hello little lady, and go vote!

it's official: my dear and trusty praktica has a little sister. isn't she pretty? i was quite excited when i found my agfa silette LK sensor on a flea market, but it took me a while to finish the first roll of film and have it processed. taking a first look at the outcome was lovely and yet a little disappointing. with this little compact i realised, i really have to take the minimum distance of 1 m seriously. i took lots of close-ups from a lesser distance and it just won't do. well, i guess you live and you learn. what i can see from this first roll though, is that the colours are slightly more saturated than the ones my praktica delivers, that the overall effect of pictures taken a little too close up show a painterly effect that i rather like, and that depth of field is quite an interesting thing with this camera. also, it has an in-built little light meter, which made me much more daring when taking photos in low light, as in cranking up the aperture way more than i would have by instinct. this in turn helps massively when photographing with my praktica. i love how experiences with different cameras have an overall effect on the way i take pictures and ultimately on the way i see. do you have any new cameras, or put differently, what's your favourite camera at the moment?

on a completely different note, today we are having general elections in germany. after four years of a grand coalition between conservatives and social democrats no-one really knows what to expect. most people wouldn't have expected them to last a full term to begin with, and now wouldn't be surprised if the results lead to another four years of office for the same government. and yet, recent regional state elections have shown some surprises - the smaller parties are definitely not out of the equasion, far from it. my feeling is that we will end up with pretty much of a 'patchwork' result. since germany has proportionate representation anchored in its constitution, the big question will be who can form a feasible coalition in the end. if you are interested in how it all goes, first estimates should be published from 6pm this evening, say on der spiegel's english site. i really don't want to bore you with politics, but i'm feeling quite passionate about this and am quite a bit distressed by the fact that in more and more countries people can't even be bothered to go out and vote. we can make a difference, every one of us and it is a privilege to have the right to vote. go and have your say!

and finally, since i don't want this post to end like a sermon and rather see you smile than frown - ever thought about getting shot by the satorialist? well, here's how to.