Posts
Rooster
Rainy day in the garden and our mechanical rooster doesn’t mind. It spins like a windmill in any breeze, so I shot at 1/2000s to freeze it (1/250 would have worked too). It’s been raining all Sunday and it’s my first daily photo in the rain. Next Sunday I hit 100 daily photos.
Nature Detectives
Once a month Tilian is joining a program called Nature Detectives. It is organized by the local NABU chapter.
Alpha
Switched from the Sony RX100 VII to a Sony Alpha 6400.
Station Visit
On the feet from 4am to 10pm. The founders of roadsurfer and us non-founding executives spent the day at the Nürnberg station.
Redstart
Saw a young black redstart this morning on our roof.
Blossom
Spring is in full swing and I am ready for it. I got my new travel passport and ETA for the UK. 1 1/2 weeks to go.
Back to Back
All day back to back in meetings - high season is coming and we are setting goals for the last push before summer peak. Rushed out between breakfast and first calls on the go with Aika and capture a heard of sheeps chilling in the rain.
Jump
Tilian testing gravity. Almost forgot about today’s daily photo, that’s a first.
Mufflon
A Mufflon. Nadine’s nick name for me was mufflon when we got together. This year it will be 15 years since then.
Artemis
Jasper send me earlier a nice video about the Artemis II photos: ‘Explaining the Most Important Artemis II Photos’, conincidentially I got for Tilian, ok for myself, one of the LEGO Artemis sets. Nadine and I went out on a short photo walk, today’s photo is sponsored by her with post editing by myself.
Scammed
Last week I did not pay attention and entered my personal data with pictures of my travel passport into a fake UK government website to request my ETA for my forthcoming trip. Call me an official idiot.
Milestone
I have been using the Sony more over the last days. The Canon’s softness and zoom distort my perception of how good the Sony actually is, especially the finer and sensitive grain adds a nice character to the Sony. Switching between both is fun.
Star
Back to running a birder website. I got lucky this morning with a Stork and a Starling
Flyby
A red kite passed a few meters above us on our Easter walk today. It was stormy, so the large birds stayed low.
Duck
I spotted this friendly duck in a small pond today.
Experimental
I ran the photo import in an experimental Hypo branch today and I will learn from my mistakes: the photos never arrived in Apple Photos and got deleted from the card. Update: I was able to recover them.
Loop
Working on Hypo and immediately using new features in my photo workflow is instant gratification, and it becomes a self-reinforcing loop.
Two Cameras
I went out this morning with both cameras, the two bird shots from the Canon and the frost on the bridge from the Sony.
Dissolve
One of the new windmills north of the village, dissolving in the mist. If you’re looking for something to read, Jasper published a good reflection about AI and his craft, and sent his March recap newsletter. And I successfully avoided any April fools jokes today.
Low
The last few evenings went into building Hypo and the Dragon Touch setup. Agentic coding is a different kind of effort: the cycles from idea to working product are so fast that you barely notice how much you are putting in.
Dragon Touch (Pt.2)
A follow-up to the Dragon Touch post from a few days ago, about two things that bothered me enough to fix.
So I Built a Mac App
Nadine and I shoot a lot of photos. A lot in the sense that we are still beginners and have quite an amount to sort through every time. But the amount of pictures is not what this is about.
Village Walk
A walk through the village with friends. Spring was showing up everywhere, the light has been so good again.
Packed
Today was packed, in the morning I went out to use the fantastic weather to get some good shots of birds again, the usual Sparrow and a first time shot of a Goldfinch.
Dragon Touch
We got a Dragon Touch 27" digital display to use as a family calendar. My original plan was to build something with an e-ink display and a Raspberry Pi Zero, but this felt like the faster path.
Grace
Jasper sent me the STL file for a Ryland Grace figure from Project Hail Mary. Project Hail Mary is, for me, the best film I have seen in years, and I can barely wait for the home cinema premiere.
Kite
I’ve been avoiding working from my office space for the last three weeks. I overdid it on the walking pad a few weeks ago, and both kitchen and winter garden were more enjoyable with the warmth of the sun.
Green
I picked this one at random from today’s shots and liked it for the framing and the minimal colors, and for the fact that there are no birds in it for once.
Principles
One of my team leads came to me today with a proposal. I gave feedback, we talked it through, and at some point we laughed about whether it would be possible to know in advance what my reaction would be, whether my thinking was consistent enough that you could predict where the pushback would land before talking to me.
