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Richard Kalvar’s Book EARTHLINGS is one of the photography books that impressed me most in the last few years. It contains about 90 black/white photographs, a kind of retrospective of his street photography since the 60s. There’s a selection on the magnum website but I think the presentation there isn’t as captivating as the book at all. There’s a fine selection on in-public.com and on 2point8 there’s an interesting interview with Richard Kalver about EARTHLINGS: Part One and Part Two.

Neuköllners unite! Bring your ply wood to Barbara Caveng’s art project Neuköllner Sozialparkett and your wooden drop-off will become part of a parquet floor at Museum Neukölln. Sozialparkett is the third parquet realised out of recycled furniture after Kunstparkett and Volksparkett in 2009. Barbara is a close friend of mine, so I do some photo documentation about her projects from time to time.

photo documentation at the Sozialparkett shop – the origin of every wood is located on a map.

Kunstparkett 2009

Kompetenzteam Neuköllner Sozialparkett 2010

Barbara is taking a rest / Kunstparkett 2009

I´m always a little happy when recognizing that there are still young photographers who are not only interested in their own lives and souls but also in the world they live in and the circumstances others are forced to live under. Kevin Mertens is an upcoming young photojournalist who is curious about the world, the people and how everything works on this planet. He is also open to use the means that modern media offers to us to emphasize the statement of our work and to spread it out to as many people as possible.

Not a little photo-magazines are flying around in virtual Internet world, one of them just landed on my screen. It´s called Foto8 and I think it´s worth to share. Don´t miss: MOG´s Blog about manipulation on photographs and ‘Dead Eagle Trail’, a photo story about cowboys by Jane Hilton.

Lens, the photoblog of the new york times, is running a nice project on may 2nd. Everybody on the globe is invited to submit a photo that’s taken exactly at 15:00 hours (U.T.C.)  (3 pm in Central Europe). There have been similar projects like this (see 4amproject.org or A minute in the life, find more in the lens blog comments)  but maybe never one with such a wide range of participants. Anyway – if we don’t find a good reason not to participate, we’ll do so.

Since this morning my new website, created by beautiful webmaster Christian Reister, is on air. You are kindly invited to have a look.

Accra, Ghana 2009

Berlin 2010

This guy has not only a funny name but also a ‘blog about photography’ where he posts  pictures and stories with a good sense of humor as well as fine contemporary photography. Chapeau! Thank you Mr. Wasserstrom.

Harald Hauswald is definitely the best known photographer of those who showed their work in my exhibition project FENSTER61 so far. On Jörg M. Colberg’s Blog Conscientious I found this article about how he was observed by the Stasi. It contains original quotes from Stasi reports shown along with the photographs they apply to. Art criticism of another kind.

Dutch photographer Michel Meijer is showing his series “Durchsfenster” [Through the window] at Fenster61 from today until may 17th. The pictures were taken seven years ago – one picture for each day in February 2003 at the Berliner cinema Durchsfenster. It’s a calm and unagitated story about a self-governing cinema run by movie enthusiasts. Read and see more on www.fenster61.de.

Michel Meijer / Durchsfenster

There is a lot of discussion and argue these days about bringing together pictures and sound to have a contemporary tool to present images to a broad public. While many photographers try to use this possibility to emphasize their work and online-magazines are forcing them to do so, others refuse even to think about, cause they want their pictures to stand alone. I think it is not the question whether to use this technique or not, but how to use it. If you are able to support the story you want to tell by adding sound and motion to your images, in my opinion there will be no reason not to do so. You can find an impressing result here.

Berlin 2009

“European Champion!” called this woman out to me after I took this picture yesterday.

Berlin 2010

Eight photographers, one good idea. They came together to present their work in a web gallery, free of commercial gains. Group exhibitions as well as other community projects shall also be organized and as a first result a magazine has been published, showing one series of each. Have a look, it´s worth while.

Hamburg 2009