Berlin summer 2006

Berlin pictures gleanings

2006-09-10T09:34:00.000-07:00

I started to work right after I came back home from Berlin. The new project isn't much fun and time consuming, that's why it took so long to upload these last pictures.

While I was composing this image a man suddenly entered the house and switched on the light in the hallway. It was a sign that I should do it this way :) Well, I actually don't believe in such things. I'm glad to be a materialist and of course an atheist, too.

This guy played the accordion wonderfully. The two people in the background even forgot to close their umbrellas.

This is at Warschauer Strasse. I couldn't resist to take a photo of them.

The shadow of the girl in the background connects to the boy in the foreground.

Testing raw mode

2006-08-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures that I took in raw mode. It allowed me to get the best results even under difficult conditions (dim light). Being able to adjust white balance and to do exposure compensation after taking the picture is also a big plus.

Interest

2006-08-18T00:24:00.000-07:00

She seems to be very interested in what the other girl is whispering.

Angst

2006-08-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

Poor Miikka. When I took the shot I didn't even see the text on the wall. It says "Ich hab Angst" that translates to "I am scared".

This is art :)

2006-08-17T06:19:00.000-07:00

Don't you think? It could be in a gallery, but it's not. It's in the center of Berlin, near the Berliner Dom on the opposite side of the river Spree. The building has probably also a name, but I don't know it neither the usage of that room (location).

Reichstag

2006-08-14T05:24:00.000-07:00

Composition is everything. In this case it's the framing.

Nice postcard, isn't it? :) There is a new memorial in the foreground. So the picture looks more interessting. It reminds of the members of the parliament that have been killed by the Nazis. Most of them were communists and social democrats.

Prenzlauer Berg

2006-08-10T17:38:00.000-07:00

The decisive moment... :) I really feel lucky that I got this shot. When I look through the electronic viewfinder of my camera, I cannot see all the details. It's good enough for framing, but that's all. So there is always some surprise when reviewing the pictures. And you have to develop a kind of feeling when the rigt moment is there... But in photography you need that anyway :)

This was strange. They sat very close to a street looking at photographs. I waited for a car to drive by and took the picture. Worked beautifully in the first place!

Unaware people

2006-08-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

These two ladies take a nap on a bench at "Unter den Linden". The woman in the background seems to balance on the bench.

A girl is marching through the Holocaust memorial.

Kottbuser Tor area

2006-08-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many people use a library, but I can see how many consume TV.

Lustgarten

2006-08-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

This one is nice. Except that the two men in background shouldn't be there. The two women behind like what they see: a father takes care of the children.

The father watches his sons playing at the water.

Girls just want to have fun!

And they have fun too!

Cinema cashier

2006-08-10T06:22:00.000-07:00

Photographing people at work is always a good idea. They feel comfortable because they do the things they are used to. The light in the small rooms emphasizes the cashier.

Hackescher Markt

2006-08-10T05:26:00.000-07:00

This boy is intruiged by that military stuff. The man to the right could be his father who doesn't seem to be interested at all. The man understands the relation of these things with war and death, the boy doesn't. You can draw a line from the masks through the heads of both people.

The man to the left and right look in different directions. I concentrated on the man to the left, after I took the shoot I recognized the guy at the right.

Kottbuser Tor

2006-08-10T05:02:00.000-07:00

Lot's of Turkish people live here. This snapshot shows some children and a mother. Three of them look into the same direction.

I like this one very much. It shows people in a barber shop.
The interior decoration is strange for such kind of place. Nobody noticed me when I took the shot so the atmosphere is real.

Tempelhof tour

2006-08-03T04:21:00.000-07:00

We started our tour at Tempelhof aiport. The airport complex was built by the National Socialists (Nazis) and is a good example of the architectural style at that time in Germany. It is big, monumental and still very modern. I felt a little bit lost, but was impressed.

Everything is clearly shaped and straight. The stones used to face the buildung skeleton have a good looking surface texture.

Photographing class

2006-08-03T02:43:00.000-07:00

I came to Berlin for two reasons. First I was curious about life in Berlin.
And second I like taking photographs and I'm eager to learn new things about it. So I took a summer break and went to the captial of my home country.

Being a student again is fun. You can deal with the things you are interested in and
enjoy easy living ;-). I like eating at the Mensa. It's good, fast, easy and cheap.

The picture shows some of the students (the grown up Jerry in the middle) carefully listening to our conductor Bruce Spear.