Recently, in our state of lockdown, I have been able to spend time exploring and re-processing a number of images from the past. And, again, unable to capture many new images because of the restrictions, I have been pulling out some of these images for my indulgent posting on Instagram.

P is for Passau

To gain some discipline I have recently been posting these archive images alphabetically on Instagram based on location, an interesting challenge involving delving into and filtering my database and re-editing. When I reached ‘P‘ I came across some pictures taken in the town of Passau in Germany during a Rhine trip in 2018 and I remembered the hat shop….

This was Edelweiss & Rosenrot on Steinweg, with these elegantly stylish dressed windows. I saw this as raw material for some future edits of an artistic nature and grabbed numerous shots. The light, as usual was not ideal and I couldn’t avoid reflections of the street or myself but, also as usual, it was now or never.

Passau, in Lower Bavaria, is a German city on the Austrian border, which lies at the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers and hence is often known as the Three Rivers City,

A simple classic view over the town of Passau in Bavaria, dominated by the onion-domed towers of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Taken from the climb up to the 13th century Veste Oberhaus fortress.
Ok I’m a bit obsessed with rooftops, their colour, the shapes. This is looking down on Passau from the high point of the Veste Oberhaus after a hot climb up the steps. Processed in Affinity and Lightroom.

The streets, the views, the Cathedral itself – I took many photos, including this fast grab-shot of a lovely red Merc tootling through the cobbled streets

Then, on the way to the Cathedral (postponing an essential stop for more dunkel bier) we passed the hat shop that inspired me for future edits.

There was already an artistry in the display of the busts and hats and I wanted to emphasise that. Early edits in 2018 were simply crops of the images that cut out the reflections but I felt that this time they were worthy of more effort.

It took time to develop a technique that I was happy with, experimenting with washed out and bleached layers. I wanted to bring out the faces and the colour of the hats against a more whitened background that hid the shop window appearance. And here are the results.

… oh, and the Dunkel Weissbier afterwards was worth the wait….

Technical Notes for Nerds (like me)

All shots taken as raw files with Fuji X-T2 and Fujinon lenses.
Developed and edited in Photoshop 2021 and then finished in Lightroom Classic Desktop