December 29, 2016 - The Museums

Margo, Arno and I took the day off to go to the museums in Fort Worth. We had planned ahead, ompleted our work for the day long before and had all brought cameras to capture decisive moments. The exhibitions were excellent at both, the Modern and the Kimbell, although we found out that our membership in both had lapsed. In any case, we took in the art, photographed as much as possible and then headed back to Dallas where we had a milkshake at the Pharmacy. 

December 25, 2016 - Christmas, Finally

The big day is finally here. Neither Margo nor Arno had an easy time getting into bed last night as they were both very excited. We had a grand time opening presents of course and everyone did really well in chosing them for the others. I think Arno was most excited about getting a drone and he immediately assembled it so he could take it for a first run. Unfortunately, we did not read the manual all the way to the end before giving it a shot and thus we had to fish the drone out of the swimming pool after a few seconds of its maiden voyage. Margo was really excited about getting a whiteboard (that was her no. 1 wish) and we shall now expect regular briefings on family matters in her room, complete with charts and thorough analysis. As we had hoped, Meredith was very touched by our images and loved her bracelettes as well. As for me, I got a five volume tome on baking bread among many other great gifts and could not be happier!

December 24 and a half, 2016 - Meredith's Present

This year we decided to give Meredith a really cool and unique gift. We set up studio lights in the living room and shot serveral sessions with two professional film cameras. Arno and Margo basically made letters with their hands. Arno spelled out the sentence "I Love You" while Margo spelled "You Are The Best" for Meredith. Then we brought the films to a high-quality lab and scanned the rolls so that we could print them on very nice paper that we found in New York. Last, we had to fit them into frames, which involved destroying lots of cheap Picasso drawings, getting mats cut to exactly the right size, finding foam to lift the images and glueing everything together using a highly toxic spray that required all three of us to run around with masks for hours. On top of all that, we had to keep her completely in the dark (see below) as to what we were doing. However, most challenging of all, we didn't really know whether we would pull it all off until we were finally done. We can't wait to see her face tomorrow!

First up is Arno with his visual declaration of love.

Next up is Margo, who rally also wanted to say "I love you", with her longer sentence that didn't entirely fit in below, so we omitted an "S" and a "T" below.

The last frame shows the models letting loose after a long shoot and a bit of the setup.

December 24, 2016 - Weihnachten

As is custom in our house, we celebrated Weihnachten today by opening the presents from my Mom. We talked to her on the phone of course and were happy to hear that all of our presents had also safely arrived. Margo got a drawing set and Egyptian hieroglyph stencil while Arno was very excited about his new Lego books. Meredith got a very nice custom-made necklace from Germany and I got an Edward Weston book, which still has me excited. Obviously, we cooked a lot as well.

December 18, 2016 - Daddy - Daughter Day

Margo took me to her favorite restaurant for lunch and then treated me to a new exhibit on medival art at the DMA. Perfect day!

December 17, 2016 - Horseback Riding

Arno went to his last riding lesson for the year. Of course, we forgot to bring the Christmas present for his teacher and also nelected to bring his riding boots. However, neither made a difference in the end. Arno did very well and even got up for the trott.

December 16, 2016 - Arno's Play

Arno performed in a Christmas play at his school today after being promoted to the "Joseph" role at the last minute. H did extremely well and was called out for being the happiest Joseph they have ever had. It was obviously great fun to watch.

Tonight we also had a JHG lecture by the German military chaplain for North America on the deployment of German troops into Mali and the collaboration between people of Muslim and Christian faiths.

December 11, 2016 - Hanging Out

The weekend started out real busy with my last course session at the University, a long lunch and great fondue with friends in the evening. So we took it as easy as possible today with a bit of reading., catching up on work (for my part) and studying a whole lot as well.

December 4, 2016 - Flash

I use an off-camera flash occasionally and always love the effect. Unfortunately, it's quite blinding and no one in this family really enjoys it as much as I do. The times where I can et away with it are thus limited.

November 26, 2016 - Downtown

I had a lunch meeting downtown and went for a quick stroll through the DMA and park. Maybe most exciting, we received a new tea maker today that I had purchased through Kickstarter about a year ago. Naturally, Margo, Arno and I had to give it a try by manufacturing our first cup of good, old-fashioned peppermint. It was delicious!

November 25, 2016 - Marie and Markus

We had a nice evening at the Hentschel's house over Raclette and a few glasses of white wine. The kids played nicely ​together and Arno found a toy Walter PPK, which made his night.

November 24, 2016 - Thanksgiving

The Hamiltons, who have a kid in Arno's and Margo's class invited us over for a truly American Thanksgiving today. The food was absolutely delicious and we had a ton of fun. There were quite a few kids running around as well.

November 23, 2016 - Milk Shakes

We have a bit of a food scheme going on here, so I'll continue with what we consume on a daily basis. You are what you eat after all. Today was really nice in that we delivered Thanksgiving meals to three families with foster children after work and then made our very first  milk shakes at home. It's really simple: just throw whole milk, sugar and a bunch of chemicals in a bowl and mix them up real well. Then you grind frozen, dried raspberries into a fine powder and voila, you have a fantastic shake.

