Dagies Blog

¡Kino, Kaffee, Kompostol! – Days 1 + 2

I am giving an intense 2-weekends Super 8 film shooting and eco developing workshop in Berlin!
Day 1 Saturday, day 2 yesterday. In a very special place right in the core of Berlin (the former East part), at Alexanderplatz. In a very special space: Bi’bak / SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA.
Here is the Link X

This is how they describe themselves:
“SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA explores cinema as a space for social discourse, a place for exchange and solidarity. SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA brings together diverse social communities, links geographically distant and nearby places, the past, present and future, and decentres an eurocentric view through transnational, (post-) migrant and postcolonial perspectives. SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA is a transtopia, a place where “cross-border ties and connections converge, are reinterpreted and condense into everyday contexts” (Erol Yıldız). As part of the pioneering urban policy Initiative Haus der Statistik, the cinema experiment bridges the gap between everyday urban practices and film to create an alternative art form that connects different social perspectives.”

I love to be part of it! We are a group of 12 coming from all parts of the world (Chinese, Turkish, Swiss, Brazilian, Russian, German) working, playing, developing and exploring together for a certain time. It is intense and beautiful!

Berlin Ramen Bar Named Cocolo

How great it feels … sometimes I am aware how centralized I live, how hipsteresque and how deep in the middle of yumminess!
Just step out the door of my house and fall into the best Ramen Restaurant that there is in Berlin-Kreuzberg! Cocolo Ramen X-berg, Graefestraße 11!
Cocolo means … heart. The hot and spicy noodle soup gives me the heat that I need for this winter!

Me On TV

Me at rbb, a local TV …
I appear from minute 30:25.
Click here or on the picture!!
Or click here for just me, not the zoo director report before … on youtube!

Forklift Man

I see him! With big earphones! Smiling at me!

2022 Is There, Yeah!

Pinhole Fun At The Baltic Sea

Christmas is over. I was (with my brother) at my parents’ who live in Nort Germany close to the Baltic Sea. Cold! Snow! Beautiful! The sun came out! Good chance for a good pinhole photo!

Coming Home To Berlin …

… is the best.

Driving 5 hours from my parents back home to Berlin, my brother is the best driver on earth, through rain and snow, seeing deer and Christmas trees, finally landing in our beloved Pizzeria Casolare!

Recently In Paris #5

Recently In Paris #4

Recently In Paris #3

Letter games in a métro station

Recently In Paris #2

Recently In Paris #1

I Am In Nice / France!

Some impressions … of a beautiful and sunny city and of a wonderful film festival called Le Regard Indépendant!

Somikon Super 8 Scanner

I have a super 8 scanner now!!!! It scans nicely, just got it today and checked it with a very old ORWO film. It took about 20 minutes to clickclickclick one roll of super 8 film. The quality is good! It says HD and I think it comes pretty close. Not for the big screen but for the smaller one it seems to be more than enough!!! (the film was not so sharp anyway …)

Me And Deborah Having An Outdoor Coffee At The Market

I Open My Shop

I have an online shop now called DAGIES PICTURES!
I presented it live on facebook, you can watch a shorter version of it here on Youtube!
Here you can go directly to my shop: dagiespictures.bigcartel.com

Solstickeflickan

Another film of my Swedish collection is now edited and ready to watch! 3 minutes long. Click the image or here!!!

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Der 4. Wagen Ist Verschossen

means: the 4th car is … in love! Instead of closed. One letter missing.

Ode an Juni 9

Here it is! Number 9!

Like to see them all? Click here!!!

28 Pinhole Photos – 2 Months Later

Remember? >> “The developed images are returned to their place of origin, hung up there and they remain there until they are destroyed, soaked or weathered – kiss the moment, it’s not a pyramid!”

I went there yesterday to see what has become of them … if they are still there … and yes, they are!
Some have withered in a very interesting way, the one of the water connection thing looks like a runpath for little creature!
Oh I love the title: “Runpath For Little Creatures” … 🙂 … will it be the title of my upcoming book???

Some Dresden Glimpses

I was in Dresden, only 2 days, only one and a half hour away from Berlin, by train. The train continued directly to Budapest. I felt East European!
There’s a little film festival, called Schmalfilmtage / Small Format Days. This year very empty which is a bit weird since lockdown is over and I thought people would happily attend any event … but maybe we have all become a bit tired in our bubbles …
Anyway: it was lovely to be somewhere else!

It‘s A Brownie!

I found a new toy. A Brownie! As simple as a pinhole camera but with a lens instead of a hole. One step higher towards complication!

It is meant for the use of Kodak-special 620 film rolls that don’t exist any more. You can use 120 film but you will have to roll it on those 620 spools which you must find somewhere …
Too complicated, I cut photo paper to the right size and stuffed it in, squeezed it in the back door frame!

And then I thought why not trying to develop the paper pieces positive instead of negative? It’s a far more complicated process but it’s possible. There’s even an eco alternative … so I mixed some coffee, soda and vitamin c for the two developers and some hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid for the strong bleach.

Luckily I am staying on the countryside right now at my friend’s place, we drive around, find beautiful spots and click the Brownie!

And then we spend hours in the darkroom polishing the recipe, heating the soup, playing with developing time, trying not to sniff the stinky bleach, getting completely black papers and some very pale, some with weird dots and stripes, but some come out funky magical and beautiful!

Squint Your Eyes …

… and see a plastic cat!!

Pinhole Photo Craze

My exhibition is still on … the photos will be hanging there until they fade away …
Here’s a little super 8 film that I made about the … making of!
Click on the photo and you will land on youtube!

Seehausen

I am in Seehausen / Uckermark for a couple of days and play holidays! Me and my bike and stormy weather, some rain, some sunshine, feels like summer is coming to an end … oh nooooo …

A Day Off – At Devil‘s Lake

Teufelssee / Devil’s Lake – I love you!
(Taking the S-Bahn from Jannowitzbrücke to Heerstrasse, then a few kms by bike)

Pinhole Photo Map

This is where they hang!!!

Floating In The Wind

Two photos are hanging in a tree … floating free … visible from front and back (back is important! Developing method written on it!) …
This is a little film by www.berndbrundert.de :-*

28 Pinhole Photos

… are hanging now outside in the green! In the Silent Green – a fantastic culture center venue in Berlin! It is part of a gigantic 1 month exhibition: THE GARDEN. CINEMATICS OF THE SOIL, dedicated to the life and work of the British filmmaker, artist and activist Derek Jarman. … see here click click!
I am a micro exhibition! I wrote about it: “Kiss the Moment, it’s Not a Pyramid!
Over the course of many days, Dagie Brundert is out and about on the silent green grounds, taking pinhole camera photos in the garden. Negatives. One every now and then. With her trusty, much-travelled Illy coffee can, she lets chance and mood guide her, looking for spots where beauty beats banality by a mile to capture just one moment. For a few seconds. The developed images are returned to their place of origin, hung up there and they remain there until they are destroyed, soaked or weathered – kiss the moment, it’s not a pyramid!”
Let it begin!

Unveiling

Nothing nicer than unveiling fresh photo prints that dried over night (it’s baryte cardboard, they need long rinsing and long drying between clothes)!
It’s all for my upcoming photo walk – hanging – story telling – exhibition, see here >>> Kiss the Moment, it’s not a Pyramid!