This is something I have been working on for a while. There is this collection of small books about different countrys all over the world that I found at my parents` place. By cutting out, collecting and reassembling some of the photographs, I want to illustrate a desire to travel, see new places or even dreaming of places that don`t exist. Also, the impossible landscape is meant as a kind of picture puzzle for viewers to solve…
…or in others words: A return to Saxon Switzerland and just a bunch of landscapes for you to look at and take a deep breath:
…because it got cancelled for obvious reasons. So I took some time to go through pictures from 20 years of Fluff Fest, kind of a Best Of (note that I only photographed Bands that I really like(d)):
While exploring the area that I am new to, all of them happened:
…then and now:
…the title is (again) stolen from a band called Solander since it`s the title of their first album that I am still in love with. Aside from that not to much is happening for obvious reasons. At least I was gifted with time to watch and meet some of my new neighbors:
… is written on a picture hanging in the bakery nearby. That and those two pictures were the first impressions I collected in the new town I am living in. Only later I discovered a pattern.
… that I almost forgot to think about. Due to moving to a different city and full life change, it has gotten rather late to share the best pictures that I took of bands/musicians playing live in 2019:
…one last time.
… »The Gambler« from 2014‘s trip to Spain (rip Old Kamera Fuchs).
…title. This serves as a dedication to all the great bands I saw and listened to recently. Also to some of the people I went to the shows with. Emma, Björn, Edvard.
…from a trip to Hamburg:
»Man versehe sich zu dieser Reise mit einem guten Fernrohr, einem festen mit einem Stachel versehenen Stock, einem festen bequem fortzubringenden Trinkgeschirr, Limonade, einem Messer, einem kleinen eisernen Instrument, Pinsel und trockene Farbe, um seinen Namen einzuzeichnen … Man reise in Stiefeln mit Absätzen. – Modesohlen ohne Absätze können auf glatten anhängigen Wegen gefährlich werden …« (Wilhelm Lebrecht Götzinger. Verhaltens-Regeln für diejenigen, welche die Sächsische Schweiz bereisen, 1804)
21st of January 2019:
…Against Me! in Erlangen 2015.
…my live shots (2018):
… the series title is taken from Solander´s record of the same name because it just fits.
… was probably the photographic project I put the most thoughts into this year. This resulted in questions that I used as a describtion/topic for the exhibition. Can I reach an audience outside of the internet, are people still interested in seeing photographs or in talks with the photographer? Not to many in my experience. While I was lucky with the opening there were days when no one showed up (thank you to those that did!). I understand it has to do with were and how to present things. In my 21st year of doing photography I am able (sometimes) to cope with it and learned to not expect to much. Still I find myself wishing for a little more attention. So was it a success? I am writing yes and no. And I wonder what to do next…
… I sure took some pictures on a stay in Malmö.
… is a band that I portrayed recentley. They are going to be part of my upcoming exhibition.
…not too far from Brighton/UK
…as every year. Some views on Fluff Fest – the place, some friends, some bands:
…while the record of the same name is playing in the other room I have a hard time separating good from bad memories and can`t help but think about how everything felt at that time. Seven years ago. Doing photography or whatever for a living really felt like a possibility. Everything was indeed perfect on that little tour I did with Solander and I had no idea what was about to happen. Possibilities… thank you Solander.
…this place that I am spending a lot of time at where I meet people being active in a lot of different ways – this time only musicians.
More to come…
… seeing the Band Hope perform brought back a lot of memories of the time when they asked me to take pictures of their old band project. Since back then I was able to follow their way. I am trying to describe the feeling that I have thinking that it`s wonderful to witness the creative process of four individuals through some photographs (that probably weren`t even my best work at times). I think I am… also… proud to have done that. Thank you Phillip, Christine, Martin, Fabian.
