Aerial View

While photographers like Yann Artus Bertrand, to pick out one famous example, spend half their time on board a helicopter or airplane, one can also use naturally higher standpoints for interesting shots. The Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz in Berlin is one good example for an interesting position to shoot from a “different angle”.

Aerial view of Berlin

Taking into account that there is no use of a tripod possible, as it’s rather crowded up there, that the windows are not too clean and that I did not bring a tele-lens with me, the amount of detail and structure in these images surprised me.

Aerial view of Berlin, II

As a boy I was always fascinated by huge model railway boards. Shooting from up there was just sending me back in time.

view direction east

The fact, that one does not know what in detail will be on the photograph while shooting it, makes this kind of shooting even nicer. While doing the Postproduction many interesting details appeared on the huge screen at 100% magnification, that I would have never assumed to have taken a picture of.

Aerial view of Berlin direction North

I will repeat this session for sure. Doing a few things differently: First of all a brighter day, probably late afternoon just before sunset will help. Second a polarizer filter in front of the lens should significantly reduce reflections in the windows. And third, I would recommend a 80-200mm lens and a Monopod.

So much for today.

Stay tuned …

Sub-zero

This winter is really showing us its persistency and vigorousness. While I am writing here, it’s snowing again and temperatures during the night will be well below -10 C. I was always impressed, reading about photographers working in this kind of conditions. On the other hand the images those hardcore photographers bring with them show a special beauty that only winter landscapes have.

The surface on the river, being frozen and now covered with ice and snow is large, only broken up from time to time by bigger ships that still use this route of transport.

sub-zero temperatures

Good night … !

Winter Impressions

While many of us can’t wait to have Spring approaching, I really enjoy sub-zero temperatures in the city, as so many places we know very well appear totally different being snow-covered. Also watching people is an interesting experience, as some of them seem to enjoy it a lot, while others are totally stressed. I would like to share a few impressions with you …

Holocaust Memorial Berlin

Treptower Park, Berlin

winter alley

little sports man in Treptower Park

frozen river downtown Berlin

So much for today !

Stay tuned …

people passing by …

How would it feel to be a Paparazzo ? Shooting secret photographs of people – without them knowing that of course !?

one day through my window

Well, this was not really the intention behind this project. (But my girlfriend was suspecting something like it …). During one day in the office, I was keeping the camera ready and each time somebody was passing by the window, I had one more shot for the series. There was no real selection procedure applied. So I would call it a random choice !

Quite interesting, what was happening all day long ….

In case you found yourself in the image above, please let me know, in order to compensate you for your efforts or to have your image removed.

Stay tuned …

a night walk

Not many words tonight – just a few shots taken during a short night walk in my neighborhood …

lots of snow this winter

by the Spree river

my home is my castle

Good night !

Retrospect 2009

Now, I am sitting here thinking about what made the year 2009 worth talking about it. Of course there were many nice and challenging photo projects – and may be even a few more that are still in the pipeline. Time is running fast … Sometimes one just has to make choices. My personal head note would be most certainly “film is alive” – more than ever.

me, shooting downtown Berlin

Even Polaroid managed to climb back up to the surface, LoFi photography is “mega-in” and while some time ago, it was rather difficult to find a decent lab to develop some slide films, during the holidays I found even special offers on “classic photographic material”. Why is that ? I think it’s a natural balance or counter-balance: On the one hand high-tech gear is getting more and more impressive for more and more “realistic prices”, like the huge range of DSLR cameras presented in 2009, allowing all of us to be the next Steven Spielberg due to HD-movie capabilities out of the box. On the other hand – like in most sectors – retro is en vouge.

on tour ...

Personally, I am convinced that it’s more this special feel and look of enlargements or slides, this distinct character of each type of film, that adds to the quality of the image. A RAW-processed image file, that went through all auto-tune, adjust and filters in Photoshop looks “proper exposed”, saturated in color and technically perfect, but white noise is not equal to film-corn and a limited color space does not have to be a defect.

exploring an old factory site

I am far from detesting the digital dark room – I am using these techniques myself in most of the cases. I only hope that both systems will still be able to live next to each other for a long time. While some time ago, I was not too optimistic in this respect, I have good hope today, that we will still be able to use “nostalgic equipment” in a couple of years from now …

Controlling the outcome of the shooting

(photographs: (c) S.Psuja 2009)

In the end the image should tell the story, should take center of stage, not the gear that was used to create it !