November 19, 2016 - Schintzel

Margo and I made french fries and schnitzel, which turned out really well. Of course we hammer the meat and add a solid helping of whip cream to the egg. By now, we've all gotten pretty good at it.

November 16, 2016 - New York

A quick trip into the city today.

November 13, 2016 - Eating

Today we actually managed to do nothing except cook and eat and watch a Bond movie. It was great fun and we all enjoyed the day tremendously. It was also an opportunity to make Arno's bacon again, which is a savory, bacony, sweet strip of meat coated in caramelized sugar and pepper. For dinner we made a fantastic New York strip steak with slim french fries, which turned out really well.

November 12, 2016 - SMU Dressage Competition

Arno and I went to his horse ring to take a look at a University team competition. It was very nice to see the different riders and Arno got inspired for his own lessons on "Max", who wasn't used in the competition to our disappointment.

This evening, we had a really great lecture at JHG by Thomas Adam on the history of charitable giving and philantrophy. It was the most lively talk we have had so far in the organization and truly fascinating to hear how different cultures and religions have influenced each other over the past millennium in their approach to giving to the poor.

November 10, 2016 - School Night

I picked up Arno and Margo from school today so that we could have dinner at Little Greek, which wasn't an unopposed decision, but certainly a sensible response to the conflicts that rage when we all try to find a consensus solution. Afterwards it was all homework and studying.

November 6, 2016 - Lazy Sunday

Cooking was pretty much all we did today. Regitze visited for lunch, which was a nice opportunity for me to prepare a three-course meal with braised short ribs as the main event. Otherwise we worked some and watched another of Arno's James Bond movies.

November 3, 2016 - Trick or Treat

Margo's volleyball team made it to the payoffs this year and that got everyone really excited. The girls fought very hard and  they had a lot of fun as well. Unfortunately, this was their last game of the season as they were eliminated in the quarter finals.

October 31, 2016 - Trick or Treat

We visited Jake, Asha and Ashley today for a joint run at Halloween candy. It was a lot of fun to walk with the kids as they raced from house to house collecting a ton of sweets along the way. Ashley and Margo were both in surgical gear while Arno was "Bond, James Bond", which earned him the new nickname "Shaken, But Not Stirred" in the family.

October 29, 2016 - Bonn

I visited with Malte and Charlotte once more before going back home, which was very nice. We had a lot of fun and great food, as always!

October 26, 2016 - Portraits

Today was better in that I had made a couple of portraits arranged in a 3-by-3 pattern.

October 25, 2016 - Artsy Stuff

I have to admit that I hate semi-artistic trickery and the images here fall into that category of grabbing an effect through a combination of color and B&W. So, the aim was entirely to make it the least annoying.

October 24, 2016 - Staircases

First day of a workshop on composition and all it does is rain. We stayed inside and took images of architectural elements such as a couple of really nice staircases at the Leica factory.

October 22, 2016 - German Markets

Markets have been an integral part of Germany and all of Europe for that matter for well over two millennia. The nice thing is that you can buy anything from sheep skins to veggies straight from the producer.

October 16, 2016 - Arno's Birthday Party

 Arno really wanted to celebrate his birthday at Adventure Landing in Plano and thus we went. There were a ton of games as everyone was running around while screaming loudly. It was fun to watch them in a game of laser tag where everything was pretty much pith dark and you could only see a few pillars. I think we were all relieved when it was over and we had a very quiet dinner.

October 15, 2016 - Playing Around

Just a few snaps from today ...

October 10, 2016 - Arno's Birthday

Everybody got up at six this morning for a nice breakfast followed by the opening of presents and a call to my Mom who gave Arno a James Bond DVD set. We furnished a PS3 for the occasion, which is pretty exciting for all of us. Naturally Margo was the only one who knew how to play. Anyway, now that Arno is able to tell people that he is eight, things look just a tiny bit more mature and seasoned.

Given that Arno and Margo had the day off from school we hit the Texas State Fair, which is a big deal around here. Consequently, it was pretty crowded and totally overpriced. We pretty much ended up spending our money on a ton of greasy food and a Farris wheel ride. We had a lot of fun though and Arno actually went on a very daunting ride all by himself!

October 9, 2016 - Games and Stuff

We did not set a foot in front of the door today as we pretty much stayed holed-up inside all day. Arno was getting exited since his birthday is tomorrow and he can't wait to tell people that he is eight. We had a bit of fun by telling him that the three of us just drew pictures for presents in an effort to simplify our lives. Obviously, he didn't take long to catch on.

October 8, 2016 - At the DMA

Margo I went for lunch at Villa O and then headed downtown to catch a bit of culture. Since she is currently learning about Egypt in school, we figured we'll take advantage of the Members-only preview of a Egyptian artifact (mainly cats) exhibit at the DMA and take a stroll in the park as well.

October 7, 2016 - Dinner at Houston's

Lazy evening! Nobody (me) felt like cooking and thus we ended up at Houston's well before most people would even consider the intake of food. We had lots of fun though as the images show.