Blue Sky
A starling on the roof, a sparrow on a cable, and a red kite overhead, all three on the same blue day. Nadine caught a great shot of the red kite. I think we are both pushing what we can get out of the 90D and the 250mm lens.
Dodge
My father restores vintage cars as a hobby, and today we did a photo shoot together. The car is a 1932 Dodge Eight Series DK, fully restored by him.
Fog
A quick morning tour with Aika trough dense fog before a full day of building furniture. Writing this just before 9pm, still not done, lights next and then putting everything back in.
Dusk
A great tit on the evening walk with Aika. Low light, but it still worked out.
Blackthorn
A photo of a blackthorn, just coming into bloom. I am finding more and more enjoyment in dialing in settings manually, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and seeing what comes out.
Sponsored Post
Today was back to back, morning to evening. Today’s photo is sponsored by Nadine from her photo tour. If you look closely you see two sparrows.
Change as a Commodity
I’ve been trying to answer a question about AI and software development for a while now, and I don’t think I’ve been looking far enough for an answer.
Building This Website with Hugo (Pt. 2)
A few months of running this site in production and things changed. This documents what and why, and hopefully saves someone who is just starting out with Hugo some time. The first post covers the initial setup: Building This Website with Hugo.
Requiem
I finished Resident Evil Requiem on the PS5 Pro. It’s a 8/10 for me.
Privilege
Every Friday afternoon, Nadine’s parents pick up Tilian and Kellin. There is no fixed plan. Sometimes it is an outing, sometimes an hour of card games.
Tilian's Favourite Spot
Tilian got the task from school to choose his favourite place where he lives. Nadine went to take a picture of it with him. To my surprise, it’s the same spot I spent a lot of days as a kid.
Aika
We had parents’ evening at school. I asked to go on the school’s roof to take a picture of the historic water tower. It was dark, all images were blurry. So here is picture of Aika isntead. Nadine said there will be the time for a good shot of the water tower. It was not today.
Stork
I am trying really hard not to let this website become a bird-blog. But the storks are back!
Night Shot
Inspired by Jasper’s night shots and a video I saw on youtube last week that had a nice segment on post-processing night shots I tried to see what I can get out of the Sony RX100 VII.
Honeybee
Heard a swarm of insects humming and was surprised to find a bunch of honey bees on a willow catkin that early this year.
Buntspecht
Got a shot of a great spotted woodpecker. Almost gave up getting a good shot of anything today.
Overflight
A plane passing overhead I saw today while taking the dog out for a long afternoon walk. Much like me, flying into the weekend after an eventful week. The vignette effect in the picture was not intentional and I like how it came out naturally.
Rime
I walked the dog this morning, same as every day. The world feels caught between winter and spring right now. There’s still frost overnight, double digits by afternoon. How am I supposed to decide what jacket to wear?
Perpetual
Went for a walk in the woods with the neighbors and their dachshund, and Aika. Spotted a pheasant, a fox, a red kite, and a few deer.
No One Was Driving The Car Tour
Went to see La Dispute playing their No One Was Driving The Car Tour in Leipzig today. They played King Park and Adria which made me happy.
Coloss
Did a late-afteroon trip with Tilian to the big bucket-wheel excavator. He was mesmerized by the size, unfortunately it stopped operating for the day.
Song Thrush
It’s not my intention to turn this website into an animal-focused photo blog, but here we go. Spotted a song thrush this morning. First thought it was a female blackbird.
Wild Horses
We drove to see wild horses. It’s a nature reserve one hour south-west of Leipzig. It’s called the Toten Täler (Death Valleys).
Upgrade
Upgraded from an iPad Air 13" and a Mac mini (M2) as my usage centered more and more around photo editing and agentic coding. The Mac mini feels too static and the iPad too limiting.
Moon
Nadine and I shot the half moon tonight. Otherwise an ordinary day, looking forward to a packed Friday and weekend. I asked her for a text for the post, she said: This is the moon. Sometimes you see it when it’s dark, sometimes even when it’s bright. Sometimes you see it never at all. (very SMRT)
Deer
Managed to capture a young deer in the nature reserve yesterday.
Lost Americana Tour
Nadine and I went to Berlin to see MGK’s Lost Americana tour. I did not bring a proper camera. In hindsight I could have.
Emma
Emma lives in the next village and goes absolutely berserk behind her gate whenever we walk by. She could slip underneath it any time she wanted, but the moment the gate actually opens, she’s the shyest dog you’ve ever seen.
