Tag: Pictures]
Happy Place: Museum (Metz)
Man is only himself when at play, claims Friedrich Schiller in his Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of Man. For me, museums are not just places that deal with aesthetics but also adult playgrounds – especially when I am allowed to use my camera: Museums encourage taking the risk of looking at things differently; the whole activity feels like getting the head massaged. | A contribution for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Happy Place.
On Doors
Coming home with a bunch of photos of doors I found that Paleica’s Magic Letters Photo Challenge features T – Türen und Tore (doors and portals). So here are some things I found upon closer inspection.
Connected
2/3. Perspective
Three Pictures with Little Colour
Close Up: Going Abstract
Half and Half
This week’s photo challenge is Half and Half, and though I try to avoid halves, I think the idea is here. (The first picture even sports half a pair of socks.)
Le bonheur dans la rue (II)
Le bonheur dans la rue (I)
…and some more patterns for Paula – from a shop offering vintage clothes where I always find fancy things I can photograph, right in the street.
More Metal for Paleica
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.”
2/3. Geology? Archaeology?
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.
Come In!
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.
Alla Veneziana (Decay)
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.
Way Home
This is what I see on my way, some of it in my way (by the way).
Kafkaesque
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.
A Short Walk Around Luxemburgplatz
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.
Opposite Walls
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…)
Here Now, There Tomorrow
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.”
Inside / Out
Inside: Is the inside visible from the outside? Is the inside only perceptible in its relation to an outside (by way of looking out, for example)? How can I arrive at one of the two, starting from the other? It may be the transition that counts.
Ist das Innen von Außen zu sehen? Zeigt sich das Innen nur in seinem Bezug zum Außen (zum Beispiel beim Hinausschauen)? Wie komme ich von dem einen zum anderen? Vielleicht ist es der Übergang, der zählt.
empire of lights 