As some of you may have realized, I have been part of an exhibition recently. Conditions were discussed beforehand: I was told that my costs will be covered and I didn`t expect more… maybe some interest in my work. After the exhibition the curator wrote an email telling me that, unfortunately, there is not enough money for all expenses (he just did not apply for enough money/funding beforehand). This exhibition was part of a bigger project/workshop at the university. A friend of mine organized the exhibition and asked me to join. The project manager, I was told, will deal with the refunding of my expenses later. But instead of returning the money I spent on the prints, he stated how it is a pity that everyhing is about money! Well, that is easy to say if you have a decent job within culture industry… It`s just so offensive to be told that money and payment are not an issue if you need to pay rent, buy food from this money. Everyone who is following my work and/or this page realizes that I am not in it for the money but to expect that you are being paid for the work and effort is not too much to ask. Thanks for reading.
…is the new album by Scraps Of Tape (Swedish band with a lot of guitars, friends) and its release was celebrated in Malmö*.
…cities. Empty cities.
Where I`ll lay down alone.
I dream of cities. Endless cities.
Where I will die alone.
And someone speaks there of all that I`ve known.
And the stone streets there. That I come from…
*The words are used with the kind permission of Kristoffer Bolander, lent from his song „cities“
…featuring the swedish band Solander, performing at Phono Pop Festival in 2011.
I have a German description for a series of photographs that are being shown in an exhibition. I won`t translate it directely into English but…
… the title of the exhibition is „urban spaces“. I have been asked to contribute to it since some of my work deals with this, too. Having thought about it I guess it is somehow true. Some of my latest pictures show the architecture, reconstruction sites and landscape that directly surrounds me in the part of the city I live in now. The pictures are about not feeling at home, even alienated at times, while walking around and exploring this new city. Trying to translate those feelings into pictures and showing some of them here on this blog is my aim. Some of the pictures can be seen here already, others won`t appear here at all… in fact it`s only a small series.
When I was thinking about the concept of the exhibition Henri Lefebvre´s „right to the city“ came to my mind. I am wondering if there is a right to non-urban living as well. The titel of the series is thus „right to the city?“ and it should contribute to questioning a right to urbanism in a specific form…
…is were I travelled to, not to long ago. I accompanied my partner to a conference. Here is what I saw and what she thought in an attempt to combine those two to create something new:
This summer I was walking through Athens not exactly knowing what I was feeling: I felt strange, estranged even. I had not left what is considered “Europe”. Nevertheless, I was a foreigner to this fast, busy, somehow melancholic and defiant city. After a while I came to realize that I felt something that I identified as a sort of collective sentiment: depression, but also anger, frustration, defiance and – I could not first grasp it – solidarity. A Greek solidarity against a Europe that is defined by neoliberal regimes of austerity and managed migration.
Being a person born, raised and still living in Germany I felt out of place: awkward, guilty or responsible at least. A German government that I did not vote for harmed this country: and it was the vulnerability I felt when walking through the streets of Athens. But there was more to it than injury and pain…there was also commitment, critique, and – again – solidarity. The austerity measurements set in motion by EU’s established leaders were fueled by a “Northern” resentment of the inner workings of “Southern” economy and lifestyle. This resentment is manifested in the figure of Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Minister of Finance or Secretary of Treasury that stubbornly and self-righteously insisted on the Northern model – and treasured difference so little.
Walking through Athens I felt the anger towards the German government that has so much power and influence on the European level. I felt complicit with this austerity regime that hit Greece hard. We are in it together, I thought: We are interwoven, connected, and yet apart. And now? Now, I am standing in Athens feeling a sentiment of rejection, refusal, and distrust towards me being a relatively rich and relatively privileged tourist, above all from Germany: coming to Athens, and leaving it behind me. Still, Athens affects me…
… he said to me.
It was „illegal“ to bring my camera inside. Why? Well every phone can take pictures nowadays and I got told again (this happened before) that I might use my camera to produce something for commercial reasons… what? Me? I don`t earn a single buck with this even so I would want to and probably should. Anyway, my friend xxx decided to trick the staff and got my camera with his backstage pass. So… after all I could take some pictures of Quicksand at xxx in xxx which I enjoyed even more while feeling illegal! By the way… if anyone wants to buy one of those pictures…I gratefully sell them now!
