In a Holiday Mood

In the Garden

Anticipation

After all the Hive-Hype (haha!) it's really difficult to concentrate on the things I had in mind about this blog before last weekend. But thanks to last weekend I can add the new input to the old projects! 

This post has two reasons.

As I told you before I tried some analogue work - I don't know why but the laboratory does not come out with my results. So I am still waiting. At the same time I'm going through old analogue holiday pictures I took years ago when I didn't even think about digital cameras. I know that my family was sometimes a little bit - one can say - disappointed that my holiday pictures were seldom really about my holiday e.g. me, my friends or my accommodation. Instead there were numerous different pictures of landscapes, houses, different lights and moods, streets etc. :) I always loved to take pictures of such things. Somehow I thought with that I could take with me the whole location and the mood I was in, into my later photo box.

The second reason is that I am really, really excited because this year's holidays will take me back to a place where I lived a while some years ago and which I really loved: Lyon.

So I decided to fetch my old picture box and show you some of my analogue Lyon pictures.

Since I think it is a pity somehow that those old pictures are decaying in their boxes (when does one take them really out to look at them?), I will do this more often and show you old holiday pics. 

Hope you don't mind :)

(PS: The pictures are a little bit spiced with Photoshop...)

The Hive 2012

This weekend the first European Blog Conference The Hive took place here in Berlin.

Some months ago I grabbed a ticket, because I thought this would be a great thing to attend.

And it was!

Berlin showed its bright side - not only figuratively.

The weather could not be nicer and the colours not brighter.

I didn't turn the above picture. They meant it. Upright.

TV Tower peeping.

I attended many great, interesting and inspiring presentations. One of them was done by these two ladies: Thea und Toni of Sister Mag. By now they have published the second issue of their digital magazine and they do an incredible job. I love its look as well as its content and can spend hours with it...

They talked about new and traditional media and since they are two digital natives, they were of course one of the first to load their presentation up to the web - if you want to have a look at it: it's over there.

Another very interesting presentation for me was the one of Freunde von Freunden. They are also a kind of digital magazine (did I mention I like digital magazines?) and they interview people in their personal environment. It's a mixture between interview and photography. I stumbled across them a while ago and since then like to browse through their wonderful website.

One of my personal highlights was the Food Photography Workshop lead by Anne from Anne's Kitchen. Her blog is really inspiring in terms of cooking as well as photography. So yummy!

I learned a lot and it was great fun! Anne is a very warm person and her enthusiasm was really contagious.

And here are some of my experiments :)

And thank you to the 3 ladies of The Hive who had the idea, the courage and the passion to organize this great conference!

Before the rain

Berlin sky, yesterday afternoon.

I shot them in RAW, so I could add a lot of drama afterwards...

Trial and _____

At the moment I am very much experimenting. I want to train my eye. To see new things. Or to see thing that were always there - only unnoticed by me.

And I want my camera to make my computer see those things like I saw them.

One outcome of my seeing-experiments you can see below. It's the rocking chair next to our desk, and the late afternoon light coming through the windows broken by the leaves of the trees. It looked like a waterfall with many glittering drops bubbling. I somehow like the picture and wanted to share it with you.

I am also trying some analogue work and am very excited because I can pick up the films in a few days. I did shots with a Lomo Colorsplash and a very old camera from the grandpa of a friend in b/w. I'll definitely let you know if there is a worth outcome. If not, I'll carry on :)

Between the times

When we arrived in Leipzig it was dark and it was raining. It rained so hard we had to run trying to find a location where we could warm up, eat, drink, talk. Leipzig really has to offer a lot of neat, stylish or classic watering holes - but they are much more fun when you don't have to wade though the puddles to get to them ...

While rushing across the old town square and through the narrow cobbled alleys it somehow felt like we had been transported back in time, to the fairy tales of the good old brothers Grimm. The streets were deserted because of the rain and this added to the feeling.

The next day I unpacked my camera and the sightseeing began.

Of course: Auerbachs Keller. The cellar where Goethe used to hang around in his student days and was apparently so impressed by this historic location that he let his Faust meet Mephisto there. 

It is located in the Mädlerpassage (left picture) together with high-end shops and galleries but it hasn't lost some of its century old flair. Not far away is Speck's Hof an arcade also full of shops that you can only find in arcades like this. The right picture shows a shop for wooden toys. I couldn't imagine something like this still existed but it is nice to know that it apparently can. Also I have to admit that the larger-than-life Pinocchio and the jumping jacks with their moving eyes were a little spooky...

The view over Leipzig was quite worth the 34 (or something) storeys. 

Red roofs of old houses. Again reminiscent of a brothers Grimm tale scenery.

And in the distance the impressive Monument to the Battle of Nations. 

(My lens also impressed me: that it was able to zoom this far, hui!)

What impressed me most about Leipzig was that it so obviously lives between three times. There are the really ancient things, still vivid memories of the Wende and the modern times. I cannot really put it in words, but this is a photoblog and I should rely on my pictures to tell you.

One of my favourite pictures because it shows all the three times in one. Or so I think.

How to be a good tourist {Part II}

This time: the Teufelsberg - literally translates as the devil's mountain ...

A - relatively - short march leads you to one of the highest views over Berlin's rooftops. For free. Both the march and the view.

Even before the actual goal of the tour upwards, some sights cross your view. Here is one of them, a Le Corbusier house:

From there it is only a short walk to the peak. Although walking this way you feel almost left alone in the world...

Here is one of the first views we've got after crossing this hill:

In the background is one of the American leftovers in Berlin - a very, very large listening station. This was when I actually remembered I was standing on more than 20 million cubic metres wreckage left by WWII. No need to mention that this place makes you think.

But it is also kind of a nice feeling, that today there were kites flying instead of spy gadgets while the old war relicts rot and hopefully will do forever.

Sadly, the weather was not as good as we've hoped for, but the green spring trees gave their best to cheer us up.

In this picture I really liked the contrast between the decaying cold war monument and the meadows in bloom.

Decay-close-up:

And finally: Looking at Berlin!

Everything seems smaller - both in reality and figuratively. Leaving you pensive.

And by the way: if you asked why the Teufelsberg is named Teufelsberg you will be told that this is because of the near Teufelssee (devil's lake) - which will leave you none the wiser...

But over there you will get some more information about the Teufelsberg and the Le Corbusier house.

OK, and for those who are still here - a little "round-up" :)

Thank you for reading!

How to be a good tourist...

... in your own city: Go out. Take a camera with you. Be curious. And amazed.

This lead me up the Victory Column, a Berlin monument I pass almost every day, but never really cared about. For those who just want to see Berlin from above the ascent up the Victory column is a good choice because its 3€ entrance fee is not half of what you pay to even come near the TV Tower's elevators.

I'm a little bit afraid of heights, so the look of the spiral stairs above me made my hands sweaty.

I didn't count them (ok, maybe I'm not such a good tourist...) but they were maaaaaaany. Phew.

I hate it, when they do that. I always wonder: why? Maybe if someone knows, please let me know - because otherwise I will continue to believe they built such see-through floors in high buildings out of sheer malice. 

Finally I made it to the top. As I looked above I could glimpse under the skirt of good old Victoria... :)

Then I made the mistake and looked downwards... *.*

The balustrade really looks like plastics and I couldn't force myself to go near it. But I managed to take a shot of Berlin by holding the doorknob of the entrance with one hand and reaching out with the other hand to push my camera lens through the fence. 

Tada!

PS: The "Tiergarten" somehow looks like a big old green Flokati....