Stock Photography by Markus Merz (Photos Pictures Images ...)

Habe Axel zu Besuch

2006-08-24T15:25:00.000+02:00

Gerade sitzt Kollege Axel hier rum.
besucht doch mal Axel in seinem tollen Musikstudio.

Technorati Tags: test, axel, musik, musikstudio

Every typo counts ... (my shortest article ever :-)

2006-03-22T15:16:00.000+01:00

Just made it with "collage" instead of "college" to place three on MSN (from 47,569). Well, that's not the whole phrase, but ... James, let's start selling that SEO book ...

Copyright © Markus Merz 2006 - All rights reserved :-)

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

Categories / Keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, 2006, SEO, promotion, writing, search

Awesome touchscreen presentation

2006-03-20T17:08:00.000+01:00

Now This is a Touchscreen I Could Get Behind…

I found this on The Unofficial Google Video Blog and thought it was cool enough to share. I’d love to know more about this video and what kind of tech is underneath this cool face. TUGVB tagged it as “Apple” and “Multitouch”. How close are we to this kind of touch interface?

Check out that Flash wrapped video in the article. Watch it full lenght. Amazing demonstration of future touchscreen usage!

Copyright © Markus Merz 2006 - All rights reserved

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

Categories / Keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, Gadget, 2006, future, found, touchscreen, technology, demonstration, presentation, lesenswert, beautiful

PMetrics - multi-blog statistics, analysis, aggregation

2006-03-14T15:42:00.000+01:00

What is it? A server based multiple blog analysis solution. The software sits on a performancing.com server and aggregates your data through some pieces of code which you have to throw in your template (Blogger, WordPress, MovableType, etc.)

I am using it on two of my Blogger test blogs and it works fine. Another great tool from the performancing.com crew. First they published the awesome Performancing for Firefox extension (PFF) and now this great new server based analytics package. I am going to add it to some more blogs in the very near future :-)

They already announced a blog aggregating feature for PMetrics for multiple blogs to come in the near future!

Recommended server based statistics!

read more | digg story

Content recycling to increase blogging Productivity

2006-02-24T15:33:00.000+01:00

Copyright © Markus Merz 2006 - All rights reserved
Also published in "Markus Merz's blog | performancing.com" (click on article title above to get to the article)

As Chris Garett pointed out in "Do Something Different - Mix it up" there are moments when your blogging is stuck in routine and enthusiasm is going down.

Are you always more willing to create new projects instead of hanging with the old ones?
But how to get the new content?

My tip: Use valuable content you have already published and renovate it.

I am going to mix the two subjects 'motivate yourself' and 'recycle content'. I'd say that you can reach these two goals with one action. Start a new platform and use the 'old' content to speed up your new project. A speed booster factor of two or three should be normal compared to creating all content new from scratch. The result still can be doubled by taking care of two publishing platforms - the old one and the new one.

Side note - 'meta articles': If your content is 'news' or 'product' ... no big problem with 'content recycling' ... it's a question of the mix and your editorial capabilities ... old news make wonderful keyword rich 'overview' lists. Just use your archive (= old content) as the research source for new articles. Create 'meta' articles like 'what did I get for 500 bucks two years ago compared to today'. Do heavy linking to the old articles! Don't forget the title tags and the bookmarking and tagging!

The editorial and technical trick is 'content enrichment'. Let's say you still have an old PHPNuke platform hanging around with nice content but the site itself is not state of the art anymore. You are seriously motivated to switch to a new platform because YOU would like to use all that geeky new stuff (active sidebars, RSS feeds, Javascript includes, ...). Well, I'd say so do your readers! Don't try to tune your old platform to be fit for all that geeky stuff. You could do so but I promise you will not reach that 'motivate yourself' goal. It's just work. Instead of tuning the old platform just open a new system and enrich old content with new features on the NEW platform. The fresh design and the new features will attract old and new readers (like switching from PHPNuke to a more modern blogging platform).

Now you are playing around with your new system. That's a lot of fun. But how to get the 'content issue' solved? If you follow your statistics and see that you have many new readers then renovating the old content (on both systems!) is still a good and valuable editorial 'trick' (newspapers do it by publishing their archives to the web). Take content from the 'old' page and do some renovation. Let's say you have a photo blog ... the pictures itself don't get 'bad' just by hanging around in the archives of the other site. Just publish them again on a new article on your new site. You must find your own way of 'refreshing' the content!

BTW, if your articles on the 'old' site are in the archive for like six months think about to bring them back to the front page in a renovated new version and attach advertising for your new site (trap!: don't just change the article date, please see "Managing Titles and Paths For Traffic"). Call it 'refreshment', 'update', 'follow-up' or whatever ... the goal is to get changing content on your front page and to draw readers to both sites. The old page can pretty comfortably hang around online for as long as you want it. Nobody forces you to switch or migrate from one day to another.

Talk to your readers about the new site. Ask for comments. If you do it right and polite you will gain new readers on both platforms. That is a third goal which comes in handy through the back door.