October 1, 2016 - Chess

Arno and Margo both play a mean game of chess, which makes it increasingly harder to beat them. I can still keep the upper hand with trickery and a bit of experience, but the day of my demise will inevitably approach.

In the evening we had a lecture by JHG Texas in which Hank Fink gave a talk on the history of settlements in Texas as well as its origins in Germany through the "Mainzer Adelsverein". Hank's talk was very well received and truly enlightening.

September 30, 2016 - Downtown

Time to take the old Pentax 6x7 out once more for some street images.

September 24, 2016 - Internet and Things

We had a really nice and lazy afternoon as we cooked a steak dinner for friends over a couple of hours. Everyone congregated in the kitchen and we soon watched a couple of really funny video blogs about flying first class on Emirates, among other things.

September 18, 2016 - Sunday Lunch

After heated debates about where to take our lunch, we finally all settled on a middle-of-the-road candidate: the Little Mermaid Bar at Neiman's. The food was good as always and lots of people complimented Arno on his stylish outfit.

September 17, 2016 - Portraits

These were taken at different points over the last two weeks.

September 11, 2016 - Lunch with Margo

We decided to head towards downtown today for the DMA and a stroll through the park. On our way back, we saw this awesome 70s police cruiser in  black, which was in unrestored condition.

September 5, 2016 - Clouds

Another outing with the new medium format camera. This time I tried to get a few big sky type images given that the clouds were beautiful and everything looked great in the sunlight.

September 3, 2016 - Black & White Experiments

In an effort to increase image quality, I started to shoot with an old medium format film camera. It's actually the second one since I got duped by a seller in Japan on the first one. Anyway, here are some more images. The results are better than the first batch a few weeks ago with a broken camera, but there is still much left to be desired. Since the negative is four times larger that 35 mm it is extremely unforgiving in terms of their exposure, which is all done manually. You can pretty much tell which ones were shot correctly and which ones were not. 

September 1, 2016 - Fathers Day Mass

Since fathers day falls into the summer break at school, they celebrate it with a mass after the beginning of the new semester. It was a lot of fun to see Arno and Margo with all of their friends and teachers. Both made beautiful gifts for me as well!

August 31, 2016 - Werner Herzog

We were in for a real treat tonight at a lecture given by the German director Werner Herzog. He was every bit as funny, thoughtful and entertaining as his reputation has it. His talk was very inspiring as well and provided plenty of background on some of his most famous projects such as Fitzcaraldo, Bad Lieutenant or Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

August 27, 2016 - Margo

Margo made her namesake pasta dish today and posed for some modelling shots. Needless to say, the food was delicious and we enjoyed the evening with a nice glass of wine.

August 26, 2016 - Soccer

Arno had a soccer game today in Irving so we caught an early start, had a fabulous meal at Chick-Fil-A and then proceeded to the field. It was a good game, albeit a loss for the team, and great fun to watch.

August 25, 2016 - Sorry

Arno got his new soccer uniform, which had to tried out immediately. We all went downstairs for a game of Sorry afterwards in which I, that much is tradition, lost heavily to two far superior players.

August 21, 2016 - Food Trucks and a Train Ride

Arno and I decided that we need to get out of the house and ended up in the park where we caught a couple of nice shots. We also took the train around uptown, which is always fun.

August 19, 2016 - Bulgogi

Meredith and I went to pick up the kids from school today while it was raining cats and dogs. It was an interesting drive and we all got drenched just walking a few feet. We ignored these calamities to go for our favorite Korean restaurant.

August 14, 2016 - Portraits

My main camera has been at the service center since June and so we started to take color images on film. The ones included here were all taken with a 1960's Asahi Pentax, which was strictly a professional camera at the time. It is much harder to operate than today's auto-everything cameras, but also a great way to learn how to make images the right way.  Some turned out well while others require substantial adjustments. I have just left everything the way it was and posted six of them below.

We also did a small series of face portraits that was initially intended two faces up close. However, as you can see below, I hardly had any volunteers to put their faces together and thus had to content with a couple of head shots instead.

August 13, 2016 - Lobster Rolls

Carole and Eric came over for an afternoon of cooking, which was great fun. Eric had already made a phenomenal cold tomato soup as our first course so that we could focus on the lobster rolls, which require six individual recipes, and the desert where the kids greatly helped once again. The results were respectable throughout and we enjoyed a good glass of wine all along.

August 11, 2016 - Swim and a Dinner

We had a very nice afternoon at home and in the pool ...

August 9 & 10, 2016 - Jersey

Having been in New Jersey once again I took a bunch of candid shots, but with a different aim altogether. This time, the objective was just to compose decent pictures rather than shoot street-style. The idea was (and will continue to be) to see what makes an image interesting. There are a lot of written and unwritten rules and then also the rule to break the rules. It's developing what works for you and then understanding the decisions you make in the process to become consecutively better at it. 

August 7, 2016 - A Swim

OK, we really didn't do much of anything today. Margo made a perfect lunch for us by preparing her specialty, Spaghetti a la Margo, and we complemented the treat with two nice steaks. But other than that, we really just hung out at the pool. It was great though and we all got a bit of a tan after all. 

