I said that I’d grab a shot of the other gate soon. So, soon ended up being last Saturday.
Even though there’s a large painting of St. George on the front, it’s not named after him and is instead called Schwabentor.
Taken with Click!, processed with Snapseed.
Originally, Freiburg had four gates - this one is called Martinstor. Now, there are only two. I’ll have to grab a shot of the other one soon.
Taken with 6x6, processed with iPhoto.
The Holocaust Memorial, Berlin. More accurately, it’s official name is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Amazingly, it’s located only a few meters away from Hitler’s bunker - or the parking lot that covers the former site of the bunker.
A monument to the people he had murdered within view of where the murderer’s scheme, and life, ended in total failure. Taken with 6x6.
High in the bell tower. It might be a little hard to see but in the bottom right are the tools used to maintain the bells in the Freiburg Münster. In the top left is the largest of the bells.
Taken with Click!, processes with Snapseed.
The church in Munster, France.
Taken with Vint B&W, a little bit of cloning with Filterstorm, processing with Snapseed, frame with Pixlromatic.
Given to France by the Ottoman Khedive of Egypt, the 3300 year old Luxor Obelisk stands tall in the Place de la Concorde brimming with it’s own history and artfully covering up the history of the Place itself.
The Place de la Concorde once had a different name: the Place de la Revolution. And the spot now taken by the obelisk had hosted the famed gallows of the revolution. This is the spot where Marie Antoinette, Robespierre, and Louis XVI were killed. Their heads removed by the remorseless blade in front of approving, sometimes cheering crowds. The famous were not the only ones to fear the National Razor, perhaps as many as 40,000 people died - not all in the gallows - in the two years of the Reign of Terror including 1300 in one month in the very spot you are looking at now.
Of course, this plaza was not innocent before the arrival of the revolution. It was the Place de Grève and this was the spot for the bourgeoisie to watch the torture and executions of criminals and opponents no doubt fostering some of the resentment that lead to the revolution.
Once again, blood is used to wash away blood.
I used damn near the whole kit on this one: Camera Bag, Mill Colour, Photo fx, Best Camera, Pro HDR, Pastebot and PS Mobile (which now has sharpening). Why use all of them? Well, I wanted to separate the sky from the clouds which, in (real) Photoshop is easy: just use channels to get the B&W contrast right but on the phone I had to do some gymnastics with Mill Colour and Photo fx to get the contrast. Blended the HDR images, filtered with the other filter apps, cropped with pastebot and sharpened with PS mobile. Whew.
Standing at Checkpoint Charlie, I couldn’t help thinking what a nightmare it must have been to have survived WWII and then to be stuck on the wrong side of Berlin. That’s where I took this photo from — the wrong side, the east side. How excruciating, to go from the certainty of death to the torture of a captive life.
Now, though, it is easy to find those young enough to have never known a divided city and it felt strange for me to be able to cross the inset line of bricks that mark where the wall once was with ease. It felt as though I should be able to feel the pain of that horrible division, that it should be darker on the east side — if only by a little bit — but there was nothing. No feeling at all.
Time goes on, the past is the past. Only the future is important.
B&W and contrast with Mill Colour, HDR with Pro HDR, cropping with Pastebot.
I used Pano to take this shot of the courtyard and entrance to the Musée du Louvre.
It is a magnificent space and I spent quite a long time wandering around there looking at the pyramids, the Musée itself and the hundreds of statues that are set into its sides. The whole place is just encredible.
And that’s just the outside.
Pano for stitching, Mill Colour for black and white.
“We’ll never have another day like this one as long as we live”, John F Kennedy
Sitting only 100 metres from where JFK stood and looked at the Brandenburger Tor and, at that time, two year old Berlin wall, Museum The Kennedys has an amazing collection of photos and momentos from his life.
The famous speech, however, did not happen here but at the Rathaus Schöneberg which became West Berlin’s city hall after the city was divided.
Black and white conversion with Mill Colour.
