Notes from New York

Some things I loved in 2009...

... Radfahren mit Wildschweinen im Köschinger Forst - Heiko’s GeburtstagsBootsfahrt in Berlin - Sabina’s Paella - Vanillekipferl mit Diane - Hendrick’s Gin mit Robert trinken - mit Prof. Vladimir in einer Studentenwohnung in Paris wohnen - zu Mathew Johnson’s „when love feels like crying“ joggen - Nik spielt Shakespeare in Basel - Jamey and Mo’s BreadPudding - die Bibliothek im Maison Européene de la Photographie in Paris – Jackson Pollock im Moma - Übernachten bei Blake im Mojave Desert - Mauerpark im Sommer - MüsliEssen nachts vorm Ausgehen  - Osterfeuer mit Adrian, Nik , Jan und Kathrin bei Dominique - Grillen in Uli’s und Steffen’s Landhaus - durch Berlin mit Britta zum Berghain - Pacific Coast und Ruhlsdorfer See and sexy dark grey Berlin in winter + breaking down with my car 10 minutes after going on holiday... ;-0 ...MUSIK: Venice Beach Drum Circle– Gustav Mahler in der Philharmonie - Redshape – Fleet Foxes – La Roux – Planetary Assault Systems - &Me -Acid Pauli beim Bar Closing –Bonnie Prince Billie - Flying Lotus und Sunn O ))) - FILME: Achterbahn – Import Export von Ulrich Seidl – The Exiles by Kent Mackenzie -The Wrestler  - FOTOBOOKS: Robert Adams, Summer Nights Walking - Takashi Homma, Trails - Las Vegas Studio, Robert Venturi und Denise Scott Brown

Southern California, 2009

Christmas Decoration at Galeries Lafayette, Paris 2009

Sorry for the prolonged pause - I was on the road for a couple of weeks but will do some catching up the following days and weeks.

To start here's a short video of the Christmas decoration at Galeries Lafayette in Paris. Drunken Easter Bunnies in Pink Champagne! What else do you need for Happy Holidays?

For the Love of ... Fleet Foxes.

"I was following the pack
all swallowed in their coats
with scarves of red tied round their throats"

Bayern, 2009

For the Love of... Sad Music. Javier Navarrete

Mauerpark Berlin, 2009

Family Album III

Again the grown-up men are always in uniform.


From World War I. Not sure who is a relative in this photo.

There's nearly no notes in the album. As the album hasn't been discovered for so long nobody knows who is who. I like to think that she is one of my relatives though. In any way I love her dress!


Some of the faces are incredible. To me they look sometimes more like mexicans or native americans than Bavarian peasants. Incredible also my grand grandmother sitting proud with these enormous keys on her lab.

Family Album II

My grand grand grandmother. 1847 -1933. The picture was taken around 1875, so it's 130 years old. How many of the trillions of digital files stored on harddiscs today will still be there in 130 years?

Family Album I

When I was recently visiting my family in Bavaria my aunt had discovered an old family album which was hidden for decades. The album cover looks "Jugendstil" so it's probably around 100 years old, although there are even older pictures in it too.

The picture on the right shows my grandmother with her two brothers. Incredible.



Below on the left is my grandmother again sitting on the lap of my grand grandmother.
On the right my grand grandfather. The men are always wearing uniforms on the pictures.

'Always up to no good' - Elysian Park, 2008

End of Summer

Driving.

For the Love of Reading ... Cesare Pavese

"Die zwei in der Nacht schliefen, als hätte sie jemand erstochen. Auf dem öden Platz redeten noch ein paar Leuchtreklamen in den leeren Himmel und warfen Reflexe auf die beiden Toten. "Die sind richtig", sagte Oreste "Lehren uns, wie man es macht."

For the Love of ... David Lynch!

Sehnsuchtsschweiß - Love Parade, Berlin ca. 1995

Curses! - The Deep End (Holy Ghost! Day School Dub Mix)

Love the record cover. Love to listen to it while driving on the Autobahn.

Bayern, Kösching Part 2

Kösching, Oberbayern

Leaving Berlin today for a little while to visit my hometown called Kösching in Bavaria!

Florida, 2008

Berlin, 1994, Love Parade & E-Werk

Cars, LA, 1996

For the Love of ... T-Shirts

Handwäsche rules!

Cliffjumpers, Ibiza, 1999

For the Love of Reading... Marguerite Duras - Der Liebhaber

Das Beste am Übernachten in fremden Wohnungen ist manchmal dort Bücher oder Musik zu entdecken, die man so nie gelesen oder gehört hätte. Thanks Katja!


"Manchmal weiß ich: Wenn das Schreiben nicht, alle Dinge vereinend, ein flüchtiges Sprechen in den Wind ist, so ist es nichts." (Duras)



"Die Geschichte meines Lebens gibt es nicht. So etwas gibt es nicht. Es gibt nie einen Mittelpunkt. Keinen Weg, keine Linie. Es gibt weiträumige Orte, von denen man glauben macht, es habe hier jemanden gegeben, das stimmt nicht, es gab niemanden." (Duras)

For the Love of .... Stone Roses - Waterfall

"Today's the day she's sworn
To steal what she never could own"

After Party, Berlin ca 1995

At sunrise under a bridge at the Spree river. On the first picture the wet t-shirt was left to dry by someone dancing and sweating all night.