August 6, 2016 - An Ordinary Day

This weren't particularly different from many other Saturdays. Hence the title. We had a nice lunch and took Arno to his equestrian lessons, played chess and then cooked together.

July 31, 2016 - Oysters

We had a very nice weekend, talked a lot about how to learn new stuff and become smarter and experimented a little with food as well. Most notably, Margo played several excellent games of chess against me and Arno tried his first oysters - not one, but two - on Saturday night.

July 29, 2016 - Fashion Statement

Arno has always been the most fashion-conscious in our family. He certainly has a great sense of style and picks his clothes with a surety that many adults probably lack. Here we see him in an outfit that he bought at the Galleries Lafayette and a new pair of double monks that we ordered this week.

July 27, 2016 - New York

I met Nancy and John for dinner in Grand Central Terminal tonight and decided to start a little early since I have not had a chance to see the new Oculus transportation hub by Santiago Calatrava in the World Trade Center. It is a surreal architecture, definitely very beautiful and no doubt extraordinary in every way. You can tell that it establishes a communication with everyone who wanders through; people are looking up and down, discussing the architecture, which is probably the best any architect can possibly hope for.

 Afterwards I walked from the Southern tip of Manhattan to 42nd Street in midtown just taking a few shots here and there. It took over an hour of walking and was pretty hot, but well worth the trouble. The streets of New York are always full of interesting characters. Today was certainly no exception.

July 24, 2016 - Anniversary

This weekend was our 11th anniversary. Meredith surprised me with a wine from each year we have spent together accompanied by a photo, which was really cool. We are now obviously looking forward to start the drinking process, which is going to take a while. Margo, Arno and I returned the favor by creating a book for Meredith in which we listed all the things we love about her along with an image. The weekend was otherwise rather quiet and we had plenty of time to make a couple of delicious pizzas. On Sunday Juergen and Marilyn took us to a phenomenal Singaporean restaurant for lunch, which prompted all of us to overindulge heavily. 

July 23, 2016 - Dandy

Arno had another horseback riding lesson today and obviously dressed for the occasion. He enjoys fine clothing and really loves to wear ties. We just let him put on what he likes and often he'll come down dressed in the same way as you  see here.

July 20, 2016 - Snapshots

I have been using my travel camera for the past month or so to take images on the street. However, this time I decided that I wanted to have 1000 images before selecting a few to post. The process very much became the same as for film in that I did not look at the images at all before processing them.

July 16, 2016 - Break Dancing

I met Alex and Massimo for lunch today and went for a walk in the park beforehand where I ran into a group of break dancers just hanging out. However, they were truly phenomenal and it was exciting to watch them. These images only capture part of the excitement that they inflicted on everyone who was watching.

July 10, 2016 - Home

Just a few shots at home while working and swimming.

July 9, 2016 - Spaghetti a la Margo

Tonight we made one of our all-time staples, Spaghetti a la Carbonara. I had sold the naming rights for the dish some time ago and Margo emerged as the winner so that hence forth, the dish shall be called Spaghetti a la Margo. Margo made it tonight, which was probably the best we have ever had. The trick is to use a really warm bowl when mixing all ingredients together and she managed it perfectly.

July 7, 2016 - Science

Margo and Meredith worked on a chemistry set that turned out to be a lot of fun. Meanwhile, I got a chance to experiment with my flash a little, which I typically do not use for analog images.

July 4, 2016 - Long Swim

Today was a holiday and it's still hot. We went for another very long swim and battled extensively with out water guns. In the evening we had a nice Mexican dinner and played games.

July 3, 2016 - Quick Swim

It's been hot for the past few weeks since we have returned from our vacation and today was no exception. As soon as you are outside, you want to jump in the pool just to cool down again.

July 2, 2016 - Arno's Riding Lesson

After Arno had tasted the excitement of horseback riding in Germany with Stefan a few weeks ago, he was eager to get back in the saddle as soon as possible. Today was his first lesson at a stale near the house where he learned a few more things such as his hand posture (think of holding two ice creams) and his stance before he jumps (hold the horses' neck). It was really nice to watch him and see how much he enjoys the sport.

June 26, 2016 - Magic Show

Margo performed a magic show this evening after spending the past week in a course on magic at her Greenhill summer camp. She was really good and we have no idea how her tricks worked.

June 25, 2016 - Lunch with Margo

Margo and I went to R&D, her favorite place, for lunch and had a really nice afternoon just swimming in the pool and relaxing.

June 24, 2016 - Theater Performance

Margo and Arno both performed in a play at summer camp today. Margo was the narrator for the show while Arno was James Bond, which he delivered with a distinct Sean Connery accent.

June 19, 2016 - Fathers Day

Margo and Arno surprised me with dinner and desert today as their Fathers Day present whil Meredith gave me a Paul Klee book, which interests me a lot. 

June 15, 2016 - New York

I had to fly into town for a meeting today and walked for about an hour in midtown to take these images.

June 12, 2016 - Theater

We spent our last day at home with my Mom and played lots of games. In the afternoon Margo and Arno staged a talent show with two theater plays and two self-composed songs. It was lots of fun and we are truly sorry that we have to leave so soon again.

