IN PROGRESS

Friday: In the hunt for motives for the assignment for the next class I went to the Tegeler Hafenfest.

Although that sort of thing is not really my scene, I enjoyed the afternoon, and since the atmosphere as well as the weather, and being right next to the large lake, were so nice, I would have liked to stay longer.

Instead, I wasted the loveliest evening so far this year stuck indoors in the first part of what I thought was a street photography course (silly me to think that just because those two words – “street photography” are in the course title ………. pfff) but turned out to be three hours and 15 minutes of theory for complete beginners. There are Youtube tutorials that convey that information in a more professional manner and in shorter time. I should have known. When it comes to photography course, VHS excels in that kind of thing. I am starting to realise that the only photography teacher really worth looking for in their catalogue is Johannes Rigal.

The upside is that I feel I have been gifted a lot of free time the next three days since the field trips to “exceptional places and their people, beside the typical touristic sites”, as it says in the description, we were informed this evening are RAW Gelände and Park am Gleisdreieck (!!!). Give. Me. A. Break.

Back to the photos of the day. I would not be me if I did not take any opportunity for some “nature” photographs while in the area (when I say “nature” I mean the manmade canal around the corner from Tegel Hafen. The Grebe couple is still nesting, but a new feature were four dead fish floating on the surface, one in the canal and three in the lake close to the shore. What is that about?

Triptych 1:

Triptych 2: Berlin’s love affair with those idiotic balloons which invariably end up in a treetop or a waterway and never really go away:

And a final triptych from this day:

Saturday: Tierpark (Europe’s largest landscape zoo and my favourite zoo ever). Took quite a lot of photos, but none that I can use for the course:

And then, a triptych after all, with the help of an ICM photo from the archive:

Sunday: Still doing miserably as far as the course is concerned. Went on an early morning walk (to beat the 32C forecast for later) to Landwehrkanal and Urbanhafen. Did take some photos, however, none that I can use for the course.

There is a relatively busy (at least during the week) intersection in Kreuzberg, adjacent to Landwehrkanal, where what I think used to be a boring, anti-environment, manicured lawn, for the last five or so years, has been left pretty much to its own, and nature’s, devices (manicured lawns are the opposite of nature) and now looks like this:

Other photos taken on the walk:

Sorry, I got carried away by the beautiful colour of this turban, and since I am a coward and did not like to ask him for photos of the real thing, I snuck some of the reflections, and reflections of the reflections. I do think he spotted me doing it. It is a good thing I never had to make a living as a spy.

Most photography teachers will encourage you to take yourself out of your comfort zone now and then and photograph things you don’t particularly like, or find particularly difficult to photograph, so I figured the International Air Show would be a good opportunity.

Not only would there be lots of people, but the theme does not interest me one bit, and on top of everything else, as it would turn out – the sunshine was blinding, and I have always found it difficult to take pictures under those conditions, not just battling the contrasts, but also because in many cases, I can’t see what I am doing while taking the photos.

I have to admit that much to my own surprise, I actually enjoyed myself there, for a couple of hours, and then no longer. I got there quite early, thankfully, because shortly after mid-day, it got really busy, and in combination with the strong sunlight, that was the time for me to leave.

There was a nice atmosphere, and a good variety of street food trucks. Very few places to sit down and enjoy a drink and a snack, and no shade at all, though – that would be my only complaint.

A tip if it comes back to Berlin next year and you want to go: Check their website for how to get there – do NOT trust neither BVG nor google maps.

Here are some impressions – the best I could do under the circumstances (and yes, some of them are repetitive – as usual, I am experimenting, and there is no need to tell me that some of them are duplicates or almost):

To see the exhibition “Zeit – Grenzland Fotografen” in a repurposed granary.

Interesting exhibition in an equally interesting venue. Slightly tricky to get to – and return from – since buses are few and far between, so schedules need to be checked. This also meant I had a little less than an hour on site.

I took the RE3 to Angermünde and bus 450 to Gramzow (about 40 minutes of very scenic busride) and then about a 1 km walk.

Incidentally, the granary is right next to a small railroad museum.

Before leaving home, I snuck a photo from my balcony, and on the walk from the bus stop in Gramzow I took some photos too.

From inside the granary:

On the way back to Gramzow:

From the bus from Gramzow to Angermünde:

Photos to come

Since “…… probably not contagious from day ten, despite symptoms” is the best science can offer, I decided to try to break the groundhog day theme of having exactly the same symptoms every day for ten days, with one exception, ignore the fever, and take the IC to Rostock and visit the exhibitions in Kunsthalle Rostock, and then proceed to Warnemünde to walk on the beach, stare at the sea, and breathe some sea air. One of the few things I miss from Denmark.

Rostock Art Gallery is idylically situated overlooking a lake with quite a busy bird life, as well as the usual, depressing human footprints. Or perhaps some of it was actually just pollen. The exhibitions were interesting (a photo exhibition by Olaf Heine entitled Ruandan Daughters, and works by Clemens Krauss and Gregor Hildebrandt).

Unfortunately, there was some kind of harbour festival in Warnemünde, and the crowds made a walk on the beach a bit of a nightmare, if not impossible. I realised that I usually go off-season and have sometimes had the beach almost completely to myself – the way I like it :-).

Still, it was a nice day out, and the train trips were comfortable and relaxing, and the whole thing did not make me feel more ill than before the trip, just tired, which I guess was to be expected. At one point, when I felt I could not walk another step, I hopped on one of the many one-hour harbour cruises on offer.

Instead of staying home, trying to make peace with the world, I went out early to inspect the damages after the Labour Day “celebrations”.

As it turned out, I was almost too late, as people were already in full swing cleaning up at around 06.30 in the morning, and most of the garbage had been either swept together in more or less neat piles to be collected, or already removed.

It is amazing how people seem to think that that is good use of taxpayers’ money.

We humans arethe worst thing that ever h appened to this planet.

That said, not all the of the below photos are acidy commentaries :-), just things I stumbled upon that caught my eye.