Regarding the better productivity ... it should be obvious that you can't use old content 100% but you can have a ratio up to 90% old content to 10% new content. Your primary self motivation is the fun to create the new platform. Instead of solving the content issues with 'lorem ipsum' text you do some heavy copy and pasting plus the very important 'content enrichment'. I'd say that only costs you the amount of 20% to 30% of the work you would have to invest for newly created content.

Reading this article I must admit that it is a pretty rough ride 'concept wise' ... not as clear and straight forward as I would like it to be. But I just wanted to scribble a rough picture ... the 'bloggish' style :-)

Let me know what you think? Did you do 'content recycling' yourself before? How was the success?

Copyright © Markus Merz 2006 - All rights reserved

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

Categories / Keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, 2006, blogging, content, management, recycling, productivity, writing, publishing, archive, editorial

My computer desktop - my personal productivity booster

2006-02-21T21:43:00.000+01:00

Markus Merz Schreibtisch, originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

Copyright © Markus Merz 2006 - All rights reserved, EXIF, IPTC

Used to promote my working space over there at perfomancing.com. Explanation just in case you are wondering about the subject :-)

We were talking about productivity and messy Sir James started to post ugly pictures and said that the surrounding is perfect for increasing his productivity.

This is my argument for increasing productivity :-)
Bose speakers for the right boom-boom, plenty of paper notebooks for my 'from dishwasher to Internet millionaire' ideas, my good old Palm, my incredible laughing Buddha, a bottle of water and my email address always hanging in front of me ... just in case I forget it. Oh, last not least it's always good to have a hot plate with fresh spaghetti handy :-)

And the whole thing is on wheels. If I had the right house and doors wide enough I could easily change the whole location of that productivity booster desktop!

Please comment - What is increasing your productivity?

© Markus Merz 2006

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

Categories / Keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, 2006, Schreibtisch, desk, desktop, productivity

Blogging - How titles & archive pages influence your traffic

2006-02-16T17:12:00.000+01:00

The fish has to like the taste of the worm ... not the angler!

Info: This article was published on performancing.com in my personal blog on 15th of February 2006 and on the main page one day later (link to original on performancing.com). This version is edited a little bit to accomplish easier reading.

The basic questions:

Do you know why some entry pages are so successful?
How much time do you spend to find a good title for a blog article?
Are your headlines and static archive filenames containing your blogs 'keyword cloud'?

If I analyze my blog statistics for the entry pages then can I see that there are always pages which are more successful than others. The first important conclusion is:

The article title and the filename of the archived static page are two important points beside the body keyword density and the tagging!

Many blog authors tend to be very focused on the body part of their content. But beside the main content it is very important to attract readers and search engines with a brilliant title. Just pushing the 'Publish ...' button after writing that awesome article means to give away a good chance to optimize your blog article for reader attraction. The same is true for SEO ... titles and file names are highly relevant to search engines!

Readers following many feeds are just skimming the headlines in their feed readers to find relevant articles. If you don't have an attractive headline they are not going to click!
Article titles and archive pages containing your main 'keyword cloud' means a better listing in search results!

Continuously checking your search results and analyzing the adword possibilities with a following concentration or widening of your key density is a very successful and not very time-consuming way to optimize the success of your blog articles and titles.

Last but not least your title and your archive page name and path are showing up everywhere where somebody is linking to your article. This is the easiest way to gain keyword competence and relevant links.

Lovely trap number one: Don't change the publishing date of your article because most blog systems will then change the path of your archive page.

Lovely trap number two: Blogger creates a new name for your edited archive page if you change the title of your article. (But they also keep the old version ... hmmm) So better take the first chance to generate a good page name!

Both traps may result in broken external links! I have just tested it again on Blogger and now have to update the appropriate del.icio.us links manually. If you lose all incoming links and trackbacks to an article because of these little traps ... well I would be angry ... and nobody to blame but myself.

Spend time on creating good article titles! As a result you will get more inbound traffic and higher listings in search results.

Kategories / Keywords / Technorati Tags: blogging, article, content, title, writing, SEO

New performancing version 1.1 is out ... test notes included

2006-02-01T01:15:00.000+01:00

Performancing for Firefox 1.1 ...
every blogging author should really give it a try ...
it is so comfortable to edit posts in richt text mode ...
and to have the editor as big as you like it.

Important: Performancing (for Firefox = PFF) is for Firefox 1.5 and above only.

New features: PFF 1.1 announcement here
One new feature is the growing "Performancing for Firefox Handbook"

Just to spice up this article ... photo by Vlad Kenner.

Vlad Kenner from New York ... great amateur photography!
The Picture links to a whole set of great pictures. Don't miss his photostream!


PFF 1.1 is called the technorati/del.ico.us version ... with a good reason. Using a combination of the Technorati options and Del.icio.us support you can post, tag and bookmark a fresh post all from within PFF and all in one easy operation! (see list-remarks below :-)

Result: Basic Internet marketing for your blog is already built-in!

Performancing for Firefox 1.1 note: bugs, issues (experienced during the last days):

I uninstalled the old version and reinstall PFF 1.1 again. I think this is recommended instead of just installing over the old version! I will check all the list items again in the next days because some of them might be there because I did install first over the old version.