June 11, 2016 - Bonn

Today we visited Charlotte and Malte in Bonn, which was great fun as always. All of us miss having them around in Dallas where we often got together for dinners, grilling and a few cold ones. Annie, my god-daughter, has grown up a lot and has begun to talk by now. It's really nice to see her develop with three older brothers against whom she seems to prevail just fine.

June 10, 2016 - Horseback Riding

Stefan arranged for us to ride horses at a stable where he keeps his own (considerably large) horse. Arno and Margo both enjoyed the experience and the former had a blast galloping in the arena. Afterwards we went to a tournament where we had food and watched a jumping competition.

June 9, 2016 - Duesseldorf

My Mom invited us to her favorite restaurant in Krefeld, which is always a treat. Arno sampled a bit of wine from Meredith, which gave him a to of creative sparks for how to handle his napkin. In the afternoon the girls wanted to pamper themselves and we thus went to Duesseldorf for a wash and haircut. Initially we were told that it will take two hours, yet after the first two, there was work for at least two more. Arno and I roamed the streets in Duesseldorf while we waited.

June 8, 2016 - Cologne

The morning was nice and sometimes very animated at my Mom's house. We went to Cologne for lunch and to meet Peter, a very good college friend, for a coffee. As we attempted to climb the steps of the Dom, we quickly found that the bell tower, a half-way point to the top, was enough for us.

June 7, 2016 - Travel Day

We spent the morning in Paris, walking from the apartment to the l'Arc de Triomphe, and the afternoon on a train that took us to Germany. While everything worked out great, it was rather uneventful. I had the most fun on a bus to the Gare du Nord where I was able to snap a few candid shots.

June 6, 2016 - Champs Elysees

This was our last full day in Paris and we decided to take an architectural tour along the most famous street in Europe, which turned out to be awesome. We came across the company through Malte, who is a high school friend of the owner. Maybe most important, it allowed us to see much more than just the storefronts and to learn about the history of specific buildings - all modern - and how they came about. We visited several stores as well to look at the interior architecture, which was highly interesting. Arno loved the showrooms of Citroen and Renault while Margo was blown away by Louis Vuitton and Guerlain. I am sure she will be back at some point to purchase her first perfume here someday.

June 5, 2016 - Quai Branly and Versailles

What a day! We saw absolutely incredible art at the Branly and were blown away by the breadth, depth and quality of the whole collection. Obviously, we knew that modernism was greatly influenced by African tribal art and that many great 20th century painters collected these sculptures and masks. Yet, to see them up close and to realize how immediately some of them have translated onto the canvasses of Picasso and others was a real treat. In the afternoon we took a bus to Versailles where, it seemed, all other tourists in Paris had already arrived. We went through the chateau with its incredible rooms, paintings and ceilings, but it felt a little superficial. Not just because we were often elbowed by more staunch travelers, but also because you do not really experience much of the chateau. Our visits to the palaces in Potsdam, for example, were much more engaging as they are still pretty much intact.

June 4, 2016 - Rodin and Sacre Coeur

The floods finally caught up with us as we had to abandon our original objective to visit the Quai d'Orsay today. Instead, we took a long walk towards the Rodin museum and stopped at the Invalides on our way. The former was a truly eye opening experience in terms of the sheer quantity of Rodin's work, needless to say the enormous quality of it all. Most interesting, you can trace the evolution of several key pieces such as his Balzac or the Burghers of Calais though various stages, which easily brings Rodin's genius to light. On our way to the Metro, we walked past the Italian embassy and then stumbled across a small Italian restaurant two doors down. Correctly reasoning that their food must be phenomenal, we proceeded with lunch. In the afternoon, we visited Montmartre, the Sacre Coeur and a small cemetery, albeit not the one that hosts Morrison, Berlioz, Heine and many other luminaries.

June 3, 2016 - Pompidou and Picasso

To the chagrin of our children, we had a truly horrible day. One that could have been spent with iPads in a mellow corner of the apartment and instead was dominated by a force-feeding of art and culture, greatly amplified by highly sophisticated exhibits and curatorial excellence. Things got a little better when we found an installation where kids could take a portrait, which would then be displayed in the installation and also in seven cities around the world with identical setups. That was certainly enough of a boost to get us through a phenomenal Paul Klee exhibition! Based on our success, we stretched things a bit by visiting the Jewish Museum and then the magnificent Picasso Museum. The latter was sold short as everyone was just entirely shot by that time. We'll just have to go back soon. 

June 2, 2016 - Louvre

After a good nights' sleep, this was our first day in full consciousness. We had a solid breakfast, surrounded by workers and bohemians, in a Tabac around the corner and started out at the Louvre. Naturally, our first stop was the Mona Lisa, which was in a packed room that pretty much resembled a never-ending red carpet appearance - flashing lights, groupies and screaming fans - by DaVinci. I vividly remember when I first saw the painting the eighties and thought it was crowded back then because there were five people around me. Anyway, we ended up roaming around, buying tea and macarons, touring the opera and getting new clothes for Margo and Arno. All said, we walked more than seven miles and fell into bed just as tired as we had the night before.

