Left-Eyed Right-Handed

On Air

2008-07-12T13:45:00.001+02:00

Air guitar looks much more spectacular than air camera. You can see some impressions from yesterday's 5. German Air Guitar Contest by clicking on above image.

Clip Clip

2008-06-26T01:56:00.005+02:00

I want to share some new clips I'm quite proud of: a cover story on Hamburg and it's river Elbe in the July issue of GEO Saison. Must admit that the city which I left some three month ago (read below) really looks beautiful - even if a skeptic like me shoots it. While I write this I drink a bottle of Hamburg beer - what's wrong with me? (Click on the image to see all 22 pages)

Give me a C

2008-06-12T22:06:00.009+02:00

To put it simply, in a photographer's life there are three types of productive situations:

A: assignments with a high amount of creative freedom
B: assignments with a negligible amount of creative freedom
C: self assignments

And there are also three types of reward (very simply put):

1: financially profitable
2: financially ok
3: no immediate dough but food for the ego

Lately I've been occupied a lot with B1 and A2 projects (well, there have also been some B2s...) while there have not been any C1s, C2s or C3s at all. That's ok with me for some time. But I'm starting to miss something.

Slideluck Potshow

2008-05-04T13:41:00.006+02:00

I won't elaborate on all that talk that Berlin is the new New York. In any case next tuesday an old-New-York-based non-profit will bring it's Slideluck Potshow to my new hometown. With lots of envy I had read so much about those events (which actually are potluck dinners followed by slideshows) in blogs of people living in more privileged cities which were already included in the Slideluck tour list (actually Berlin had one show before but I was not around then). Best thing is I will not merely watch but also be one of the featured photographers during the slideshow. Awesome. Drop in if you are in town (and don't forget to bring food+drink)! May 6, 7 p.m. at Raw-Tempel

New backdrop

2008-04-27T21:22:00.005+02:00

That's what my eyes see nowadays when they are tired from staring at the monitor and take a look out of the window. Quite some change from the squirrel and bird infested scenery that was the backdrop of my Hamburg office. Have been busy with moving out and moving in and doing some paid work en passant which meant even less activity on this blog lately. I promise to improve (anyone out there who still believes me?).

Dial a cliché

2008-03-07T01:07:00.003+01:00

On Foto8's revamped website Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin offer some insight into World Press Photo jury sessions (guess you have to register before reading this). Quote: Flicking through the 81,000 images originally submitted a sense of deja vu is inevitable. Again and again similar images are repeated, with only the actors and settings changing. Grieving mothers, charred human remains, sun sets, women giving birth, children playing with toy guns, cock fights, bull fights, Havana street scenes, reflections in puddles, reflections in windows, football posts in unlikely locations, swaddled babies, portraits taken through mosquito nets, needles in junkies’ arms, derelict toilets, Palestinian boys throwing stones, contorted Chinese gymnasts, Karl Lagerfeld, models preparing for fashion shows backstage, painted faces, bodies covered in mud, monks smoking cigarettes, pigeons silhouetted against the sky, Indian Sardus, children leaping into rivers, pigs being slaughtered.
So far I've only shot 10 subjects on that list, still so much to do...

A New Career in a New Town

2008-03-06T00:36:00.004+01:00

They say inspiration can be found in your own backyard. In the case of me and Hamburg this did not really work out. One reason for that may be that Hamburg, where I moved to four years ago, is not exactly my backyard (seems as if Vienna is not likely to give up that position). Moreover this city by itself is not the most inspiring place you can think of (further reading for German speakers here). Granted, Hamburg is as beautiful as a German city can get. But beauty is not exactly what I look for in a city. So I pack my bags and move on (those of you who know where I borrowed the title of this post will know about the direction I am heading).

Protokoll

2008-02-12T00:30:00.000+01:00

Another one of those too-busy-to-post-anything-longer-than-a-recommendation-posts: Check out Christian Lutz' series Protokoll - a master of capturing facial expressions.

