Berlin - Lars Kjær Dideriksen

BERLIN - JULY 2012

This was my longest Berlin trip so far. A bit over three weeks. That among other things meant: A lot of time to shoot photos. So there are a lot of pictures on this page. So much so that I divived the page into three sections as you can see below. As well as making this page with a selection of the ones I think are the best in a photographic sense.
Another factor that resulted in all these pictures is that I bought a new Canon 60D camera just before heading off to Berlin. Obviously I had to try it out (big thanks to Sister Chain & Brother John and Zelda Panda/Marzipan Marzipan for being okay with me shooting a few portraits and such).
I also brought along my smaller Canon A590 IS Powershot. And my Kodak Zi8 which is a small videocamera that can also shoot photos, but does not do it so well. I only used it for photos in a tight spot.

For those it might interest I have indicated which cameras was used for what photos:
Canon 60D (*)
Canon A590 IS Powershot (**)
Kodak Zi8 videocam (***)

The sections
The Trip
Black'n'White Portraits
Street Art

Selected photos (another page with fewer pictures)

The Trip

It's a jungle out there. **

Skalitzer Strasse. Same view when you turn around. **

The Hunters busking at Marheineken Platz. *

After a rainy break the busking went into "cozy mode" in a semi-dry place. *

The Greek! At the Markthalle by Marheineken Platz. Delicious and cheap. *

If you're in "yes man mode" and say "sure, why not" to suggestions, you may find yourself suddenly at a barrel organ festival.
Here inside the modern part of the Gedächtniskirche at Kurfürstendamm. For two hours. With a thriving subculture you never
thought about before. Although it was a bit of a long session, it was strangely fascinating. *

Moping Jesus. But of course the whole nail thing was a bit of a downer. *

Even communists can sell fancy brand t-shirts. *

This is what happens when you take part in celebrating a musician's birthday at a pub. You don't hear me complaining one bit, though. **

The closed and overgrown rail area going over Yorck Strasse. **

Satelite dishes don't have to be boring. Around Yorck Strasse. **

The creative leftist uprising take on the world of advertising. **

There were quite a few of these. And they were the ones leaving a lasting impression. I hope it's not some viral ad campaign for beer. ***

People have the power! A thorough and much needed reminder from Patti Smith at Tempodrom.
We got "Gloria", "Rock'n'Roll Nigger" and other good ones too. Still an amazing voice. ***

Summing up the "I couldn't care less" service ethos that seems to extent to large parts of Berlin businesses. The examples are many:
"Hey, the food is cold!"... "Oh? I don't hear anyone else complaing." And: "I ordered raspberries on my icecream. These are blueberries!"...
"I've run out of raspberries" (without saying so earlier and then not offering something else even after the customer pointed it out).
What can I say? If you're used to good service and then go to Berlin... be prepared! ;-) **

Around Kotti - with a few flags on a string from the local daily "Mieten runter" protests ("Rents down"). *

Sister Chain & Brother John doing their "Wish Concert" for one of the crowdfunding backers who helped finance their album.
Ten requested songs - plus whatever they felt like afterwards. *

"Splish splash, I was taking a bath." *

Getting cozier and cozier. *

Blurry coziness. *

My guess is that it is still in working order... **

... but how?! :-) **

A different kind of street performer at Mauerpark. With hydraulic-sputtering robot friend that could
"drink" water and spew it out. **

The doors are red. Fire station red? **

Typical Berliner hang-out around the Eberswalder/Kastanienallee area. Still not renovated all the way. Nice. **

If I'm in the area I usually feel drawn to the "Babel teller". **

Mugwump! Cronenberg's little pet is hanging out at the art cinema in the Neurotitan backyard. Cool! **

This backyard, that is. Don't know who the people on the picture are.
For photos of the great art on the walls there go further down on this page. **