June 1, 2016 - Eiffel Tower

After a brief refresh at the apartment, we went on the Eiffel tower as it happens to be very close to our apartment. There were huge lines everywhere so we decided to walk up the stairs, which was't an issue for Arno and Margo! Even with fairly cloudy skies, the view was magnificent though and we really enjoyed the experience.

May 31, 2016 - Traveling to France

We  had a very early start, flew to Charlotte and then had pretty much the day to ourselves before continuing to Paris. We went to a Discovery Place in the morning, which turned out to be just the right kind of distraction for everybody. Once we arrived, we took a taxi into the city (railroads were, predictably so, on strike) and unpacked in the apartment.

May 30, 2016 - Flash

Given that we have to get up a 2 am tomorrow morning to catch an early flight to Charlotte, we decided that it would be prudent to get up at 5 am today so that we're all ready for a hours of sleep tonight. I woke everyone up with my camera and a flash, which certainly did the trick. However, it also works great outside and in broad daylight so I just kept shooting with it throughout the day.

May 28, 2016 - A Wedding

We were invited to the wedding of the daughter of a very good friend, Roy Varghese, today, which was great fun. Both the ceremony and the dinner were fabulous. We met a few other friends and truly enjoyed the company and the day. The dinner was set in the State Hall of Texas, which is an incredible Art Deco building in Fair Park.

May 24, 2016 - New York

I met Chris, a friend, for dinner in New York this evening and took the small point & shoot camera with me for a bit of fun. The walk took about an hour and a half, while covering about six miles of ground. Basically, I just never stopped walking at a sensible pace. The results were mixed as there were issues with autofocus and image exposure that should be anticipated for a small camera. However, in the end, only the image matters. Here are a few that turned out reasonably well.

May 23, 2016 - More Newark

A few more candid shots from the last two weeks as I made my way from the hotel to the office. This time, I left everything as it was and did not play around with the RAW files much.

May 22, 2016 - Margo's Ballet Recital

Margo had her annual ballet recital with Park Cities Ballet today at SMU. As always she was incredibly beautiful, performed with immense grace and danced like a pro. We are incredibly proud of her!

May 21, 2016 - Athletes and Shoppers

We went on another photo safari today and decided to go to the lake first. It can be challenging to shoot people moving a fairly fast with a very small aperture. However, for those shots where it worked out, it paid off nicely. Arno took a bunch of images that are posted under Young Talent. I am working with him to post to his own website, which will surely grow over the next few years. Our second stop was the Mall where I needed to run a few errands. We just sat down in one spot and waited for interesting things to happen.

May 20, 2016 - Spaghetti and Meatballs

Arno and I cooked a new meatball recipe tonight, which turned out to be quite good. We already knew to soak a croissant in water instead of using traditional bread crumbs. But the real trick, which we found on a German site, was to throw a bit of sour cream into the mix. Everything turned out real fluffy that way. 

May 15, 2016 - Sushi

Our Sunday was, once again, determined by food. We brought home a bunch of sushi, but not before a brief quality inspection and a random sampling.

May 14, 2016 - Museum and Market

Arno and I went on a photo safari again, this time to Fort Worth so that we could catch the major museums and grab lunch at the modern. We saw a terrific Frank Stella exhibition, Arno noticed that you can switch his name around to make him a girl and we took in the Kimbell just for good measure as well. Afterwards, we discovered a Hispanic market that was truly interesting. As we walked through there, we were pretty much the only people photographing. It actually became a bit dicey when we realized that some of the stuff had probably fallen of a truck before it ended up there and when a burly guy started following us, we gently retreated and drove off quickly.

May 12, 2016 - People in Newark

A few weeks ago, I procured a small point and shoot camera that we had already tested at a dinner. The main intent was to have something when I am traveling and cannot carry my regular equipment with me for various reasons. So, I took it to the streets of Newark where you can hardly stop and ask someone for a portrait while you're holding a camera in one hand and a briefcase in the other. These images are all shot subtly and candid. There was only one guy who asked me whether I got his image and we had a good laugh about it. It was a lot of fun to process them as well and took a bit of effort to bend the source files, which are nowhere near where my usual output. A few  may look a bit over the top and some might seem like they are HDR processed, which none of them were.

May 8, 2016 - Surgery, Pizza and an Assignment

It was mothers day and we started our cooking with a round of delicious pizzas. After learning about surgery in school from Jake and Asha, Margo is now fully on track to become a doctor. She threw on her scrubs to perform some light surgery on Arno, who took it with stride. In the afternoon we worked on an assignment about the state of Pennsylvania that Arno needs to turn in next week. His three heroes from the  state are William Penn, George C. Marshal and Bradley Cooper!

May 7, 2016 - Margo's Birthday Party

Margo invited a couple of good friends from her school to celebrate her birthday at a spa called Sweet & Sassy. They all got their nails done, makeup and a fancy haircut before going on the catwalk for a show. It was great fun to watch and Arno was a real trooper to stick around for the entire 2+ hours. Obviously, the girls were in heaven and we were just happy that they had so much fun.

May 6, 2016 - This Week

It's been a long time since I was home for an entire week. So, this time around we had lots of fun and excitement as we cooked and played in the evenings.