What the Duck

2008-01-31T23:45:00.000+01:00

Too busy to feed this blog at the moment. Today I'll just leave you a link: What the Duck. Check out the archive and enjoy.

Ruled Out

2008-01-07T17:24:00.000+01:00

Good thing is that for each photo award that is discontinued at least two new ones are launched. One of the big fish among those new contests are the Sony World Photography Awards. Before you look forward to the award evening in Cannes which will be "a black tie event for the crème de la crème of the photo and press industry" (if that is something to be looked forward to) you should read the entry rules. They say that contestants have to guarantee that "each person depicted in the entry has granted permission to be portrayed as shown". This applies to entries in all categories, not only nude or fashion but also photojournalism/documentary. I wonder how many of the iconic images of photojournalism would qualify under those rules. I guess that a lot of pictures taken by members of Sony's "World Photographic Academy" (among them Martin Parr and Elliott Erwitt) would not. Just another sign that photojournalism/documentary photography/street photography are more and more becoming legally precarious occupations (well, not for the big fish maybe. But will there be any emerging big fish in the future when each decisive moment is destroyed by fiddling with model release forms?)

Planet Tokyo

2007-12-19T01:44:00.000+01:00

By clicking on the image above (or here) you can see my sound and vision encounter with Tokyo. Unlike the multimedia piece on Istanbul I did earlier this year I did not gather audio this time. Well, actually I did, but the tiny recording thingy for my iPod was not really up to the task (don't say they didn't warn you...). That's why I created some audio myself. Tell me what you think - I am not so sure about it.

Acquired Habits

2007-12-15T02:32:00.000+01:00

Back from exploring the surfaces of parallel planet Japan. Very tidy surfaces, yet quite intransparent. While I did not understand too much, two weeks in Tokyo sufficed to acquire some habits which are of no real use in my life back home (like the impulse to bow, to say thank you once too often, the tendency to stand on the left side of escalators or to expect that toilet seats are heated).

More images and thoughts soon.

Mind and Beyond (On My Way to Tokyo)

2007-11-24T19:09:00.000+01:00

One side-effect of being a visual person is the desire to visualize people or places unknown to me. Tell me about your boss or your boyfriend whom I have never met, my mind will build an avatar in no time. Call me from your office where I have never been, my mind's eye will furnish the room and know whether the windows are to your left or to your right. Send me to a town I have never seen, I will know how it feels to be there before I enter city limits. Problem is, my mental images seldom bear even the remotest resemblance to the "real" object. When I meet the person/location I previsualized my expectations and my impressions will coexist for some time which can make the encounter slightly uneasy. Of course there is always room for pleasant surprises.

Tomorrow my mental image of Tokyo will meet the real place for the first time. Let's see how the two will get along.

Talking about the human mind: Just finished Murakami's "Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World". One of the best books I have read this year.

Déformation Professionnelle

2007-11-18T14:39:00.000+01:00

It happened again. Once I have spent too many hours (or even days) juggling with pixels, my relationship with my natural surroundings degenerates. Every time I see a speck of dust or crumb or whatever irritates my eye I feel the urge to use clone stamp or healing brush on it (which are two Photoshop tools - in case any of my readers do not spend their lifes juggling pixels. Lucky them.). When this déformation professionnelle escalates I even want to remove color casts I see in the real world. Once or twice I was itching to tell people that there is way to much magenta in their facial skin tone - I held back this temptation so far, there is still hope for me...

From Now On ...

2007-10-31T20:26:00.001+01:00

Gone are the days when I did not feel too bad about not feeding this blog on a regular basis. Last week "Left-Eyed Right-Handed" has been added to a very reputable list of blogs on photography, art and journalism by Magnum blog. Since then the number of visitors to this site has multiplied, leaving me with the duty to prove that I deserve that honor. Phew, it ain't easy.

