Schweizer Heimatwerk in Zurich - one of the outlets for local Swiss produced crafts and products. And not a cuckoo-clock in sight!

Shades of last Sunday

The Zurich Rathaus - the Town Hall - dating from the 1690's and a little piece of baroque delightfulness. The proportions are emphasised by its isolation on the banks of the Limmat.

In this photo, it looks like it's all done by wires......

Another picture from the old industry quarter in Zurich, now the new trendy quarter. I'd guess this old factory is now workshops or studios, although I'm not sure. I'm sure this is a trend familiar from cities across the world.

Like many other European countries, murals are common in Switzerland. I've no idea why some countries go in for it and others not. Maybe it's climate, or the predominant construction techniques, or the expense.

Anyway, here's some on the facade of the Schweizer Heimatwerk shop in Zurich

Schipfe, running along the west side of the LImmat, right in the centre of town, is home to many nice old houses, craft and specialist shops

The Lindenhof is the high point of the old town, and is a square with some children's swings and open air chess - not much in use at this time of year. Also provides the best views of the old town on the other side of the Limmat as shown in previous photos. Here we are looking in the opposite direction, back to the Altstadt with it's cute houses

Busy busy busy recently -but here's an old photo just to show I'm still alive...

Enough of the countryside - back to Zurich, and back to a perennial favourite. I also posted a similar photo on my Zurich City Daily Photo blog, so apologies to anyone who feels they've been short-changed!

Looks bloody cold up there.....

A bit of fun with language and a bad pun - "Taubenpost" is "Pigeon post". The last song of Schubert's Schwanengesang is "Die Taubenpost" - of course he didn't know much if anything about blog posts, so he was referring to the Royal Mail's swifter predecessor.

The Dolder Grand, sitting haughtily above Zürich, after some fresh snow, the first really of the winter. I've no doubt the hotel will be accommodating the great and maybe not so good of the world next week as the winning bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup are "announced". It acts as a sort of dormitory/canteen for the nearby FIFA headquarters.

In 1932 the Kunsthaus in Zurich mounted Picasso's first museum exhibition. Now they've recreated it. You can find out more on the website

http://www.kunsthaus.ch/picasso/

I haven't been to see it yet - the crowds have been overwhelming at the normally sedate and peaceful Kunsthaus. Shows how the big names are still a draw. I'm a bit ambivalent about this phenomenon. Other artists often remain unjustly overshadowed.

The town is also awash with Pablo-mania. Bookshops and art shops are making the most of it. As usual with these exhibitions the choice of expo poster to advertise it gradually becomes an icon in our daily life as we encounter it everywhere in different guises. For this show it is this photograph, which I've already shown in another post. I like it because it is so contrary to our normal image of PIcasso. He reminds me of the hitman from "No Country for Old Men".

The Zürichsee is full of fish.Although this looks like it's somewhere in the wilds, it's pretty much in the centre of town. You'll see several boats out in the morning, and line fisherman on the piers and bridges. The perch (Egli) ends up as a local speciality and finds it's way into many local Zürich restaurants.

In the background the alps of north east Switzerland

Which means that we also get that pale, low, winter sunshine that is perfect for photography. Well, it's perfect for photographs of pale winter sunlight

Some images taken in the evening around Bellevue.

They are tunneling underneath Zurich to provide new cross city railway lines. This results in a lot of temporary structures erected just to support the operations. This is one of them by the main station. Some of these are serious construction projects in their own right. This is like some kind of industrial cathedral to match Zurich's own Grossmünster.

You can click on the image for a full size version - it's about 4mb though. Soft in the very extreme corners, but otherwise.......

Every now and again I decide to sell my digital gear and go back entirely to film. In between times I decide to sell my old film gear. When the latter occurs, I usual take out some of the old gear to see if I think maybe it's worth keeping. Normally this leads back to option 1 and so on.

Yesterday I went into town with my Zuiko 28mm f2 fastened to the Canon 5D. It was a day of regular dappled sunlight, so I set everything to manual, prefocused and just used the shutter button.

I imagined that this and the preceding photo show a pair of women and their daughters. I was reminded of watching sparrows earlier in the year teaching their young to forage. This is similar - they disappeared en masse into Grieder.

The result of the "experiment"? Well these photos are not really a test of the lens - if used carefully, for landscape work for example, it puts the Canon 16-35 f2.8L to shame - although comparing a zoom with a prime is nonsense in the first place.

These photos though are just an exercise in a particular approach to shooting - some were carefully framed - others shot from the hip. I could probably have produced a similar set using the iPhone, although the business of framing a shot would be more hit and miss.

Any closer to rationalising my photo equipment? No.

A view from the Zuriberg, looking back down to the lake with the tower of the Grosse Kirche, Fluntern blocking most of it out

The late night post bus waiting to ferry people out of town - me included.

After the last post, my good friend Stewart, he of Edinburgh/Leith Daily Photo, suggested that I used my musical talents to further the visibility of Scotland in Zurich. Fortunately for the good burghers, and anyone else in earshot, this has already been done. Here (visually) is the sound of the Black Bear being paraded up Bahnhofstrasse by the Zurich Pipe Band