As the title (playfully) suggests this is the fourth photo of Luis that I’m posting on this photolog. You can see his earlier photos [here](http://visual.arthedains.com/index.php?showimage=166), [here](http://visual.arthedains.com/index.php?showimage=165) and my favorite of the three, [here](http://visual.arthedains.com/index.php?showimage=163). Although the high key look was not intentional I enhanced it while processing as imo it gives a very contemporary feel to the photo.

I’m not a very big fan of the Brazilian football team. Not because they are bad, on the contrary the best moments of their football are sheer poetry. But it is a little boring to see them win year after year. And judging by the way they are are playing now they stand a very good chance of lifting the World Cup for a record sixth time. So here’s to (arguably) the best football team in the world today. Inspite of all I’ve said I hope they go all the way. Viva Brazil!

(I have no idea what happened on the lower right edge of the photo. I doubt it is vignetting. Any ideas?)

The FIFA World Cup is being shown in Cologn on huge screens in 3-4 fan zones. Before and between games there are various cultural shows from the various countries playing in the championship. This is from one such show at the fan zone next to the Dom.

As some of you may have noticed Visual Obscurity was down for almost a day due to some error with the sql database. After a day spent in aimless frustration, I finally managed to overcome the problem now. So here is today’s photo without furthur ado.

This is a friend of a friend of a friend! I hope I got her name right. A bunch of us had gone to see the match between Germany and Sweden on a giant screen next to the Rhine. Although, we all got roasted in the (pretty hot) sun the match and the atmosphere were great! Today’s photo is from there. After processing the photo came out a little darker than I wanted but I kinda like the way it looks now, has a slightly oldish film feel to it.

Germany is in the grip of football fever and here I’m without a single photograph to show some of it. That changed today as I went out to shoot some of the madness around the time of the exciting match between Ghana and Czech Republic. What you see in the photo is part of a huge tableaux covering the whole inside of the ceiling of Cologne’s main train station. It is an awesome sight!

This is a friend of mine for whom I did a basic photo shoot a little more than a week ago. Today’s photo is from that shoot. There are a few more photos I liked from that shoot so you can expect to see more of him in future.

I know I did not do very good job with the exposure in this shot but I still like the way it has come out. The whole mood and the poise of my friend invokes a feeling of haughtiness and a whiff of royalty! He was a very willing model by the way, completely relaxed and uninhibited before the camera.

This is perhaps the last photo in the Circus series. I really should go out and shoot something new. But the weather is so dreary and dull here that I don’t feel like taking my cameras out. Hope the weather clears soon! And oh, the two huge blobs you see at the either side of the photo on the bottom (also present in a few of the other photos I posted previously from the circus) are the heads of two people who were sitting in front of me in the circus. I couldn’t avoid them in almost all the photos I shot there.

I managed to copy some of my backed up photos to the Mac at work and I’m posting today’s photo from there. He is the same person as in the previous photo but I thought this photo would present a completely different mood compared to the previous one.

Patriot Act does not water down civil liberties.
-George W. Bush Jr.

Those who give up essential liberties for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
-Benjamin Franklin

(Note-22.05.06: Unfortunately, my laptop crashed yesterday and looks like I’ve to give it in for repair. It might be gone for a few weeks. So I don’t think I’ll able to post quite as regularly as before. I’ll try to post, if possible, from this Mac in my lab. Fortunately, I made a backup of my photos, lab data etc., a few days back so hopefully I haven’t lost anything. Keep your fingers crossed and do keep visiting!)

I didn’t realize that I had passed the 200 photo mark a few days back. So this is to mark that although it technically isn’t the 200th photo.