Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place & home

Posts from the ‘Night Photography’ category

Macy's, Bon Marche building, The Bon, Thanksgiving, holiday star, Seattle, Washington, USA, fotoeins.com

Seattle: Thanksgiving holiday star & fireworks

As a wae lad, I was fascinated by comparative branding and marketing, and that’s how I got to thinking about the differences and similarities between Canada’s Hudson’s Bay Company in greater Vancouver and the American Bon Marché in Bellingham and Seattle. But I don’t ever recall a tradition of lighting a star for October/Canadian Thanksgiving.

In downtown Seattle, a grand building opened in 1929 for the locally-owned Bon Marché department store, operating for over 7 decades until “The Bon” became Macy’s in 2005. A holiday star designed by Bob James in 1957 would become a fixture for the city and her residents. In September 2019, Macy’s declared the downtown Seattle location would be closing at the end of February 2020. At the time, the announcement included no plans for lighting the holiday star.

However, the star looks to be coming back for one more (final?) illumination, as a local lighting company agreed to refurbish and reassemble the star in time for the 2019 Thanksgiving season. Festivities occur Friday November 29, beginning with the annual Thanksgiving parade followed by the star’s lighting and fireworks.

•   MyNorthwest, 27 Nov 2019.

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My Seattle: that tower again

“That Tower Again,” a three-word online phrase for the early 21st-century.

It’s a phrase I associate with Berlin and her TV Tower (Fernsehturm), and that comes with multiple stays and many months in the German capita, a city I feel very much at home (winters notwithstanding). With my return to the Canadian Southwest and near-proximity to Seattle, I reconsider my fondness for the city’s iconic landmark: the Space Needle observation tower. Sight of the tower hasn’t lost its allure since our first family visit in the late 1970s.

For the Seattle World Fair in 1962, construction of the Space Needle occurred over a mere 400 days in time for the “Century 21 Exposition”. The 605-foot (184 metre) tower stood for the spirit of innovation and the might of technology. The city of Seattle designated the tower as an official city landmark in 1999. Fast forward now into the 21st century, it’s unfathomable for resident and visitor alike to think about the Emerald City without its leading spire.

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Belvederegarten, Marmorsaal, Oberes Belvedere, Unteres Belvedere, Belevedere Museum, Belvedere Garten, Marble Hall, Upper Belvedere, Lower Belvedere, Vienna, Wien, Oesterreich, Austria, fotoeins.com

My Vienna: urban frame (2018)

Above/featured: Belvedere Garden, north from Marble Hall in Upper Belvedere to Lower Belvedere and beyond to St. Stephen’s Cathedral at left-centre – 19 May.

It’s easy to reduce a city to stereotypes, distilling landmarks to short paragraph summaries designed for easy consumption.

Some might say: you’re making things too complicated; they’ve got to be simpler. That misguided sentiment needlessly and carelessly minimizes the diversity and complexity of a city, her people, and the infrastructure through which citizens reside, navigate, and thrive. Although I chased after traces of Otto Wagner throughout Vienna, I’m also interested in illuminating the city as reflections from past and present and as glimpses of resident and visitor.

Vienna is an exceptional city

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Ballgasse, dusk, Vienna, Wien, Old Town, UNESCO, World Heritage, Oesterreich, Austria, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Vienna dusk over cobblestone Ballgasse

In Vienna, Ballgasse is a narrow cobblestone passage and one of the last remaining from medieval times, even though the surrounding buildings are much younger dating to the 18th-century. The lack of vehicles and periods of quiet chatter become a slow relaxed trip back in time. This short stretch of street is within the city’s Old Town which UNESCO inscribed as World Heritage Site in 1996.

I made the picture above on 18 May 2018 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the settings: 1/125-sec, f/4, ISO2500, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-bRN.

Chilehaus, Kontorhausviertel, UNESCO, Weltkulturerbe, World Heritage, Hamburg, Germany, fotoeins.com

Hamburg UNESCO WHS: Chilehaus in the Kontorhausviertel

On 5 July 2015, UNESCO awarded World Heritage status to two sites in Hamburg: the Speicherstadt (Warehouse District) and the Kontorhausviertel (Office Building District). In the latter are two important brick buildings: Chilehaus and the Sprinkenhof, representative of the construction in the late 19th- and early 20th-century.

