The SNB on the move

and it certainly caught a lot of people on the wrong foot. However, with the ECB about to embark upon a full-blown QE Program, it didn't make too much sense for the Swiss to stand there and fill their pockets unnecessarily with overly-expensive Euros. There will certainly be a period of "price sticker shock" and hopefully that won't be so long or so painful. Things will begin to move again when the ECB starts pushing Euro rates with some force... it does still remain to be seen where the CHF will end up after all of that.
Had a good catch-up with Paul today and we are going to organise another trip to one of those dark places to take some photos... that will be fun as always.

Tune of the Day:  Roger Over    by  Klopfgeister

G'day Kev

I hope that the wine bottles tidied themselves up and that Campbell got out of bed to sort the pool before lunchtime  :-) Still wintry here- and I was out this morning to shoot a few pics before the snow disappears again.

I'm getting hungry.

Tune of the Day:  Ashpipe   by Klopfgeister

Well... at least that is behind me

and I can be comfortable in the knowledge that the worst Christmas that I have ever spent will not be topped for at least 12 months. At least I saw some kids smiling and enjoying themselves and I hope that others were as well.

Tune of the Day:  Butcher and Fast Eddy    by Rose Tattoo

It is still unseasonably warm here in the flat country

but a little trip into the hills earlier in the week left me with the impression that we may have a winter after all. It was lots of fun with Steve and Matt and hopefully we will get back there next year.

Happy Birthday to Fergo- it was great to catch up recently and I hope that your trip is going well.

Have you all finished your Christmas shopping?

Tune of the Day:  Boom Festival 2014 Set     by   Ace Ventura

Well, some friends have officially opened

their International Bier Bar in Zürich today. If you need to contact me...


Tune of the Day: (what else?) Heavy New Beer    by  Klopfgeister

It has been a busy weekend

and I am looking forward to getting a good sleep before attacking the new week. I'm not yet sure what it will hold for me but I'm sure that there will be enough to keep me busy.
Ate turkey with some American friends on Friday evening, drank beer with Chef Steve on Saturday and I'm going to a concert with Dan tomorrow evening... plenty of variety in that lot,


Tune of the Day:  Orange Claw Hammer    by Captain Beefheart

I really should keep up to date

and I need to apologise for being busy elsewhere. Not a lot to report, but I hope to keep the pictures coming from now on...


Tune of the Day:  Progwarts   by Klopfgeister

Happy Birthday Gazza

I hope that you have had a great day and are not too jaded to enjoy the Melbourne Cup festivities on Tuesday. How was the wine?

Been busy digging boots and jackets out of the cupboards here- expecting maximum temperatures in the low single digits towards the end of the week. That combined with darkness around 5.30 in the evening tells me that Christmas is not too far away.

Tune of the Day:  Chord In The Act    by Klopfgeister

A tough couple of weeks for photography

with the Magnum great Rene Burri and the American Ray Metzker both passing away recently, the world has lost a couple of very talented individuals. We had dinner with some friends on Friday evening and I was lucky enough to come home with a couple of loaner books on Metzker's work- his black and white photography was just stunning.
Changing the clocks this morning made me think just how close to Christmas and the end of the year we are. I don't know if that is a good thing or not, but we will know more in another month  :-)

Just tossing a picture from our great visit to Piemont last year up on the blog. I don't believe that it has made an appearance before, but I was prompted to show it here after I had printed it and was very happy with the way it came out.

Tune Of The Day:  Gun Street Girl      by Tom Waits

It has been a frustrating week

but it was nice to speak with Mike and decide that we really need to sit down and have a proper drink. It has been far too long.

My Oktoberfest photography challenge is moving along nicely and I am reasonably happy with my work thus far. It is always difficult to produce a good shot each day and the pictures do look quite mismatched, but that is the nature of the beast.

Maybe we can get a few things sorted around the house in the next few weeks and start to enjoy the place.

Tune of the Day:  Lass die Sonne in dein Hertz   by Klopfgeister

I have been busy shooting my picture-a-day challenge and so far it seems to be coming along nicely. There has been a great variety of subject matter so I haven't bothered to limit myself to one particular theme but rather I have tried to capture what has been around me when I have had the camera in hand.

Going to dinner with friends this evening and I really should be going to a concert afterwards but I missed the pre-sale of tickets and I don't fancy standing in a line for a couple of hours at 11 o'clock to buy my way in. A shame. It would have been lots of fun.

Tomorrow morning is an early start to go and take some photos up on the Uetliberg- I'm keeping my fingers crossed for fog!


Tune of the Day:  Tree Of Life    by  Ace Ventura

I needed a push

and what better excuse than the upcoming NikonCafe Oktoberfest? I have selected a 35mm lens as my weapon of choice for the month of October and hope to be able to make at least one worthwhile photo with it each day before sharing that with my fellow shooters.

There will be plenty of other stuff to do as well so I will be kept busy during the month and I'm thinking that the need to grab a photo under whatever circumstances present themselves will be good for my work.

Tune of the Day:  Heavy New Beer   by Klopfgeister  (do yourself a favour)

I am trying to get back into good habits

and one of them is posting here more regularly. I have had a few things on my plate but I am trying to take some photos and get them organised as soon as possible afterwards.

Developed some film yesterday and then scanned the negatives this morning- I like the results and I know that I should do more of it!


Tune of the Day:  Progwarts   by Klopfgeister

A day of very mixed feelings

We wished Campbell and Angus both happy birthday and then Catherine received a phone call at lunchtime telling her that her father had passed away. It sounds cliched, but he had been in poor health for a while and the family had had time to prepare for the inevitable but that certainly doesn't make his passing any easier.

RIP Brian.

A beer or three and a burger

with Dan is always a good way to spend Saturday evening- last night was certainly no exception. It was also nice to be home at a reasonable hour  :-)

I'm in for another busy week- doing some running around and then heading off to the south on Friday for a couple of days of photography in a wonderful part of the world. Let's hope that the weather is a little more pleasant than it was when I was there last.

Strange that September is here and the weather is better than we had during most of the summer.


Tune of the Day:   Hold On   by Tom Waits

I developed a roll of film last evening

for the first time since we moved house. It was a great feeling and I hope that I am able to get on and do it more often now. Previously I was shooting and developing at least one roll per week- it would be nice to get back into that sort of rhythm.

We have been busy printing photos for tomorrow nights Africa Night at the Viewfinder Center- beautiful big pictures of all sorts of wild animals. Promises to be a lot of fun and it has definitely started me thinking about going along on a safari next year.

Tune of the Day: The Day After   by Klopfgeister

Off to the show

and with the nice weather today, it should be fun down at the lake. If I had to choose a movie to go and watch at an event like this, Pulp Fiction would be high on the list.

Let's hope that it is a little warmer than last evening in Luzern. Wet, windy and pretty chilly down there and not a lot of fun hanging about waiting for the sun to disappear... but at least it was worthwhile.

Tune of the Day: Pachuco Cadaver   by Captain Beefheart