Saturdays Basketball Tournament

Yesterday, which was a saturday filled with sunshine and happiness, we drove out to Västerås, picked up two good friends on the way, unpacked our basketball and hit the court. We decided we wouldn't play 2on2 in the beginning but 21. 21 works in such a way, that everyone plays against everyone, trying to score a point. If the person scores, he may go to the 2-point-line and try his luck there. He may remain at that line as long as he hits the basket. If he fails to hit the next one in line will try to get the ball as fast as he/she can, because that person has to try to hit the basket from where ever it was they picked the ball up. Since that doesn't require even numbers I figured I'm just going to lean back and take pictures. Hundreds of them. When I looked through them yesterday it seemed almost like I was watching a movie. I used this adjustment where one can make 5-6 pictures in a row, just by holding down release a little longer. We had tons of fun!

After a while they asked me if I wanted to join and soon enough we started playing a serious game of 2vs2. I ran and blocked and caught the ball and scored 2 (!) and then, after four points in total for me and Joakim, I got reeeeally tired and exhausted. I had to take a break. Soon all the others came to the bench as well. Motivation to continue was at its lowest. But that was all right, since we wanted to go to this stakehouse which only had lunch-prices for another hour and a half. So we got our stuff together and  headed into centrum -- I actually think that where we played basketball was already centrum, but as long as I don't see any stores around, I don't regard it as such! :)

The stakehouse was very good, looking forward to taking JT and Katrin there when they come (In one week, wehoo!) and the whole atmosphere was just very relaxed and nice. We talked about a lot of stuff and I felt really included! After lunch we got ourselves some ice-cream. Daim and Strawberry Cheesekake. I totally got to show that to JT and Katrin - at least the daim. I've never had anything like it while I was in Germany.

After that we went for another round on the court, this time with another friend joining - Johan. And he didn't come alone. He brought with him his beautiful son Elliot and his girlfriend Madeleine. I chose to sit out together with Madde and talk instead. We had some very good conversations and I had a very good time. The good thing is, I know she had a good time too, because we are invited to join them in a cozy BBQ later today!
Of course I couldn't just sit there, look at this beautiful baby and not take any pictures. So I asked for permission and fired away. I got some nice results out of it and she seemed really thrilled about them, too.

On our way back home we drove through a little town that has two lakes on either side of it. Usually we just drive through there but yesterday I suddenly slowed down, looked for a parking place and stopped the car. I took out my camera and took some amazing shots. In the beginning I focused on a scenery with a lot of stones in the foreground and the water in the background. Then I crossed the street and went to the other lake where I took some interesting pictures of a fisherman's hut. At that point I was already very happy and wanted to drive on when I discovered a dock. That was THE find of the day. It was so beautiful and the angle of the sun just made it all the more interesting. Coming home I picked out one of the best pictures (see to the left) and started retouching it. I started by taking away some of the ropes that were dangling above the water. Then I took away the tires in the back. And after about 2 hours I realized, that I had taken everything away that was in any way bothering me about the pictures: ropes, tires, the little silver plates at the sides of the dock, some chains, some metal planks, some extra wooden poles. And eventhough the picture was already nearing perfection I decided to work with the tones - heighten contrasts and deepen the colors. In the end I came up with a B/W version, a selective coloring version focusing on the water, and a colored version (if you click on both the before and after pictures and then switch between the browser tabs you can see the retouching process).