Problems I had with PFF 1.1 after posting a recent article to performancing.com:

Technorati tags were not automatically added (only adding manually worked out)

del.ico.us bookmark was successfuly added with tags

Update: Pingoat is activated properly
Update: After a "publish as edit" (in CSS mode) at performancing.com (I think it is a CMS API problem, they use Drupal) the title is in the published content (inserted once at the beginning)

Some issues and missing features in PFF 1.1:

Switching to the 'Notes' tab makes current article and publishing options disappear. As I want to use the notes as a source for text modules this does not work.

If behaviour can't be changed then it should be impossible to click on the notes tab when editing an article.

Workaround: have a second FF window open and copy the note from there.

'Undo' add tags: (no big thing but) if manually adding Technorati tags to a post an undo with Ctrl-Z is not possible.
'Publish as edit' on Blogger: does not work anymore with PFF 1.1. ... error #3 [object Object].
Drag and Drop of coloured text from a page to the editor does not work. I checked with coloured text from blogger.
Missing interface feedback ... (no big thing but) the toolbar doesn't interact with the text ... i.e. having the cursor in bold text doesn't activate the bold button.
right click option 'paste as ...' or 'copy as ...': (no big thing but) sometimes I want to paste copied text without the original format ... or maybe only the format ...
Delete all text formatting: Would be a very nice feature for the whole text or for a merked block to strip the HTML ... esp. when editing the content again for a second usage on a non-CSS or non-HTML page.
Clippings extension: (no big thing but) a cooperation would be great. The Clippings extension stores text modules which can be inserted in HTML forms very easily.
BBCodeXtra extension: (no
big thing but) a cooperation would be great. The BBCodeXtra extension is a great tool to apply HTML, XHTM or BBCode to text. Very usefull esp. when pasting text from the clipboard.
Update: Spellcheck: Spellbound is installed now works like a charme. Please read my article "Make spell checking with Spellbound work in PFF" in my blog at performancing.com to see how I solved that problem. It's absolutely not tricky but you should be able to start Firefox with administrator rights.
Search and replace: What's an editor without that function :-)

Oh oh, a lot of different points ... don't hit me for that compilation :-)

The 'test results' will be checked again when I publish the next articles.
Comments are welcome ... as always.

© Markus Merz 2006

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, 2006, Markus, Merz, Performancing, PFF, bugs, errors, issues, Firefox, editor, extension

Jo, the magician in the subway tube / Jo, der Zauberer im U-Bahn Tunnel

2006-01-23T16:25:00.000+01:00

Jo, the magician in the subway tube / Jo, der Zauberer im U-Bahn Tunnel, originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

Jo, the magician in the subway tube

After a birthday party in the city while we were waiting for the subway at Hamburg Gänsemarkt I used the time to take some available light portraits.The second picture is cropped and not as focused as I would like it to be.

Jo, der Zauberer im U-Bahn Tunnel

Nach einem Geburtstagsfest in der Innenstadt habe ich ein paar avialble light Porträts in der U-Bahn am Hamburger Gänsemarkt gemacht, um die Wartezeit zu vertreiben. Das zweite Foto ist ein Ausschnitt und leider nicht so scharf wie ich es gerne hätte.

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!
IPTC Keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, Markus, Merz, 2006, Stock Photography, digital, Archiv, Archive, Photography, Fotograf, Photographer, Foto, Photo, Picture, Pictures, Image, Bild, Bildarchiv, available, black, Brille, cigarette, clock, glasses, Jo, light, magician, Mantel, Porträt, Portrait, Rauch, rauchen, schwarz, smoke, smoking, Subway, Tunnel, U-Bahn, Uhr, Zauberer, Zigarette, Hochformat, vertical, Deutschland, Hamburg

A no-entry sign in Fyn Harbour / Ein "Verbot der Einfahrt" Schild in Fynhaven

2006-01-21T17:00:00.000+01:00

A no-entry sign in Fyn Harbour / Ein "Verbot der Einfahrt" Schild in Fynhaven, originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

A no-entry sign in Fyn Harbour

It was taken while waiting for the ferry to Fyn. Beside the strong red colour signal the photo offers a great 'Waiting for Godot' atmosphere - which is the real story of that composition.

My photographic purpose was to have the signal coloured sign as an eye catcher. The photo itself is the relatively boring area with these two people 'waiting for Godot'. That's the story. The sign is only 'covering' the real story behind it. And so I am very happy that the sign is not perfect straight but gives some tension to that photo composition. In my opinion to get that quiet waiting effect the sign must be centered.

Ein "Verbot der Einfahrt" Schild in Fynhaven

Das Foto wurde beim Warten auf die Fähre nach Fünen aufgenommen. Neben dem starken roten Eye-Catcher Signal bietet das Foto auch eine grossartige 'Warten auf Godot' Atmosphäre - das eigentliche Thema der Aufnahme.

