Urban Photography - Fotoeins Fotografie

Posts from the ‘Urban Photography’ category

My Berlin: Schöneberg 2009–2017

Above/featured: Entrance to U-Bahnhof Rathaus Schöneberg.

It seems as universal as the common opinion about how cool and interesting Berlin is.

Both residents and visitors mention the same names in conversations throughout the city: Prenzlauer Berg, Mitte, Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg, Neukölln, and the hybrid “KreuzKölln”, even as Wedding and Lichtenberg begin weaving their way into the dialogue.

Of the neighbourhoods within the city’s Ring, what about Charlottenburg or Schöneberg? The answers often arrive as expected. Why would anyone visit there or live there? It’s boring! It’s too quiet! It’s dead! Lots of sniffy snobby dismissive exclamation points! That few choose the area is precisely why I’m in Schöneberg for three months at the tail end of my year-long around-the-world.

For many in Berlin, they’re living, working, and playing in areas where they’re close to the action and housing costs may on average be slightly cheaper. There’s something to be said about proximity and small “stumbling distances” after a night of drinking. For some, Schöneberg is too far, too expensive, too quiet, or all of the above. I don’t mind the 20-, 30-, or 45-minute travel times to places where friends eat, drink, or hang out.

It’s always a matter of choice for me to be in Schöneberg. There’s a comfortable stillness here that always sets me at ease, where I can tune out or turn down the noise, and find my calm. For a very special time, this area in Berlin, “der schöne Schöneberg,” is home.

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My Prague: the night watch

With visits to the city numbering well into the double digits, Prague started me on a different path, and eventually, to a change in my life.

According to legend, the city’s name, Praha, is derived from the Czech word, “práh” for “threshold” or “steps”. With the city’s geographic location within the European continent, it’s hard to recount the chronicles of Central Europe without mentioning Praha. History and significance permeates the city in the cobbled stonework, centuries of architecture, and stories of struggle and change.

I believe the city is one step of many on my journey and transition from my past as research scientist to a future that remains under continuous construction. Prague has been and continues to be an important part of this process. I’ve fallen in love with Praha – she means a lot to me.

As day passes to night, many parts of the city become quiet and empty, with only the yellow glow of the street lamps for company. Many are taught not to go into areas unknown, poorly lit, or vacant.

But I know Praha enough to see her differently.

I’ve done the legwork by day, scouting out and noting various locations around the city, and imagining their appearance in the dark. With a newly crafted road map in my head, I stand in the hotel lobby. I close my eyes in a mental walkthrough of my map, breathing deeply, slowly. I open my eyes again and step out into the night, guided by the lights of Staré Město, and across the Vltava over to Mal´ Strana.

I’m on the “night watch” with Rembrandt’s painting high in mind. The city and its streets don’t care who we are or from where we come. They lie still, in wait around the next corner.

In this place I’m always on the verge of something new; it’s a set of new ideas, much of them extraordinary, romantic, and meaningful. The meanings signify truth on a personal level for those willing to listen and heed the signs.

“Prague never lets go of you … this little mother has claws.”
— Franz Kafka (1883-1924).

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On the camera full-frame, another ten-thousand framed

24 October 2014.

With nine months (Jan-Oct 2014) under the belt, I’ve set a new mark with my tech-friend. I’ve made good progress to “flip” (or reset) the four-digit image-number counter for the first time: I’ve clicked away on the 10000th frame on the Canon 6D.

10-K on the 6-D

It’s a bright fall afternoon in the greater Vancouver area. Conditions are breezy and overcast; the cloud ceiling is high but not very thick. With excellent transparency in the air, the light is diffuse, providing softer contrasts between highlights and shadows.

I’m in New Westminster for the opening night of my neighbour’s art exhibition. Before the doors open to the exhibition, I have some time to hang out along the Fraser River at Westminster Pier Park.

Windsocks appear like fingers against the cable-stays of the Translink SkyBridge over the Fraser River, as a scheduled automated train crosses over from New Westminster (left) to Surrey (right). The train is at right angles with the tall north tower of the Skybridge, and the Skybridge deck is just tangent with the yellow curved arch of the Pattullo Bridge behind.

Looking through the camera viewfinder, I shuffle back and forth, getting ready for the shot I want. I wait for the right moment. When I see all of the details come together, I press the shutter button.

Over time, I’ve developed a sense for simply more than documenting the moment. I’m folding in a sense of place, a sense of the situation, that the stream of time can be held (frozen) for a tiny moment in a remarkable confluence of disparate elements.

Skybridge, Pattullo Bridge, Westminster Pier Park, New Westminster, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

“Breezy autumn pluck at the right angle”

I made the photo above on 24 October 2014 with the Canon 6D camera and EF 24-105 L-lens with the following settings: 1/160s, f/10, ISO500, 105mm focal length. I clicked away over 75000 exposures with my previous Canon 450D camera over a period of five years. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-613.

Yaletown, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 26 Oct 2014, fotoeins.com

What about now? How about now?

I think I’ve struck a nugget of gold.

I also believe the chances of finding it again might well be slim to none …

Jean François Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz, wrote in the 17th-century:

Il n’y a rien dans ce monde qui n’ait un moment decisif. (There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment.)

Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson used this quote for the preface of his 1952 book “Images à la sauvette” (The Decisive Moment). That phrase has been described in great detail and (mis)interpreted over the years, undoubtedly adding only to the legend and his place in the history of photography. With his landmark photograph “Derrière la gare Saint-Lazare” (Paris 1932), Cartier-Bresson described moments like these as:

To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression. (Photographier: c’est dans un même instant et en une fraction de seconde reconnaître un fait et l’organisation rigoureuse de formes perçues visuellement qui expriment et signifient ce fait.)

What does any of this have to do with the photo above? Everything.

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"Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope" : Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, National Mall, Washington, DC, USA, fotoeins.com

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial: symbol of hope & inspiration

Martin Luther King Jr. is honoured in the United States annually on the third Monday in January. Since 2011, a memorial to the civil-rights leader resides as one of many parks and memorials in the US national capital (District of Columbia). A walk through the trees and lawns of the Mall slowly reveals a magnificent sight on approach, and leaves you breathless in front of the statue, standing tall in solid white granite.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

We must rapidly begin the shift from a `thing-oriented’ society to a `person-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

Standing proudly and steadfast, the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial is seen above with the Washington Monument to the right in the background.

I made this photo on 19 April 2012 during my year-long RTW. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-6qa.