Berlin

Clay and I were only in Berlin for one day - not enough, I know, I know! Unfortunately we also miscalculated and ended up there over Sunday/Monday, when most of the museums were closed. Luckily we were able to still go to Jewish Museum Berlin (designed by Libeskind), which was the primary goal of stopping over in the city anyway. Other highlights, however, included walking along Tempelhofer Ufer and seeing the river, staying in a beautiful hostel, awesome public monuments, and last but not least... Mustafa's Doner Kebab! Anyone worth their salt who has visited Berlin has eaten at Mustafas. That doner is heaven in a pita, and I still dream about it.

We also got rained on the second day, so I really don't have many photos of the city. Definitely a place that deserved more time, and I would like to go back to investigate the history a bit more.


Beautiful (and huge) apartment buildings lined the river. I was particularly enchanted by the main window and balconies in this one:




The most ivy I have seen on a structure, period:




Graffiti was absolutely everywhere. If it was on ground level, you could guarantee there was street art/spray tags all over it:




Pretty outtakes from the beginning of a new film roll:






In the Jewish Museum Berlin, with a terrible crop job by yours truly:




More from the museum:






Clay looking out the window in our hostel room:






Aquatic garden by a public library near Neue Nationalgalerie:




In East Berlin, on the steps up to Fotografie Berlin - C/O Berlin Visual Dialogues:




Next: Prague!

Here We Go Magic - "How Do I Know"

Europe Summer 2011: Day 2, Copenhagen

We began our second day in Copenhagen by walking southeast down H.C. Andersens Blvd and across the bridge over Københavns Havnebad. Right after you pass the water, there is a lovely park called Christianhavns Vold that encompasses Stadsgraven (a canal). All along the canal there were these beautiful old bridges that led to small hills separating the park from private residencies:




I became particularly fascinated by these one tree that had a beautiful twisting trunk:




While we were walking in the park we had the fortune to witness the start of a youth race around the canal. I'm normally too shy to take photos of strangers, but I couldn't resist in this situation. Got the camera ready with a fast shutter speed and high f-stop, just hoping I would be able to capture the moment. I didn't know until I had the photos develop that I caught quite an intense stare from one of the participants!:




We continued walking into the Amager area, towards the IT University of Copenhagen where we were hoping to see some interesting contemporary architecture. Here is a nice residence from along the way:




And once we arrived at the university... the architecture did not disappoint! Absolutely incredible. I've never been in a place quite like it, where the entire area is filled with such unique and well-planned buildings. For example, this donut-shaped building is a dormitory. Insane! The exterior was made with these modular blocks, and the hollow inside of the building had a small park with trees. The idea was that the windows on the interior side of the building let everyone look into the "public" rooms of each person' apartment - the living room, kitchen, etc. The windows on the exterior of the donut are the "private" ones - bedroom, bathroom ,etc. Really interesting take on how a building can foster a sense of community:






Clay sitting down by the corridor leading into the center park of the building:




A little further on was the new performance building, which we believe was designed by Daniel Libeskind?:




I'm not one for architecture shots, but even I couldn't resist snapping photos of these huge transparent surfaces:




Right after this, we got stuck in a huge rainstorm. And I mean HUGE - the kind where you become drenched in the 10 seconds that you are running to find shelter. The storm wasn't a quick one, either. So after hanging out on an Amager stoop for an hour, we decided to brave the weather and go back to the hostel. Shower + nap was needed for us to not get any sicker (I'm still unable to hear at this point because my ears are so badly clogged from my cold).


The long, late sunsets of Copenhagen called us to go out again in the evening:




On the eastern side of Copenhagen again, looking at the historic part of the city:




Along the water directly north of the bridge, looking at the Danascos building:




A little more walking led us to really fancy (!!!) apartment buildings with little marinas built into the canals surrounding them. I love how the sunset colors lit up the water in this shot:




Night began to set in after this point, so that concludes my photos for the day. Next up: Berlin!

Micro-worlds

Around this time last year I became incredibly fascinated with miniature worlds. Call it a revival of my youth - when I was young, I would take my smaller toys of animals & people and place them in all my mothers plant pots. Hidden amongst the leaves would be these micro-environments; small societies that existed solely in that 9" diameter space.