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

IPTC Keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, Markus, Merz, Stock Photography, digital, Archiv, Archive, Photography, Fotograf, Photographer, Foto, Photo, Picture, Pictures, Image, Bild, Bildarchiv, Baltic, Sea, blauer, blue, cloud, Dänemark, Denmark, Fyn, Fynshavn, Harbour, 2005, Geografie, Geographie, Geography, Hafenanlage, Himmel, October, Oktober, Ostsee, red, road, rot, Scandinavia, sign, Skandinavien, sky, Sonnenschein, Stop, Einbahnstrasse, Strasse, sunny, sunshine, Wolke, DK, Fünen, Fyn, Harbour

Tranquility in the harbour of Skarø (Skaroe) / Beschaulichkeit im Hafen von Skarø (Skarö)

2006-01-20T15:28:00.000+01:00

Tranquility in the harbour of Skaroe / Beschaulichkeit im Hafen von Skarö, originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

[EN] Autumn silence in the harbour of the danish island Skarø (Skaroe)

This very small island Skarø is south of the big danish island Fyn - which you can see on the horizon.

This picture is one of my all time favourites ... at least for 2005.

[DE] Herbstruhe im Hafen der sehr kleinen daenischen Insel Skarø (Skarö)

Die Insel Skarø liegt südlich von der grossen dänischen Insel Fyn (Fünen), die man am Horizont sieht.

Dieses Bild ist ein echtes Allzeit-Foto-Highlight ... zumindestens für 2005.

© Markus Merz 2006

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

IPTC Keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, Markus, Merz, Stock Photography, digital, Archiv, Archive, Photography, Fotograf, Photographer, Foto, Photo, Picture, Pictures, Image, Bild, Bildarchiv, aquatic, Autumn, Baltic, Sea, Denmark, Fyn, Hafen, Harbour, Herbst, Kai, Kay, Oktober, 2005, Entspannung, Ostsee, Pfosten, pile, post, quiet, Ruhe, sport, sports, stake, Stille, tranquility, tranquillity, Wasser, Wassersport, Water, Geographie, Geography, Goegrafie, mmtop, highlight, blau, blue, fantastic, Skarø, Skarö, Fünen, Dänemark, DK

Find pictures on a playground / Bilder auf einem Spielplatz finden

2006-01-19T22:55:00.000+01:00

Last sunday I was on a playground in Hamburg. It was freezing cold but the sun was shining. I found some interesting details.

Rope on a playground (mirrored) / Halteseil auf einem Spielplatz (gespiegelt), originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

[EN] Rope on a playground (mirrored)

Interesting after the mirroring ... that glare gets a totally different meaning in terms of picture composition

[DE] Halteseil auf einem Spielplatz (gespiegelt)

Interessant nach dem Spiegeln ist, dass der starke Reflex auf dem Metall eine ganz andere Bedeutung bekommt.

Flag pole on a playground / Flaggenmast auf einem Spielplatz, originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

Flag pole on a playground / Flaggenmast auf einem Spielplatz

A word about that sunlight spot ...

I did that on purpose to get the light and colour contrast (yellow, black, white). I have another picture without that spot ... that alternative is boring.
Because of the close-up frame many might get the spontanous illusion that this is a flat structure or a reproduction of a modern painting (which I wanted to achieve!) ... no it's a tube (a flag pole with a graffiti on a playground) ... by definition the (sun-) light has to be like that to make clear that it is a tube (standing outdoors in the sunlight :-)
The funny thing is that you start with the 'flat' illusion ... the longer you look at that picture the 'rounder' it gets.
It starts to tell that story of the people carving the pole and applying that graffiti ... that was the sense of that 'macro' view ... it's a feature photo ... not intended as a piece of art or as a reproduction of 'art'.
Yes, the mirrored version is 'better' ... meeting the expectations ... it's a new checkpoint before presenting/posting pictures. On the other hand it's a very heavy reality manipulation. (And I am not sure if we should try to meet the visual expectations.)

I prefer this original version!

Thanks again to the 100 Points group. All your comments helped me a lot to get a better/stronger interpretation of my own image :-)

Blue icy structure on a playground II. / Blaue eisige Struktur auf einem Spielplatz II., originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

Blue icy structure on a playground

This is the spacy version.
See the original here: www.flickr.com/photos/markus-merz/88029090/

Blaue eisige Struktur auf einem Spielplatz.

Dies ist eine coole abgedrehte Variante.

Hier ist das Ursprungsbild: www.flickr.com/photos/markus-merz/88029090/

Red button on a playground / Roter Knopf auf einem Spielplatz, originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

Red button on a playground / Roter Knopf auf einem Spielplatz

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

IPTC Keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, Markus, Merz, 2006, Stock Photography, digital, Archiv, Archive, Photography, Fotograf, Photographer, Foto, Photo, Picture, Pictures, Image, Bild, Bildarchiv, playground, Spielplatz, Still, Deutschland, Hamburg

Firefox extension from Performancing

2006-01-19T15:00:00.000+01:00

This entry was posted with the Firefox extension from Performancing.
Looks and works really cool and smooth.

Update: There is an announcement for the official release of Performancing Firefox 1.1 Final on the 24th of January 2006.

This update was edited and published with that extension too ... cool!
Also the Technorati tags were added by the extension
If you don't use Firefox already you can get it - with the Google toolbar.
Just click on the white buton on the right side (in the sidebar below "Archives").

