Tag Archives: deutschland

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Blue Shirts, Wall

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Blue Shirts, Wall
Two men in blue shirts at the East Side Gallery, Berlin

Blue Shirts, Wall. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two men in blue shirts at the East Side Gallery, Berlin.

Berlin’s “East Side Gallery” is a section of the Berlin Wall — which has been entirely removed in almost all other areas — that was turned into a sort of street art exhibit, with all sorts of artists adopting sections of the wall and creating a kaleidoscope of wildly diverse imagery. We were in Berlin for a few days in 2018, and one day we walked over this direction.

I’m often a bit confused about how and even whether to photograph street art. One problem is that making photographs of the creative work of others feels a bit shallow at times. Another problem is that with some kinds of tagging that verge on vandalism, the photographer can feel complicit by sharing the tags more widely. (By the way, tagging is rampant in areas of Berlin that we visited, and some of the familiar American ground rules — such as not tagging homes — are regularly ignored there.) But sometimes photographing the work of others makes sense, and here I decided to mostly focus on the other people there to see the work. Once I did that I began to see a lot of striking coincidences and relationships — such as this pair of men wearing blue shirts and walking in front of this wildly detailed section of the wall.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Travel

Parken Verboten

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Parken Verboten
A textured wall, a window, and a Parken verboten sign in Turnau

Parken Verboten. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A textured wall, a window, and a “Parken verboten!” sign in Turnau

Last summer we stayed in the small German town of Thurnau for a few nights. We were in the neighborhood for the Bayreuther Festspiele (“Bayreauth Festival”) — the famous location for performances of the operas of Richard Wagner. We have a “connection” (a relative of Patty’s) who lives in Germany and, perhaps to his surprise, he managed to get tickets. This was an opportunity that was too good to pass up, and we ended up seeing three performances.

Thurnau is not Bayreuth, but when everything else in Bayreuth is booked, Thurnau is close enough! Even better, we ended up staying at Schloss Thurnau which is (as you may have figured out if you know a few German words) a castle in this town. Attending one of these operas is a bit different than going to a “regular” opera back home — they are hours long and each intermission is an hour long, so you use up most of the afternoon and all of an evening attending a performance. However, we did have some time to go out and wander though nearly areas of the neat little town of Thurnau, and I made this photograph of a window, a practical sign, and an unusual wall in the neighborhood.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Window, Shutters, Bicycle

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Window, Shutters, Bicycle
Heidelberg street scene with bicycle, window, and colorful reflections, shutter, and door.

Window, Shutters, Bicycle. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Heidelberg street scene with bicycle, window, and colorful reflections, shutter, and door.

This is another little scene we found on a walk along back streets of Heidelberg Altstadt. The main street is very busy, and lined with businesses appealing to the many tourists who go there. You can find some of that stuff on the other streets but much less of it, and there are fun little vignettes that seem a bit (humor me here!) less contrived… and you certainly don’t see the chain businesses that are part of the busier areas.

It was also a bit easier to photograph here since there the crowds of people are largely missing. So we walked these streets slowly, with two goals — making a few photographs and finding a place for lunch! Both had successful outcomes. This window, combined with the green shutter, the blue door, and the red/orange reflected wall produced a striking color pattern. Oh, and a bit later we located a little restaurant that wasn’t too busy where we ordered a beers and food.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Doorway, Heidelberg

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Doorway, Heidelberg
A graffiti-covered doorway on a narrow Heidelberg street

Doorway, Heidelberg. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A graffiti-covered doorway on a narrow Heidelberg street

To the extent that a photograph can be “about” things — I tend to think that a photograph “is” a thing — this one is perhaps about my obsession with geometries, about light, and about the door, with its graffiti, and what that might tell us about the door and how people here treat this “street art.” And by “about” I don’t necessarily mean that it tells us about these things — more that it may be about questions raised by such things.

The doorway is on a back street in the old part of Heidelberg, where we wandered on an August day earlier this year. These colors and this sort of paint and decoration seem fairly characteristic of this area. As we walked, the left side of the street was in shadow and the right was struck obliquely by sunlight that was somewhat softened by hazy cloudiness. Without that filtering the light would likely have been almost to stark for the photograph. Here I notice, as I did with an earlier photograph from Amsterdam, that there seem to be some “rules” constraining the application of the graffiti. It is on the door but not, for the most part, on the walls. Oddly, it all seems to be in black or other very dark colors. (I actually wonder if it was created by the people who live/work in this building.)

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.