns that I was in, the times I left and the distance I traveled. So I will write a short travel report here in this post over the next couple of days when I get a chance.  For a summary, take a look here:

http://www.hepler.org/mybikestats2009.htm

 

It has now been two weeks since I started out on my trip, so I figured that had better put this together soon before I forget! This will be a work in progress…

On Wednesday, June 17th I took a regional train from Munich to Buchloe and changed over to a train to Lindau. The train from Buchloe was quite full, and there was hardly room for my bike. I sat next to an older couple that also was planning on riding around the lake, but they were going in the opposite direction that I was wanting to go. I got into Lindau at 13:30. I set out right away on the trail. I went over the bridge and followed the signs towards Bregenz. After a bit I got to a long strech, going along the right side of the lake, and it was dirrectly next to the water. Eventually I crossed over the boarder… I don’t remember seeing a sign but there was still the old boarder crossing building in the middle of the street like you almsot always still see. I did not see much of Bregenz and I didn’t stop to go do any sightseeing.

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David at work…

Here are a few pics of me at the last wedding taken by my second shooter and friend who jumped in literally at the last second to help (thanks again Sai!).  I had free range to go anywhere I wanted so I was up on stage for the better part of the ceremony. I was hiding behind the alter for a bit though, so I was glad that Sai was able to get one shot of me on stage when I came out of hiding!

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Update from the front

Hi all! I think it is about time for an update! Here is what has been going on…
I have been on “vacation” this week. I have not left my apartment often but have been quite busy here at home… I have gotten a lot done!

I finally got the computer parts I needed to get to get my “work” PC up and going again. It broke about a year ago and I haven’t had the time or funds to get it up and going. I didn’t really have the funds to spare but I had the time so I did it anyway! I got an AMD Phenom II X4 810 with an Asus M4A78-E AMD 790GX AM2+ motherboard and 8GB of RAM (but I only installed 4GB for right now as I am still in the old school 32 bit OS world!) I installed XP a few days ago. I finished copying a lot of the thousands and thousands of pictures, songs, and website pages a few hours ago. I still need to reorganize them and copy some of the files over. I also have most of the programs installed that I use, but I’ll have another hour or 2 of work to put in on that! I will have more hard drive space again and will not have to worry as much about how much space I have for pictures. The new computer will run much faster than this one I am using. I am expecting that picture conversions and what not will not take as long as they have been.

Yesterday I did a MAJOR spring cleaning! I vacuumed, mopped all of the floors and dusted some. Only place I didn’t mop was under and behind the couch.
Yesterday evening Karsten and Irina came over to look at their wedding pictures.  That is one of my favorite parts of wedding photography; getting to see the newly married couple’s reaction to the photos and reliving the day with them.  They picked out a number of photos so I have some work to do! icon smile Update from the front

On Monday I did a product shoot and was busy Monday night and Tuesday getting those photos edited since they needed to be done quickly before the product goes on sale.

I have also have a chance to look through the photos from the wedding I shot a week ago yesterday. I hope to get to editing those photos some time soon!

Next week I am also on vacation. I am seriously thinking about going on a bike ride. I really need to get away for a bitl. I originally wanted to ride to Budapest, but I don’t think that will happen this year. However, there is a trip that I could take and it would be quicker to get to and come back from and it is a trip that I have been wanting to do for a long time… riding around lake Constance (Bodensee)! I plan on leaving next Wednesday and will probably take the shorter route around for the sake of time. Anyone want to join me? icon smile Update from the front

Well, that is about all for now. Time to get out of the aparment for a change and go on a bike ride!

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Days full of editing

Hello all! Well, I have been on “vacation” this week, but I have been very busy. Last week on Friday I shot a wedding. Saturday was busy with copying pictures to the computer, doing the first review and making backups. On Monday I did a product shoot. I stayed up all night Monday working on those photos and spent a good part of the day yesterday and this morning working on them as well. It is for a product that needs to be put on sale soon, so timing is critical! I just finished working on those pictures and now I need to continue the work on the pictures from the wedding in May! Whew (as I wipe the sweat from my forehead)!

But first, time for some lunch…

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Still nothing new yet!

I have been quite busy over the last few weeks. I still have a little work to do on the engagement photo session I did in mid-April, a lot more work to do on the photos from the wedding I shot 4 weeks ago and some work on the baby photos from 3 weeks ago. Never fear though for those that are waiting on these photos (or for those that are considering me to do their wedding icon wink Still nothing new yet!   ), I have 2 weeks of vacation coming up soon and part of it will be spent catching up!

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Busy, but nothing to share yet!

Well, I am still working on the wedding pictures. I also had a photo shoot last week on Wednesday with a very cute 2 week old baby girl, a happy but tired mom and dad and an exicted and proud grandmother. There are some great photos that I hope to share some time, but it will be a while… I am heading out of town this weekend!

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First dance

Its late, but I wanted to share a few pictures from the first dance… Enjoy!

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Yet another sneak peak…

Just wanted to share a few more pictures this evening. I am sure that a few people are waiting to see a few more! These are from a bride and groom dance in the middle of a big heart made out of tea lites and surrounded by sparklers.

(click on the thumbnail for the full size pic)

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Very early sneak peak at the May 9th Wedding

Here are is a set of pictures taken at the wedding May 9th from one of the events that the 2 MCs put together. I had not seen it before and it made for what I think was a beautiful photo opportunity and a precious time for the bride and groom to have their first house “built” by the guest throwing white balls of yarn over the umbrella (which got “dangerous” when you were not looking out! icon biggrin Very early sneak peak at the May 9th Wedding )

karsten irina 1 Very early sneak peak at the May 9th Wedding

karsten irina 2 Very early sneak peak at the May 9th Wedding

karsten irina 3 Very early sneak peak at the May 9th Wedding

karsten irina 4 Very early sneak peak at the May 9th Wedding

karsten irina 5 Very early sneak peak at the May 9th Wedding

karsten irina 6 Very early sneak peak at the May 9th Wedding

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First wedding of the year!

I’ll be shooting a wedding on Saturday! I started getting ready on Thursday by charging most of the camera batteries. This evening I have finished charging the camera and rechargable batteries, got the lenses cleaned, the CF cards formated and the bag is now packed. Now I need to get some sleep.

Check back soon for some photos coming from an E-Session I shot in April and for the first pics from the wedding!

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