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, Editor, Blog, editing, tool, Firefox, extension, performancing, cool

"Tokio Hotel" - Close-Up from press photo - "Tokio Hotel" - Auschnitt aus Pressefoto

2006-01-13T15:59:00.000+01:00

"Tokio Hotel" - Close-Up from press photo - "Tokio Hotel" - Auschnitt aus Pressefoto, originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

[EN] "Tokio Hotel" macro photo from the computer screen

Tokio Hotel ... too funny ... is a very young and successull Rock'n Roll band which absolutely did not get my attention ... until the TV music channel Viva named whole days (ore were it afternoons) after them.

Important: Editorial usage only! - It is prohibited to publish this photo for any other usage than editorial! The original photography is a press photo from the record company Universal Music.

Inspired by the "Tokio Hotel" gallery at "Ringfahndung Fotoblog :: Tokio Hotel" www.imagineradio.de/rin...

[DE] Ein "Tokio Hotel" Makro Foto vom Computer Monitor

Tokio Hotel ... zu witzig ... ist eine sehr junge und erfolgreiche Rock'n Roll Kapelle, die komplett meiner Aufmerksamkeit entgangen ist ... bis ich mich irgendwann wunderte, dass bei Viva ganze Tage (oder waren es nur Nachmittage) Tokio Hotel gewidmet waren.

Wichtig: Nur für redaktionelle Verwendung! - Das Bild darf nur für redaktionelle Zwecke verwendet werden. Das Originalphoto ist ein Pressefoto der Plattenfirma Universal Music.

Inspiriert durch eine Bildgalerie "Tokio Hotel" bei "Ringfahndung Fotoblog :: Tokio Hotel" www.imagineradio.de/rin...

© Markus Merz 2006

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!
IPTC keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, Markus, Merz, 2006, Stock Photography, digital, Archiv, Archive, Photography, Fotograf, Photographer, Picture, Pictures, Image, Bild, Bildarchiv, Ausschnitt, Band, Bildschirm, Close-Up, Foto, Hotel, macro, Makro, Monitor, Photo, Porträt, Portrait, Pressefoto, Raster, Schrei, schreien, Scream, screaming, Tokio, Tokio Hotel, wild, Deutschland, Hamburg

Bright candle in the darkness / Leuchtende Kerze im Dunkel

2006-01-10T19:17:00.000+01:00

Bright candle in the darkness / Leuchtende Kerze im Dunkel, originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

Simple photo of a candle in the darkness

Einfaches Foto von einer brennenden Kerze im Dunkeln.

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!
IPTC keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, Markus, Merz, 2006, Stock Photography, digital, Archiv, Archive, Photography, Fotograf, Photographer, Foto, Photo, Picture, Pictures, Image, Bild, Bildarchiv, Available, Brennen, brennt, burning, Candle, Close-Up, dark, darkness, Docht, Dunkel, Dunkelheit, Flame, Flamme, Haushaltskerze, Hochformat, Kerze, Leuchte, Licht, Light, Nahaufnahme, vertical, Wachs, wax, Deutschland, Hamburg

One new turkish lira (left coin) - Eine neue türkische Lira (linke Münze)

2006-01-10T10:52:00.000+01:00

One new turkish lira (left coin) - Eine neue türkische Lira (linke Münze), originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

Eine neue türkische Lira (linke Münze)

Because of the similarity with a two Euro coin it is possible two take one for the other. I actually took the picture in a cafe where that has happened.

That's not a pretty good coin design ...

Eine neue türkische Lira (linke Münze)

Aufgrund der Ähnlichkeit mit einer normalen Zwei Euro Münze kann es sehr leicht zu Verwechslungen kommen. Das Bild wurde i einem Café aufgenommen, wo genau das passiert ist.

Kein sehr gutes Münzen-Design ...

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!
IPTC keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus, Merz, Germany, 2006, Close-Up, Coin, Coins, Deutschland, Eur, Euro, Geld, horizontal, Markus, Merz, money, Nahaufnahme, Querformat, Hamburg, Münze, Münzen, Stock, Photography, digital, Archiv, Archive, Photography, Fotograf, Photographer, Foto, Photo, Picture, Pictures, Image, Bild

Deutsche Bahn Cafeteria Gulasch / Deutsche Bahn Kantinen-Gulasch

2006-01-09T15:50:00.000+01:00

Deutsche Bahn Cafeteria Gulasch / Deutsche Bahn Kantinen-Gulasch, originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

Cafeteria Gulasch of the German railway company Deutsche Bahn in the employees restaurant at Hamburg main station

Prejudice accomplished! That food that I had today for lunch in that German Railway cafeteria at the main station in Hamburg told me that all the old cafeteria prejudices from the 60's are still alive and real. And for a cafeteria it was quite expensive! As a guest I paid 6,50 Euro for the bad Beef Gulasch and 1,- Euro for my beverage, half a litre of milk. German Railway employees pay 2,20 Euro less for the Gulasch. The good thing - if you are a smoker the cafeteria offers you a smoker compartment. (EXIF IPTC properties)

