Steely Blue eyes with no love in them, Scan The World,
And a humourless smile, With no warmth within, Greets the world
And I, I have got nothing, To offer you
No-no-no-no-no
Just this heart deep and true, Which you say you don't need
Ok, so Ive been back a couple of days now, but every time people ask how my trip was, Im stumped as to what to tell them other then awesome. Heres a rough take on it...
Slayer Reign in Blood might be the best song ever to listen to while your plane is taking off. Its almost becoming a ritual for me to listen to it. Its probably also the perfect soundtrack if shit gets hosed. I love traveling but hate airplanes. Not afraid of flying or anything, just dont like sitting cramped in a corner next to some asshole who wont let you get up to stretch. Also the crackhead stewerdess who would just neglect to bring me drinks after I ordered them. My flight back took over 27 hours because of long layovers, and broken planes. It was the most agonizing day of my life, and I was seriously braindead for the last 4 hour flight.
Ive always loved Europe, and I want to spend a lot more time there. My biggest problem with the US has always been the overwhelming lack of eloquence in the mundane aspects of life. As one of my friends put it This is the antithesis of Americans disposable walmart culture The homeless people in Berlin dress better then your average American. People care about the quality of their food. Even cheap snacks at a caf are presented like its fine dining. Even the doorknobs were made beautifully... As a metal worker I notice that kind of stuff. I love cobblestone streets, they destroyed my ankles, but I love them anyway. As Jules said in Pulp Fiction Its just the little things
Alcohol laws are really lax, or non existent. It was pretty common to see people chillin on the train with a beer, or a bottle of schnapps. In the evening the trains would be packed with people from about 15 years old and up just getting smashed on the way to the discotech.
I still dont know exactly what the movie I shot is about. I got to see more bad ass architecture in 9 days them most people see in a lifetime. Stayed at the Bauhaus Art school one night. Got to interview some really smart cool people. Shot enough pictures to make a decent sized book.
German food is excellent. It definitely needs to be paired with beer, like one would pair an Italian dish with wine. Diesels were the favorite drink for the trip. I guess their very popular with Germans because we saw them everywhere. Basically a half and half mix of dark beer and coke. It sounds weird but it was really good, much better then the Banana beer.
Had tons of fun messing with the locals. I learned a little German, and started getting an odd British/German accent after a few days. It was amazing how quick it started to feel normal being around a bunch of people you cant understand.
Weather was crazy. Raining, Sunny, Freezing, Snowing..... it was all over the place. Waking up Thanksgiving morning to see everything covered in snow was absolutely beautiful though. Since it was the beginning of advent, the streets were full of markets selling traditional Christmas stuff. It was all very Charles Dickens like.
Wild party Saturday night. It was kind of the closer for the trip since some of our crew was heading back to Barcelona the next morning. Some girls we met the day before invited us to a gay birthday party for a guy friend at his flat in east Berlin. It took most of the crew a few drinks to chill their homophobe tendencies but after that it was awesome. Lots of Madonna got played. The girl that invited us decided that I was much too pretty to be straight and that she was going to take me home to convert me. I had way too much to drink at this point, and like a total ass, just went home leaving her at the party. The German Police are much friendlier then you would imagine..even after they showed up two or three times.
German malls are just as bad, if not worse then American ones. It seems the Ugg boots fashion is in full swing. I know it was a little cold and snowy outside but that is no excuse for poor taste. Faux hawks are way too popular as well. I used to kind of like them, but after seeing hundreds of school kids rocking them it got a little old.
On one of our evenings off we went to the Helmut Newton gallery. Saw some really awesome prints. But at the same time I saw a lot of stuff that kind of left me unimpressed. It was still awesome, especially since something like that could never be shown in the US without government censorship.
It all seems a happy dream now. All I want to do is go back though. It was refreshing spending my whole day behind the lens, instead of behind a desk. It looks like Im probably going to France for early summer to shoot a wedding, so I guess Id better start saving my pennies so I can stay out for a little longer.
