Hello … My Name is … YOR7

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Looking for traces of use and abuse around Wiesbaden’s former courthouse, I spotted these pictures painted on metal doors. I found them absolutely gripping, and immediately decided I had to show them to Jörg from Dosenkunst. Then I checked with his blog and found out he had photographed and posted them quite a while ago. So what was the point of photographing them again?

I told my wife I had to show her some photos of graffiti, and upon seeing them she replied: “Are you sure you want to call these graffiti? They are art!” So here’s another interpretation of art…

Celles

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There is a Mairie, a mayor’s office where the notices on the board look new, and a church that appears well maintained. But the houses around the two buildings are crumpling, some roofs have already caved in, some walls have come down. People left some 50 years ago when the Salagou river was dammed to form Lac du Salagou. The inhabitants were compensated and moved to other places because once the water was there the village would not. But someone apparently had not done their maths, and now Celles is by the water rather than under it: A ghost town most beautifully situated at the lake shore.

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Celles was one of the first places we visited when we were in France. And it might have been here that I had a hunch I should photograph traces: In this abandoned village you could not really be sure which trace was left at what time. The pictures seem to evoke a sense of chronology: When did the blue rope in the fourth photo enter the picture?

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This is my contribution for Paleica’s Magic Letters: V – Verlassen, verloren, vergessen [Left, lost, forgotten].

2/3. Geology? Archaeology?

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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.

A Short Walk Around Luxemburgplatz

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DSC01798-kLuxemburgplatz: 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.

Traces of the Past

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Traces from a past when these were, strictly speaking, already traces from the past: Classicism was quite the thing when these buildings were erected roughly 150 years ago. I am fascinated by the ways the builders found around traditional – probably expensive – masonry: Mostly brick and cast iron and occasionally some wood were the materials used instead.

This is my (late) contribution for Paula’s Thursday’s Special which is really worth a visit.

The Changing Seasons: Downtown in April

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These pictures were taken in the mornings of April 8th till 10th – on my way to work again – except for the last one which shows the chair in front of an ice cream parlor in the late afternoon sun. I supposed that in comparison to the last Changing Seasons post the light would not have changed much since we went back do daylight saving time in the end of March. The weather was much nicer though, and with it, the light possibly a little warmer.

This is a contribution for Cardinal Guzman’s ongoing Changing Seasons project, which you should check out if you have the time. It will take you all around the world.