When I started this blog half a year ago one of my motivations was to overcome the ignorance towards that medium which is common among German speaking photographers. Just a couple of days ago Jörg Colberg (the king of photography blogs whose doctorate in astrophysics might have helped him find a way to live 48-hour days) once again deplored that fact ("No interaction, please, we're German!"). Well, actually I am not German, my Hanseatic neighbors even doubt that my Austrian slang has anything in common with the language of Goethe and Schiller. Nevertheless we Austrians aren't so entirely different from the Germans regarding the reluctance to share one's own experience or someone else's happiness, while sharing is key to creating meaningful blogs. (Will I be excused for propagating national stereotypes by including myself? Guess not...).

That is to say I still have to grow into my role as a blogger. Please stay tuned!

On Strike

2007-10-25T00:40:00.001+02:00

Paris. While métro and RER ground to a halt last week I found out how small that city really is. Everything seems to be in walking distance once you are forced to walk in the streets and stay away from those endless tunnels connecting the various métro stations.

Hamburg. Strikes seem to follow me. Today and tomorrow the railway strike will also affect Hamburg's S-Bahn. I fear that this will have the converse effect of the strike in Paris - the town of my temporary residence will seem even bigger than it actually is. Though I wished there was more Paris and less Hamburg on this planet...

Gdansk. Yet other strikes precede me. While in that Polish city some months ago I spent a fair amount of time and film on the shipyard which was the stage for one of the most momentous walkouts in recent history. A pity GEO Saison did not choose any of those shipyard pictures for the Gdansk feature in their new edition which hit my letter box yesterday. I will easily forgive them though cause I very much like how they treated the rest of my pictures (click on image below).

The Pursuit Of Cool

2007-10-08T20:50:00.001+02:00

Back from Salzburg where I attended the opening of a two person show (Frank Gaudlitz's series "Waiting for Europe" and my "Them Over There") I found myself with some extra free time cause a trip to Bolzano had been canceled. Spent most of that time playing round with my new toy:

No doubt I was in (hopeless) pursuit of cool when I bought it (further reading: "The Rebel Sell", a highly polemic and at times superficial but nevertheless enlightening book). But who knows what that purchase might lead to. Eleven years ago I got my first SLR (I was 26 then). Only six years and some 20 rolls of film later I decided to give up journalism and start a career in photography which has fed me ever since (well, not exactly ever since, but for the last four years). So watch out for an aspiring 47-year-old singer/songwriter/guitarist in 2017! (Did I just write singer???)

Too Focused

2007-09-17T18:37:00.000+02:00

"It is often those photos that we take for the hell of it, in between our 'serious' photos, that capture the kind of punctum that Roland Barthes celebrated." This sentence is part of the loose guidelines for Lens Culture's first photo contest (click here and here). Sorry, I don't qualify for that one. I don't take pictures "for the hell of it". Never did. To me the word "focus" has a very comprehensive meaning. I need a purpose before I touch a camera, before I feel the need and ability to arrange the world within a frame - ideally only one purpose at a time. Not sure whether this is a deficit or not, I just made the observation that my pictures tend to suck if the mental focus was not strong enough. That is not to say that intuition does not come into play when I am out shooting - quite on the contrary I hold that my picture taking is very intuitive. I just need a specific purpose as trigger and framework for that intuition.

What about you? Anyone out there with a similar handicap?

"i cannot feel the left part of the brain"

2007-08-19T20:11:00.000+02:00

Too busy and therefore neglecting my blogging duties which means that there is still not a whole lot of text on this site. Nevertheless Google led some people with very specific concerns to this blog. The search words which I liked best:

"i cannot feel the left part of the brain"
"people shooting each other"
"how to say left right in german"
"turn on left side when pregnant"
"are dogs left or right handed"
"pictures of pimples on nose"

Sorry, could not help any of you. But let me make a humble attempt to accommodate the public demand:

Creepy

2007-07-26T23:36:00.000+02:00

If you are in the mood for something really creepy click here and scroll down until you see the swapping image.

