Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/11/08

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Subject: [Leica] 'Berlin' NOW '3 days of Berlin'
From: philippe.orlent at pandora.be (Philippe Orlent)
Date: Tue Nov 8 12:29:26 2005

Thanks, Jim.
---
Subject: Re: [Leica] 'Berlin' NOW '3 days of Berlin'
Date: Tuesday, November 8, 2005 3:25 PM
From: Jim Hemenway <Jim@hemenway.com>
Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
 
Philippe:
 
I like this one the most, it's the colors I'm thinking:
http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020095.html
 
If I was going to say anything about the series in general, then I would
say that Berlin seems like a very grim place to me.  But, since I'm not
going to say anything about the series in general, then I won't say that.
 
Jim
 
Philippe Orlent wrote:
 
> Thank you Eric, Don, Dick, Luis, Douglas and Ric for commenting on my
> previous posted miniseries of our visit to Berlin.
> 
> Meanwhile, I've had the time to edit all the shots I made during the 3
> wonderful days my wife and I spent there and I present you a selection of
> them below.
> All shots were made with my Digilux 2, RAW format at 100 ASA, full auto.
> Always handheld, which in some cases lead to not 100% sharp images.
> Sometimes extensive PS work, since you might know that I consider this an
> equally important part of picture making/visualising in these digital days.
> But that is a debate that I hope will not be held in this thread.
> I hope you enjoy them.
> 
> (if you don't like to read: the entire series is at
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/)
> 
> 1. Day 1: Kaiser Wilhelm Ged?chtniskirche (close to the Zoo Bahnhof) + from
> the Alexanderplatz over the Museum Insel to the Brandenburger Tor
> 
> Starting at the Ged?chtniskirche:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020062.html
> 
> Very close to the Alexanderplatz (ex East Berlin) stands an impressive
> tower: the Fernseh Turm (Television tower):
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020064.html
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020066.html
> We didn't go to the top of it, since that would have meant waiting for an
> hour or so, and we had other things to do.
> 
> Between the Alexanderplatz and the Brandenburger Tor: the Museum Insel.
> An 'island' packed with musea and monuments, such as the Berliner Dom
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020067.html
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020069.html
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020078.html
> And the Altes Museum (the old museum):
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020071.html
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020073.html
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020076.html
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020077.html
> 
> A bit further, almost at Unter Den Linden, the former central boulevard of
> better Berlin, the Neue Wache. It started to get darker already at that
> time, and the city light were put on:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020079.html
> 
> Finally, we arrived at the Brandenburger Tor, restaured in its former 
> glory.
> 15 years ago, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, this site was completely
> left at its own. Now it stands as a beacon again, in the center of the 
> town:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020080.html
> 
> On the Pariser Platz, which lies on the east side of the Tor, we had a
> coffee in the caf? of the New Academy of Arts:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020083.html
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020084.html
> 
> And after that, we went back to our hotel to prepare for dinner:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020087.html
> 
> 2. Day 2: Potsdamer Platz and surroundings
> 
> Potsdamer Platz was a waistland in the dim years between WW2 and some 15
> years ago. Now it is vibrating with life, and new and modern buildings pop
> out at an incredible place. But sometimes you still can see a grim reminder
> of how controlled the East Berliners were:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020090.html
> 
> We went to see the Martin Gropius Bau, where an international photography
> exhibition was held, but the only spot one could take photographs was in 
> the
> cafetaria:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020095.html
> 
> Walking in the direction of Chackpoint Charlie, an old East german building
> still stood there, waiting to be renovated into expensive offices or lofts.
> Not everybody likes luxury though:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020096.html
> 
> Proof of why the East German system delivered such fine athletes in a
> certain period: there wasn't much else to do, and sports were heavily
> promoted, wherever you lived:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020104.html
> 
> Meanwhile, cutting edge architecture at the Potsdamer Platz:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020106.html
> 
> And a, er, selfportrait:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020113.html
> 
> Back to the Zoo Station, where we also visited the Museum f?r Photographie.
> A permanent exhibition and ode to Helmut Newton + some new talent.
> Personally, I don't like Helmut Newton's work that much (it's as if he 
> hates
> women), but it certainly was renewing in its days, and still is inspiring.
> On the top floor, ni the old casino of the Wehrmacht, an impressive
> exposition space with the work of young photographers. I liked the space
> more that their work...
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020114.html
> 
> We took the S-Bahn to the Hamburger Bahnhof, now the Museum for Gegenwart
> (Modern Art), so I decided to do a B.D. style metro shot:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020119.html
> 
> The museum itself was impressive, even before entering:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020124.html
> 
> The entrance of the main hall:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020126.html
> 
> It was one of the only musea we visited in Berlin, where photography was
> allowed (without flash, but we're Leica, so who cares :):
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020133.html
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020137.html
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020139.html
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020140.html
> 
> The end of the left wing of the museum:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020144.html
> 
> And the walk back to the main hall:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020148.html
> 
> It is sometimes said that the modern artist needs drugs and pills to 
> produce
> renewing work, and I think it's true:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020153.html
> 
> And after taking them, everything becomes a work of art:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020155.html
> 
> Leaving the museum, the artificial light turned the place into something
> magical:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020158.html
> 
> So we took another coffee at the Museum cafe, where I spotted this 'reading
> symmetry':
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020161.html
> 
> 3. Day 3: the impressive and silencing day
> 
> There are a lot of Jewish memorials in Berlin, for very obvious reasons, 
> but
> IMO 2 stand out.
> 
> One is the Jewish Memorial, a chilling and silencing place that makes you
> feel just for a tiny bit, what the Jewish must have suffered between '39 
> and
> '45:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020163.html
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020165.html
> 
> The other one is the Jewish Museum, designed by Daniel Libeskind, one of my
> most preferred contemporary architects. The Museum gives you, almost at any
> spot, a feeling of total desorientation. Again to make clear to visitors
> what it means to be rejected and haunted. I think Libeskind succeeded in
> this:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020172.html
> 
> And to finish, in the Oranienburger Strasse another glass decoration, but 
> of
> a different kind than the first one posted in this message:
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/Berlin/pages/L1020173.html
> 
> Thanks for looking, and if you're still up to it, commenting on these
> images.
> 
> Philippe
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
 
 
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