…means these are the top three of pictures I took of live-performances due to my own taste.
Another report in pictures and thoughts about Fluff Fest. Yes, I went and did enjoy it to my surpirse! There is just so much going on and I get annoyed by people there pretty easy, as I mentioned before. But the Fest also holds enough good things for me like meeting nice people and getting to know new bands (Past, Rutka Laskier). Here is what happens if you use very old film (that I got for my birthday)…
…this place that I am spending a lot of time at since I`ve moved. This is about some of the people I meet there being active in a lot of different ways: setting up shows, cooking, reading books about anarchism, talking, repairing things or cutting the lawn and simply behaving stupid. All in this none profit DIY-sense that I find myself in love with so much. Anyways, some of them were friendly enough to let me take pictures of them.
More to come…
Actually I have been thinking about this for a long time but I always felt that this blog is more about my photography/work and less about my thoughts (on it). Now it`s going to be different though.
In fact, I would want everyone, especially people related to music, to read this. Because it is about them, too. Ever since I started doing photography I was always connected to a certain scene of music and people playing in bands, setting up shows and what not. You could even say that without looking at certain pictures of bands and musicians on records or in magazines or whatever my interest in photography would have never developed into what it is today. You can see on this page and on this blog that taking pictures of bands/musicians is still a big part of my photographical work and I guess it will always be. But lately a feeling of frustration and anger started growing when I thought about this connection. I took pictures of artists for years and some of the pictures appeared in other contexts such as websites or magazines. Moreover, my pictures were used by bands – for promotion or on their records -, sometimes I worked with the musicians and got paid for a picture or two but this happended very rarely. Most of the time my pictures weren`t of interest at all for anyone but me… Even if it sometimes happened that those being photographed were happy about some sort of promotion or were thankful for the pictures, what annoys me is that most of the time noone seems to care about it at all.
I am trying to see this more from the point of being a fan of music and being appreciative of it… but realizing that people are not as supportive, thankful, or interested in music photography as they are in music itself saddens me more and more and it raises questions like: Does the music scene not realize how big of a part even the visualization of this artform is? That photorgraphy works as documenting everything besides audio? Isn`t that worth something? Could everyone involved in music pay a little more attention, please?
… or same tree, three different animals.
I have given up hoping for bands to contact me about being photographed… now I simply wait until the bands show up at my doorstep and then take a picture. See the talented and friendly people of UKs Haters here:
…here is what happened lately:
… livemusicpictures in 2016. The 2nd half!
…new ideas. Combining what Elisée Reclus (geographer, writer, and anarchist) once wrote in Histoire d´une montagne (released 1880) with photographs I took.
„Dort musste ich das Gefühl von Stolz nicht unterdrücken, das mich auf dem Scheitelpunkt des Berges unwillkürlich überkommen hätte, sondern gönnte meinen Augen das Vergnügen, sich sattzusehen am Anblick des Schönen, das Schnee und Felsen, Wälder und Weiden mir boten.“
„Wie halb verborgene Nester im Gezweig erblicke ich einzelne Hütten, Weiler, verstreute Dörfer in den Tälern und an den grünen Berghängen.“
… while visiting Vienna for the first time ever. Featuring Petrol Girls / Triebwerk / Wiener Neustadt 2016:
Grinda…
Haga Park…
Stripa gruva…
…sometimes you need to change perspective.
Here is my take on a demonstration against German deportation policy. Slidely cynical in some moments…
First… RVIVR. People talked to me about the band before… already comparing them to those bands coming over from the US on a regular basis to tour and probably live from playing music while becoming too routined. But what happened at Fluff Fest on stage was far from that. In fact, it was the best solution to that problem I have and had when going to the Festival the years before: So many people – and not just likeminded! – with so many tattoos and t-shirts with slogans transforming what people call Punk or Hardcore into a fashion-show. Now, for the people reading this and having no idea of what I am writing about… RVIVR are – and were on this evening – just a great and energetic band that still has something to say on stage and continues to do so (queerness, feminism, changing for the better… you name it)! More then music? Stay tuned for more photographs and (maybe) thoughts, too.
