Berlin: Pictures that tell other stories

Bottling money

Germany has a way with issues and one I have observed and only just captured a good picture of is the consequence of the Container Deposit Legislation.

Anytime there is a big outdoor event there are people with bags or suitcases, sometimes on foot or wheeling bicycles or even with supermarket trolleys collecting containers.

These are for single use containers as cans, plastic bottles and glass bottles, the empty bottles cost €0.25 each at the returns point and all affected containers are labelled pfand.

What makes this legislation quite bizarre is a black market created by reason of people not necessarily caring about returning their containers to reclaim their pfand deposits. At first, people had to return the containers to their original point-of-purchase; that was eventually eased for them to be returned to any place where the refunds can be made.

So, picking on bottles, riffling through bins and at night peering in with a torchlight, collectors have made a trade that could yield a free €25 for 100 bottles and when a festival is in town, beyond the jostling for the bottle when there is competition, it could be a health sum in these hard times.

The police are your friends

In the past 12 years, I think I attended every Berlin CSD bar one, besides Berlin in June being warm, sunny and fun, there are too many museums to visit, old friends to meet, decent Nigerian restaurants to visit, the main one for me being Ebe-Ano after Fifty-Fifty closed early last year.

Ebe-Ano is central too and quite easy to get to. Ebe Ano, Pohlstraße 52, D-10785 Berlin, +49 30 609 69 627.

However, what is more striking about CSD parades is the presence of the police who act as bookends to the march, in their cars and as outriders before the street sweepers take up the rear cleaning up as if nothing happened.

The Landespolizei are your friends even though they man war-like tanks on football match days and can be quite fierce looking, armed to the teeth, they are rarely, at least not to my knowledge even found in acts of abuse of power as the Sichersheitdienst (SD) or Gestapo of the Nazi era were wont to demonstrate.

The right to be protected

In many other countries, especially to the East of Germany, the police would probably be testing the strength of their truncheons and their preparedness for riot management on demonstrations of great diversity as a Pride march. Here in Berlin, major arteries of traffic and business roads are closed off for the safe celebration of the CSD.

It is not only a celebration of our diverse humanity, but it sounds out the voice of acceptance and the community that Gay Rights are Human Rights too.

Along with the crowds that gather to watch the parades, most of whom are straight with generations of their families, a society at ease with all that inhabit it regardless of persuasion is one destined to thrive.

For many other countries where the state apparatus is used to harass and persecute those that are different, in that picture is a long story from oppression and extermination in the Nazi Concentration Camps to respectful and celebratory co-existence – that is civilisation.

Not just a manhole cover

I could remember when we moved to our new home in Isolo, Lagos in September 1980, the grills on the gutters of the main road were made in Kaiserlautern, Germany.

Nothing could be so distant from the heartland of Nigeria than to have products of other countries cover the dregs and waste of our people, a significant story of what has always been the unrealised potential of Nigeria. The tragedy of our steel industry is best left untold.

Yet, after all these years of visiting Berlin, I looked down at a manhole cover and noticed there was something quite significant about it.

It was no ordinary lid covering the waterworks distribution infrastructure, but a celebration of the City of Berlin with images of the major Berlin landmarks as the Brandenburg Gate, the Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz, the Reichstag parliament building, the Siegessäule (Victory Column) and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church of the structures I can recognise.

All of these places are worth a visit when in Berlin amongst other historic places that represent ancient, imperial, Nazi, post-War and united Berlin. They even had an exhibition of manhole covers in 2011.

Just one of the many quirky things that one sees, innocuous but still significant. I love Berlin.

Peter Kenny Showing at London Photo Festival

A genius behind the lens

Peter Kenny is a good friend of mine, I have known him for over 20 years and with all that I know about him, I know that he is a keen photographer who has the eye to capture the essence of life and nature that will rival the awesomeness of the brushstrokes of masters of old.

Each click of the shutter when he handles a camera sometimes with lenses an arm long is sublime and captivating; in the stills, you see an instant of movement, of action, of expression and of flow that is on par with those who strive to make a living through photography.

The preparation is pedantic but the result is almost effortless, seeing well beyond what rank amateurs like myself will never see even if we pointed our cameras at the same object to take pictures at the same time.

Come along

Peter Kenny is showing four of his amazing photographs at the London Photo Festival from May 17^th to May 19^th 2012 and you can get the opportunity to chat to him about his pictures and maybe even get to see his amazing portfolio that has featured on magazine covers and garnered interest from exhibitors and agencies alike.

If you find yourself in South London towards the weekend and will want to be blown away with the magic of photography, you only have to be at Borough, you should and must attend.

Where it is at

The details appear below:

FREE entry for members of the public.

Opening Times (for public):

17^th May 2012: 10am – 7pm

18^th May 2012: 10am – late

19^th May 2012: 10am – 8pm

On Friday (18th) there is a ‘Click ‘n Clique’ evening when exhibitors are encouraged to come along so that members of the public can meet the photographer behind the image. Peter Kenny certainly will be there.

The London Photo Festival is located at The Crypt, St George the Martyr, Borough High Street London SE1 1JA.

The Crypt is found just a couple of minutes walk from Borough Underground Station, on the Northern Line, as well as being a few minutes walk from London Bridge on the Northern and Jubilee lines and the world famous Borough Market with its delicious wares. There is disabled access to the venue.