So much for now … I wish all of us a happy and successful new year. Thanks for passing by !

This film expired …

in 2005. But instead of trashing it – it’s much more fun to shoot a few frames and see what’s coming out. This is exactly what I did. And the results were quite surprising as I did not remember having used my good old Rollei 35mm camera back at a 1st of July celebration in a sports arena in Geneva, Switzerland. Taking into account that the setting of the right focus is a bit of a guess, trail and error, and the correct exposure settings have to be also either guessed or measured with an external exposure meter (which am sure, I did not have with me), I liked the two images that came out of the film (Thanks to you, Sebastian for the fast development and scanning service) even more.

Can’t wait to see the results from my latest medium format test shooting.

Stay tuned ….

000010

000011

Good old times …

Inspired by a friend who was visiting over Christmas, I took out my “old lady” (Arax 6×6 medium format camera with some solid 80mm lens) and loaded two film backs with slide film. It’s just so different to the quick and dirty shooting using a small digital camera. I admit that sometimes this “Let’s quickly try this” approach ends up with totally not satisfying results as Photoshop is not the universal magic solution to come up with Masterpieces no matter how bad the RAW-material is.

Shooting with the ARAX is like getting out of a high speed train at Grand Central station and then getting on board of a 1830 steam train to continue your journey. The camera is huge and heavy, solid mechanics and no electronics. Instead of complaining that the power-up time of the latest full frame DSLR “could be a bit faster” for that price, here you find yourself carefully checking the mechanics, positioning the camera properly, using this enormous view finder to compose the frame, then you clock the shutter, adjust the shutter speed to match the reading of your spot meter and the aperture you chose. One deep breath – checking the frame once more, is the focus really set properly ? Not to easy to judge as it’s getting dark and even at f=2.8 I do not see all the details any more. Well, should be fine. Finally I press the little silver button on the cable release – claaaaack. The first out of 12 frames is exposed.

Besides the fact that a 6×6 slide on your light table is slowly revealing so many details and surprises, it is really what I would call a “living image”. I am improving my digital black and white workflow since a couple of years now – and I am quite happy with the results. Especially for Fine Art Prints the full control you have over your digital RAW-file is amazing and allows the optimum quality when it comes to printing.

But still, the “look and feel” of a picture taken like in good old times is different. And I would not sell my classic film cameras for any reason …

Stay tuned …

Sometimes, you just get lucky …

For the more frequent readers of this little publication my “old architecture” project is not a secret anymore. Usually there are a few problems to deal with: The place is just not rotten enough, totally falling apart or it looks very interesting but is sealed off like Fort Nox. Today I was just lucky, as the main entrance gate was standing wide open, just shouting at me: “Come on in now … ! “. And what I could already suspect from the outside shoots I have been doing for a couple of weeks now turned out to be true.

old bricks

The main complex is still not easily accessible right now – but also one side building turned out to be very interesting and still in a rather good shape. No risk to break through a ceiling or some old stairs.

insdie view, laundry Spindlers Feld

Now, as the fire is burning, I am starting another approach to get the proper permissions to access the main building. Climbing through some hole in the wall is not a good idea for several reasons. First of all, safety first. Second, as I plan to use the large format camera here, some easy access is essential to get all the equipment safely inside. And last but not least, without a legal permission any kind of publication of the material is practically impossible afterwards …

More to come soon – so

STAY TUNED …

Alien Attack

Sometimes architecture can be fascinating. Looking at this building, which is called “Bierpinsel” (beer brush) by local people, one can easily imagine some visitors from outer space. It was built from 1972 to 1976.

The famous Bierpinsel - Berlin by night

At the moment the tower is closed and waiting for renovation. Let’s hope, the global crisis is not the end of this unique building.

As you can see: Berlin by night goes on …