New Work

Here's previews of new work - a mix of street photography and portraits and cityscapes. I'm editing all of that together right now.

Juliane, Berlin 2007


Junge, Berlin Adlershof 2007

Favourite Videos Part 1

Chapter 1
*Gay House Music Saves the World*

Farley Jackmaster Funk - Love Can't Turn Around - 1986

First house track I ever heard. And everything else all of a sudden was not so interesting anymore.

Bad Mood Day

Redoing my webpage right now - and it looks like these two images probably won't make the final cut , so I'm showing them here.

I'm in a bad mood today and these two pics from Brazil actually make me feel better.

Thomas Hirschhorn

This was one of my favourite exhibitions this year so far: Thomas Hirschhorn's installation "Stand-Alone" at Arndt&Partner in Berlin. It recently closed but here's a link with pictures and text:

LINK

The effect of going through the rooms hardly comes across in the pictures but what happend to me was that I first was rather irritated and I didn't really know what to do with it but more and more fascination (and also shock) creeped in. I saw a lot of good exhibitions latley but I haven't experienced that mix of confusion and fascination so much.

I also found his text tres sympa (click the link). I don't think I understand or agree with everything he says but it's for sure a nice departure from the rule that you shouldn't explain your own work.

Photography Blogs

Two Links to two Photography Blogs I like to read:

Alec Soth

Shen Wei

any other recommendations - ?

Family Portraits

Here's two portraits of my sister and my grandfather. Bit different, flashy lightning then what I've been using lately, but sometimes I like to experiment. Also it reminds me of the great weather last summer while I was visiting my parents in Bavaria.

Artikel about Werner Herzog

I've just read a brilliant article in the New Yorker about the latest project of filmmaker Werner Herzog (yes the other Werner from Germany. If you came here without knowing me before then thats allright but if you dont know Werner Herzog you have some work to do). It really gives a great insight into his way of working.

Heres a quote:

"Herzog was being barraged by such complaints. At every turn, crew members let him know that they considered his directing habits strange, impulsive, even amateurish. They couldn’t comprehend why Herzog insisted on grabbing the machete himself when the sound crew wanted to capture the sound of slashed reeds. They were baffled by his ignorance of his own screenplay; Herzog told me that he hadn’t reread it once since writing it, three years earlier, because he wanted to “respond to the situation in the jungle” and “keep things completely fresh.” They were annoyed by continuity errors that Herzog considered “of no great consequence.” (“Werner, isn’t Christian supposed to have a rucksack in this scene?”) They were irritated when Herzog declared that someone’s unfinished makeup looked “good enough,” and that he couldn’t wait for it to be perfect, because he liked the way the tropical light was filtering through the treetops. They objected to his reliance on hastily improvised handheld shots. (“How about using a dolly just this once?”) And they questioned his reluctance to film scenes with more than one camera. (“The audience will never see Christian’s reaction unless you add a closeup.”) Herzog’s stated belief that his approach would create “an event-based dynamic, a feeling of being an observer dragged into the scene,” struck many of his colleagues as a cover for a lack of technique. As they saw it, Herzog was ruining a potentially lush adventure movie by shooting it like a quickie documentary.

The fact that Herzog has been making films for more than forty years, many of them acclaimed as works of unnerving originality, didn’t shake the collective judgment that he was doing it all wrong. The mood on the set was toxic. Josef Lieck, the first assistant director, who has worked with Wim Wenders, said, “For a man of his age, it’s a very . . . raw talent. It’s more like an eighteen-year-old running into the forest.” A costume designer complained, “He doesn’t know basic things about filmmaking, things that simply make it easier to tell a story. He thinks that these things will undermine his vision, but they won’t.” Harry Knapp, an assistant director, said, “There is a silent war on the set. We’re all in a state of shock.” Herzog, for his part, politely ignored the crew’s complaints. Zeitlinger explained, “When making a film, Werner tries to pretend as if nobody is around but him and the actors.”

The rest of the article is great too: Link

Fusion Festival 2007

We've been to the Fusion Festival over the weekend which is held every summer near Berlin. It was a nice escape from all the routines. Also it reminded me of some old school techno events. I always thought that electronic music in a nature setting has a special vibe to it.