Tag: Black and white

Down These Mean Streets a Man Must Go

Tobias M. Schiel7 Comments

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The little guy looked like someone I knew. Someone I knew from the times when most everything I had to do was reading detective stories, and writing about them. And figuring out how we all know what detectives look like without ever having seen one (it’s not the most public or popular occupation in Germany; detectives are shabby people in department stores waiting to snatch the occasional sock thief).

Well, the hat and the coat rang a bell, and I suspected there must be a gun, too. As chance would have it, there was also a very intriguing project suggestion at 100% Stuck in Plastic: Come up with three toy photographs in a narrative sequence, or, as ME2 put it: “3 images. An introduction, a cliffhanger, and an ending.” As things go, this ending may not necessarily be where the whole story ends…

Ah, and just one more thing: I set up a page where you will be able to see the story unfold (and probably change): Down These Mean Streets a Man Must Go.

Home Range (I)

Tobias M. Schiel8 Comments

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My favourite walk, and a great place to smooth the creases out of my soul, as a German poet (almost) put it: This is an area where I do not feel there is a thing like poor weather; and so this walk in the fog was extremely nice. As for the route, there is none, especially when I bring my camera. I just roam about which much to everybody’s delight leads to bringing home loads of mud on my shoes… Maybe this ‘method’ has to do with what Robert Adams writes about the relation between photographers and dogs:

“My guess […] is that what sustained the artists’ affection for dogs was above all the animals’ enlivening sense of possibility. Artists live by curiosity and enthusiasm, qualities readily evident as inspiration in dogs. Propose a dog a walk and its response is absolutely yes. As a terrier of ours once exclaimed to Kerstin, in a dream of hers, ‘Let’s, Kerstin!’ Those were the only words that anyone had ever heard a dog speak – a wide-open program of unqualified eagerness, delivered from her characteristic posture of readiness to bolt for the kitchen, town, or filed.” (Robert Adams, Why People Photograph, New York: Aperture, 1994. p. 47)

In the end I should not forget to mention Jo’s Monday Walk, because if you like walking as much as I do, that’s a great place to visit and get inspired and participate.

Downtown Strolls

Tobias M. Schiel3 Comments

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When we walk, it is often without a planned route, just seeing where our feet take us (I will elaborate on that later, when I show photos from my favourite walk, and when it will be more appropriate). Strolling in Hamburg, we visited Chilehaus (above, top left) and the Danske Hus just opposite (bottom left). We also lingered around St. Nikolai (above, top right, and mirrored in the modernist building beyond) and wondered just how many buildings were undergoing reconstruction.

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344-21When in Hamburg, one cannot help going maritime. Close to the harbour, someone will inevitably display a ship’s propeller. This one had a brass plaque mirroring the opposite building…

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345-06Once we reach the water, we find a variety of bollards with a variety of coins on them.

If you have enjoyed this walk, head over to Jo’s Monday Walk for more walking, strolling and looking around other corners of the world.

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The Steep Approach to Baumwall

Tobias M. Schiel1 Comment

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There are places that attract me again and again. Baumwall station, overlooking Hamburg’s harbour, is among them. It is one of many stations of the Hochbahn – the elevated train that also runs underground in many parts of the city. While the latter is neatly out of sight, one can hardly ignore the El. Along with the rivers and the canals, it definitely adds something special to the urban landscape.

The black structures of Hochbahn seem to call for black and white photography, but almost all the photos I made more than a year ago did not entirely satisfy me. Maybe I did not really know what makes Hochbahn worth photographing for me. Maybe I could not imagine what the pictures should look like. Coming back this fall, I tried my hand again.

Sometimes it is quite a journey until I arrive at a picture that just feels right: The bottom picture dates back to March 2013, the three other pictures were made in September 2014.

298-07Hopping off the train here could be a first step in joining Jo on her Monday walks – see you in Hamburg, Jo!