Autumn light

You just can't beat the end of the year for an axis tilt that is bound to give a photographer a few moments of joy. This past autumn I was out and about both in the city and in the countryside while the sun was doing its thing. Here are some impressions from the urban outings.

 If you've been following this blog, you know that I live in Stuttgart, Germany. These pictures show some of the diversity present in this Motor-Town. Nearly 140,000 of the 600,000 inhabitants of Stuttgart are foreigners and a foreign language is spoken in nearly every second household. The international businesses here such as Daimler, Porsche, HP, IBM and Bosch make use of the advanced stage of integration here to conduct business all over the world. Our namesake in America is not quite as outward-looking.

But here I was wanting to talk about the autumn sunlight and not about business in Stuttgart!

The train station is one of my favorite topics, but you already knew that!

Wherever the sun shines brightly and the shadows are long, I can stand and stare forever.

One of my favorite positions when making photographs is, in fact, staring right into the sun. Doing so helps you concentrate on the shapes of objects in front of you and the strength of the light rather than the colors or gestures. Of course it is intense and not easy on the eye (or the camera's sensor), so you have to protect yourself and your equipment by taking frequent breaks. However, when the sun is this low, you have only about 15 more minutes before it has totally disappeared. In the autumn and winter the blue hour is not as glorious as in the summer so take advantage of every minute!

Urban architecture also profits from strong lighting. Following the dark lines of the shadows on the pavement and the highlights reaching into the sky creates a lovely scene. Throw some people and their shadows into the mix and you've got some lovely lines to ogle.

I often have to think that the architects took the changing sunlight into consideration when planning their buildings.

The reflections in the upper storeys of this bank building (and those in the pool below, too) remind me of the symbol for the Freemasons. What do you think?

The square and compass symbol of the Freemasons

With our without color, the inner courtyard of the massive LBBW-Bank near the train station is worth a few shots.