From Barcelona to Berlin, Winter 2013

After my first visit to Berlin, just before Christmas I was eager to get back. I felt I had found somewhere I might be able to call a second home and was already thinking of ways to split my time between there and Barcelona.

The second visit tempered my zeal a little just because I was all fired  up only to arrive and find the city hibernating, the only people doing anything, were mostly like myself,newly arrived or visiting.

I too was torn between trying to network and exploring, and the latter probably won out. I was walking 20-30km a day in the snow taking pictures, exploring, completely content and oblivious to the cold.

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Hong Kong, The Future Now?

I got the opportunity to return to Hong Kong in September and took it. My first trip there left me feeling similar to how I felt when I first went to NYC; dazed from sensory overload.

In both places I was filled with a manic energy that, coupled with jet-lag, was very enervating; a kind of natural high. In the heat and humidity I was running around and always running on empty, but dared not relax lest I missed something. As a consequence, there were a lot of pictures that, though mostly good, now seem unconnected, with no theme, or thread to hang a story on.

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Hong Kong, Finally, I Make it There

Many years ago, when I was young and living in a little village in the country-side, I dreamt of going to Hong Kong.

I was attending an art college, doing a foundation course, and had this friend who I was secretly, madly, in love with. She had Anglo-Italian parents, had been born in Angola, during the war and then brought up in HK, and was therefore way, way, beyond exotic in my eyes… Wild hair, bright clothes and jangling bangles, she looked like a Spanish gypsy; a force of nature.

Even before this though, I was obsessed with foreign places and always knew I would never stay in the U.K.

In the end I got a passport when I was 17, but only managed to get to London; it would be a couple of more years before I made the first of my great escapes, and until 2012 before I made it to HK.

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Berlin, A Stranger in a Familiar Town

I have been meaning to go to Berlin for years. That it is so close and easy to get to is why I have never managed it till now; that is often the way, because planning big exotic trips to faraway places is always easier because you actually have to plan them, popping over to Berlin is akin to a weekend jaunt and always gets put off.

Luckily for me my friend Yeesan was going to be there and was coming from NYC and I could hardly make excuses to not catch up with her there, even if it was midwinter.

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Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn

Day 3 in New York, yesterday was Saturday and the weather was great, sunny and whilst hardly mild, nowhere near as cold as the Friday, the day I arrived.

This Sunday was very moody and dark, perfect weather for cemeteries and luckily near to where Yeesan lives is Greenwood which is pretty big and impressive.

I love cemeteries, they are obviously places with the potential for atmosphere, perfect for B&W and this one is not bad for that. It is a place that reminds me more of cemeteries I see outside of the UK; there the ambiance is overgrown and shadowy, often unmaintained, with the sense that not just those buried but the whole place is slowly returning back to the earth.

Greenwood is expansive and not particularly secretive.

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The Holiday

Most of these pictures were taken within a very short time frame.

I found myself along in the house after everyone had headed to the beach and after having taken so many pictures of the gang, especially the kids, using the ‘instant nostalgia’ app on my iphone, I was suddenly taken with how quiet the place was, how the sense of people having left in a hurry, almost like after some disaster, was evident everywhere.

I don’t think I was being morbid, but I did find it very intriguing and promptly did a tour of the environs capturing the mood.

Most of the picture are linked to the ones that follow (except the first and last ones) and I was deliberate in trying to have some kind of element carry over to the next to create a story.

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Tamariu Holiday

I bought the Hipstamatic app for my iPhone and have been using it quite a lot. Of course any of these photo effects novelties can wear thin very quickly, especially when over used or used on bad subject matter.

One good thing in terms of taking actual pictures is how slow the thing is! You can probably take one image every 30 seconds or so, this means you have to get it right first time and such slowness should make you a little more considerate about what you photograph.

I find photographing the kids with it is great, the issue of time and the style of the images you take mean you don’t feel compelled to have them smiling and so avoid the cheesy grins or play acting.

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The Greek Islands, Again

This was the second summer I had spent in Grecce with my friend Andy, last year was with his family and girlfriend, but this year after doing the family thing in July in the Costa Brava we decided to do some Island hopping travelling light.

We started in Santorini which had some pretty towns that were almost antiseptically clean, When we were staying near Oia I was able to walk around barefoot for practically the whole without fear of glass or dog crap, even though there seemed to be a lot of mutts wandering around.

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Greek Islands

My friend Andy decided to take the family somewhere different this year, usually Tamariu on the Costa Brava is the favourite annual holiday destination.

For me, now living in Barcelona, the chance to catch up somewhere new was greatly appreciated.

The first week was in Corfu and despite its touristy reputation it was great, mind you we had a cool house well away from any towns, with a couple of beach restaurants within easy, a short work along a lovely beach.

I was very lucky to get the annex which was an old fisherman hut right on the sea. The sea was literally at my window and even with the waves that eventually reached me from the ferries far away, on their way to Albania and the like it, was very peaceful.

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