Church of Zurich

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Zurich, 2015-02-20.

The Augustinerkirche, first build in 1270, the least known of the five churches in the old town of Zurich. Hidden in a side corner of the trendy Bahnhof street - shot over lunch time.

It is one of the few Catholic churches in the Protestant Zurich of Zwingli, however this one is not Roman Catholic but belongs to the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland .

After the reformation it was used for 300 years as a mint, therefore the name of the Münzplatz next to it.

Taken with the trusty old Leica M3 on Tri-X 400 and the Summilux 50mm pre-A.. ah, bullshit.
Used the Sony A7 with Canon FDn 50mm f/1.4 ;-). Stopped down a bit and some grain added in Lightroom.

Crystal Flowers

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Zurich, 2015-03-03, with Sony A7 and Olympus OM 35mm f/2.0.

The old Olympus OM 35mm f2 lens doesn't have a bad reputation, but is also not especially well regarded. Both compared to other Olympus OM lenses for different focus lengths as well as in comparison to some other often legendary 35mm Leica or Zeiss lenses. However I like its out of focus rendering, which to me is kinda thick and warm (thought it isn't so obvious in B&W :), and for the web resolution it also looks sharp enough.

Black and white conversion is directly out of the camera. Oh, and the flowers are not really crystals or even out of glass, but does it matter?!

Zuri Town Hall Quay by Night

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A view on the Zurich Stadthausquai in a winter night, 2015-02-02.

The building on the left with the clock on the tower is the post office.

Then comes the department of the major - the traditional city hall. Thought there is another town hall one bridge further down the river which is actually the parlament for the canton. BTW, the town house (on this photo) is also the final scene of the most famous Swiss movie, Die Schweizermacher (starring Emil Steinberger). That one is all about getting the Swiss Passport :D.

Then the famous Fraumünster, which is the number one must see for tourists here. This is because of the Chagall Windows, which you can see as the three narrow tall black windows on the front side of the building (plus one more window on each side plus a third rosette, which are all not visible in this picture).

At the beginning of the bridge you see the small silhouette of Hans Waldmann on a horse, one of the two Swiss main general of the Battle of Morat. He was also a major of Zurich.

Behind this statue is the Zunfthaus zur Meisen, the wine makers gild, which was the riches of the Zurich gilds and looks a bit like a French castle - unlike all the other wooden or old style Zurich gild houses.

Oh, and last not least on the right side the tower of the St.Peter church (with yet another clock, in this case the biggest church clock in Europe - yes bigger than the Big Ben clocks).

With Sony A7 and the lens used is the Leica Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8 vers. 1, stopped down, so with its six aperture blades you see six "sunstar" rays from the lights near the boats and on the bridge.