La Gomera 3

Now what is this? Every day another La Gomera photo?
Right. My blog was off, there was a wordpress hickup, a misconnection that could not be mended before today. So now I will add one new photo every day. I was there, down South, almost 7 weeks. In the sun (too dry actually, rain desperately needed) and at the sea.

This is La Calera, the upper part of Valle Gran Rey.

Fisherman’s Photons

Another pinhole photo making. On the beach, the wintery beach, the Baltic Sea, a patient fisherman and me unobtrusively approaching, setting my coffee camera in the wet sand, opening the hole, the camera lens, 5 seconds long, just enough to capture fisherman’s photons, taking them, making a picture.
Later developed and scanned (bad scan, my scanner is ill, I just took it off my light table).

An Intimate Moment

I’m wondering: can you publish a photo that clearly shows people? Well … more or less clearly … but I think if that were me, I would recognize myself!
I was on the beach, on the wonderful pebble beach of Anidri. End of the season and still very warm, the air and the water. But significantly fewer people than in the previous months: the tourists are leaving, school has started again.
Crete is the last southern European post with summer heat!
I discreetly position my Illy camera (which contains a sheet of black and white negative film), estimate the exposure time (always 1 second in full sun) and take this photo.
The people speak French. I’m hoping that during that one second they’ll move a little so they’ll blur … but they’re clearly visible. I captured an intimate moment.

Καρυάτιδες

A Nirvana film?

Yes, it began at that bus stop called Nirvana … and somehow it will lead me to the Akropolis where I found a broken temple (of Erechtheion) with roof carrying women statues.
The Kariatides. From Ancient Greek Καρυάτιδες. Carrying a roof? The whole world? Can they still dance to the honour of goddess Artemis?
Stay tuned …

Nirvana In Athena

I was in Athens! In Greece! I was invited for a filmshow and also asked to give a one day workshop. Of course I said yes (and extended my stay after Athens and jumped down to Crete for a 1 week holiday to catch the last summer sun beams!)

The event was a kind of festival called “Balkan-Can-Kino / Festival – 6th Symposium”: The 6th BCK Film Symposium is taking place in October 2023. This year’s theme is KINO LUDENS and through a series of screenings, artistic installations, workshops and parallel events, the Symposium will focus on the presence and the importance of the element of play in the multiple layers of adulthood and everyday life, showcasing interactivity in cinema, not necessarily through new technologies, but through the meaning of game/play in the creation of a cinematic work and its importance in every stage of the production.” This is their website.

However: my film show was great, the gallery packed, the audience happy!



And what about Nirvana?
Whenever I explore a new city, I am very interested in its public transport. Metro! Bus! Tram! I love it! I love to browse the map … and I always succeed in finding interesting station names (like “Pep Ventura” for example in Barcelona).
This time I found a bus stop called “Nirvana / Νιρβάνα”. Of course I had to go there! And start a new film!

Stein! Berg! Kirche!

So at some point, when I was looking at the village sign where my parents live, I thought: “Stein! Berg! Kirche! … Stone! Mountain! Church! … Rock! Paper! Scissors!” …
and a new film idea was born.

3 women playing it, simply having fun. Mountain beats stone, stone beats Jesus (Church) and Jesus divides the mountain.

They played it, I filmed it. Super 8 of course, black and white. It’s been developed and right now waiting to be digitized, then edited. I recorded voices and laughter.

Let’s see what I can tinker!

Thank you, Mama and Antje and Birgit (and my brother who is holding the subtitles!!)