NYC in B&W

Montag, 17. Oktober 2016, 23:45 Uhr von Felix

In late August, I spent a couple of days in NYC. Here’s an album of shots I took with my handy Olympus XA rangefinder camera on Kodak Tri-X 400 B&W film:

NYC in B&W, August 2016

NYC in B&W, August 2016

As with the Budapest album from earlier this year, all shots were developed and scanned by yours truly. Tri-X is still my favorite stock of film, but I tend to use a lower concentration of developer to have a more balanced grain structure.

Telephone numbers for Aviation Port Services (APS) at Boston Logan Airport (BOS)

Freitag, 30. September 2016, 15:54 Uhr von Felix

If you are flying with a smaller airline into Boston Logan Airport (BOS) and something went wrong with your luggage, you might be out of luck. A company named Aviation Port Services (APS) might be subcontracted by your airline to handle your bag. At the time of writing (September 2016), Eurowings, Norwegian and Air Berlin all subcontract APS.

As you will soon find out, Aviation Port Services is a very disorganized and unprofessional enterprise. It might take them more than two weeks to find a bag that they misplaced themselves. Despite promising otherwise, they will not call you back. They might not enter the information you provide in Worldtracer, the worldwide baggage tracing tool. Even in case they tell you that your bag will be shipped to your hotel, they might decide not do it in order to save on costs. It will all be your responsibility to route around their idiosyncrasies in order to get your bag. In my case, it took almost three weeks, two trips to the airport, a bunch of luck and probably a triple digit number of phone calls to (a) get my case number and (b) get my luggage bag. I think I spent about 2 working days in total dealing with APS.

Along the way, I have learned a lot. Among other things, I have learned a number of telephone numbers that I chose to disclose so that you as a passenger have at least a slight chance to deal with this irresponsible company when they lose your property or withhold it from you. Here is the list; good luck! You will probably not have much luck in the morning hours – I have found that there is a higher success rate after 1 pm.

  • +1 617 569 2405 number I was given when I filed my PIR report, but seems to be only voicemail – try calling, but do not waste to much time and money on this number
  • +1 617 567 1289 contact for Aviation Port Services at BOS – I talked to Linda, who seemed quite helpful but ultimately did not succeed in helping me get in touch with the right contact
  • +1 781 817 0557 apparently „operations“ – this is the number from which they called me when they left voicemail, but the people answering the phone were neither helpful nor polite
  • +1 781 817 9446 Maria, who is supposed to be in charge of L&F baggage – I believe that she has left the company by now, but maybe her successor „inherited“ this number
  • +1 617 749 6544 Victor Martinez – supposedly a manager in charge at BOS – I think I was never able to reach him
  • +1 617 749 6916 Alvin – very professional, curteous and helpful, but was very hard to reach – he agreed to ship my luggage to my hotel, but his superiors overruled this decision
  • +1 617 415 6115 I don’t know the name, but the person answering was able to send someone (Alvin) to the airport’s entrance hall to deliver my bag to me
  • +1 857 249 0023 apparently a „red number“ of the operations team – are very surprised and unhappy when customers call, but might refer to someone who can help when bothered by customer calls

Moreoever, I have had multiple very positive experiences with the airport’s „public service representatives“ who work in the information booths at Terminal E. They might be able to support you with tracking down someone at APS, but you will need to help them help you by providing the list of phone numbers above.

tl;dr: boo APS, kudos massport

Budapest in January

Dienstag, 26. Januar 2016, 22:30 Uhr von Felix

In early January of this year, I went to Budapest for a few days with the goal of drinking a lot of fine coffee and taking some photos. Among other photographic devices, I packed my trusty Olympus OM-2N slr camera with a 35mm f/2.8 lens and two rolls of Kodak Tri-X 400 film. If you’re into grainy b&w photography, you might enjoy my latest album over on Flickr:

Budapest in early January 2016

Budapest in early January (2016)

BTW: I developed these shots in my bathroom and scanned them myself. Still a lot to learn about this, though.

Bamberg’s old town hall

Sonntag, 22. Februar 2015, 13:38 Uhr von Felix

Bamberg's old town hall

Last weekend, I went to Bamberg and finally got around to taking a photo of the old town hall („Altes Rathaus“), but with a certain twist I had in mind for quite some time.

Find my photos on Flickr

Samstag, 11. Oktober 2014, 23:39 Uhr von Felix

I have added some (non-people) photos to my Flickr profile. Follow me there to enjoy some of my favourite shots, including some long term exposures of Cologne’s sights.