Isar river / Fall / Winter 2009. Ilford delta 400 w / Hasselblad 80mm 2.8
.
Monthly Archive for January, 2010
Last week Matt Brown aka co-op Henderson was in Munich for a few days to present his work to IDEO. It was very well received and entertaining. I´m glad he had the chance to share his work with the office. Later, together with misses A.H we went out for some beers, joked of the hofbrauhaus orchestra overgrandiosity, scared some neighbours with too many cameras, wacthed the town get very waster, as we slowly also forgot about the passing of time. It was a very funny coincidence how my neighbour ended up at Atomic Cafe just as we came in and happened to talk about him, and sms him. At that moment we were a regathered umeå crowd.
Matt has collected his work under one house now, and it was fun to see swissmiss (a design blog pretty many of us visit) posted two consecutive posts on his work. If it helps anything for me to help exposure his work here we go. (compared to swissmis- a kind of mouse and elephant comparison). Anyways, a very varied and distinct portfolio. I am keen to scan the images we made out in town that night. Matt worked on the future of food for his interaction design thesis; to the school more of an unchartered front, and so it did not go unseen, and it was rather very much attention around it. Seeing Matt develop his style has been good; there is something very original and technically right about his work.
You may find Matt´s website here: skrov
.
2 days,7 ilford delta 120´s, 3 neopan 1600 and some regular ilford delta. What am I trying to do? well, the Madame and I have been reflecting on that on the trip back.
so last week we were planning a trip to Berlin, but it did seem a bit far fetched to buy train tickets there for the price of a trip where you could cross the atlantic. I don´t think so. Vienna was still an option but just for curiosity of possibility we checked Prague, and found a very good deal on a train/bus journey from Munich via Nurnberg. Took us 5 hours. We did some useful research on where to stay, and although none of us have been there we recognize that the older parts of Easter cities can pull of charm and offer something authentic. In the case of Prague that meant proximity to the castle itself, which we loved. It was very cold, I partly lost my voice (as I know it) on saturday, and it was tricky for misses Mariposa to not get caught by the motion of the cough and sore throat. This meant we had plenty of tea and took it generall easy. Even some shoes hopping was not a bad idea, given summer shoes won´t last much this winter. A little late to figure, but shopping is not a top priority.
We had a very awkward day today, very different from yesterday, twofolded though, a great morning with the slowest snow dive and beautiful light. we were listening to classical music in the hotel room in the morning, opened our windows towards the river and it was something i will always remember. i´ve never been so eager with my hasselblad.
there is little hesitating the statement, Prague is a work of Art! Now art is not about beauty only. It is a ground for communication, what is reality. It may be an escape, but with the tools at hand it is working towards truth, at least attempt wise.
In only these two days we had many encounters, those which were the regular meetings, for food or drinks, accommodation were of course mixed. i dare say we were lucky with the hotel but we have mix feelings for the attitude among some people we met. whenever that is the case you have to zoom into the landscape of tourism, and look at the fact that you are part of this conglomerate, and Prague does pull great force and god knows what crowds overall look like going in and out of this place all year long. anyhows, we are small dectectives who strive to find beauty but today we found ourselves in a complete discomfort on the return trip.
I am reminded by Obama´s speech at the nobel conerence, not of which originality should be claimed, but of who a big crowd will listen more carefully at, and that is which is the dark side of our existence, which cannot be denied.
my brave lady made a small clip with her new ipod on the train, while we were sitting next to what we believed was explicit anti semitism. her ipod is pink flash and we were sitting opposite isle of these very obnoxious people. we acted in with as if we were listening to music, but right now we would just be happy we are safe home and have what we recorded translated. I dare say it was not any good. maybe we will find a way of posting it. the only thing we know is that ( although we don´t understand german) we know when you hear a muslim prayer on a ringtone disrupt into the sound of a bullet, you are not surrounded by people of any good intentions.
.
Today I finished a 10 week project; it has been very much to complete the last days and its been a number too many late nights the last week tweaking timelines.
No room for failures of any sort.
After a certain point (such as the middle of the night) the focusing sharpness has simply a dubious efficiency, but writing this now, is only happening because I managed through it. Now I can finally find some time for all the other interesting things outside work ( work has also been interesting lately, although I sometimes wonder how incredibly strong pressure it must be when you are hired, when just being an intern can pull out a lot of your energy; as in: where is this path going to?). My lady is in town and since we now have seen Munich it would be interesting to see Berlin or go back to Vienna. Both are new for her. Philip, who studied in Umeå with me, is in Vienna and it would be great to see him again. Anyways we need to figure that out the next days. Or better, tonight. One very strong reason for going to Berlin is to go to “All Saints”, both of which we dig as fashion.
We are both a funny sight, cause we are both walking around the streets of Bavaria with our small olympus analogue cameras, just a model apart, and we now exchange lenses and all. We photograph the same people at different times without knowing of it.
For the time she is her, I don´t find myself doing any scanning of any sort. I do have plenty of film though, and really wish for an adventure to another city.
So for now, here are some frames I scanned from oktoberfest; they were frames that for me talked to you.
.
A monumental tribute to the art of architecture and the art of photography. This is by far the most exhaustive and well done feature of its kind I’ve ever seen.
The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.
.
Do you believe that imagination can be one the most valuable features of existence and conscience? The author of ´Where the Wild Things Are´has made a beautiful narrative which surely has alivened in many minds. Had the chance to watch this film tonight with my dear and it was enchanting and interesting beyond. The kid is such an admirable actor, it makes you wonder how many more kids out there have talent unscouted.
December and January are great movie months. It will be a root of this blog to bring to light good cinema.
.