Capt Mondo's Photo Blog

I took a couple of pictures while visiting the HQ for eBay Deutschland, where I have been working as a consultant for the past few days. Here’s a shot of one of their buildings:

eBay Deutschland Building

…and they have one of the iconic Berlin Bears in the courtyard:

eBay Berlin Bear

On the way back the hotel the sun was setting and adding a golden colour to everything. The taxi driver obliged me and managed to stop in places where I could snap some good shots through the windscreen. Here are the results:

Victory Column (Siegessaule)

Brandenburg Gate

I pass this landmark just about every day while I am in Munich: the Müllersches Volksbad, which is a public bathhouse. Love its classic Art Nouveau clockface:

Art Nouveau Clockface, Munich

Had a chance to wander around the old part of the city after work finished today. Here’s a picture of the Main Tower of Neues Rathaus here in Munich:

Main Tower of Neues Rathaus, Munich

A work day, so have not had much opportunities to take pictures, but I did manage to take this from the hotel window at the end of my floor.

Church Spire and Distant Smokestacks, Munich

Arrived in Munich and fought jet leg long enough to go out and get some dinner for myself, and wander around a bit, getting my bearings. Didn’t take many pictures, but here’s my favourite from the day:

Statue Alongside the Isar River, Munich

Off on another business trip, this time for a couple of weeks in Germany, on behalf of Mekon. The trip will take me first to Munich, then to Berlin. Am also hoping to get the chance to meet the Schengili family over the weekend that I will be in Munich.

My Flight at Pearson International Airport

I took the dog out for a walk yesterday and brought along some bird seed with me, intending to take it to a spot near the lake where I know the chickadees tend to congregate, and hoping to get a shot or two of them. I went via the jogging path that runs alongside Ashbridges Bay, and remembered that there was a small, homemade bird feeder that somebody put a a couple of years ago in a small copse of trees. I went over there to see if there was any seed, and found that there was none. So I put in a handful of seed and within seconds a flock of black-capped chickadees were excitedly chirping and diving to the feeder to grab a beakful.

Black-capped Chickadee

This started to attract other birds, seeing what the sudden commotion was about. A pair of nuthatches came to take a look, and also started darting to the feeder for seed.

White–breasted Nuthatch

Then a female Downy Woodpecker appeared, and started looking for hidden insects in the bark of an adjacent tree.

Female Downy Woodpecker

But the best was when a male Cardinal flew in for a peek, and picked a branch which was bathed in sunlight, resulting in this picture:

Male Cardinal

Will have to head back there with more seed sometime soon, since these guys seemed hungry.

Today is the last day that pennies are to be used for any sort of financial transaction, so for my Picture of the Day I emptied our penny jar and took some pics as a tribute. This jumble ended up being my favourite:

Pennies

It contains a nice shinny example of a 2012 penny just above center, along with a couple of older pennies, going back to nice example from 1962, and you can also see a few US pennies peeking out from under the pile.

I took my youngest daughter Annie to FrostCon, which was a small largely Anime-themed one-day event that was happening at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. Small, a bit crowded at times and the presentations were a little bit haphazard, but everybody clearly had fun while there. I was also by a decade (maybe two?) the oldest person I saw there. 😉

Came away with some fun shots though.

First, my two daughters:

FrostCon: Fionna and Cake (Annie and Dawn)

FrostCon: Vanessa as The TARDIS

Other people Cosplaying at FrostCon:

FrostCon: Creeper Who Wants a Hug

FrostCon: Hailey as Hogarth from The Iron Giant

FrostCon: Doctor Whooves and Derpy (Keikoandgilly and BaldDumboRat)

FrostCon: Someone Playing Marshall Lee from Adventure Time

FrostCon: Vickybunnyangel Cosplay

FrostCon: Woman Playing a Character from Spiderman Cast of Characters

FrostCon: Woman on Panel Cosplaying as Discord from My Little Pony

FrostCon: Steampunk Girl

Full Moon (Shot Using “Bigma” 500mm Lens)

For once we had clear skies, and when I looked outside a full moon was directly overhead. Grabbed my “Bigma” lens (a 500mm Sigma with a four/thirds mount) and went outside. I played around with aperture settings and with focus, and out of about 40+ shots this was the one that was the most crisp. Some contrast added using PhotoShop Lightroom in order to bring out more detail.