May 2, 2016 - Margo's Birthday

Our little girl turned ten today! I am still mesmerized how time flies. If the next ten years pass just as fast, it'll be tomorrow when she get's into her own car, moves out for college and brings home s succession of boyfriends. That's not something her Dad wants to think about, actually. Anyway, moving on, we had a very nice morning.I made bacon and eggs for breakfast, we unwrapped a couple of presents including her first iPhone, and then everyone went off to School at 7 am.

In the evening, we all went to Half-Price Books where Margo and Arno both spend money that their Oma had given them for Margo's birthday. The challenge was to find the books in a given period of time. Afterwards we made Spaghetti  Carbonara a la Margo and tried her new cotton-candy machine, which, I was told, makes excellent cotton-candy.

May 1, 2016 - Lazy Sunday

We had a very relaxing day with no immediate tasks in the morning. I owed Arno a nice lunch and he picked Houston's for it.

April 30, 2016 - Museum and a Wine Tasting

Arno and I had some time today and were tasked with picking up two very nice frames at Conny & Royd's shop, which were to be sold at the JHG wine tasting later than night. We saw that there was an Irving Penn exhibition at the DMA and made a straight line for it. It is one thing to see his images in a book and quite another to stand right in front of them. I will definitely go back sometime to see everything once more.

Tonight we had our annual wine tasting at JHG, which was a lot of fun again. This year, the theme was wines of royalty and covered the favorites of queens, kings and an elder statesman. My personal favorite was a Madeira that was drunk by the latter, Benjamin Franklin, in vast quantities.  

April 23, 2016 - Dinner with Friends

We had another dinner tonight, this time a real one, with Alex, Massimo and his sister. It was a lot of fun, we had way too much wine and lots of good conversation. Instead of me just taking photos, we also put a small P&S camera on the table so that everyone can grab it and take pictures, which worked out real well.

April 22, 2016 - Dinner at Arno's

Arno had a reading competition masked as a restaurant experience in school today. Basically, all students had a little table where parents could sit down and pick from a menu. The student would then read a section in a book corresponding to the chosen menu items. Due to working, I did not get a chance to see Arno read at the school and so we just recreated the situation at home in our living room. It was very funny and we're really proud how well Arno can read already. 

April 17, 2016 - Culinary Adventure

 It rained cats and dogs today, which ruled out any kind of outdoor activity. We took it easy and spent the afternoon cooking a French onion soup. To mix things up a bit, we procured all ingredients from a low-cost supermarket. The intention obviously was to prove that you can make great food as long as your process is right and your recipe is good. Well, I was wrong! The soup did not come together and even after four hours of labor, the result was rather miserable. The point is taken in that we're going back to trusted sources and quality ingredients.

April 16, 2016 - Dallas Aquarium

 Today it was Arno's turn to do something fun. We visited with Connie and then took a walk through the Aquarium. It was surprisingly crowded and we stood in long lines hardly moving at times, but seeing all of the different creatures was certainly worth the trouble. On our way home, Arno picked out a nice steak at the market and we proceeded to make steak et frites for dinner.

April 15, 2016 - Dinner with Margo

Margo and I went for a nice dinner at R&D while Meredith took Arno to a flag football game. We dined lavishly on Spaghetti and vanilla ice cream and concluded the evening with a visit to the park.

April 10, 2016 - People

On to Day Three. The weather was gorgeous and the light truly amazing. There are few places where you see as many interesting people as you do in New York. I had a very hard time not being noticed, which makes it clear that I have much to learn. Also, these images are often mere portraits as opposed to well-composed photographs. Maybe one or two are decent images, but then again, I really could not resist posting some of these characters anyway.  

April 9, 2016 - Umbrellas

Day Two in New York was overcast and mostly rainy. As the title says, there are lots of umbrellas in these images. I have gotten better at getting close and in front of people. Yet, the biggest challenge continues to be finding compelling situations, seeing them emerge beforehand and moving around quickly to capture the shot. Obviously, that is what makes a good street image and will take quite some time. This weekend opened a few new doors none-the-less, which is fun and rewarding.  

April 8, 2016 - New York

This is the first of three days in Manhattan. I went out after lunch and again late at night to take a few shots. Contrary to past practice, I forced myself to linger in good spots for a long time, especially when the backgrounds or light were favorable, which led to better results in the end.

April 3, 2016 - Art Fair

Meredith took Arno and Margo to two consecutive birthday parties, which freed me up to go out for a few hours. Since Deep Ellum had a art fair, the choice wasn't hard. I started at the farmers market and then walked the art fair from every angle.

March 27, 2016 - Easter

It's Easter Sunday. We paid homage to the occasion by having an elaborate omelette and then unwrapping a few small gifts instead of a more traditional egg hunt. In the afternoon, we went to CLC for a service in German language, which was very nice.

March 25, 2016 - Arno's Game

Tonight was very valuable from a learning perspective as Arno's football team encountered a much stronger opponent. They had more players, were much better organized and had better skills, but what can you do. You learn and you grow. It was fun to watch and everybody enjoyed the show.