Kantinen-Gulasch der Deutschen Bahn im Betriebsrestaurant Hamburg Hauptbahnhof

Vorurteil erreicht und befriedigt! Das Rindergulasch, das ich heute mittag als Essen in der Kantine der Deutschen Bahn am Hamburger Hauptbahnhof bekam hat mir gezeigt, dass die Vorurteile gegen Kantinenessen aus den 60er Jahren noch leben und sich durch ein real existierendes Mittagessen bestätigen lassen. Und für ein Kantinenessen war es auch noch recht teuer! Für das Rindsgulasch habe ich als Gast 6,50 Euro bezahlt und für den halben Liter Milch dazu 1,00 Euro. Deutsche Bahn Mitarbeiter bezahlen für das Gulasch 2,20 Euro weniger. Das Gute an der Kantine - für Raucher gibt es ein Raucherabteil. (EXIF IPTC properties)

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!
IPTC keywords / Technorati Tags: MarkusMerz, Bahn, Bahnhof, Beef, Betrieb, Betriebsrestaurant, D, DB, DE, Deutsche, DeutscheBahn, Essen, Food, Georg, German, Germany, Gulasch, Hamburg, Hauptbahnhof, horizontal, Innenstadt, Kantine, Kantinenessen, main, Mittagessen, noodle, noodles, Nudel, Nudeln, Querformat, Rind, Rindergulasch, Sankt, Sauce, Sosse, station, Deutschland

Markus Merz - self portrait / Selbstportrait

2006-01-08T18:04:00.000+01:00

Markus Merz - self portrait / Selbstportrait, originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

Self portrait, photo taken from the computer monitor screen.

The original black and white photo portrait was taken by my friend Stefan Albrecht in his studio in 2002. The photo-print was scanned and today I took a macro picture frame from the computer screen to produce this wonderful peace of digital photo art. (EXIF IPTC properties)

Selbstportrait, vom Computer Monitor abfotografiert

Das schwarz/weisse Originalbild hat mein Freund Stefan Albrecht in seinem Studion 2002 an der Hamburger Aussenalster gemacht. Der Foto-Abzug wurde damals gescannt und heute habe ich einen Makrophoto Ausschnitt von meinem Computer-Bildschirm fotografiert, um dieses wunderschöne digitale Photo-Kunstwerk zu produzieren. (EXIF IPTC properties)

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!
IPTC keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, 2002, Markus, Merz, Monitor, portrait, Selbstportrait, self, SP

Beer & Ashtray / Bier & Aschenbecher

2006-01-08T15:51:00.000+01:00

Beer + Ashtray / Bier + Aschenbecher, originally uploaded by Markus Merz.

[EN] Close-Up of a full ashtray, a half empty/full beer glass and a beer bottle (EXIF IPTC properties) ... Why?

From one second to the other I stopped smoking. What had happened? Last Friday I was sitting in one of my neighbourhood bars with friends and had a couple off beers and a couple of cigarettes. One time I had to go to the bathroom. I came back and my tobacco was gone ...? After some searching I got the clue that somebody had stolen it. I was really confused ... that had happened to me never before.

Well, I took it as a sign; I had planned to stop smoking but never had a real clue how to do it. That moment I decided spontanously not to by new cigarettes or to walk to the gas station to get new tobacco or to 'borrow' cigarettes all night from my friends.

What simply happened was that I smoked like three more cigarettes from friends and then walked home, went to bed and slept until noon.

I had no cigarette since I left that pub. That really is a funny experience for me ... I was smoking since 30 years ... let's see how it works out in the future.

[DE] Nahaufnahme von vollem Aschenbecher, halbvollem Bierglas und Bierflasche (EXIF IPTC Details) ... Warum?

Von der einen Sekunde zur anderen habe ich aufgehört zu rauchen. Was ist passiert? Letzten Freitag sass ich mit Freunden in einer Kneipe und nahm ein paar Bier und rauchte ein paar Zigaretten. Irgendwann musste ich mal auf die Toilette. Als ich zurückkam war mein Tabak weg ...? Nach einigem Suchen kam ich zu dem Schluss, dass jemand den Tabak gestohlen hatte. Ich war ernstlich verwirrt ... so etwas war mir noch nie vorher passiert.

Nun, ich nahm es als Zeichen, Omen, wie auch immer; Ich hatte schon eine Weile darüber nachgedacht mit dem Rauchen aufzuhören, hatte aber keine Ahnung wie ich das anstellen wollte. In dem Moment habe ich dann jedenfalls spontan beschlossen keine neuen Zigaretten zu kaufen und auch nicht zur Tankstelle zu gehen, um neuen Tabak zu holen oder mir den Rest der Nacht Zigaretten von meinen Freunden zu 'borgen'.

Ich habe einfach noch drei Zigaretten von Freunden geraucht und bin dann nach Hause in's Bett gegangen und habe bis zum Mittag geschlafen.

Seitdem habe ich keine einzige Zigarette mehr geraucht. Das ist wirklich eine seltsame Erfahrung ... Ich habe 30 Jahre geraucht ... mal sehen wie es in der Zukunft weitergeht.

