The beginning of Spring in Munich after a long, cold winter saw bright sunny skies, loads of colour, and people enjoying the good weather. Come join me for a short walk around Munich’s Viktualienmartk.
After a long, cold winter with light that I can only describe as flat and boring, we finally had a weekend where Spring was trying its best to get going. It seems to have reversed back to Winter for the time being, but at least the light is improving, along with longer days. For an unusually warm weekend I decided to take a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 into town with me, specifically Munich’s Viktualienmarkt. This 140 stall market opens everyday, but is especially busy at the weekend. It has anything from flowers, to fresh meat and cheeses, with restaurants dotted around it. Right in the middle there is a beer garden, which is always a good place to congregate!
The Saturday I was down there was especially busy as the beer garden was celebrating a big anniversary of the beer it sells (“Spaten” beer) and was selling pints for 80 cent (€) and litre “Maß” beers for €1,60 - apparently the same prices from 150 years ago (although not sure how they came up with the exchange rate, but I didn’t complain and enjoyed an excellent beer for next to nothing!).
My camera of choice was my Leica M2 and the plan was to take some snapshots of the morning in and around the Viktualienmarkt. I picked Kodak Ektar 100 as it was very bright outside and I thought it would provide for some good shots of colourful scenes. It was unusually busy and hard to get shots without hundreds of people in them, both locals and tourists.
Coming up from the U-Bahn into Munich’s Marienplatz. I really like the composition in this shot.
I really like the overlapping buildings in this scene.
You can get an idea of how busy it was. Lovely blue skies though!
I didn’t get the exposure right in this shot at all but I like how it came out with all the people milling around the entrance of the Church.
One of many cheese stands.
As colourful as the flowers are this time of year, they cause havoc for my hayfever! Nice colour rendition from Ektar 100 film here.
More cheese and meats.
Local arts & crafts.
I accidentally had set the wrong f-stop on my lens so this shot is a bit underexposed.
The maypole that is in the centre of the market.
A closer shot to see all the detail on the pole.
One of my favourite angles to take a photo of Marienplatz.
A very busy beer garden, unsurprising given the ridiculously cheap beer prices. There was also a football match on (German 3rd division) so some of the visiting supporters stopped by on the way to the stadium.
German beer. I love the reflection of the sunlight in the fountain.
This is right in the middle of the beer garden, there was plenty of space in other parts of the market.
Bright blossoms, but my arch enemy for hay fever!
Overall observations
I always like having a camera with me when I go places, so I was happy that I could document a Saturday morning walk round the Viktualienmarkt. It is a pity I didn’t get a high up shot of the market to show its size. Whilst I didn’t get as many shots of different stalls I was happy overall with this roll of film. Kodak Ektar 100 is used mainly for landscapes, but I find it captures bright days with colourful scenes very well too.
I hope you enjoyed this short post.
See you next time!
Neil
