Got myself a drone this week. After realizing how extremely simple it is to fly these things I just couldn't resist anymore. I also realized that flying a drone in your good old home town has a special charm to it. It's fun to freely move around and enjoy all sorts of views after you have been bound to the few perspectives those streets had to offer.
Couples
Near Kiel, Germany
Burg Eltz
What can I say? I started to come across images of Burg Eltz years ago and kept being astonished every time I saw it somewhere online. I was thinking that I would travel there one day where ever that might be. Now I finally made it. Guess what...it's an hour drive from my parents' house.My knowledge of local history is so extensive that it's scary sometimes :-D Here is some more information.
The Teleporter
I’ve always found it hard to find interesting subjects or compositions in German cities. To me personally America is still one of the places most inviting to dive into photography. All those fruits and problems of unleashed capitalism and individualism make it tempting for a German small-town guy to explore and get lost. The US offers a good balance between ‘easy’ and ‘interesting’: the culture is western and familiar while most things are a little off in German eyes - which seems to cause a constant tickle in those brain regions that process little weirdnesses.Anyway, back to Germany. Unless this is exactly what you are trying to capture, Germany is too tamed and regulated to show an interesting surface to the brain-tickle-spoiled random walking camera man.It must be the fact that everything is so extremely in order and taken care of. When roaming German streets it becomes visually evident that efficiency, practicality and conformity rules the German mind. That’s all fine, but how do you take stills that tell interesting stories or set a certain mood in such streets?One way could be to deliberately misinterpret the things you see and turn them into something mysterious. Maybe I will try this more often. Is this artistic or a survival strategy? Is it a Burning Man withdrawal symptom, or is spending your evening with a phone booth the next step to insanity? Whatever it is, it can be fun. Fun as long as you manage to deal with the lurking German eyes behind the window curtains that keep hiding every time you look up.
In-n-Out
"Almost three weeks without a post." Usually you find posts that start like that on blogs that are a few months old and close to be abandoned because the author lost interest. At least that's how I'm remembering it from the golden age of "web logs". Kids, that was before social media killed personal websites. Now, this blog is almost ten years old (check the archive, it's still all here) and won't die just like that. In fact, the opposite is the case. Once you scroll past the photo below, you will find out why...
The birth of GALERIE NEO NOIR
See this determined look? I was about half way through at that point. And last Thursday I opened my own gallery "NEO NOIR" in Kiel, Germany. Below are a couple pics Steffi and our amazing friend Anne took during the opening night. The girls were a huge help setting this all up and at this first night we had more beautiful people come and hang with us than I could possibly ask for. Now that this space has been created, more and more ideas for projects and exhibitions are arising. I'm happy to keep you posted about this journey. However, if you have a big interest in all the developments I recommend liking the gallery's page on facebook. Oh, and of course the gallery has its own website: galerie-neonoir.de
Exhibition Time
Steffi and I are hiding in a beach house in Denmark right now. I left most of my computer stuff at home, but took my oldest hard drive with me to go through some old pictures.I came across these old snap shots from six years ago: hanging pictures with friends as preparation of a little exhibition I did at the Small World Cafe in Princeton. Fun fun fun! :)Maybe a good chance to let you know that I'll do another one soon. It will be titled "Midnight Walks" and start October 29. This time at the Artist Cafe Godot in Kiel, Germany. More details will follow.
