Klara's Street

New Year, New Baby

Klara — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:15:00 +0000

Leica M6 with 35mm Voigtlaender Nokton 1.4. Tri-X either at boxspeed, or pushed to 800 or 1600. Developed in Xtol 1:1.

Scanned with Canoscan 8800 and Vuescan.

Shooting wide open at 1.4 at Neues Museum

Looking at the solar system

Geometrical lines in the museum made for some nice shots

My sister

Looking at cell phones

Katja at Barini

Sony Center

Madame Zucker

At Ana & Paulo’s

Klötze & Schinken

Benoite

Silberloeffel

Katja

Checking the Diana Mini

Poker

Early sunday morning on Hermannstr

Sandra talking about trees

Puschkinallee

Karl-Marx-Allee

Akazienstraße

Kjartan with Benoite’s glasses

Kjartan and Ingvi

Camera filters

Rangefinder love

Kudamm

Remnants

Klara — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:20:00 +0000

The response to my Year in street photography has been overwhelming and I’m still catching up on all the comments and emails. Thank you guys for all the kind words and the criticism, the encouragement and support. Never did I think that my work would resonate with so many of you. Thanks so much for that, it feels incredibly rewarding and I’ll keep on discovering the streets.

So, this is a rather long entry, I shot eight rolls in December which is not too bad for one of the darkest month of the year. It’s a bit different from the last entries, you’ll see some moments with my family and friends besides the usual street stuff. Because some of you asked: these were all taken with a Konica S3 (Hexanon 38mm 1.7) on Tri-X pushed to ISO 800 and developed in Xtol, diluted 1:1, for 10 minutes.

For those who asked for prints: yes, I’m selling prints. Just write me an email (klaras.street at gmail) with what you’d like and we’ll work things out.

Berlin. A few days before Christmas

At Rathaus Neukoelln

Seen from a parking deck

At Benoite’s christmas’ concert

Write a wish, hang it onto the tree and take a cd home

Where do all the bubble tea shops suddenly come from?

Kung Fu Panda

Katja after hunting down the perfect frame

Kottbusser Damm

Been going to Katies Blue Cat quite often

Sandra tired after lunch

Did I say I take my camera everywhere?

Me, the bus stop and a double-decker bus

People do still use them

At my godfather’s place

Made stupid jokes and laughed a lot

My sister lighting the candles

One of the things I love about this place

Back at my parents’ place, Frankfurt in the back

Downtown Frankfurt

Met with Sunhee

Cell phone light

Met with Max

UBS building

Inside

Drooled so much over his Leica

Occupying the escalator

He likes to shoot that stuff

At Imori

My sister waiting in line

Going back to Berlin

My sister looking stealth

Last day of 2011. Happy New Year!

The year in street photography

Klara — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:26:23 +0000

2011 was the year I carried my camera almost everywhere, the year the camera became an extension of my right arm, the year I found myself on the streets over and over again, the year the streets accompanied me through my highs and lows. This post is not a personal best-of, but rather a selection of how I saw and felt about street photography in 2011.

January. After having neglected street photography for a long while, I picked up my camera again. It instantly felt right.

It stuck as the month the obsession started (again) and never left.

I took walks for hours, alone. I shot everything I saw.

I took the bus instead of the subway, so I could see and shoot from the upper decks.

February. I changed perspectives.

I tried different vantage points.

I tried juxtapositions.

I discovered that I like shooting on familiar ground.

I found out that I like reflections.

March. I went to Frankfurt.

I tried getting close.

I shot street with my sister for the first time. It felt great.

April. I went to Hamburg.

Saw the Vivian Maier exhibition. Was blown away by her work and frustrated with my own.

I kept on shooting anyway.

Most of the stuff didn’t feel right.

May. I went to Austria.

Vienna taught me how to see light.

Vienna taught me to wait.

I went to Latvia.

I worked on a movie set. I shot whenever I had a break.

I went to Riga.

I dared to get closer.

I was suprised with what I could get away with.

I took Robert Capa’s words literally.

June. I went back to Berlin.

I tried shooting from my bike, never turned out any good.

I still thought that I had to get closer.

But somehow it didn’t feel quite right.

I went back to my old approach.

I used public transport instead of my bike. I wanted to shoot all the time.

I decided that I was okay with taking pictures of kids.

July. I went to Frankfurt again. I was inspired by my sister.

I discovered medium format.

I went back to Berlin.

I got comfortable shooting people.

I tried shooting at night.

August. I went back to what I thought I could do best.

I discovered that I loved harsh contrasts and shooting around midday.

I went to Frankfurt again. I decided I would go back to shooting film. It changed everything.

This was one of the last frames I shot digital.

This was the last frame I shot digital.

September. Analog. Medium format. Color.

It felt refreshing.

I got a rangefinder. It changed everything again. I shot only color for an entire month.

I found out that I was better at black and white.

October. The rangefinder system was a revelation.