© Markus Merz 2006

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

IPTC keywords / Technorati Tags: 2005, Aschenbecher, Ashtray, Available, Beer, Bier, Bottle, empty, Flasche, full, Glas, Glass, halbleer, halbvoll, half, Hamburg, Hochformat, Markus, Merz, Nahaufnahme, Light, Close-Up, Deutschland, Germany

Nice website - Overheard in New York

2006-01-08T01:56:00.000+01:00

A night out, originally uploaded by Bruno Silva.

This is not a picture taken by me ... thanks go to Bruno Silva who uploaded that pic on 21 Dec '05 to Flickr.

Iraqians and Cars: An Explosive Combo

Hobo: Hey buddy, can you spare a nickel?
Cabbie: Yeah, do you accept credit cards?
Hobo: Fuck you! I am here trying to live on the streets. Just take your customer wherever she's going ... Don't you tip his sorry ass. He's a racist Iraqian.

(NY 23rd 2nd / Overheard by: Cat)

Humiliating the Indigent: Priceless?

Hobo: Do you have the time?
Guy: Yeah, it's 2:30ish
Hobo: Can you spare some change?
Guy: I told you the time, and time is money.

(110th & Broadway)

I love these ones ... they are so typical NYC. And that nice website overheardinnewyork is always worth a look for a short laugh. It is really great that people post these real life quotes somewhere. Somebody should start that in Berlin ... that's the place in Germany where people also talk that way. I am sorry that I have no fitting New York taxi image at hand ... last time I was in NY I was still taking pictures on slides ... not available for the easy digital photo workflow.

Technorati Tags: Bruno, Silva, New, York, City, Amerika, NYC, NY, USA, Cab, Taxi, Nacht, night, available, light, indoor, street, overheardinnewyork, Witz, joke, witty, witzig

Table and chair in a pub / Tisch und Stuhl in einer Kneipe

2006-01-05T14:23:00.000+01:00

Table and chair in a pub / Tisch und Stuhl in einer Kneipe, originally uploaded by hr_merz.

[EN] The pub "Zum alten Ritter" (... von St. Georg) ["To the old knight" (... of Hamburg St. Georg] houses this lonely table and chair combo in the back. As far as I can remember I never ever saw somebody sitting there. This pub is one of the 'old school' drinking bars ... and open until 5 am! As a concession to modern times they offer an electronic dart machine ... which is seriously helpful when counting the points ...

[DE] Die Kneipe "Zum alten Ritter" (... von Hamburg St. Georg) zeigt im hinteren Kneipenbereich diese melancholisch einsame Tisch und Stuhl Kombination. Soweit ich mich zurück erinnern kann, habe ich an diesem Tisch noch nie jemanden sitzen sehen. Diese Gaststätte ist eine der übriggebliebenen alten Kneipen in Hamburg St. Georg ... und hat bis fünf Uhr morgens geöffnet! Als Konzession an die modernen Zeiten haben sie dort eine elektronische Dart Maschine installiert ... ernsthaft hilfreich beim Zählen der Punkte ... (EXIF IPTC properties)

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

IPTC keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus, Merz, 2005, D, Deutschland, Germany, Hamburg, Available, Braun, Brown, Chair, einsam, Gaststaette, Innen, inside, interieur, Kneipe, Lampe, Lampen, Light, Lights, lonely, melancholisch, melancholy, Pub, Raum, Room, Sankt, Georg, Stuhl, Table, Tisch, Wall, Wand

Blue light through glass / Blaues Licht durch Glass

2006-01-01T18:47:00.000+01:00

Blue light through glass / Blaues Licht durch Glass, originally uploaded by hr_merz.

Behind a glass wall there are light emitting tubes which lighten a a car escalator. Interesting for me is that mysterious foggy structure. / Hinter einer Waffel-Glas-Wand leuchten in einem Auto-Fahrstuhl blau leuchtende Leuchtstoffröhren. Interessant macht das Bild für mich die mysteriöse Struktur.
(EXIF IPTC properties)

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

IPTC keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, Dezember, December, 2005, Available, Light, Blau, Blue, Glas, Glass, Licht, Markus, Merz, Neon, Deutschland, Germany, Hamburg

Display dummy in Hamburg / Schaufenster-Puppe im Schanzenviertel in Hamburg

2005-12-28T01:54:00.000+01:00

Display dummy in Hamburg / Schaufenster-Puppe im Schanzenviertel in Hamburg, originally uploaded by hr_merz.

This fashion display dummy was digitally photgraphed in Hamburg through the shop window by night. / Diese Schaufenster-Puppe wurde nachts in Hamburg im Schanzenviertel digital durch ein Schaufenster fotografiert. (EXIF IPTC properties)

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

IPTC keywords / Technorati Tags: "Markus Merz", "Available light", Available, light, Blau, "display dummy", Germany, Hamburg, Hochformat, mannequin, Markus, Merz, Mode, Schanzenviertel, Schaufenster, Schaufensterpuppe, Turban, turquoise, vertical, türkis, Deutschland, Germany, D

"Kurhaus" Schild +++ "Kurhaus" sign

2005-12-25T18:38:00.000+01:00

"Kurhaus" Schild +++ "Kurhaus" sign, originally uploaded by hr_merz.

