Saxes

A concert of The Screenclub at the Stellwerk in Harburg in October.

Blotch

This was almost ten months ago.

The theme, maybe

I've recently shown a couple of photos which are maybe kind of nice or funny but not really good pictures as far as I am concerned. I partially did this because some people actually asked me to revive the blog after the long summer break and I was flattered enough to do that.

But I generally agree with Mike Johnston that it's a worthwhile idea to shoot to a theme. At least I think that would be something I should personally strive for. And one of the goals of this blog was to help me in identifying such a theme. I thought about this in the last days and I might actually be up to something now. Not really sure yet (have to ponder this a bit more), but it has got to do with concepts like proof and evidence. And apparently windows and reflections play an important role and that's why I dug this one out from a few months ago. Let's see how this'll develop. (Pun intended.)

Self portrait with two hands

Another self portrait. Well, kind of.

Taken in Hamburg on January 30, 2010 with the M7 on old Neopan 1600 which was developed in HC-110. The lens was the 35mm Summicron.

Self portrait with chicken soup and sugar

Every now and then, there are situations where the photographer - either his shadow or his reflection - becomes a part of his own photo. If you're not explicitly taking a self portrait, this is usually something you want to avoid, but sometimes you grudgingly accept it if it's the only way to get the shot. Or you can play with it like Erwitt (who else?) did. Or you can make a whole art form out of it like Lee Friedlander.

Compared to what artists like Erwitt and Friedlander did, this self portrait is probably simply a failure, but I still find it kind of funny. It was taken on January 30, 2010 in Hamburg with the M7 and the 35mm Summicron. Film was Neopan 1600 which I developed in HC-110.

Footprints

Snow in front of the ugly Frappant building in Hamburg which has been in the news a lot recently.

Following my own "tradition" of naming postings after Jazz songs, today's title is of course a reminiscence to Wayne Shorter's composition which was made famous by Miles Davis using it on Miles Smiles.

Taken on January 30, 2010 with the M7 and the 35mm Summicron. Neopan 1600 in HC-110.

Paint, light, shadows, chair legs

The floor of my wife's studio in the winterly morning sun of this year's January 30.

I recently received a bunch of "expired" rolls of film almost for free and amongst them was some Neopan 1600, so that was what I was using here, developed in HC-110. M7, 35mm Summicron.

Zappa's last drummer

Another one of the assignments I had back then. The job was to photograph Andreas Boettger for a student magazine. I always was (and still am) a big fan of Franz Zappa, and Mr. Boettger was at that time a member of Ensemble Modern and thus ended up playing percussion on three Zappa records. That's the closest I ever got to any member or ex-member of Zappa's bands except for a brief chat with Napoleon Murphy Brock three years ago.

The whole shooting took place in a dark and cramped rehearsal room, so I was happy that I came home with at least a few usable shots. Taken with the FM2 in Hanover on January 15, 1996 on Neopan 1600 developed in HC-110. My notes clearly say that the lens was a 24/2.8 although I'm very, very sure I never owned one. Seems I borrowed one although I don't remember it.

Update: Did I really say "very, very sure"? I just looked at some other old photos taken with the Nikon (from 1994 already) and they clearly look like they've been taken with a wide-angle lens. I'll have to eat my words...

The Pretend Garden-Girl

This photo is of "historical" importance to me as it belongs to one of the few assignments I had in 1995/1996.  I was still at university working on my doctorate but at the same time I was seriously considering to work as a professional photographer and so I was happy to accept small jobs even if the payment was minuscule or non-existent. Here I was shooting a rehearsal of Mozart's La finta giardiniera at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hanover. I shot about half a dozen rolls of Fuji Neopan 1600 using my Leica and the Nikon. (Yes, I told you I had sold it, but luckily I had sold it to my girlfriend who was so nice to lend it back to me for this occasion.) One of the photos (not this one, though) was published in the Neue Presse newspaper some days later.

This particular photo was taken with the Nikon and a 135/2.8 Nikkor lens that I had bought used shortly before I got rid of the FM2.  The date was February 14, 1996.  The film was developed in HC-110.