I have never lost my love for plants or the exquisite complexity that they manage to achieve so effortlessly. This small series of photos was taken at Phipps Conservatory and Frick Park, right at the beginning of spring in 2011. I love looking at a patch of grass or moss from a distance and then slowly closing in, absorbing more and more of the detail. Tiny clover leaves become towers and the hundreds of insects crawling around (acting much like denizens of a large urban city) suddenly grasp your attention. I enjoy imagining myself 100x smaller, crawling around on these incredible organic surfaces.

Les Rita Mitsouko - C'est comme ca

My musical tastes are stuck in the 1980s (thanks to Clay for finding this!):


Rita Mitsouko - C'est comme ca by popefucker

Europe Summer 2011: Day 1, Copenhagen

So I have been putting this off for far too long and have now run out of excuses... it's time to share my photos from abroad and do my best to document my experiences there. My penchant for writing is pathetic, so photographs have essentially become my only working form of permanent memory - which is to say, of course, that if I didn't take a photo of it I promptly forgot about it.

Anyway, without further delay: day one! Copenhagen, Denmark. I came down with an extremely bad cold the day we left the U.S., so I was a bundle of sniffling joy for the plane ride and first week, constantly trying to pop my plugged ears and swallowing unholy amounts of Sudafed and Mucinex.

I had never been further north than Germany prior to this trip, so getting to experience first-hand those long hours of summer daylight in Denmark was fantastic. There was more familiar scenery than I was expecting in the countryside, but the city of Copenhagen itself didn't disappoint.



Heading towards the historical downtown on the NW side of the Havnebussen.




Clay contemplating the same historic complex.




En route to Nyhavn - cities with lots of bridges are always fun to explore and great for photographs.




Nyhavn! The classic Copenhagen street; it extends the Havnebussen towards the interior of the city and ends near the Kongens Nytorv park.




Another one of Nyhavn... the clouds looks rather ominous at this point!




Walking further North of Nyhavn, you can see what I believe is the new opera house from across the water - it's called the Royal Theater. One great thing about Copenhagen was the mix of old architecture with modern buildings. You think the two would clash, but everything is so tastefully designed there that it all integrates surprisingly well.




Still walking North - beautiful reflections of the sky in a more modern section of the historical part of the city.




The farthest North we went was Kastellet, a star-shaped fortress that is actually still used for military purposes. Not quite sure why the gravel is raked so nicely, but it does give a nice impression...




The quintessential Dutch windmill - once again in Kastellet.




Walking around the perimeter wall of Kastellet - here you can get an idea of the gate that stood at the point of each part of the "star."




Crossing a bridge very similar to the one in the previous photo. Beautiful lily pads - almost Monet-esque.




The beautiful Citadel Church in Kastellet - this may be the most picturesque photo I got the entire trip! It was even more beautiful than this is real life, especially when the sun came out and light hit the side.




After leaving Kastellet, we walked SW to once again head into the downtown area. Well-deserved munchies were in order, and this bakery was a great deal considering how ungodly expensive Denmark was (!!!).




There are tons of thrifty shops along the busy street of Frederiksberggade - here is the particularly cool LEGO store, with Clay looking suave out front.




Heading back to the hostel as the light starts to finally fade. This was some construction about 1 km West of our hostel.

NSFW: Gerald Scarfe's animation from The Wall

Okay, so first and foremost: NSFW.



This is my favorite scene from Pink Floyd's The Wall. The incredibly disturbing, provocative, and impressive animation work was done by Gerald Scarfe. I'm a huge fan of more serious animation, and the recent death of Moebius made me start thinking about what hand-drawn clips I'd seen in the past that transcend any "cartoon" classification. It's a shame that so many people are unwilling to take take animation seriously or even allow themselves to watch it in the first place, just because moving drawings have somehow been linked to immaturity in our culture. Am I saying hop on the anime bandwagon? Good lord, no. Can't stand most of it myself. But if there is technique involved, including expert craft in both storytelling and animation, at least approach it with an open mind. I think this clip is an excellent testament to how effective and compelling animation can be.