Including a visit to this exhibition at BBA Gallery.
Category Archives: Photography
A walk in Tiergarten and testing of new 70-300mm 17 April
All-day photowalk with VHS (street photography course).
Another enjoyable walk very well organised by Johannes Rigal, again with a series of inspirational assignments. This time, the walk went from S-Bahnhof Frankfurter Allee along Frankfurter Allee and Karl-Marx-Allee to Alexanderplatz.
IN PROGRESS
The photos are currently in chronological order and I will have to select a few and group them later.
Photography – series: Battle scars and other scars – literal and metaphorical
ONGOING
Been playing again – and sorry – but some people are curious and don’t like to ask, so now, about 20 months post-op, (and still cancer free), it had to be done :-):
Experimenting February/March 2024 – not sure it is working:
Randomly, from some walks in January/February 2024:
On the outskirts of Tiergarten, philosophising over the trees which are large but were only planted after the war, with a backdrop of a building complete with bullet or more likely shrapnel damage. And bullet/shrapnet damage on my local cemetery (Hallesches Tor). And my hideous neighbour, Victoriahöfe, or Victoria zu Berlin which some call it, which has been under renovation for about six years now, and whose facade is finally being brought back to former ugliness. Also see here how that renovation basically rendered my balcony unusable for most of the pandemic (!) right when it would have been nice to have that Corona-free space to step out onto and sit in.
Evening of 31 December 2023, and inspection of the damage morning of 1 January 2024:
Neustrelitz 22 to 25 March
Main purpose: this photo tour with Go2Know.
After checking in to Park Hotel Fasanerie (in idyllic surroundings), walkabout in Neustrelitz, incuding the Tiergarten. The hotel is situated adjacent to a lake, or what looks like some kind of swampland, with lots of birds – long-tailed tits, cranes, woodpeckers and much more. Also, reportedly, lots of frogs and deer, but no beavers.
And while I am describing the hotel – a couple of my pet peeves when it comes to hotels in Germany: The internet is excruciatingly slow, or weak, or whatever the term is. And the restaurant emphasizes on imported rather than German wine.
Also, there were some very annoying, and quite loud, noises coming from what seemed like upstairs from my room, probably to do with the running of the hotel, sounding like furniture was being rearranged, as well as some protracted knocking, as with hammer and nails, even on Sunday evening, lasting from 6.00 each morning (including the weekend), so no alarm clock needed, till about 22.00 in the evening, which competely ruined my early-morning coffee and my evenings and the sense of peace and quiet you would normally expect in this kind of place.
Spotted pre-breakfast on 23 March:
Phototour 23 March with go2know to Domjüch:
Walking back to the hotel:
Day three – Sunday – the day after the photo tour with go2know: In the morning, with heavy rain forecast most of the day, I started to seriously reconsider my decision to stay an extra day. With plenty of opportunity to return to Berlin by train, and the extra hotel night non-refundable, I ventured out on the originally planned walkabout in Neustrelitz. Among other places, I went to the nearest lake to beat the slight boredom with some ICM photography, awaiting the “heavy rain”.
As it turned out, I was rewarded with only a little bit of rain, and a display of extreme sexual tension by a local greve couple in a rush to finish the renovation of their one-bedroom condo.
Bragging rights ;-)
Pleased by a “Merit” from an expert in an ongoing online photo competition with the following comment:
“The precision of the image really sets this picture apart. We feel like we are looking through a central window rather than looking up from a courtyard. The technique is superb especially with all the central highlights in the sky. The buildings are beautifully exposed and the details and sharpness from the bottom to the top of the buildings work well as it gives the illusion that it is on a single flat surface. The use of black and white adds that graphic design feel which again adds to the reading of the photograph without distraction and allows us the viewer to move around the frame. A great capture. Well done.”
Döberitzer Heide 20 March
With a hobby bird photographer pal. The area is recommended as a good bird watching area.
We took RE4 to Dallgow-Döberitz and entered from the northern side. It is a huge area of which we only saw a fraction. We did not see that many birds (and only got a couple of not very good photos), but I loved the area and the walk and will definitely go back.
Random short walk 15 March
Beaver-spotting walk in Haselhorst with NABU 12 March
Along a weird and wonderful wetland area, inaccessible to humans, and once the annoying leaves are back on the bushes and trees, cannot be seen by humans either.
The only beaver I saw was the one on the street sign, but there was lots of evidence, and I hope to find the time to go back soon, this time without the handful of braindead, incessant yackers. Just so I can remember where it was, here is the map on MapMyWalk.
I did get my first photo ever of a Great Egret.
Photography – series: Webs