And a humourless smile, With no warmth within, Greets the world
And I, I have got nothing, To offer you
No-no-no-no-no
Just this heart deep and true, Which you say you don't need
Ok, so Ive been back a couple of days now, but every time people ask how my trip was, Im stumped as to what to tell them other then awesome. Heres a rough take on it...
Slayer Reign in Blood might be the best song ever to listen to while your plane is taking off. Its almost becoming a ritual for me to listen to it. Its probably also the perfect soundtrack if shit gets hosed. I love traveling but hate airplanes. Not afraid of flying or anything, just dont like sitting cramped in a corner next to some asshole who wont let you get up to stretch. Also the crackhead stewerdess who would just neglect to bring me drinks after I ordered them. My flight back took over 27 hours because of long layovers, and broken planes. It was the most agonizing day of my life, and I was seriously braindead for the last 4 hour flight.
Ive always loved Europe, and I want to spend a lot more time there. My biggest problem with the US has always been the overwhelming lack of eloquence in the mundane aspects of life. As one of my friends put it This is the antithesis of Americans disposable walmart culture The homeless people in Berlin dress better then your average American. People care about the quality of their food. Even cheap snacks at a caf are presented like its fine dining. Even the doorknobs were made beautifully... As a metal worker I notice that kind of stuff. I love cobblestone streets, they destroyed my ankles, but I love them anyway. As Jules said in Pulp Fiction Its just the little things
Alcohol laws are really lax, or non existent. It was pretty common to see people chillin on the train with a beer, or a bottle of schnapps. In the evening the trains would be packed with people from about 15 years old and up just getting smashed on the way to the discotech.
I still dont know exactly what the movie I shot is about. I got to see more bad ass architecture in 9 days them most people see in a lifetime. Stayed at the Bauhaus Art school one night. Got to interview some really smart cool people. Shot enough pictures to make a decent sized book.
German food is excellent. It definitely needs to be paired with beer, like one would pair an Italian dish with wine. Diesels were the favorite drink for the trip. I guess their very popular with Germans because we saw them everywhere. Basically a half and half mix of dark beer and coke. It sounds weird but it was really good, much better then the Banana beer.
Had tons of fun messing with the locals. I learned a little German, and started getting an odd British/German accent after a few days. It was amazing how quick it started to feel normal being around a bunch of people you cant understand.
Weather was crazy. Raining, Sunny, Freezing, Snowing..... it was all over the place. Waking up Thanksgiving morning to see everything covered in snow was absolutely beautiful though. Since it was the beginning of advent, the streets were full of markets selling traditional Christmas stuff. It was all very Charles Dickens like.
Wild party Saturday night. It was kind of the closer for the trip since some of our crew was heading back to Barcelona the next morning. Some girls we met the day before invited us to a gay birthday party for a guy friend at his flat in east Berlin. It took most of the crew a few drinks to chill their homophobe tendencies but after that it was awesome. Lots of Madonna got played. The girl that invited us decided that I was much too pretty to be straight and that she was going to take me home to convert me. I had way too much to drink at this point, and like a total ass, just went home leaving her at the party. The German Police are much friendlier then you would imagine..even after they showed up two or three times.
German malls are just as bad, if not worse then American ones. It seems the Ugg boots fashion is in full swing. I know it was a little cold and snowy outside but that is no excuse for poor taste. Faux hawks are way too popular as well. I used to kind of like them, but after seeing hundreds of school kids rocking them it got a little old.
On one of our evenings off we went to the Helmut Newton gallery. Saw some really awesome prints. But at the same time I saw a lot of stuff that kind of left me unimpressed. It was still awesome, especially since something like that could never be shown in the US without government censorship.
It all seems a happy dream now. All I want to do is go back though. It was refreshing spending my whole day behind the lens, instead of behind a desk. It looks like Im probably going to France for early summer to shoot a wedding, so I guess Id better start saving my pennies so I can stay out for a little longer.
VIEW 16 of 16 COMMENTS
but ya i'd love to see you work and help out. have lights? need some? need more?