Leipzig, 03 April 2016

I’ve rarely had such an exciting weekend. It started with the clutch breaking near Kassel on the way to Leipzig, so I had to be towed and continue in a rental car. Then the next day, in all the hustle and bustle, I only just made it to the spring ball. And the third breakdown now directly affected Lara.

I was very happy the night before when the organizer of the spring ball said he didn’t need his two pictures for the press that night, but only in a short time. So I got around to working the night shift. But I didn’t notice that I had a problem. So I went to bed, slept a little and woke up to the best weather of the morning. Had a leisurely breakfast with Jolina and Steffi and then got ready. So far, so good. When I wanted to prepare for the shoot with Lara, the chaos was complete at around 10 a.m. The laptop was gone. My only computer.

Once again, it was important to stay calm. Think about what to do. The first port of call was the venue. I tried to contact the Da Capo, but no one answered the phone. The next step was the Hotel Michaelis, the owner. They didn’t know how to help me straight away. Da Capo usually holds a brunch on Sundays, but it was closed this time because of the event the night before. The lady wanted to think about it again and call back.
She did that and came up with the suggestion that we meet the caretaker on site at 11 a.m. and start looking. The time sounded great, as I had arranged to meet Lara at 11:30. That would have been ideal.

So I went over to Plagwitz, and the caretaker met me at the door. He said straight away that he hadn’t found anything yet, but I knew where to look. Upstairs in the couples‘ changing room area. I looked and looked and… looked. Find it? No luck!
I was starting to get a bit uneasy. Did someone actually take it? Despite knowing most of the couples personally? I went through everything again. I rummaged around in the house’s treasure trove. Nothing. I was slowly at my wits‘ end. And I just couldn’t reach the organizer Sven Handschuh by phone. I decided to drive back over to the hotel to talk to any dance couples who might still be there. In the meantime, I contacted Lara. Because it was now clear that I wouldn’t be able to make it on time.

When I arrived at the hotel, the big relief came quicker than I expected. According to reception, Sven had taken the laptop home with him. I still couldn’t reach it, but I knew where the good thing was. A weight was lifted from my shoulders and I slowly began to calm down inside.
I then contacted Lara again and told her that I was on my way to her. When I arrived at the train station, I walked over to the entrance to the West Hall. I looked left and right. No Lara in sight. Had I just misplaced my model shortly after the laptop? I went back again, and again nothing. I then took the shortest route and called her. She was not at the front of the West Hall, but at the side.

So I picked up Lara and we headed straight towards the old town. I had a location in mind, but we still had to walk a bit. We got to Roßplatz via Augustus-Platz. It wasn’t actually on the plan, but it had some pretty arches on the front and a lighting situation that was good for warming up. Good for me, as I’m so clumsy, because I’d once again forgotten to adjust the camera settings beforehand.
Then we went over to the building that I had thought of first. I’d seen it from a distance so far, but this time I wanted to see if it would work as a backdrop up close. The New Town Hall. There were definitely some nice photos there, but the highlights were to come later.

We passed the Burgplatz and came to the Thomaskirchhof via Ratsfreischulstrasse and Dittrichring. Somehow a familiar constant when I’m in Leipzig. This time I spotted the fountain there and wondered whether it was worth a stop. I was torn, but finally decided to go for it and put Lara on one of the intermediate platforms while I pointed the telephoto lens at it from the other end.

We continued across the market into Katharinenstrasse. Not far from the Brühl I noticed a door behind which was a somewhat larger passage. I liked the light, which is why we made our next stop here. However, the courtyard behind it was even more appealing. Paved with large stones and flanked by yellow-painted historic facades, there were beer garden tables and chairs and large stands lined with flower and green plant pots. A very picturesque sight that I thought Lara fit in wonderfully. And she was amazed that, thanks to me, she even discovered new corners of her own hometown.

We walked across the Brühl, through the Hain back to the market and came back to Nikolaistrasse via Naschmarkt and Specks Hof. I still had an idea in my head before I slowly but surely had to organize my journey home. The train station. Beforehand, another passage entrance caught my eye that I didn’t want to leave unused. After quickly taking a few pictures, Lara and I went back to the original meeting point.

When we came to the large main hall via the west hall, I looked around again to see where I could take the next pictures. We made our first attempts at the entrance to a platform. After a few attempts, however, it became clear to me that nothing really good was going to come out of it. On top of that, I was practically running out of time. A look around, however, gave me another good idea. From the west entrance down the main hall. A perspective that I had already used for an architectural photo years ago. Only this time I put Lara there. The lighting situation was also ideal, as the sunlight fell diffusely on Lara from the windows on the south side, and my reflector did the rest. And so we managed to create something pretty.

Unfortunately, I had to hurry. Because my laptop was still in Eutritzsch and my passengers to Düsseldorf wanted to be picked up at the train station at three. After saying goodbye to Lara, I set off straight away. And I can hardly believe it today, but I was at the meeting point at 3 p.m. sharp. I only had to make a short stop in Kassel. Since I was now traveling in a rental car and my broken Fiesta was in Hessen, the repairs still had to be started. Fortunately, someone from the neighboring Fuldatal spontaneously came along and I was able to give him the keys and vehicle registration. I filled up the tank and headed home. Then I picked up my own car the following Wednesday. You could say I had gotten around well in those days.