Editorial: Tenth of May 2011

Mona Lisa Philistines

There is a sense that fundamentalist religious practices today hark back to medieval times and worse in a century that we wishfully think accords equality of sexes after all the emancipation and progressive rights advocacy of the 20^th Century.

Israel is one country that is delusional with pretence suggesting their apparent Western democracy and liberal values have permeated every representation of people as portrayed by the excuse of a free media.

One picture that has had global viewing is the White House Situation Room photograph taken when Osama bin Laden was being exterminated in Pakistan.

The prominent view of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with hand over mouth and a senior female staffer standing at the back seem to have disappeared from that picture when it was published by two orthodox Jewish newspapers.

It is was a teaching time for me in that it would have been safer not to include the picture at all in the story than to allow for parallels to be drawn with another scholarly and fundamentalism group known as the Taliban.

It is argued that maintaining the chastity of women requires they may not appear in publicly viable material just as it saves the men from the lure of the lurid and sexually questionable – you will just have to view the picture as it is published.

Service must be above party

There are some to whom the newly elected President of Nigeria will not find respect, adoration, praise or deference. That is their prerogative.

The ruling party has in terms captured a majority of elective offices and that means it would take a tsunami of evidence to overturn what we can safely assume will be the de facto government for the next 4 years.

The job of running the country is not going to be an easy one and even if there is to be an opposition to the government one would hope that they are constructive, assertive and most of all reasonable.

The real concern is getting competent personnel to fill in the positions necessary to help Nigeria achieve its potential regardless of party or political affiliation. Nigeria cannot afford politicking and party recalcitrance for another four years when there is much work to be done.

Party hierarchies can continue to oppose and object as they wish but those called to the service of our dear fatherland should be allowed the privilege and given every assistance and blessing to perform to the very best of their ability and for the good of all Nigerians.

Cunard Queen Elizabeth in Amsterdam

One look out of my window

A wonderful child-like excitement engulfs my being as I look out of my living-room window towards the left towards the Amsterdam Passenger Terminal.

The late spring and summer months present a spectacle of visitations on the waters that form the harbours of the old Amsterdam port from the sailing school just below my window through the open waters that host the sailing regattas and the then further on where it is deep enough to float ocean going cruise liners.

Satisfying my curiosity

Yesterday, in fact, the day before, there was a huge cruise liner docked at the terminal, I had to see it up close so I cycled up the embankment with my camera to take a few pictures.

That was not enough to observe the cruise liner in all its splendour, I needed to know when it was setting sail again so I for the first time stepped into the terminal and asked at the information desk when it was leaving.

The scheduled time was in another 24 hours at about 17:00 hours, so when I returned home I went online to the check the Cruise Calendar [1] and found out it would be an hour later.

Setting sail

So, yesterday evening, I rode out to see the cruise liner leave and it quite a ceremony weighing anchor that took about 15 minutes and then another 30 minutes to turn the bow astern to sail out of Amsterdam.

It was quite windy and there was a chill in the air as I took pictures from many vantage points and even planned to race the liner to the point where it finally sailed out of Amsterdam and the chain on my bicycle broke just as got behind the central train station which fortunately had a bicycle repair shop in the front.

It was worth it

My pursuit ended with the wheeling of my bicycle to the shop with the hope that I will see the cruise liner when next it docks in Amsterdam.

It was the Cunard Queen Elizabeth [2] with 12 decks that measured the height of 9 storey building, it has a length of 964.5 feet (294m), a width of 106 feet (32.3m) and a draft of 25.9 feet (7.9m) – the draft is the ship’s depth below the water.

We should expect at least 20 cruise liner dockings every month until September with Queen Elizabeth returning later this month and then in October, meanwhile there will be a lot to see until then.

This is my slideshow of pictures taken.

Sources

[1] Passenger Terminal Amsterdam – Cruise Calendar

[2] Queen Elizabeth Cruise Liner Facts : Luxury Cruise Ships : Cunard Cruise Line

Losing every flicker of interest in Flickr

Having been snapping away over the last few weekends, I had come to that point where those captured digital moments could be uploaded for viewing.

To safe-guard my original and future activities, I decided it was time to upgrade to the Pro version of Flickr with all its benefits and so on.

Most importantly, it allows me to lodge complaints if I have any and expect prompt, efficient and good service.

I had already gone off Picasa at Google because of the requirement of a Gmail account and the fact that without an introduction the mobile authentication option does not cover Europe.

So here I am with Flickr and I find I have to write the mail below:-

The email

Hello,

I am interested in upgrading to the 2-year deal but have been met with unfriendly and unreasonable interfaces that are frustrating my request.

I first tried to pay with my Amex card and the moment I chose the Netherlands where I live everything switched to Dutch and I lost the Amex option.

OK! I can read Dutch, so I switch to my Mastercard and on entering my information it tries to force me to use the PayPal service to pay up because it matched my email and credit card details to a PayPal service I rarely use.

Yes, I want to pay to use Flickr, No, I do not want to use Paypal if I choice between that and my credit card.

Is there anyway of removing this extra and extraneous web intelligence such that I can make the choices about the language I want, the way I want to pay without being second-guessed by technology?

Thanks for your help.

Regards

I would be lucky if there is any better way to get this done - God forbid that I have to grovel for a Gmail account to get on Picasa - It is a hard life on the web - I sigh!