Siesta #3

One of the first photos in this blog showed a sleeping dog. Here's another canine siesta.

(Hey, and I just realized this was picture #100 with the good old M4-P.)

Documents

Seen through a window in Prague, sixteen years ago. One wonders what has happened to them since and where they are now.

Addendum: This photo was shown in the Bronx Banter in April 2011.

Paws

I'd be interested to learn what the meaning of this tradition is. Seen in Méounes-les-Montrieux in 1995.

No diving

I wouldn't have thought of doing it anyway. (You know where this is, don't you?)

Go there

Yes, yes, another arrow. December 2009 at Bahnhof Altona. From the, cough, single roll of film I shot with the XA so far.

Caged

Somewhere in Hamburg, June 2010.

Direction

Taken in Hamburg last year. I seem to like arrows.

Cyclassics

And here's one more from the Cyclassics.

Mailbox

Long time, no color... Well, here's one again, taken in Genoa in 2009. This is a picture that I sometimes like while at other times I think it is boring. Today, I obviously like it.

The decisive moment, again

This is kind of a family snapshot, albeit one which turned out to be quite a challenge. A friend of ours takes part in the Cyclassics here in Hamburg each year and usually when he passes by our house he high-fives my daughter.

This year, I wanted to snap them while they did it which with my motor-less film camera of course meant that I only had one chance and the moment to capture was very, very short. But it worked. Not exactly a piece of art, but it was fun.

I guess most photography aficionados will recognize (or maybe remember) the title of this posting.

Another fence

Taken in New York, like the first one. On March 25, 2010 with the M7 and the 35mm Summicron on Tri-X which was souped in Rodinal.

Peeking

My daughter and a friend waiting for their appearance at this year's Altonale here in Hamburg.

If you know the history of photography, you are probably aware that there are several famous photos of people peeking through some kind of barrier, including pictures from André Kertész, Ben Shahn, and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Another crosswalk

Do you remember the other one? This one is from Hamburg and was taken on November 26, 2008 (when it was almost dark) with the Ricoh.

Airplane

Another one which should have been in the NYC series. March 16, 2010.

M7, 35mm Summicron, Tri-X, Rodinal.

Ferry

On the Staten Island Ferry again, twelve years later. This is one I forgot in my NYC 2010 mini series although I like it a lot (maybe because it was shot through a window).

M7, 35mm Summicron, Tri-X, Rodinal.

245

Another self portrait, if you look closely. Hamburg on February 1, 2010.

M7, 35mm Summicron, Tri-X, Diafine.

Hen

Hamburg on February 26, 2010.

M7, 35mm Summicron, Tri-X, Rodinal.

Me

Spiegel online just published an article about the very part of Berlin where this photo was taken on March 3 this year.

M7, 35mm Summicron, Tri-X, Rodinal.

Liberty again

Yet another way to photograph the Statue of Liberty. A picture I'm publishing now because it is related to the one of from last Monday in several ways. And it's also one I like in spite of its obvious technical flaws.

M4-P, Tri-X, 1998.

Flame

In Oslo on February 13, 2010.

M7, 35mm Nokton, Tri-X, Rodinal.

Blur

Lisbon in 1999. This is a picture I had selected several times and then turned down again because it is blurred and wasn't properly exposed. Still, there must be something to it because I look at it over and over again. I've now finally decided that I like it.

M4-P, Tri-X.

Schumi

In Ottensen, January 2010.

M7, 35mm Summicron, Tri-X, HC-110.

Presence

Talking about the presence of the photographer in the photo, here's one where not only the subject felt it but where it's clearly imprinted into the picture as well.

Lisbon, 1999, M4-P, Tri-X.

Another arrow, another parking garage

Picking up the arrow in parking garage motif, here's one from December 23 (my birthday), 2009 - taken at the Bahnhof Altona. The photo was cropped a bit.

The M4-P with the 35mm Summicron, Tri-X in Diafine.

Marching

Whenever I see this photo, I have connotations of marching feet in some 1984-like scenery - it certainly looks a bit menacing to me. But the unadorned reality is that I stood at this corner somewhere in downtown New York in 1998 and took several shots of the same place deliberately waiting for passersby to integrate into the image. I even ended up with more than one picture that I liked.

M4-P, Tri-X.

Somewhere in Berlin

The first photo in this blog that I worked on with more sophisticated means than dust removal and the tone curve controls in Lightroom. I obviously shot directly into the sun, and although the Neopan 400 (souped in Rodinal) I used was able to capture a lot of the dynamic range of the original scene, I had a hard time regenerating the mood that I "saw" when I took the picture. I eventually masked individual parts of the image and applied separate curves to them. Probably not a big deal for someone who works with the likes of Photoshop every day, but for me it was new and kind of a paradigm shift.

This discussion of tones might also be a good chance to finally mention Paulo Nozolino. I dropped the names of quite a few photographers so far, but neglected to name the one that - together with Klavdij Sluban - had the most impact on me lately. His book Far Cry is one of the finest I've ever seen, and almost every photo I know from him touched me deeply. A lot of what fascinates me about his pictures is in their tones. They are very dark, but at the same time they somehow glow. Hard to explain, you have to see it yourself - preferably in high-quality reproductions like those done by Steidl.

Number 200, by the way.

Train

View out of the window of an ICE from Berlin to Hamburg on March 3, 2010. Not only does this one fit into my series, I also really like it for some reason I can't quite explain.

Speaking of windows, when I was in Kassel, Alec Soth explained how he liked it when the presence of a photographer can be felt in a photo. And as one of the best and most famous examples for this he mentioned Robert Frank's view out of the hotel window. Obviously, I couldn't agree more.

M7, 35mm Summicron, Tri-X, Rodinal.

Pavement

January 31, 2009 in Cambridge.

M4-P, BW400CN.

By the way, I already mentioned Geoff Dyer who wrote a whole book about the idea that photos tend to "reappear" over and over again. I read a book last night and came across André Kertész' Lost Cloud photo which I had probably seen before several times. But yesterday was the first time I realized that I had aped this photo more than half a century later.

Curves

View through the window of a snack bar in Hamburg on February 6, 2010.

M7, 35mm Summicron, Tri-X, HC-110.

Banana

October 7, 1995 in Midtown New York.

M4-P, 50mm Summicron, Tri-X.