The Chilehaus was built by Fritz Höger for client Henry Sloman from 1922 to 1924 in the Kontorhausviertel as a prime example of German expressionist architecture using hard-fired brick. Höger undertook the project for Hamburg merchant and banker Sloman who made his fortune in importing nitrates from Chile. Built entirely to serve and complement the functions of the warehouses in neighbouring Speicherstadt, the Kontorhausviertel was the first dedicated office- and commercial-district on the European continent.

Sprinkenhof, Kontorhausviertel, UNESCO, Weltkulturerbe, World Heritage, Hamburg, Germany, fotoeins.com

Sprinkenhof

Sprinkenhof, Kontorhausviertel, UNESCO, Weltkulturerbe, World Heritage, Hamburg, Germany, fotoeins.com

Sprinkenhof

Chilehaus, Kontorhausviertel, UNESCO, Weltkulturerbe, World Heritage, Hamburg, Germany, fotoeins.com

Chilehaus, northwest corner: Niedernstrasse at Depenau

Chilehaus, Kontorhausviertel, UNESCO, Weltkulturerbe, World Heritage, Hamburg, Germany, fotoeins.com

Chilehaus, southwest corner: Pumpen at Messberg

Chilehaus, Kontorhausviertel, UNESCO, Weltkulturerbe, World Heritage, Hamburg, Germany, fotoeins.com

Chilehaus, east ‘prow’: Burchardstrasse

Chilehaus, Kontorhausviertel, UNESCO, Weltkulturerbe, World Heritage, Hamburg, Germany, fotoeins.com

Chilehaus, up the ‘prow’

Kontorhausviertel at night, Chilehaus, Sprinkenhof, UNESCO, World Heritage, Weltkulturerbe, Hamburg, Germany, fotoeins.com

Kontorhausviertel at night (on Burchardstrasse)

(Click on the arrow-window icon at the upper-left corner of the map below for an explanation of the map symbols.)

I made the photos above on 26 June 2010 and 3 December 2015. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie on fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-biH.

U Kasaren, Hradcany, Prag, Prague, Praha, Czech Republic, fotoeins.com

My Prague: a favourite place to return

Above/featured: U Kasáren from Loretánská, Hradčany – 30 July 2016 (HL).

On a personal level, the impact of this city can’t be gauged, measured, or quantified. What I know is I’ve roamed this place over countless little cobblestones. The sum of all strides led me to jumping continents and traversing nations with steps as large as my imagination could entertain and overcome.

And so, after the twelfth, fifteenth, or twentieth visit (I’ve lost count), I look at these images and ask why I surrender to the pull, why I return, and why the Czech capital city feels familiar. It’s about the old and the new, a colourful combination replacing what I’ve lost and amplifying what I’ve gained.

Prague is one of my favourite places to return.

summer sunrise, sunrise, summer, Karluv most, Charles Bridge, Prag, Prague, Praha, Czech Republic, fotoeins.com

Daybreak and a halo for St. John of Nepomuk, Charles Bridge (Karlův most) – 28 July 2013 (HL).

National Monument, Vítkov, Zizkov, Prag, Prague, Praha, Czech Republic, fotoeins.com

Over the city to the west from the National Monument on Vítkov (Národní památník na Vítkově), Žižkov – 2 August 2013 (HL).

Muzeum, stanice metra, metro station, DPP, Prag, Prague, Praha, Czech Republic, fotoeins.com

Metro line C commuters at Muzeum station, Vinohrady – 8 November 2016 (HL)

Ginger and Fred, Fred and Ginger, Dancing House, Tančící dům, Prag, Prague, Praha, Czech Republic, fotoeins.com

Dancing House (Tančící dům) with streaking northbound streetcar, Nové Město – 6 November 2016 (HL)

I wrote a “love letter” to Prague, which as many have discovered also includes “the night watch.”

I made all of the above images in 2013 and 2016. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-bCs.

Bahnhof Alexanderplatz, Fernsehturm, Alexanderplatz, Berlin, Germany, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: ALEXA at night in Berlin

20 December 2012.

The bright letters of the illuminated sign help light the way to the S-Bahn and regional train station at Alexanderplatz in Berlin. The Television Tower bisects the sign as an arriving S-Bahn train appears in motion-blur to the lower-left. The landmark tower and station signage are an appropriate way to end my period of two months in the German capital city on the last stage of my year-long around-the-world (RTW) journey.

