Day 8: Hats off to Hattingen (and other very old cities)

Day 8 was spent shopping and strolling in the nearby old town of Hattingen. Resembling much like a textbook middle-aged city (complete with city walls, square, hall and church), Hattingen offers some unique looks into the past. Of particular fascination is how modern life has integrated into these old buildings. Adjacent to where the above photo was taken is a bar, complete with modern beer-branded lamps adorning its side. It too is in a very old building built around the same era.

What is also interesting is how long these ordinary buildings have survived. ~500 years is an awful long time for a building (especially compared to North American standards) and makes for some interesting comparisons in workmanship. (Think leaky condos vs. 1576 A.D. building...)

Apart from the stroll, I also had some interesting fun with off-camera, strobist style flash. (This was much to the chagrin of my travel mates of course.) Thanks to my father-in-law who reluctantly acted as a light stand, and to Karen and Erich for being my guinea pigs models.

Strobist Info: "Daylight effect by overpowering daylight". Camera set at 1/50, f7.1 to capture ambient at ~ ev -1/3 stop. Flash at 1/2 power, to the top left of my subjects to overpower ambient sunlight. Fired using Cactus (eBay) triggers.