…of 2016 brought these great shows that I witnessed with a camera. Kind of my personal Top 3:
Having read books about the Spanish Civil War recently, I went through some photographs from travelling in Spain (note that I travelled to similar places as some of the books´ protagonists – no revolutionary content!)…
Bilbao…
The not to excited old man and the sea…
Terror in San Sebastian…
after a while… some things finally turn out to be nice over here. So it is time to document those, too.
It`s great to have visitors… especially when they are from Sweden. Kristoffer Bollander and his bandmates.
Expedition through Wiesengrund…
…about those two days in April 2016. I got to see Dag Nasty (a Hardcore band from Washington d.c.) play in their original line up. And while I was always sceptical about those original versions of some of my most beloved songs ever… it turned out to be a great show. And that also goes for the concert happening on the next evening. Kristoffer Bolander was back and so the reason for posting those pictures here together is… I was happy to have a camera to document some of that magic.
01/21/16
…with Bring The Mourning On in Ghent.
…going to shows and taking photographs is still one of my most beloved activities. Here is a small selection of this year`s favourite concerts and photographs:
Being on tour with Bring The Mourning On led to the Netherlands and Belgium and me to understand what I love to do…
Cultural tourism in Rotterdam…
Afternoon show in Apeldoorn…
Ghent…
Liège (looks much worse than it was)…
In Dortmund…
…is my favorite new activity. As it turns out… many of them showed up in front of the living-room window. Someone else showed up too, so it became inevitable to take a photo. Stay tuned!
…when it comes to actionsports and photography. I am simply too slow and uninterested, usually. By accident I recently discovered that I indeed did a series of two photographs featuring outdoor activities that I like:
…the trail led next. Nils Holgersson helped Bataki, the raven, to escape from a barn at the huge mining pit. In fact, I strongly recommend going there to see those old mining facilities.
…and visiting some places in Sweden that get described in the book by Selma Lagerlöf. Birdwatching at lake Tåkern, I found this:
…through a camera:
It has been a while since I had the opportunity to see and hear Murder By Death play again so here is…
This blog is about my photography and thoughts. And the connection between them, of course. With this (very) little visual adventure I took while the demonstration against G7 was happening, the connection became even clearer to me. On the one hand I had this desire of voicing my opinion and to take the chance to do so… on the other I was full of questions and doubts about me being there and if it makes any difference. Answers are as following. Photography, again, helped me like so many times before to focus on what I see and witness. Even to understand a bit more. And since the whole thing can not be considered a very big success regarding numbers and outcomes. Anyhow, it felt great for me to be there and participate… I didn`t bow down. Sometimes it is great to absolutely get payed for nothing because I can take pictures of whatever I want!
Photographing other people`s art… in this case it made so much sense to me. Those clowns made fun out of the massive police-presence and almost everyone around including me!
It was not only about young people with colored hair or Marxists…
…but sometimes it really looked like not to much is happening.
…to a new place, this is my first photographic impression.
After watching a documentary about a part of africa… it struck me how blurry and faded my own memories about a journey through Guinea have become… and while I hope the rest of it remains… pictures might help:
…Outskirts of Conakry/Guinea 2004
…and Mareike. Dresden 2015.
…I witnessed this in 2007.
There are a couple of things to tell about this picture being printed in Halation-Magazine. It is said about the motivation behind making this magazine that it comes mostly from the joy that photographers feel, getting pictures printed, released, shown… and yes, I can more than relate to that. And as I was thinking about what to hand in it stroke me that among last year´s pictures there were quite some I would like to show. However, there are just a few that I feel the need to say something about or that I find important.
While being in Gustavsberg near Stockholm on January the 4th in 2013, I already knew about my friend Stefans suicide. I took this photo there, on that day and it is released in loving memory…
The title for it comes from a piece of music by the Swedish band Hunt: I left.
…and it still makes me happy and proud.
…are quite a lot of statues to see. This was my and Mareikes favourite.
I am planning to show/publish thoughts and pictures here regularly…
from now on!
01/21/17