I made the photo above on 20 December 2012 with the Canon EOS450D, 18-55 kit-lens, and the following settings: 1/15-sec, f/4.5, ISO800, 32mm focal length (51mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-9lZ.

The Spheres, Amazon Spheres, 6th and Lenora, Amazon, Denny Regrade, Denny Triangle, Seattle, Washington, fotoeins.com

My Seattle: curious glowing Amazon Spheres

Above: (A) The Spheres, northeast from 6th Avenue and Lenora Street (HL).

Glowing glass forms appear around the corner as if they’ve risen suddenly from the ground, eliciting odd looks and interested inquiries from passersby.

On Amazon’s urban campus at the feet of towers Day One and Doppler, The Spheres are located in downtown Seattle on Lenora Street between 6th Avenue and 7th Avenue. The futuristic structures provide a highly visible centre of attention for the electronic-commerce and -computing company. Three intersecting glass and steel half-spheres will contain a botanic garden to include exotic plants, waterfalls, and treehouses, and workspaces to further cultivate creativity by and collaboration among Amazon employees. The grand opening is scheduled for 18 January 2018.

The construction development projects are part of the joint efforts by NBBJ and Amazon to regenerate the Denny Regrade area with ample office space for the world headquarters of Amazon, and additional space for retail and public facilities.

The Spheres, Amazon Spheres, 7th and Lenora, Amazon, Denny Regrade, Denny Triangle, Seattle, Washington, fotoeins.com

(B) The Spheres, northwest from 7th and Lenora (HL).

Seattle Municipal Archives, item no. 4011

(C) Seattle Municipal Archives, item no. 4011.

Denny Hill was regraded and removed in multiple phases between 1898 and 1931. In the 1930 picture above (C), the 2017 Spheres in image (B) would be located to the right of the utility pole between the two cars in the foreground and the digging excavator in the background.

I made photos (A) and (B) above on 10 December 2017. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-aVe.

Schloss Heidelberg, Alte Bruecke, Neckar River, Heidelberger Altstadt, Altstadt, Heidelberg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, fotoeins.com, myRTW

Fotoeins Friday: Heidelberg at night, with the Old Bridge & Old Town

22 November 2012.

I’m in Heidelberg, Germany again during the final stage of my year-long RTW, and while my adopted home looks pretty under sun at the best of times, the city also doesn’t look half-bad under night lights. In the final week of November, the city’s Christmas markets are in full swing after sundown, and I’ve escaped the crowds by walking across the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge) to the north side of the Neckar river. The location provides a well-known vantage point south for this familiar look back (south) at the Castle ruins (left), the Old Bridge (centre), and the rest of the Old Town, including the Heiligeistkirche (Church of the Holy Spirit) at right. At upper-left are the towers on the summit of Königstuhl hill, and at upper-centre are the lights from Schlosshotel Molkenkur.

During my year-long RTW, I made this photo on 22 November 2012 with the Canon 450D, 18-55 kit-lens, and the following settings: 0.3-sec, f/3.5, ISO800, and 18mm focal length (29mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-ahH.

Festival of Lights, Potsdamer Platz, Hauptstadt, Berlin, Germany, fotoeins, myRTW

Fotoeins Friday: optical scatter, Berlin Potsdamer Platz

21 October 2012.

Berlin’s Festival of Lights takes place every year in early- to mid-October at various sites and plazas in the German capital city. At Potsdamer Platz train station (“Bahnhof”), the light show begins with beams “marked” by carbon-dioxide “smoke” with the surrounding buildings as “screens”. We see “light scatter” as carbon-dioxide molecules are much smaller in size (about 200 picometres or 2 Angstroms) compared to the wavelength of the visual light (about 0.5 micron or 5000 Angstroms) being scattered. At right angles, the intensity of scattered light is one half of the intensity of light in the forward direction. This is an example of Rayleigh scattering which is also responsible for why clear skies by day are blue. Light intensity also falls off with the inverse source of the distance from the source, and in just a few metres, light intensity diminishes to near zero. Only the word “Bahnhof” which indicates the entrance into Potsdamer Platz station stands alone.

Bonus: you get a pretty picture and a quick lesson in physics.

During my year-long RTW, I made this photo on 21 October 2012 with the Canon 450D, 18-55 kit-lens, and these settings: 1/5-sec, f/4.5, ISO800, 33mm focal length (53mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-agv.

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