It freed me from the constraints of the slr. It changed the way I see.

I set up a mini lab in my bathroom and got into developing again.

November. I was obsessed about developing and scanning.

December. I changed my pace.

I let things happen.

Some things came together nicely.

Some things sucked, but I’ll keep on shooting anyway. I’m ready, 2012.

Push Me Now

Klara — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:01:49 +0000

First try at pushing Tri-X to ISO 800, I quite like the results.

Lunch at a Japanese Deli in Mitte.

While I waited for Katja, I shot people shooting street.

At Anja Niedringhaus exhibition. Inspiring stuff.

Afterwards in Aufsturz

It was unusually warm for December, but it rained for days.

Inside a nail saloon

I’m always fascinated by people who try their luck with these machines.

They won.

Christmas market.

After a shooting at Ryan’s apartment.

Klara — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:36:38 +0000

My camera is back from the repair service, it got a CLA and everythings works smooth and perfect. I’m happy about it.

I think it was trying to get a piece of Currywurst…

First shot after getting the camera back. Riehmers Hofgarten feels a bit like Paris.

Man & beasts

On the way to Cuccuma

Bike parking.

Looking back.

LIFE

Last stop, Roderich.

Let’s don’t be strangers

Klara — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:03:07 +0000

Yesterday I received an email from a nice stranger with a photo of an asian woman photographing in Mauerpark, asking if it was me. Sorry to disappoint, it wasn’t me. But in case you see me wandering around the streets, let’s don’t be strangers, say hello.

All photos Tri-X souped in Xtol, 1:1.

Cafe Schaumschläger, I was the only one there, had a quick lunch before meeting a client.

Waiting to cross at Sonnenallee.

Claudia visited.

Katja, still shy in front of the camera

On the way to BBI, one of the best burger joints around.

I wish I’d taken this from another angle, but sometimes there’s only that much space on a bus…

A visit to the library.

Sehnsucht nach Paris in Prenzlauer Berg

Treptower Park station, a few steps closer would have been nice.

Fridge Art.

Klara — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:33:20 +0000

Posting this quick. Favorite image from a freshly developed roll. Tri-X in Xtol.

Klara — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 17:54:00 +0000

Some frames from a roll I shot in september, it seems like ages already. I developed the APX 100 in Xtol, but I’m not so happy how they turned out, I like the tones of Tri-X much more. I haven’t shot at all the past two weeks, my beloved Konica is in the camera clinic, she wasn’t doing so well. I miss her terribly and I try not to look around too much, because I only see the moments I can’t capture. She’ll be back from the doc next week though, can’t wait to have her with me again.

Goerlitzer Park

At Rathaus Neukoelln

Magritte was here, he has some spelling problems.

He stopped to see what I was doing.

Saw her on the way home.

Castrated trees on Puschkinallee.

The sticker says “Welcome to Schwabylon”, it’s a social comment on what’s been happening in this neighborhood.

Around Reuterstr.

The light was good that day.

Kottbusser Damm

Cafe am Kotti

The Science of Scanning

Klara — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:22:00 +0000

After trying out every possible setting on Vuescan, I think I found some decent settings I can live with. I also found out that Tri-X scans much nicer than APX 100, I don’t know why, maybe APX 100 just isn’t a “scanner-friendly” film. For those who are interested: I developed the Tri-X at 20°C with Xtol diluted 1:1 for 8.45 minutes, moving every 30 seconds. I then scanned them as color negatives in RAW, black and white points set to 0, curve points set to 0.25 and 0.75. Played with the gamma modifier sometimes, but did most of the adjusting later in Lightroom.

I also decided to post some non-street stuff, just because I think some of the frames turned out nice. So you’ll get to peek into my private life now…

Santiago in the kitchen. I think it was the second day after he moved to Berlin, when he was still trying to figure out all that paper stuff. German bureaucracy…

Katja in the new apartment

Stumbled into her as I was about to leave the supermarket

We were trying to find something to eat around Oranienstr, but all the good restaurants were closed. It was a sunday, but still…It’s freaking Oranienstr!

Ended up in Miss Saigon, which served fantastic food that day.

While we were waiting for food, a group of French guys came in…

Weird position to chill, don’t you think?

Cake on the steps of a church.

With A. & P. at Madame Zucker.

I’ve seen this car around, they must have been painting it for several months now (and with a tiny brush). Dedication.

Panning shot while I waited for the bus.

October Blues

Klara — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:10:00 +0000

Some more color shots from last month, it was unusually warm for October, lots of sunlight. It made somewhat up for the rainy summer. Blue stripes on all the negatives, thanks to my lab.

I used to work in this building a couple of years ago. It looks like a prison in this shot, but it houses media companies which are afraid that their crazy expensive stuff gets stolen by Kreuzberg kids.

Paris – Kreuzberg

Somewhere around Schöneberg.

On my way to a job in Prenzlauer Berg.

Tents & Adventure