Schach und Basketball, Berlin Mauerpark, 2009

For the Love of ... Althea & Donna

"Watch how we chuck it and ting
Inna we khaki suit and ting
Love is all I bring inna me khaki suit and ting
Nah pop no style, a strictly roots"

Ruhlsdorfer See, Berlin 2009

For the Love of...Early Fleetwood Mac

And Now: Albatros! Love the way they are into playing their instruments!

For the Love of ... Classic House Music!

Little Sister 5, Kösching 2006

That's the end of the series for now. To be continued one day.

Little Sister 4, Kösching, 1999

Little Sister 3, ca. 1992

Little Sister 2, ca.1991

Wasserpistole!

Little Sister 1, Kösching, ca. 1990

I'm gonna do a series with pictures of my sister this week.
This was shot ca. 1990, around the time I started with photography.

For the Love of Reading ... Jean-François Lyotard

"Wenn aber das Kind um zu sehen was passiert, den roten Kopf einfach so anstreicht, liebt es die Bewegung, die Farben, die sich ineinander verwandeln, die Flamme, die auflodert, den Glanz des Lichts, den Tod des kleinen Holzstückes, sein Zischen." (Lyotard, Essays zu einer affirmativen Ästhetik)

For the Love of ... B.E.R.G.H.A.I.N.

Berghain, Berlin, 2006

Please: no publishing, reposting or reblogging!

W.E.E.K.E.N.D.

New York, 1994, Limelight and Sound Factory

Sound Factory: it must be 3 or 4 am in the morning. You could not buy any alcohol, but people seemed to be high on something. There’s a huge dancing crowd of topless male muscle bodies on one side of the floor. The girl on the right picture is standing in line with 15 people desperately waiting to drink water from a fountain.

Breakfast in America, 2008

...at Flavia's place in Echo Park, which was our temporary home through summer 2008. Maybe not what Supertramp imagened 1979 but great and delicious for me.

Ranch, California, 2008

No whining indeed -at least if you are a cowboy.
If not it's fine to cry a river.

Military Parade, New York 1996

Hollywood Boulevard 2007/2008

Hollywood Boulevard is cheesy, dirty, trashy, tacky. The best thing about it is probably that you get to step on the names of people you know from TV.

There's really now reason - but I kind of like it there...


Spiderman!


Arnold "I mach an aktschn Fuim" Schwarzenegger


Me & Pee-Wee

For the Love of Reading ... Jack Kerouac

'On the Road, The Original Scroll' is the unedited manuscript which Kerouac typed in 20 days and then rewrote over years. I like the original scroll. It's rawer.

"I want uninterupted rapture"
Jack Kerouac

For the Love of - Federico Fellini...

...and his "Dolce Vita", a favourite film of mine.

Weekend! Berlin 1994

Berlin Loveparade, ca. 1994

Roter Himmel, Berlin, 2007

Heat! Summer! Water!

Tel Aviv, 2007


Palm Springs, 2004


LA, San Fernando Valley, 2008

Bootsfahrt Berlin 2009

Danke Heiko!

Johnny, Manhatten Beach, California, 2008

Johnny has spend a good part of his life in Prison - (around 17 years if I remember correctly.)

He found God there - the cross on his neck and the 7 tatooed under his eye - and now tries to help kids in trouble. I wanted to visit him in San Bernardino but at the end he had to cancel it. I'm going to meet him next time when I'm back in LA.

For the Love of...

... the Rolling Stones!

For the Love Reading, Rilke - 50 Gedichte

"Und das geht hin und eilt sich, daß es endet,
und kreist und dreht sich nur und hat kein Ziel."
Rainer Maria Rilke

Venice Beach, California, 2008

Weekend, Sehnsuchtsschweiß

New York 1994, Limelight and Soundfactory

"It’s nine in the morning, sometime in 1991, and Junior’s been pumping the dancefloor since midnight. Dark bodies are dripping in the shadows; the people on the floor are moving with the steady power of a single-muscled machine. Everyone is loose with movement and focussed on a single moment of existence; ready to continue this physical communion as long as the bass groove keeps on shaking their bodies. Suddenly the half-light becomes darkness, the huge mirror ball is black, the Goddess of Light has plunged us into mystery. And the music stops. Dead."
Link

And now:

Bones



Mexico, 2003



Plastic, High Desert, Southern California, 2002

And Guns...

Italy II, 2007

Italy I, Firenze 2007

Miami Voodoo Machine, 2008

Night, Berlin 2009

Los Angeles Moon 2008

"There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen."

Raymond Chandler, Red Wind

Manche Espressos sind einfach zu schwach!

