Alte Zürcher Blog - Cafe Life

Globus

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:42:00-0400

Caffe dei Frari

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:35:00-0400

As promised. Opposite the Frari, with one of the biggest interiors in Venice, we have the Caffe dei Frari with one of the littlest. Despite it's presence being impossible to miss as you cross the bridge from the Frari on route to San Polo and the Rialto, this small cafe is wonderfully cosy, friendly, unspoilt and slightly unusual. One of my favourites.

Pfefferminze

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:39:00-0400

A nice refreshing glass of peppermint tea in Tibits this morning, and a new camera to play with. I got rid of my old Panasonic super compact, and not long after realised I needed another one for lightweight traveling. I love the M8 but it's quite heavy and like all M cameras it doesn't do close-ups. It also tends to be a bit of a precision tool for a particular job, and for travel you need a kind of Swiss army knife camera. So this is the Leica D Lux 3. Someone is going to tell me it's just a Panasonic with a price premium, but don't bother because I know that already. I would dearly have liked a compact with a viewfinder, but these are now so unsatisfactory that I decided I was better without one. What made me pick this one.

Shutter/aperture priority modes and manual like a real camera
A reasonable set of AF AE modes (spot, matrix etc)
Selectable AE/AF lock - yipee!
RAW files
A true 28mm wide angle (Leica)
Manual focus(!) - not sure if I'm ever going to use this but I like the idea...
Good closeup performance

Sure the sensor is noisy above 200ISO, but it has a very effective IS system so maybe you don't need 400ISO

Leo and Priscilla

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:25:00-0400

Husband and wife team from one of my regular pubs share a private moment - well not very private with me and my camera around..

Bohemia, Zurich

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:39:00-0400

Cafe Bohemia in Zurich is another of my morning haunts, but unlike Tibits and Globus I don't think I've posted a photo. It's much more of a brasserie than the other two although I like all three for different reasons. For that reason I gave the photo the "vintage" treatment like yesterdays Paris shot. It also has a free wi-fi connection so you can indulge your blogging activities till your heart's content. That said, I have to apologise for my lack of visibility in recent weeks on my favourite blogs.

Bahnhof Buffet

Mon, 26 May 2008 11:09:00-0400

Haven't posted a photo of the buffet for a while. Here it is - looking a bit more faded and sepulchral than it actually is. That's B+W for you.

I had an interesting chat with another photographer recently about B+W. He made the observation that some female friends thought that the use of B+W made for a rather "bleak" overall impression. That maybe there was a gender dimension involved. I have to say that I don't consider my outlook as bleak, but maybe that's not the impression other people have

Cafe des Beaux Arts

Thu, 22 May 2008 23:57:00-0400

I was in Paris for just one night, en route back to Zurich. I feel I need to explain this photo, something I don't normally do but it's the only one I have. On the face of it, it looks like I captured a guy at the bar staring at the waitress passing by. But actually it was just the characteristic atmosphere that appealed to me. Someone stands at the bar and is lost in thought. The waitress busies herself back and forth with the other customers. Drinks wait appealingly behind the comptoir. I sit and steal pictures from my seat. Brasserie life

Leffe Blonde

Wed, 21 May 2008 23:41:00-0400

A strike by Belgian railways kept me in Brussels for an extra day. Not too much hardship was experienced however..

Café Vaudois

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:03:00-0400

Homemade Jam from Ohio (and elsewhere)

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:36:00-0400

Late night, in the old, tiled Central Bar in Leith, Edinburgh. The band is called Homemade Jam, and the lady is from Cleveland Ohio. BillG probably knows her.

More info here

The interior is magnificently tiled in a fashion common to a lot of Edinburgh pubs from the late 19th early 20th century although this photo doesn't really show it off. Despite it's heritage this used to be a den of iniquity in the days of my youth. Nice to see it still with some character

not - Banhofstrasse

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:05:00-0400

Replying to Bill, and not trying to court controversy, a photo of Liz would be very decorative, but I don't have one, so here's a pic taken in a pub. (Sorry if some people have been left behind by the last few comments)

On the road again..

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:55:00-0400

I'm off to Lugano for a short business trip - and even the shortest business trip begins with Zurich Bahnhof Buffet

Globus

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:43:00-0400

Going over old ground, repeating myself, talking to myself even - all signs of advancing years. This photo blog is indulging my photographic whims much more than the visitors who might want to see a different Zurich from my endless morning coffee stops. Of course Ainz's blog is a good resource for that.

Anyway, here's the Globus cafe again - a bit later in the morning, so some sunlight. Various things I like about it, but I won't bore you with the details

Bahnhof Buffet

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:10:00-0400

Back to the Bahnhof, another regular early morning stop for me with it's old fashioned "Brief Encounter" feel

Nichtraucher

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 08:43:00-0400

A festive shot from my regular morning haunt - "Tibits".