Zootopia 2
Tilian and I went to see Zootopia 2 today. We are big fans of the Die drei ??? Kids audiobooks and wanted to watch the movie of the main series, but the trailer had some scary scenes that Tilian doesn’t like so we opted in for a more relaxed movie. Once the new Die drei ??? hits streaming we will give it a try at home.
Woods
I went back to the woods looking for the white albino deer, and found a white albino doe instead.
Weir
Nadine and I went out on a photo walk today. We spotted a few animals but couldn’t get any good shots. We ended up at Weiße Elster weir (51.124943, 12.236676).
Dawn
I took Aika for a long walk at dawn this morning, carrying Nadine’s Canon with our new Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS STM tele lens.
Afterburner
A few days ago, out of nowhere, I remembered a game I played at my cousins a lot, it was After Burner II on their Sega Mega Drive. I have been looking to scratch that itch on a Steam Deck.
Stump
Old tree stump next to the agriulture road out of town.
New Games
Last week brought a bunch of new games and demos. Pragmata was my favorite and will be a day one purchase for me.
Spare Parts
The front bumper of Tilian’s RC car broke off today. Kellin broke it, but to keep the peace I told Tilian it was me.
Back Home
We made it back from Mayrhofen. Around 550 km, about six and a half hours with one break and a short traffic jam along the way, which is pretty reasonable for that distance.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 7)
Last full day in Mayrhofen. A round of Hus, a Mario Kart World cup, three groups heading in different directions and Tilian finally spending his pocket money.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 6)
Mountain day for everyone. We rode up the Penken together, Tilian took second place in his ski school race, Aika had her five minutes of fame and we closed out the evening at Goldkind.
Mayrhofen at Night
Nadine and I had an evening out in Mayrhofen. On the walk home, we stopped for a few neon sign photos.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 5)
Kellin was back on his feet. We spent the morning walking along the Ziller, rode the Zillertalbahn home and ended the evening at an escape room.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 4)
Kellin woke up with a fever, so my father-in-law and I stayed back with him while the others hit the slopes.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 3)
Up at 5. Getting better.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 2)
Day two started at 4:30 in the morning. The older one couldn’t sleep anymore. Great start to a vacation day.
Winter Vacation (Pt. 1)
We made it to Mayrhofen. Around 600 km, about 7 hours on the road with two short breaks. The drive was smooth, nothing to complain about.
School's Out
Tilian got his mid-year report card for second grade. Straight A’s in all main subjects and conduct marks.
Black Ice
Lots of black ice on the farmers road and large chunks of frozen snow on the sides which looked like icebergs. It’s been below zero for weeks and quite enjoyable. I dread when it all melts and gets wet again.
Bubblegum Blue
Saw this bubblegum-blue tractor during my daily tour with Aika. Everything is brown and dark in winter and I am a sucker for some color during my walks.
Wolf Tracking
Nadine went wolf tracking last weekend and took great shots. It took place across the Czech border and was organized by two wildlife academies: Funkenflug and Heidefeuer.
Abandoned
Came across this abandoned place. The window color (tm) gives it a nice contrast.
Overtaken
I went for a two-hour walk with Aika, didn’t get any good shots except the usual brick-buildings from across the river (51.140149, 12.230809). After two hours, a group of older road cyclists passed me, dropped a cheeky comment and sped off.
Melt
Nadine went to Czechia to learn about tracking of wolves and other animals. She took the Sony RX100 VII and I got to use her new Canon EOS 2000D. The kids kept me busy inside and outside, the only shot that I eventually kept was the one of snow slowly melting down our greenhouse.
Pheasant
Went for a long walk and did some meetings from the phone while the light was great outside. Saw a pheasant, a young buck and heron.
Two Dorks
Two dorks outside in our garden. Photo courtesy of Nadine.
Blue
I have been trying to be more active in the last days, averaging around 16.000 steps each day, both treadmill supported but also more walks with Aika. Today I came across this blue net hanging ourside of a barn and I just could not figure out what it’s supposed to do.
Soft
Fresh snow fell overnight, so naturally, you get a snow photo the next day. It has always been this way, and it always will be.
Imagination
Love this kid. Kellin can take a half-broken toy, a pile of week-old snow and immerse himself in a new adventure so easily.
Cake
We needed to cancel Tilian’s kids birthday party on short notice due to last-minute guest-to-be cancellations of 66% of participants. Fortunately the cake was already prepared and needed to be taken care of appropriately.
Mine (Pt.2)
I went back to the open-cast mining ground and found a great spot to photograph these massive steel giants that have scarred the landscape.