Everything is a matter of perspective... **

Südstern, Hasenheide/Gneisenau, Kreuzberg. **

Südstern, Hasenheide/Gneisenau, Kreuzberg. Later. **

The townhall square area at Alexanderplatz. *

They moved Marx and Engels to a corner of their old 'hood, because they're building something there now.
If it were up to some of the local politicians they were thrown on the garbage heap. They want to get rid of all Berlin's past, it seems...
Except that they're rebuilding the old Emperor's Palace across the river, which is ridiculous and insane. *

Careful not to get this building wet. It's not good for the cardboard. Or is it actually corduroy? *

Veiled house. Close to Tacheles. *

Reenacting the local postcards. *

Südstern, Hasenheide/Gneisenau, Kreuzberg. **

Dieffenbachstrasse, Kreuzberg, close to Admiralsbrügge. Cozy, but most likely a heavily gentrified area.
I love that fact that there are so many trees in the streets of Berlin. **

Same street. Same pizza as always. Can't help it. It is my favourite at Ron Telesky's Canadian Pizza.
But... if I remember correctly prices seem to have gone up somewhat since I was there last time. A result of popularity, no doubt. **

By the canal not far from Admiralsbrügge and Kotti. **

Lawnmoving - Oranienburg allotment style. **

Oranienburg oasis. **

With canal nearby. Quite serene. **

With waterlillies in the sky... ;-) **

Burn, burn, burn! **

The little fireman at work. **

One percussion shop we knew in Kreuzberg had closed down. But we found another one close by!
Pulse Percussion in Graefestrasse. So many nice things! *

Mystery solved. I have had the sound in my head for years without knowing the name or the look of the thing. The shop owner helped out.
It turned out to be one of the most common percussion instruments. The flexatone! And yes, I bought it. :-) *

Kotti area. *

If anyone ever wants to shoot a retro-futuristic sci-fi movie... *

... then Kotti (Kottbusser Tor) would be the place to go. At least for the exterior, I would say. :-) *

Guess who! *

Yes, who! We recorded three tracks... *

...on the equipment we had a hand. It's nice keeping it simple. **

The weather actually was changing all the time. Too much rain. But not much fun to shoot photos in.
Hence, a token rain picture here among all the sunny ones. **

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, now let's get the hell out... **

Zen moment at the canal. Watching ducks in a feeding frenzy on ants dropping in the water from the willow trees,
then grooming themselves thoroughly and then going to sleep. **

Contrast in one picture frame. Don't feel like capitalism anymore? You said it, man. *

"I'll meet you in the corner office!" *

A nice day of music exploration. Almost felt like being at the Forma Nova Festival again. **

DM Bob. No bullshit. Thumbing and plucking away old school. **

I was told that after the Bar 25 area was cleared by businesses they moved all the wood and things
across the river to this place and created Kater Holzig. **

Very hip place. Apparently mostly for techno events, but Down By The River festival used it for a day. **

Yet another place for "street art" and other creative ideas for urban spaces. **

Frozy. First thought: "Are they kidding?" Playing poorly in that slackerish hip fashion. Then came the song about the ferris wheel that went up.
To the sky. And down again. Sigh! But strangely enough in the last part of the concert their ideas got fleshed out better and ended up
being a fairly positive experience after all. *

SJ Esau. In some ways the music reminded me a bit of Animal Collective. But still different. Nevertheless, it was nice to see
someone who can make the use of loop pedals interesting and with variation (boy, there are lots who can't!). Energetic fella
with some killer beats. Great! **

Yes, deserves applause. I could never make fly glasses look this cool, he-he. **

Las Kellies. Straight up girl punk from Argentina. **

Las Kellies. Really cool chicks. **

Hipster mannequin. **

Friend of the one that came before. **

Hung out to dry... **

...with oversize clothes pegs. **

Watch it... fish are swimming through the walls around here. **

Chimney in a sorry state. **

Here comes the sun. Nah, goes, actually. **

Kater Holzig exterior. **

You're doing what now? Around Kater Holzig. **

Cornerless-building-trains-bridge ensemble close to Kater Holzig. **

Kater Holzig exterior night time. With flames and the recorded sounds of The Doors. **

