Hänsel & Gretel And A Long Winter

Not much has happened the last week … I’m a bit ill, with a cold and cough, but I’m still walking through wintry, freezing, snowy Berlin.

I had a scanning appointment for my many pinhole camera negatives and realised once again: when the world, people and politics depress me, pictures fill my heart with a smile and gentle confidence.

This strange Hänsel and Gretel photo: me and my friend-who-flies-around-in-an-unknown-universe. … Fixing error? Minor solarisation? Sticky fingers? Black stars twinkling? I don’t know… but I find it mysterious and beautiful.

2026 is here!

Yes, I’m really lucky: I have a mother who lives near the Baltic Sea (in north-west Germany) and I have good friends with a house behind the dunes on the Baltic Sea in north-east Germany! One for Christmas, one for New Year’s Eve!

I had the idea of throwing a message in a bottle into the sea at point A and then fishing it out a week later at point B. Unfortunately, I didn’t do it because I was lazy … It would have been a message to myself and maybe a good idea for a film … Damn! More films this year …

2026 Yeah!

Gleitet alle hübsch und entspannt und halbbetrunken ins neue frische Jahr 2026!
皆さん、リラックスして、ほろ酔い気分で、2026年の新たな年を迎えましょう！
¡Entren todos relajadas, tranquilos y medio borrachos en el nuevo y fresco año 2026!
Slide into the fresh new year 2026 feeling relaxed and slightly tipsy!
2026 అనే కొత్త సంవత్సరంలోకి ప్రశాంతంగా, కొద్దిగా మత్తులో జారుకుందాం!
(I love you, deepl!)

(click me!)

Kunstverein Neukölln And 4 Green Dots For #93!

A wonderful little charity event for the Kunstverein Neukölln – a self-managed gallery where I have already been part of a few film events. Lots of artist friends were able to exhibit one work and half of the proceeds go to the Kunstverein.

I have a pinhole camera picture hanging there, ‘Tempelhofer Feld: Skater’, developed in Spreegurkenwasser (spicy cucumber water), vitamin C and washing soda. 120 €.

And you know what? Four green dots! Four sold (each one is hand-developed and unique, they always turn out slightly different …). The exhibition runs until mid-January, so maybe I’ll sell some more, hooorray!

Last Film Festival, First Snow Of This Year

… in Kassel (middle / south Germany), it’s a doc film festival with mostly long feature films but also some special short film programs, experimental and wild (I had my “In Clouds” film included!!).

I stayed in a charming 70ies hotel with aquarium in the lobby and wild Teppichmuster / carpet pattern!

Curry and Cucumber Pinholes

Curry – the golden Indian mixture of turmeric, pepper, coriander, cumin, garlic, buckwheat clover, mace, black pepper, chilli, allspice and cardamom.

Each of these spices contains phenols, some more (for example, chilli and turmeric – they act as an antioxidant against free radicals, antiinflammatory and anticancerous), some less (cardamom). Together they celebrate a golden, hot, warming party!

Combined with soda and vitamin C they develop photo paper, giving nice soft shades of gray, and the coloring power of turmeric tones it yellowish or for some strange reason rather a little greenish!!

And now: Cucumber!

Cucumbering – SD 480p

Yesterday – see the video above – I mixed some cucumber pickles water developer! I did it before and I know it works fine … now again because I’m actually producing a handful of photo prints for a little exhibition (me amongst many other artists, it’s a kind of benefits event for a gallery here in Berlin-Neukölln).

And there will be a winter market in December at my beloved spot “Silent Green” where I’ll have a stand exhibiting some pieces, mostly … you guess it … photos that I developed in various magical soups!

A Flock Of Flickers In November

Achchch, my little webinar meeting pot! I thought it would come to an end … nobody showed interest to participate in summer … I guess everybody was on holiday or whatever …
Anyway: yesterday I had 3 lovely people from Germany and Ireland and we talked 2 hours about super 8 and ecological developing!

Here’s a 2 minutes short recap!! On YouTube!

La Meko Film Festival

My film ‘Audry Lornacle or 14 Days in DJ’s House’ just had its world premiere at the La-Meko Film Festival in Landau in the Palatinate / Pfalz (I was there two months ago and gave a workshop!).

What is La Meko? It started 20 years ago in the Media Education/Communication Psychology (FaMeKo) department of the Institute for Media Education and Communication Psychology (IKM) at the University of Koblenz-Landau … phew … in short: La Meko! Maybe it also means ‘Landau media goblin’… And since then, this small but excellent festival has been around.
I’m now a fan and have a subscription … Next year, I’ll be doing another workshop there on pinhole photography!

I was there for four days: it’s so far south-west that it wasn’t as cold as in Berlin … the vineyards glowed yellow and red, and France is only 30 minutes away by train (Wissembourg / Weissenburg). I went there to buy cheese!

Rosenkohlfilm / Brussel Sprout Film

My friend Judith visited me and on a wine-fuelled evening, we came up with a crazy film idea involving Brussels sprouts… developed in Brussels sprout juice, of course.
The background is this: every year at the Hamburg Short Film Festival, there is a category called ‘Flotter Dreier’ (Threesome): films up to 3 minutes long on a specific theme. The theme this year is ‘3’.
Our Brussels sprouts film is called “3 Leute, die 3 Minuten auf TriX 3 Mal Rosenkohl verfilmen” / “3 people filming Brussels sprouts 3 times in 3 minutes on TriX”. Total nonsense but lots of fun. At the moment the film is being digitized. Coming later … watch out!

Paulinenaue Paulinenaue Paulinenaue

Paulinenaue Paulinenaue Paulinenaue Kilom Kilom Kilom Kilompompom Gun
A nonsense film, perhaps.
This Super 8 cassette (Kodak Plus-X) lay forgotten in my possession for 15 years until I developed it. That’s why the film is so faded, damaged and knackered!

Click here to watch it on Vimeo!

Cow Parade

Kodachrome & Prosecco and some other yummy soups!
The story continues … Yesterday I tried Prosecco! The result is good but less orange-ish!
Watch these gifs (bad resolution, sorry, better coming later)!

(The original Kodachrome negative is yellow / orange … then I digitized it with my fancy Sumikon machine and flipped it over to positive / complementary colour: blue!)
In conclusion, I can say: You can expose Kodachrome film (make sure it’s relatively fresh, don’t use any from the 70s or early 80s!) to plenty of sunlight, and then you’ll have a chance of getting some good pictures.
And then you can bathe it in different developers: ‘normal’ chemicals or Caffenol or all kinds of juices / teas, the result will always be more or less yellowish to bright orange!