Windpark (Pt.2)
Hello Windpark my old friend! Next to walking in the mornings outside with the dog, I get to walk even more indoors now. We got a treadmill at home since yesterday and I spent my meeting-packed day walking.
Ambiguity
Ambiguity gets a bad reputation at work, and people treat it like something is broken. “There’s no clear direction.” “Leadership doesn’t have a plan.” I’ve sat in meetings where someone said exactly that, and I’ve read the same feedback in employee surveys for years. (And I take it somewhat personally as I am that “leadership”.)
Tilian’s 8th Birthday
Tilian turned 8! Time flies so fast. We spent the afternoon building a decommissioned LEGO (42097) set I have been hunting online for him for a while. The bags are not numbered!
Bricks
Week started well at work and I can use the morning hours again for a longer walk with Aika before hitting the desk. Winter mornings don’t offer great light, yet it’s the only time I have to take pictures during week days.
Mine
Tilian and me went to take pictures of the ‘open-cast mining ground’ close to our village.
So I built an RSS Reader (Pt.2)
Two weeks ago I wrote about building an RSS reader. I said it would probably crash with more than 20 feeds (or I lose motivation). It didn’t crash but I needed to optimize it a bit.
Frost
Last night’s frost laid a soft film over all surfaces.
New Camera Day
The Sony RX100 VII is here! I took it out for a spin with the kids to the forest and the garage of my father. There is so much to learn about it.
Disappointed
The Sony RX100 VII did not arrive today. I rescheduled delivery from yesterday to today because of my work trip this week. Not sure what happened for it not to arrive but I’m disappointed.
Back
Completed my trip back home today. Did twice 450km within 24 hours. The VW California is such a comfortable car for long trips.
Away
Tilian is sick and Kellin has been quarantined as a precaution. I am on a work trip to Munich so it was extra difficult to leave them until tomorrow night.
Windpark
We have a new windpark north of our village. 250m high wind mills. The moon illusion hits hard with them, they overshadow the village from one end, and look tiny from the closer end. Strange to see.
Last Day Off
Vacation is over and I’m officially back at work tomorrow. A few impressions from today.
Craspedia globosa
Taken in our garden. […]Craspedia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae commonly known as billy buttons, billy balls, and woollyheads. They are native to Australia and New Zealand where they grow in a variety of habitats from sea level to the Southern Alps.[…] (Wikipedia) - I’d would have called them yellow balls.
Vet
Neither Aika nor I woke up this morning and thought “Hey let’s rip out a toe nail, that sounds like fun!”. Yet here we are and we spent this afternoon at the vet.
Snow
First proper snow this season. The boys loved it. Aika was slightly annoyed.
So I built an RSS Reader
So I built an RSS reader. I wanted something simple for myself. Read my feeds, mark things as read, move on.
Reading
I don’t read enough books. I manage reading a few pages maybe one evening every two weeks. I can turn on something on Youtube or a podcast in the car without thinking. A book I have to actively pick up.
Sourdough
My wife started baking bread. Here’s her spelt (Deutsch: Dinkel) sourdough recipe. It took quite a few iterations to get it right.
Chicken
When I went out with Aika, I caught two of our four chickens in the garden. We have two Silkie chickens and two feather-footed dwarf chickens. The whole family loves them, and two eggs a day is a nice bonus.
Building This Website with Hugo
This website runs on Hugo, a static site generator written in Go. I launched it in early January 2026, so if you’re reading this when it’s fresh, this is all just a few days old. This post documents how I built it.
Winter Walk
A winter walk with Tilian and Aika. The fresh snow melted during the day but froze overnight, leaving icy patches everywhere. Plenty of slipping and sliding along the way, with the kids landing on their backsides more than once. Aika seemed completely unfazed.
2025 Wrapped
My year 2025 in numbers and highlights, wrapped-style. First attempt at summarizing an eventful year. More platforms offering wrapped/replay summaries obviously helped.
Death Stranding 2
Over the Xmas period I managed to finish Death Stranding 2. The game is a perfect mix between logistics, base building and shooter action for me.I like it more than the Metal Gear Solid games.
Open Source
At the end of 2025 I spent 100 hours on a single open source project. I did similar things over the past twenty years but always lost interest. This time was different. The software is actually used at my company. Spoiler: I will happily discontinue it.
Hello
Welcome to my website. I work as Chief Technology & Product Officer at roadsurfer, where we help people explore the world in campervans.