tobias m. schiel
In my eyes, metal is one of the most fascinating materials (along with stone, wood, and glass): Different metals allow for different uses, display different grades of lustre, and corrode differently if at all. So Paleica’s photo challenge is a welcome occasion, although I feel I’ve already posted loads of “Metall.”
Since I have quite a bit of metal for you today – even in the second picture – I thought this might also be an appropriate entry for Paleca’s Magic Letters Challenge: The magic word is Metall.
A quick reminder because I love getting myself distracted by photo challenges: The 2/3 series features a simple formula: composition by the so called rule of thirds. The idea is to focus on structures and colours rather than composition while giving the pictures a uniform look. Based on this unifying ‘grammar’ it should be possible to arrange and re-arrange picture series according to different criteria – and tell different ‘stories’ – without losing a certain coherence. Here, the story told might be of rocks, or the remnants enclosed inside them.
The pictures show details of Kochbrunnen, an octagonal building in Wiesbaden’s downtown area. Different angles, different times of the day. different days, different weather conditions: These factors account for the different moods and colours in these picures.
I metered on the columns, slightly (but consistently) overexposing them because the sandstone is quite light – except for the last frame which reflects the lighting situation of the early evening. White balance was the same for all pictures, and no post-processing was done regarding the colours.
If I ever needed proof that light is one of the most important ‘materials’ for a photographer to work with, here it is. I am sure you all already knew, but I am still kind of new to colour photography, so to acutally see how different these pictures are from one another is a bit of a surprise for me.
Thanks to Christina / Paleica for inspiring this series with her recent photo challenge.
Getting these pictures ready to be published, I just realized that the light is kind of special in all three of them (little light as there might be). So I guess this might as well be an entry for Paleica’s Magic Letter Challenge: Licht / Light.
Decay can look quite quite pretty in a romantic or decadent way when the dosage is moderate. A bit of laissez faire, a bit of savoir vivre; after all, enjoying life is more important than maintaining old houses. Buildings that have decayed to a degree we find charming may remind us of Luchino Visconti’s Morte a Venezia.
However, the famous Italian city might be more rotten than the pictures in our minds suggest, and there are buildings that are way beyond charming here in Wiesbaden. They literally fall apart (the glimpse through a hole in the tarpaulin hints at the whole). Some of them are protected as monuments or national heritage (“denkmalgeschützt”): They must not be knocked down, so the owners let them rot until they pose a security risk and demolition becomes inevitable.
To see more decay – and to read a great yet outrageous story about an ambitious hospital project – visit Paula’s Photo Challenge which inspired the idea that while we might like that bit of decay, more of it is not too good.
Walking along the river Main (Frankfurt) with Oliver Duis from The Visual Bakery – you might want to check out the pictures he found in the same location.
– Wolves run in a pack. Fish swim in a school. Now what would you call a ‘school’ of crows?
– A rookery.
– Meaning, a rook is a crow.
– That’s right.
– A rookery then. And a school of frogs would be a froggery?
– In your world, yes.
This is my entry for this week’s photo challenge: Vivid.
This is what I see on my way, some of it in my way (by the way).
After deciding this was the story for Paula’s Guest Challenge – How to Tell a Story through Colour Photography – I first thought I should add a narrative text. But then I decided on the title, and I will say no more.
The picture – Organische Struktur (1962) by German artist Günther Uecker – hangs on a wall like a painting. Yet it challenges the notion of a picture plane. While the indistinct ‘background’ lacks any classic perspective, the nails will inevitably be seen in perspective by a spectator.
The picture changes as you walk past; note the varying balance of dark parts and bright parts, caused by light and shadow on the otherwise monochrome nails. Unlike in Renaissance painting, there is no privileged point of view from which – and from which only – the perspective will work.
There is great openness in this kind of art, inviting some activity from the spectator. The right perspective is the one you choose. The same seems to apply to Vibration (1961) by Jesús Rafael Soto (below). Because of the narrow stripes in the background, the wires seem to vibrate as you walk around – an effect the still camera captures as jagged lines.
I had no idea when to post this (I made the photographs on May 24), but then Christina aka Paleica came up with a challenge that’s right down my alley: Kunst / Art. Thank you, Christina!
Luxemburgplatz: There is a distinct neighbourhood surrounding this little downtown square, and since I do not know it well, I enjoyed walking around there, making pictures. While this post shows what can happen when I take a camera, I am not quite sure if pictures like these are what Jo has in mind for her Monday Walks. But I think that although they show nothing but details, they convey that particular neighbourhood’s atmosphere.
It has been for quite a while that I wanted to make these photos because the blue mosaic is quite unique for Wiesbaden and the bars add some extra art nouveau. All this was found in a passage leading into a commercial backyard in the downtown part of town.
Once there, capturing the blues, I thought, why don’t I also photograph the opposite side for Paula’s photo challenge? (Can you tell these are opposite walls? There is scientific evidence…)
Paleica’s Magic Letter for this week and the next is “J”, and the magic word is Jetzt (now). This is my take on “now.”
Another month has passed since the last post for this challenge. I thought it was time for a change in perspective. I added the third picture to prove we are still in the same place: On my way to work, behind the parliament of the federal state.
empire of lights 