A short summary of my ED trip in pictures.

[kloh]

I took my son to Germany last week to take delivery of an E92 M3 so I thought I'd share some of my favorite pics from the trip.

If anyone is interested in reading about the entire experience, I documented most of it on my blog and put most of the photos into a flickr collection, but for those who have a short attention span (like me), here's a summary of my favorite pics:


At BMW Welt:

First, here's a video of my car on the turntable. Great way to present the car for the first time!

And a shot taken by the staff at the Welt:



Now, on to my pics:





And other miscellaneous stuff around the Welt:








At BMW Museum:













On the road to Spitzingsee:




At Spitzingsee:







Schloss Neuschwanstein:








My car in front of Schloss Neuschwanstein





Porche Museum in Stuttgart:








In the main building at Nürburgring:











Unfortunately, my trip to Nürburging proved unsuccessful, as the weather was bad and I couldn't get on the track (see last pic). Other than that, the entire trip was aweome. Highly recommend it to anyone considering buying a BMW. There's really no other way to do it IMHO.

[Crazy Bimmer]

Amazing shots and beautiful car!

I seriously cant buy a new car again without doing ED. I absolutely loved it!

You captured it very well!

[nusevad]

Great photos!

Really cool that you took your son with you, i wish i could say i had that experience that early.

Enjoy the car!

[mPlasticDesign]

WOW! Thanks for sharing. Great bonding time with the boy, he'll cherish it forever!

[808E90]

Originally Posted by ///Metak

WOW! Thanks for sharing. Great bonding time with the boy, he'll cherish it forever!

+1

Can't wait to do a trip like that with my son ... Great shots!

[lazyassand1balla24]

sikk

[kloh]

Thanks everyone. It definitely was a good bonding trip. I want to do it again with my daughters next, hehe.

Now I have to wait 6-10 weeks before getting the car back in my posession so the kids can begin. This part is gonna suck worse than the wait BEFORE taking delivery since I've gotten a tease.

[leemik]

Excellent pictures! Looks like BMW heaven

[Nate@IND]

wow nice photos!

[SUB-ZERO]

Excellent shots! What camera/lens did you use?

-SZ

[SV Concepts III]

Those are absolutely stunning photos. Mind posting what camera/lens/settings you were using?

[m3_love]

great photos, and it really seemed like tons of fun.

[OckEME3]

Great pictures and thanks for sharing, this is how I'm going to purchase my next M3.

[warzilla]

My question: What was the Nissan GTR doing there with all the german cars? Were you at the Nissan shop that recently opened up at the Ring?

[Singletrack]

Great pics! That is one lucky kid! All these ED threads make me want to go back to Germany...

[Davinhci]

sweet photos thanks for sharing

[willazcona]

I would like to say thank you to you, OP, for your photography.
It celebrates my favorite style; with shallow depth of field, wide angled, journalistic characteristics. I marvel at photographs taken in this style, as they make the ordinary, seem different and unique. You, sir, have made my day.

Nice car as well.

Will.

p.s. I know it is a bit off topic, but I am quite curious as to what piece of glass was used to capture these subjects.

[kloh]

Thanks everyone for the kind words...here's a few answers to your questions:

Originally Posted by SUB-ZERO

Excellent shots! What camera/lens did you use?

I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II. Amazing camera that can also shoot HD video. I got too wrapped up in looking at the car at the Welt that I totally forgot I was going to shoot some video during my delivery since it's such an awesome backdrop.

Originally Posted by Nick@Jlevi SW

Those are absolutely stunning photos. Mind posting what camera/lens/settings you were using?

Lens is a Canon 17-40mm f4 L USM. It's my primary "walkaround" lens. I wish it had a longer zoom, but 40mm gets most of what I want to capture since the 5D2 is full frame. I tend to shoot manual so I can control everything, but sometimes I'll revert to P when I'm in a hurry since it does a decent job of giving some manual control with automatic settings.

I do 99% of my post processing in Aperture. The only two shots in this series that required Photoshop were the ones of my car in front of Castle Neuschwanstein. It was a fairly hazy day so I had to do some isolated work to bring the castle and background up.

Originally Posted by OckEME3

Great pictures and thanks for sharing, this is how I'm going to purchase my next M3.

After this experience, I honestly feel there really is NO OTHER WAY to buy a BMW. Save money and get a vacation to boot. However, I'm certain I would not have had as much fun if I did not have the navi. That made a huge difference in the trip. All the planning in the world still wasn't enough since I hit road closures 3 times throughout the course of the trip. And roads in Germany are not like in America...where you can pretty much go a couple blocks and circle back. Some misses will require that you go for miles, LOL!

Originally Posted by warzilla

My question: What was the Nissan GTR doing there with all the german cars? Were you at the Nissan shop that recently opened up at the Ring?

I was in the Nissan area. It's funny to call it a shop because it looks more like a showroom. Yes, it is in deed a shop though, since there are a few towers with little products in it, but it's definitely all about the cars. There were 2 GT-R's and 1 370Z. I LOVE the GT-R and traded in my G35 for this M3, so I still have a place in my heart for Nissan, hehe.

Originally Posted by willazcona

I would like to say thank you to you, OP, for your photography.
It celebrates my favorite style; with shallow depth of field, wide angled, journalistic characteristics. I marvel at photographs taken in this style, as they make the ordinary, seem different and unique. You, sir, have made my day.

Nice car as well.

Will.

p.s. I know it is a bit off topic, but I am quite curious as to what piece of glass was used to capture these subjects.

I really appreciate it. Photography is just a hobby for me, but I'm always enamored when I see photos that make me want to capture images like that too. I also love shallow DOF and the 5D2 captures bokeh beautifully.

Those of you who know anything about photography know that a good lens can make a huge difference in photo quality. I previously had a fairly cheap, entry-level digital SLR (Canon Digital Rebel), but I opted to get the L lens independently instead of buying the kit that came with a lens. That's the same lens I'm using today, just on a much better camera. But since I had this already, I also only needed to get the camera body without a lens.

[BIMMER//DRIMMER]

oh man so jealous!
looks like u had a great trip, thanks for sharing ur experience.
this thread is one of the best i've seen in a long time.

[brandon @ eas]

unbelievable photos! what kind of stuff are you doing to them in post?

[anthony @ eas]

+1 Those look great. Thanks for sharing.

[datbimmerdoe]

Congrats!!! Sick color combo. Awesome pics as well. Thanks for sharing.