So much for the very dark side of Photoshop. Indignation aside I have to admit something: Time and again I also perform some minor digital surgery. I remove the occasional pimple or put some Photoshop powder on shiny noses and don't feel bad about it. At least pimples are only temporary phenomena and removing them makes the photographed person feel better. Of course I would never retouch a pimple/shiny nose that is evidence for stress, anxiety etc. if documentation is the purpose of my picturetaking ...

While I feel completely justified in the result of this digital intervention I am not so sure about the process itself. Looking at someone else's face on the screen at 100 percent magnification amounts to an intrusion into privacy. You get acquainted with impressive packs of pores which even the husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend of that person never noticed because pores are not what we usually lay our eyes on. You can explore the nature of wrinkles, the length of nasal hair etc., discoveries which are usually made by that person's mirror only. Looking too closely feels out of bounds and tender at the same time (just as this last sentence sounds irrelevant and perverse at the same time).

Watery

2007-07-04T22:50:00.000+02:00

The profane act of using my Nikon as a stopwatch for a long time exposure of my Hasselblad aroused my well hidden romantic core. It happened in St. Petersburg last week. Me standing on a bridge, Nikon dangling from my neck, opening its shutter for four seconds just to tell me and Hasselblad how long four seconds are. While I usually delete pictures resulting from that process right away, I somewhat liked that unintentional image of a canal for its fluffiness and airiness. Which made me want to reproduce that effect again and again every time I met a waterway. The resulting series (which can be seen when clicking on the image above) is neither representative for my work nor for the impression St. Petersburg made on me (loud&dusty). Still it gives a hint at how the city could feel like if for example cars were not accelerating every time you set your foot on a zebra crossing. Et cetera.

Less watery images to come.

Holy Warriors on tour

2007-06-15T19:26:00.000+02:00

While Hamburg skies were once more rehearsing apocalypse (actually it was not that bad, but there was a lot of tension in the air before the storm started) I received the news that my "Holy Warriors" series will be included in the main exhibition of this year's Noorderlicht festival in Groningen. Awesome! Those of you who don't know Noorderlicht already should check out their website (containing an inspiring archive) here.

Writing this post I have the dim feeling that there are way to many Schwelle-related entries in this blog. That was not exactly my intention when I started this three month ago. I just don't get it how others find enough time and strength to churn out resourceful and meaty posts. I need 8 hours of sleep! Occasionally.

Fed up

2007-06-04T02:33:00.000+02:00

I am fed up with violence, platitudinous phrases, naiveté, complicity - and all those photographers (including me) who are looking for stereotypes. Ergo Saturday was my last trip to G8-Land. The slideshow which I compiled (it can be seen when clicking on the picture above) is still too affirmative for my taste. Might change that later.

Peace!!

Warm-up

2007-05-28T22:01:00.001+02:00

Why is it that I just can't get started (nearly) every time I am on self-assignment and it is only the first of a couple of shooting occasions? Happened again today when I and my camera mingled with several thousand of uniformed people who - while provoking each other - made a strange tour round Hamburg. Those in black uniforms trying to reach the city hall where the Asem-summit took place, those in green uniforms trying to prevent this (and succeeding in it).

I did not at all get into shooting mood. Seems as if today's wanderings merely served as a warm-up for the coming weeks (for me and the rest of the crowd). I will miss some of the G8 peak days though - got one of those assignments to do where the pay in some miraculous way creates instant shooting mood...

You cannot plan for this...

2007-05-13T15:28:00.000+02:00

Encouraging words by Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey (found via apadnews). Sounds a lot like self improvement talk - I still like it:

... give yourself the "assignment" or the "grant" that you would dream someone would give you....find a personal project and do it without regard for later "sales"...the best kind of "commercial success" or "artistic success" will come to you only if you work in this way.....it will come in ways that you cannot imagine....you cannot plan for this....you must go with your gut....only in this way will anyone, editor or publisher or gallerist, ever see who you really are...what you really DO...
this will be absolutely 100 percent not easy....this will be absolutely 100 percent worth it...

Ok, so I'll just keep going and everything will fall into place... eventually... soon... tomorrow... (does impatience fit into the scheme?)