One Day at Fusion Festival (2009)

Demonstrations for freedom in Iran in Berlin 16.6.2009 +21.6.2009

The writing means "Truth" in Persian/Farsi 

Sommersonnenwende - Fête de la Musique, Berlin

Berlin Summer

Mook Magazine from Beijing

Lately I have been getting several requests for editorials for Chinese magazines. I'm not sure where they discovered my work but I always look forward to receiving an issue with my photos edited through their eyes accompanied with beautiful signs I can't read. 

This story was recently published in Mook magazine from Beijing, whose selection and layout I particularly enjoyed.

Wern's World

Man who sold the World

In the wake of Nirvanas cover of Bowies song, Bowie bemoaned the fact that when he performed the number himself he would encounter "kids that come up afterwards and say, 'It's cool you're doing a Nirvana song.' And I think, 'Fuck you, you little tosser!
(from Wikipedia)

It's actually hard to find a good version of Bowie doing the song himself on Youtube but I DO like this performance:

Last Concert of the Falling Stones!

Some things I forgot to mention

Enfants de Berlin for Liberation Next

We recently produced a fashion editorial for french magazine Liberation Next. Here is a selection from the story we shot.

On the Dry Lakebed

We were spending one day in summer on a California Dry Lake with actor Steven Grayham and his brother Rick and band member/friend Robo. Nothing beats a drive there and ending the day with a campfire!

Missing Summer 7

Missing Summer 6

Rio, Brazil 2006

Missing Summer 5

South Beach 1996

Missing Summer 4

Sommergewitter in Berlin

Missing Summer 3

Christopher Street Day Berlin 2007 - They were cooling themselves with ice vendors hat emptied onto the street on this hot day.

Missing Summer 2

Missing Summer 1

I think I have a pretty good understanding now of all the possible shades of grey you can encounter at the end of a Berlin winter - so I'm gonna do a little 'Missing Summer" series here for this week.

Winter in Berlin

Winter keeps its firm grip on Berlin. I have enough already and wonder why I'm not in Brazil or somewhere...

Paris Photo

I'll be off for a spontaneous trip to Paris Photo - if I can bring someone a signed copy of books from Stephen Shore or Alec Soth - shot me an email.

Alexis in Elysian Park

Election

Just one link before going back to work after a long night.

A page which shows good photography about the election&politics is Bagnewsnotes. Its worth clicking back a view pages on the site.

Link

Election - photolink

Just one link before going back to work after a long night.

A page which shows good photography about the election&politics is Bagnewsnotes. Its worth clicking back a view pages on the site.

Link

Waiting for the Obama Effect

the now famous Obama Giant poster which I saw a lot in Los Angeles and California was designed by skater artist Shepard Fairey. The amazing thing is that he got the official ok from Obama's campaign.

Here's more on it in a Washington Post article:

Link

This was around the corner where I've been living in LA this summer in Echo Park.

Lauren

I met Lauren when I was walking down Hollywood Bouleverd with my camera.She was actually shooting too. She is a director, working in LA and Vancouver (and other cities she was telling me she is going, while I tried to get a hold of here for the portrait)

LisaLisaandtheRedBalloon II

Here's an outtake of the Balloon story I did with Lisa...

LisaLisaandtheRedBalloon - Making of Video

Wish You Were Here

Hier eine Compilation an der ich die letzten Monate in Cali gearbeitet habe.

Exile on Main Street

Wall Street versus Main Street! Tschuldigung wo isn' de Hauptstrass? - Here's a clip of Rolling Stone's Exile on Main Street.

Obey Giant Campaign

This is around the corner where I've been living in LA in Echo Park.
Its one of the few big sized Obama Posters by skater artist Shepard Fairey which in the meanwhile can be seen everywhere on buttons and t-shirts (in California at least). The amazing thing is that he got the official go from Obama's campaign.

Here's more on it in a Washington Post article:

Link

Tarren

This is Tarren - she is a dancer, living in Francisco, has great hair (as if you can't see that). Originally she is from San Diego where she was visiting friends when she hoped on the Amtrak to LA to take photos with me.

***Splash***

At LA's Standard Downtown Hotel, rooftop bar. I was unimpressed with their Mojito but the group of asian girls who threw each other in the pool did quite make up for the mediocre drink.

Notes on Las Vegas

Wetterleuchten

Coming back from Jeppe's great concert in Club Spaceland yesterday. There where flashes all around us. This is the view a few steps up the hill where we live in Echo park.

Skylight Books

My favourite LA Bookstore has recently opened new space where they have all the magazines and the art and photography books. Its right beside the "old" Skylight books on Vermont.

Address is 1814 N. Vermont, LA, CA 90027
Link

Pacific and Sierra

After our roadtrip from Vancouver down the Pacific Coast To San Francisco then via Yosemite to the Eastern Sierra we are now back in Los Angeles.

What impressed me the most where the Redwoods and wild beaches in Northern California and the Eastern and Higher Elevations of Yosemite and the Eastern Sierra around Mono and June Lake. Didn't care so much about Half Dome and Yosemite Valley and thought San Francisco is just too cold but has real beautiful light.

Dune Buggy riding in Oregon and making a fire on a foggy Oregon Beach were great experiences too.