To pieces of long concrete. Close to Kater Holzig. **

Local park and watering hole at Michaelkirchplatz, Kreuzberg. **

A sky in the sky at Alexanderplatz. **

Decaying metal surface creates new continents. :-)
The World Clock thing at Alexanderplatz. **

They joys of being a proper tourist. Almost "stau" on the water. **

The "Kohlosseum" or the "Elephant Washing Machine", as they call the German parliament building. **

I guess this is actual "street art". At Cassiopeia in Friedrichshain.
For photos of the art done on the walls around that place go further down on this page.**

Still in the Cassiopeia area in Friedrichshain. **

The place to be when you're off work. **

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday. **

More retro sci-fi Kotti. **

Pleasant Valley Monday too! **

The canal is a popular spot in the Admiralsbrügge area. **

Don't know if they rent the canoes somewhere, though. **

Had been looking for a proper quiet spot for days. Turned out I should have gone to the old Tempelhof airport (I should have
remembered that earlier!). They have started doing allotment gardens in a small corner of the place. **

Good advice: Find a cozy spot under a tree. **

And suddenly notice how big the sky is. You don't see it enough when you walk in the streets all day. **

Ah, maybe not that many aircraft anymore. Kites, though! **

Tried sushi a handful of times, but it never really did it for me. What was the fuzz about?
Even have disliked some that others seemed to enjoy. **

But this time it was different. This was the proper handywork. I think the place was called Cube.
It's on Zossener Strasse close to Marheineken Platz.**

Butterfish, salmon, tuna and things I of course can't remember the name of. **

And even fish that wasn't raw! River eel in a cone-shaped sorta thing. Delicious.
Price for 12 pieces of sushi plus cone and soda? 13 euro. Tell that to a Dane! Sushi prices in Denmark are nut.
This was 40% lower. And then they slashed another 50% during most of the day (most of the places do). **

Görlitzer Park. The "punk" park? Definitely more scruffy than most of the other parks. And if you're going to score drugs
just go to any entrance/exit and look for guys with very dark complection. My company was much better:
Theresa a.k.a. Golden Diskó Ship and Agata (of Agata & Me). **

Görlitzer Park silhouette style. **

Fitzcarraldo - bar and video rental. **

And amazingly eclectic - and huge - collection. Lots and lots of great films. **

Golden Diskó Theresa and Agata hanging out at Fitzcarraldo. **

Green house effect popping through to the surface.
Around Wassertorplatz, Kreuzberg. **

Q-Tip Records, Reichenberger Strasse, Kreuzberg. Never knew about this shop until this trip.
Fairly good selection. Divived into genres and with lots of each. But if I remember correctly crates
packed to tight to get a proper leaf-through, which can be annoying and a problem in several shops. **

"The Colonial Eye" exhibition at the photography Museum close to Kurfürstendamm. Photos from India shot in the last half of
the nineteenth century. Some amazing ones on display. A true time machine. **

In the same building Helmut Newton's nude photos were on display. Art or just works of a dirty old man? Both seemed to be featured here. **

If Moebius played jazz? **

Cold reflective surfaces around Potsdamer Platz. **

Colourschemes around Mitte or so. **

The sushi place Cube in Zossener Strasse. **

Back at recording the songs once more and see if we can do it a bit better. I'm sure we did. **

One of the wonderful Casio play-things. This one can sample a few low quality seconds. Great fun! **

Back at Görlitzer Park - and a ton of hungry mosquitoes. **

Hot and sticky U-Bahn. **

Watching the Olympic opening ceremony in London at Another Country Bookshop in Riemann Strasse, Kreuzberg.
The comments from the shop's guests were the most entertaining part of this surreal spectacle. . **