Posts tagged ‘Berlin’
Wo sind Sie jetzt? | Where are you now?
Train stations on Christmas Eve are emptier than usual and an unlikely place to visit. But I’ve always viewed the timing as a unique photographic opportunity.
I was in Berlin on Christmas Eve 2010, and with the city already covered in snow, I set out into the evening under additional heavy snowfall. I wanted to photograph the quiet conditions in the capital city, and I stopped at Potsdamer Platz station, normally a busy transfer station in the Mitte (or central) district.
My spontaneous visit and photographs resulted in something more profound.
In S-Bahn (suburban services) Potsdamer Platz, there on platform 2 was a woman; she was the only person along the entire length of the platform. I guess she was waiting for a train to take her home, or to visit friends for Christmas dinner, a party, or gathering. I hope she arrived safely that night.
The Christmas and New Year’s holiday season can be a rough and tumultuous time, even for people in the best of situations. It’s easy to consider how some might feel lonely and depressed, and it might even lead one to associate the number of suicides peaking around that time of year. However, some studies have shown that springtime is generally the peak period for depression, with extreme cases leading to suicides.
• 2005 article, from The Guardian
• “Seasonal spring peaks of suicide in victims with and without prior history of hospitalization for mood disorders.” Journal of Affective Disorders, 2010 February, 121(1-2): pp. 89-93
As (northern) spring is in full swing with this posting, please take a moment for the people about whom you care, and let them know you’re thinking about them.
I made the photos above on Christmas Eve 2010 at Bahnhof Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com.
Shalechet (Fallen Leaves), Jewish Museum Berlin
The Jüdisches Museum (Jewish Museum) in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district is one of the most visited museums in the German capital. Over seven million people from around the world have visited the museum since its opening in late-2001.
Through the unique architectural vision and building design by Daniel Libeskind, the museum does not set aside the history of the Jewish community within Germany as being separate from the history of the country as a whole. Rather, there is conscious effort by Libeskind and the Museum to have visitors consider how the historical, cultural, art, literature, music, intellectual, scientific, and economic contributions from the Jewish community are tied inextricably with the history of Germany over the span of two millennia. These very issues and questions are now also driving discussions about the present state and evolution of the Turkish and other expatriate communities within Germany.
Within one of the vertical empty spaces of the museum resides a sculpture installation called “Shalechet”(Shalekhet) by Menashe Kadishman. The accompanying caption in English reads:
Leerstelle des Gedenkens (Memory Void):
Shalechet or Shalekhet (“Fallen Leaves”), by Menashe Kadishman (born 1932 in Tel Aviv): 1997-2001, sheet steel. Gift of Dieter and Si Rosenkranz.
The architect Daniel Libeskind created empty spaces in several parts of the building. These so-called voids extend vertically through the entire museum and represent the absence of Jews from German society. The Memory Void contains a work by the Israeli artist Menashe Kadishman, who calls his installation “Shalekhet,” or “Fallen Leaves.” He has dedicated the over ten-thousand faces covering the floor to all innocent victims of war and violence.
Visitors are encouraged to interact by walking on the exhibit itself: to see the open-mouths in terror and faces of soundless screams, and to listen to the jarring clanging sounds as thick metal pieces jostle against other sheet metal pieces.
With no other visitors here, it’s an eerie atmosphere. I also feel what is unmistakably guilt, as I walk over the “screaming” faces: am I walking over representations of living breathing people? I think these feelings are in fact necessary, that they’re there to emphasize the feelings of loss. Something important has been taken away. It’s as if the sculpture asks: “Germany is presently incomplete – will the country ever heal and be complete again?”
The following two-and-a-half minute video provides a visual and aural sample.
In Berlin, the Jüdisches Museum can be reached with the S-Bahn (S1, S2, S25) at Anhalter Bahnhof, U-Bahn (U6) at Kochstrasse, or U-Bahn (U1, U6) at Hallesches Tor.
On 19 November 2012, I made the photos above with a Canon EOS450D camera and the video above with a 4th-generation iPod Touch. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com.
Of angles and angels, at Berlin Friedrichstrasse
I always found a crisp cool bite in the air on clear fall days whenever I was in Germany. At dusk on a late-October afternoon, I wandered to Friedrichstrasse Station in the German capital city of Berlin. There is the usual hustle and bustle of people entering and exiting a busy train station and important transfer junction.
I looked up and saw how the cumulus clouds were angled with respect to the top-line of the station building and how the clouds were illuminated. A plane’s contrail at the edge of the frame only added to the mystery.
It goes to show how the convergence of seemingly independent factors can produce a little piece of magic.
I had my camera with me wherever I went.
I was at the right place at the right time.
I remained observant.
Fading fall-light.
Shape & silhouette.
Lines & angles.
I wrote previously about the station: Up and down, night and day on Friedrichstrasse.
I made this photo from the northern side of Friedrichstrasse station in Berlin, Germany on 21 October 2012. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com.
Food tally, 4th- and final-quarter 2012
From September to December of 2012, I completed the year of travel, and the year of consumption also concluded with time in Sydney, Australia, before moving onto Cape Town, South Africa, and the final three months in Europe.
One thing remains true as ever – the hunt for good food continues …
I made all of the photos above with a 4th-generation iPod Touch. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress (fotoeins.com).
To check out the food-tally from the beginning of 2012:
• Food tally, 1st-quarter
• Food tally, 2nd-quarter
• Hong Kong, the food score in June (2012)
• Food tally, 3rd-quarter
Disclosure: No Connection, Unpaid, My Own Opinions. I have not received any compensation for writing this content and I have no material connection to the brands, topics and/or products that are mentioned herein (cmp.ly/0).
Berlin’s Wittenbergplatz on a foggy fall night
Over a couple of days in mid-November, the skies cleared as a high-pressure system sat over eastern Germany. With longer fall nights, little wind, and cooler air sneaking in from Poland and the Baltic countries, radiation- or ground-fog had settled over Berlin.
Presented below in three different ways is the view of U-Bahn station Wittenbergplatz under fog at night in Berlin. If you have a favourite, click on your choice in the poll below!
1. COLOUR
2. GREY
3. SEPIA
I made the photos above on 15 November 2012. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com
