PARA GLIDING IN THE ALPS

These pictures truly need no words

AUSTRIA vs CAMEROON - SOCCER IN kLAGENFURT

The most beautiful Soccer Stadium in Austria.
It accommodates 30,000 people. All the seats are roofed over,
but the playing field is open to the sky.
For this game there were 29,000 people and I swear every one of them
arrived in his/her own car. The traffic jam was something to behold.
But all's well that ends well. We all made it home before midnight.

Enthusiastic crowds, waving Austrian flags and beating drums.
Unfortunately there was not much left to cheer about at the end of the game.

The two teams (Austria in red and white) come onto the field
for the opening ceremonies and the coin toss.

Cameroon gets the "kick-off"
and it does not take long to recognize the better team
with the better players.

SOCCER : AUSTRIA vs CAMEROON

The game is about to start.
The score will not be 0:0 for very long.

Austria is awarded a Penalty Shot.
The captain of the Austrian Team strolls up to the ball in a leasurely manner.
We hold our collective breath.
We can taste the lead.
The 1:0 is in the air.
He takes a weak shot...almost a lob...

The poorly taken Penalty Shot is stopped by the Cameroon Keeper.
The disappointment of the crowd is palpable.
What an opportunity wasted.
From then on the game belonged to Cameroon.
They were the better individual players.
They were the better team.
Sorry, Austria, better luck next time.

At the end of the game: The usual niceties:
The opponents shake hands, exchange shirts and
congratulate the referee for a difficult job well done.

WASPS

When you have nothing better to photograph,
take your macro-lens and shoot some wasps.
Believe me, there are plenty of those critters around.
It is difficult to eat outdoors. They come in numbers
and take over your ham and cheeze as if they had paid for it.

...as you can see, there is considerable difficulty
with the 'depth of field'.
If you shoot with a narrow aperture to increase your d.o.f.
the shutterspeed is too slow and the wings are just a blur.
If, however, you want to shoot fast enough to freeze the wing movement,
your d.o.f. suffers....
So, whoever said that photography is not the art of compromise?

...as always, these images are more interesting in detail
when viewed in the large format.

watch out....don't get stung in your lip....Christin did...
and it is no fun.

The Wall

As you can see, I have not taken any interesting pix lately.
So I have to put a crummy old, ivy overgrown wall
on exhibit.

I just like the texture and the colours.

Shakespeare's "MACBETH" in the Castle of Haimburg

The location of this production:
The Castle of Haimburg in Carinthia.

"Duncan" the King of Scottland.

Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to kill Duncan
so he (Macbeth) may become the king.

After just about everybody got killed, the audience
gathered in the castle's court yard for a glass of wine
and a bite to eat.
What a play !!!

..."MACBETH"

The Three Witches foretell doom and gloom..

Macbeth, after having killed King Duncan
two daggers in bloody hands

Lady Macbeth, who put her husband up to the murder.

After all the killing, and there was plenty of it,
the very fine actors take a final bow.

THE "STEFAN THALER QUARTETT"

Stefan was back at the "Geniesserei"....this time he brought three brilliant musicians to form the Stefan Thaler Quartett. They played for 2 1/2 hours featuring well known, beautiful Jazz Standards. Wonderful versions of "Take the A Train", "Caravan" , "Mac the Knife" and so many many more. It was a Sunday morning to remember.

The "Stefan Thaler Quartett"

The Stefan Thaler Quartett:
l to r: Tonc Feinig, keyboard; Stefan Thaler, Bass;
Karl Miklin Jr. drums; Mario Vauti, Trombone

The Quartett in brilliant action

Mario blows a wonderfully gentle and imaginative slide trombone

Stefan Thaler is one of the best I've heard in a long time.

Beach Volley Ball

Please note:THE IMAGES SHOWN BELOW MUST BE VIEWED IN THE LARGE FORMAT.

Beach Volley-Ball, Ladies...

A World Cup competition for Beach Volley Ball
was held in Klagenfurt, on the shores of the Woerthersee. (Lake Woerther)

In this game, Austria defeated the European Champion Germany
in a hard fought three sets.

Arguing with the Umpire?
Ladies, Ladies, we don't do that...
what? you called him a "blind what?"
that's terrible...

and you thought that beautiful young women could only be seen
on the court, banging a ball back and forth and hurling their bodies into the sand?
Wrong...look at these two beauties.
A great time was had by all....