Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/11/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]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 > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information