Shitty days can hit you everywhere, even on vacations, and even in Malta. Well, at least the start into my day was a bit bad (it got way better later on but read on dear friends). I got up too late, my host Edward had to do some work (can’t blame him, we all have to make a living) and I first missed a very nice photo opportunity in form of a pretty brunette in a blue dress (it came to be like a minute too late to just ask her if I could take a picture of her). Then I wanted to go to Valetta and waited ages for a bus to come, together with a million other people who looked like tourists while the sun scorched my head and roasted my lonesome brain. Minutes later: no bus, more minutes later: no bus, heat: too much, shadow: none. And I was hungry as well and desperately needed an English Breakfast (whereever they offer it I have to have one at least once on a visit). So no bus then but I found food in this downtrotten place and had a fight with a grumpy, chubby (I’m too nice to say fat) waitress. All I wanted was breakfast with coffee, when you order coffee in Malta you get that stuff black and some extra bit of milk on the side. What I got was a glass of milk with some bit of coffee and then the waitress disappeared for like 10mins. I’m slightly allergic to milk (which makes my head more fuzzy than usual) so I tend not to drink it anymore. So 10 mins of waiting until the waitress comes out again (after waiting for like 30 mins for a bus that didn’t come) and then I was just like: “Excuse me, this is coffee with milk, I just wanted a plain coffee”. “You ordered coffee with milk, Sir”. “No I didn’t.” “I know what I heard!” “I’m allergic to milk so why should I…” “I KNOW WHAT I HEARD SIR!!! YOU WANTED COFFEE WITH MILK!!! I KNOW WHAT I HEARD!!! ” And then she got even more angry for unspecified for reasons I don’t get. Hell, I love to have arguments before having any caffeine. And wow: good service. She then took the coffee away and was never seen again, not by me or any other person who sat outside (guess I spoiled the service for everyone) and one guy, I guess her boss, just took a brief look outside to see that awful complaining German tourist. Guess I was lucky though that I didn’t get another plain coffee after she screamed at me. What could have been the secret ingredient? Spit? I now imagine a nice big “spit-pot” that stands in the sun all day, filled with hatrous slime and stuff. Of course flies are circling around it (and spitting on it) while it just waits for that awful complaing German… Ah maybe that is what is generally referred to as “Crema”. But I was lucky I guess.
So I left and yes, I still needed some coffee. Lucky that there is a McCafe everywhere. So I ordered an Americano to Go and set next to the beach. Good: Plain coffee, strong coffee, hot coffee. Bad: It was quite a windy day and sitting next to the open sea… whaa, the coffee cup fell down and directly on my foot. Americano, burning hot, soaked into the tissue of my left shoe. First you don’t notice that and then it burns (at least I was fully awake now). Luckily enough I didn’t drop my camera (only very nearly). Yes, I’m whining a bit I have to admit.
I then headed to Valetta finally and needed something to cheer me up again. And nothing works better for that than buying a new lens (ok there might be other things, but no one offered that at the moment). There is this little shop that has mostly Nikon and Sigma stuff and I always wanted a 50mm equivalent lens for street photography. Tata, I then bought a Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC. Not cheap, but cheaper than it would be in Germany. So finally I have it: My personal street photography lens! With on equivalent of 48mm on a Canon APS-C Camera quite perfect to get the Henri Cartier-Bresson feeling.
I then skipped the visit to some tourist destinations and just ran around in the streets of Valetta. I shot quite a few street details and also approached to some foreigners too. Very nice, there was actually no one who refused to have a picture of them taken, you just have to ask politely I guess. So I met a lot of nice people too that day, yeah 
And I really like the lens. It got a few bad reviews since it tends to have quite a few issues for a prime lens: softer edges, vignetting and slight distortion. Could be better but you can fix those things in DxO and I never minded vignetting and all. It’s build quite sturdy, the focus works well, it’s very light sensitive. Overall it’s quite decent. Good for street photography and party shots without the need to flash everything to death and you can shoot basically everything without the need of a mega-zoom-lens. So yes, I’m quite happy with the pics and it was a lot of fun shooting them and to meet some nice people. Plus: Edward took to me that nice barbecue later at some bay, so the evening ended very nicely too. Good food and nice wine included.
This is a larger collection now. You may find a few photos again when I post them within theme releated posts. By the way: Rude service is really the exception in Malta, neither have I seen any spit-pots 
Category: English, Featured, Photography, Photos
total süße stadt, so märchenhaft!
Die ganze Insel ist Märchenhaft
Plus: Die Frauen sind hübsch und das Essen lecker 
Wirklich schöne Fotos! Hast du da noch viel nachbearbeitet?
Naja ein Foto komplett roh lade ich eigentlich nie hoch. Sind alle objektiv korrigiert plus Filterspielereien je nach Stimmung. Allerdings habe ich an keinem allzu lang einzeln gebastelt, alsokeine Photoshopspielereien.