My week in Berlin ends today, and I think the locals have still not noticed my presence. I have however, lost most of my shyness with the camera, and after the first few days started making many more pictures on the street and in train stations. I was unable to capture the trams in Brussels the way I wanted to, so I was glad for a chance to get another “shot” at them, though I preferred the aesthetics of the older Belgian trams and cityscapes.
In addition to the constant movement I encountered all over this city I was deeply inspired by exhibitions of photography. The Bauhaus Archive in particular, but also the Berlinische Galerie where I saw the work of many German photographers including Thomas Hoepker, Hans Pieler, Wolf Lützen, Eric Salomon, and Tim N Gidal, and was able to think specifically about what I value in their’s and other photographic work. So far I've identified depth, human expression and experience, movement, containment and compression of information, and strong values or contrast of light and darkness. I do not mean for this study to objectify, define, or contain my aesthetic, but strive to understand better where it is now, and where it comes from. It is the artist’s responsibility to examine why they like what they like, and to challenge and question the the sources and validity of their aesthetics.