The "Kurhaus" (meaning 'house of cure') is a very small pub in Hamburg St. Pauli located on a place called "Neuer Pferdemarkt (New horse market)". One rainy evening in August 2005 I was sitting there with friends, sipping beer ... when I looked up and realised that the glowing sign in front of the blue marquee makes a beautiful photo. As I took the picture as a snapshot I did not edit/fill the lower right corner. (EXIF IPTC properties)

Click here for "Kurhaus" travel info on Yahoo

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

IPTC keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus, Merz, Deutschland, Germany, 2005, Abend, August, blau, blue, evening, Hamburg, horizontal, Kurhaus, Markise, Marquee, Pferdemarkt, Querformat, Schild, sign, St.Pauli, pub, Kneipe

This is the danish flag ... "red and white ... dan...

2005-12-23T23:15:00.000+01:00

This is the danish flag ... "red and white ... danish dynamite ..." as the local soccer fans use to sing.
This picture was published during a test from Picasa using the Hello addition. I am not satisfied because the picture does not look as good compared to one published by Flickr.

My present Internet photo workflow is ...

... to do an IPTC edit on the original photo,
optimise the picture on my computer for screen viewing,
resize the image on my computer,
then upload a 600 x 800 pixel image to Flickr (this way the pictures IPTC keywords are published as Flickr tags)
and afterwards blog it on http://markus-merz.blogspot.com/.
Then still the HTML fine tuning (i.e. alt, title & Technorati tags) has to be done.

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

IPTC keywords / Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, Flagge, flag, sky, Himmel, sun, sunny, Sonne, Sonnenschein, Dänemark, Denmark, DK, BalticSea, Oktober, 2005

Flickr Importr (software review)

2005-12-23T23:03:00.000+01:00

Flickr Importr is a great free Windows tool to upload images to Flickr.
(Also listed on the recommended Great Flickr tools collection list.)

It is possible to edit the Flickr title, description and tags before uploading.
Really great is the possibility to mark all groups where you want to publish the picture(s)
Multi Flickr upload with nice sorting possibilities
Big previews
Automagically fill tags, description and title from IPTC (see below)
Geo tagging (I have no use for it yet but it sounds nice)
Take care ... it is not possible to resize the pictures. Image resizing for Flickr must be done before.

For a Flickr Importr Bug form click here.
And you can check the blog flickrimportr.blogspot.com for news.
Here is the Flickr Group.

If you use IPTC (better known as Photoshop file information) to caption your pictures ... then Flickr Importr is the tool for you ... for me the IPTC capabilities are the killer argument. Sure, Flickr uses the IPTC when you upload directly, but in FlickrImportr it is possible to add default tags and to post the pictures directly to the groups where you want them to be.

IPTC keywords transfer to Flickr tags
IPTC caption becomes the Flickr description
filename or IPTC title become the Flickr title
take care ... other IPTC fields become one tag per IPTC field (that's a Flickr problem)
BUG! make sure (status of december 2005) that you have no special characters in your IPTC captions ... otherwise the Flickr upload will hang!

Another great free tool is PixVue ... it's a nice small IPTC editor which integrates great and seamlessly into Windows explorer. To tell the truth ... it's an image management software but I am using it for the integrated IPTC stuff which works great :-)

© Markus Merz 2005

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

Technorati Tags: Markus Merz, Photography, Metadata, IPTC, Editor, PixVue, Flickr, import, tool, upload

Danish flag in the wind on a flagpole (sun shines through it)

2005-12-20T16:17:00.000+01:00

Danish flag in the wind on a flagpole (sun shines through it), originally uploaded by hr_merz.

Typical danish flag on a flagpole in Fyn Harbour in Denmark. As you can see the sun is directly behind the flag. The colours - red and white - are a very often used symbol for Denmark. The picture manipulation I did on my computer was to straighten the flagpole (More EXIF IPTC information).

I am still in Blogger and Flickr test mode ... more images to come soon.

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ichempfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

Technorati Tags: Markus, Merz, Photo, Photography, Denmark, Dänemark, sun, sunny, sunshine, Fynshavn, Fyn Harbour, Fünen, Ostsee, blauerHimmel,Sonnenschein, DK, BalticSea, Oktober, 2005

Starring at the little empty boat ...

2005-12-19T21:24:00.000+01:00

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

Girl with a red balloon / Mädchen mit rotem Luftballon

2005-12-19T19:54:00.000+01:00

Girl with a red balloon / Mädchen mit rotem Luftballon, originally uploaded by hr_merz.

[EN] Well, I think it is not a bad idea to have a personal and awesome photo of a girl as the first image post on my new blog.

[DE] Nun, ich denke es ist keine schlechte Idee ein schönes persönliches Foto als ersten Bildbeitrag in meinem neuen Blog zu haben.

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!

#1

2005-12-19T19:01:00.000+01:00

Welcome to one of my new blogs. It's dedicated to my own photo work and it will be linked to my Flickr photostream ...

Let's see how it works :-)

© Markus Merz 2005

Tip: I recommend OpenBC for your business network! / Ich empfehle OpenBC für Ihr Business Netzwerk!