March 19, 2016 - Photo Safari

It always amazes me to discover new sites in Dallas, which, of course, happens quite often. Today we went on a tour with our neighbor Quinn, who is a movie producer. He gave us a tour of his production studio in downtown, which was really cool and we had fun shooting a few images with studio lighting and backgrounds.

Once we had checked out a couple of really cool locations that Quinn recommended, we made our way North and ended up shooting people at a St. Patrick's Day Parade, which was a perfect setting. Everyone was half-boozed and half-costumed, which provides for an interesting environment. 

March 14, 2016 - Flag Football

Arno started to practice with his flag football team today. He was much better than last season and actually better than pretty everyone except for one or two of the kids who had played with their Dads throughout the winter. This was  surprising as we had not done anything with him. In defense, he was the only player who caught all runners trying to get past and it was impressive to see that he just did not give up. I may need to go out with him soon to practice throwing the ball, which is the only area where he needs improvement.

March 13, 2016 - Goofing Around

Our weekend started out lazy and pretty much continued that way. Once I returned from my lecture, we played around while Margo and Arno showed off new clothes as well as fancy hats they had procured for our summer vacation this year. Trying to get Arno to grocery shopping with me turned into a drama, during which he alternated between having stomach aches, which healed completely in the sweets section of the market, and needing to lay down for a nap at three in the afternoon.  

March 11, 2016 - Salvation Army

At JHG Texas, we periodically visit the Salvation Army center in downtown to serve food to the homeless, recovering addicts and anyone else who may need to reestablish their life. It is always a very humbling and rewarding experience in which I can't help but notice how unfair things can be and also how little it may take to destroy the basis of a normal life. Today we also gave a donation to the organization that will help victims of the tornado in Dallas over Christmas. We finished the evening with a BBQ dinner and excellent conversations.

March 6, 2016 - Playground

Margo and I took the afternoon off to spend time together. We decided on an old staple, the Highland Park Pharmacy, where we had a milk shake and some snacks before heading over to a park. Working off our newly gained calories, we played a round of hide-and-seek, which proved to be difficult as there were no trees wide enough for me to hide behind. I guess it's pretty clear who won.

February  26, 2016 - Disaster Recovery Center

A few of the officers at JHG Texas visited a warehouse of the Salvation Army today and got a really interesting tour of the facility. The organization inventories non-perishable supplies such as beds, blankets and water here and houses disaster response vehicles as well. We learned a lot about how the organization responds to tornados, floods and hurricanes while we discussed how JHG Texas can better support their efforts in the future.

February  21, 2016 - At Home

We just hung out at home today, Arno wore parts of his hockey gear, Margo a bathrobe and we played a bunch of games. That's about all I have to report ...

February  15, 2016 - Fort Worth Zoo

Margo, Arno and I took the day off today to visit the zoo. The one in Fort Worth is really nice and a bit more interesting than ours. We had lots of fun riding  a train and merry go-round, saw lots of wild things and ended our tour with a juicy burger. 

February  14, 2016 - Valentimes

After a very nice steak dinner last night, we took things easy today. For most of the day, we made several very delicious pizzas. Of course, we also exchanged a few small gifts such as flowers, drawings and chocolates.

February  7, 2016 - Mardi Gras

This is obviously a New Orleans custom that takes a much calmer form here in Texas. Mardi Gras is fairly new to this area and celebrated as a procession of show cars. For me, it was an interesting opportunity to shoot a few frames.

February  6, 2016 - Birthday Dinner

We celebrated my birthday with a few good friends this evening enjoying lots of good conversation, food and wine. Obviously, the younger crowd had its fun as well while we all joked around.

February  3, 2016 - University of Dallas

I had been invited to an exhibition opening on lithographs by Marc Chagall at the University of Dallas today. Given that I have taught MBA courses here for seven years, I brought the camera and took a few shots.

February  2, 2016 - Birthday

I guess it was my turn to have a birthday. We all got up real early to have breakfast together and unwrap my presents, which were mainly kitchen utensils and two very nice signed postcards by Joseph Beuys. In the evening Meredith had to work and thus I picked up Margo and Arno for a dinner and game of soccer in the upstairs room afterwards.

January  31, 2016 - In the Park

Today was sunny and quite warm so lots of people came out the park in downtown to relax and bask in the sun. For me it was a good opportunity to catch a few moments as I am trying to become better at street photography.

January  24, 2016 - Breakfast

This was my first full weekend at home for the year and we approached things quite casually because of it: lots of playing and a bit of horsing around. It's good to be back!

January  11, 2016 - Witten

I am on a very short visit to my Mom to help out a little, cook some and run errands where necessary. Today we went to her family cemetery in Witten and walked past the house she grew up in in the 1930s. It was very interesting and all-around fun.

January  2, 2016 - A Thousand Shots

This was a new assignment in my photo workshop. The idea is very simple: take 1,000 images on a given day. You don't really compose them, but let the camera lead you. It is pretty amazing that you will get some good results by sheer statistical luck. However, there is a more Zen approach to this as well in that you quickly learn to follow your instincts. The biggest issue for me was that without autofocus or any other modern trapping on my camera, a lot of the shots were less than sharp, yet they are still very good images.