Berlin – capital of Germany and front line during the cold war – underwent a fundamental change during the last thirty years. Being there for the first time in 1990 right after the wall had came down, I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the city and the very different urban layouts and appearances in the Eastern and the Western part, they even smelled differently.
Today, 30 years later, I travel four to five times a year to Berlin, visiting friends or for business reasons. This is normally not the occasion to spend a lot of time with photography, although there are gazillions of opportunities to get out your phone and capture moments of street life or these very typical motifs telling stories about the “poor but sexy” city, as the former mayor Klaus Wowereit described the uniqueness of the metropolis.
One Saturday some time ago I decided to pack my gear and made a day trip to Berlin only for visiting an exhibition, letting myself drift through the city and taking pictures. The equipment was very light-weighted: my Olympus OM-2N with the Olympus Zuiko 35/2.8 lens attached, slightly upgraded with modern attachments like the Peak Design slide strap, a red shutter button and an UV lens filter. I opted for the Kodak Ektar 100 film which is not only my favourite colour film but also from my point of view the best option for this little project. For me the emergence of the colours reminds me very much of pictures taken in the 1960s or 1970s, a perfect match to image the iconic buildings representing symbols of each divided part during the cold war era.
My trip started in the former Western part next to Berlin Zoo station at the Amerika-Haus where I visited the exhibition at C/O Berlin, a museum for photography and visual media.
A few minutes of walk away is the Gedächtniskirche at Breitscheidplatz and Kurfürstendamm, somewhat to me like the heart of the former West-Berlin, surrounded with the Zoo Palast and the Bikini mall, both re-built and build in 1956/57.
Continuing my walk for further six kilometres through the entire city along the axis of “Strasse des 17. Juni“, which is named “Unter den Linden” in the former Eastern part I made it to the Alexanderplatz, where the Fernsehturm (TV tower) is probably the most iconic monument of Eastern German architecture, along with the Urania Weltzeituhr (Urania world clock), both built in 1969.
Not far away from Alexanderplatz I finished my trip in the bustling district of Mitte, the melting pot of hip people on the streets but also home of far older buildings that overcame not only the times of communist regime but the dark ages of German fascism.
Tired but satisfied I left the time tunnel in Berlin and made my way back home.
See more of my work on my website rm.photography, on Instagram here and here.
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5 frames on a day-trip to Berlin with an Olympus OM-2N – rm.photography on 5 frames on a day trip to Berlin with an Olympus OM-2N – By Robert Mangelmann
Comment posted: 01/02/2021
Ralph Turner on 5 frames on a day trip to Berlin with an Olympus OM-2N – By Robert Mangelmann
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Peter on 5 frames on a day trip to Berlin with an Olympus OM-2N – By Robert Mangelmann
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Alex Vye on 5 frames on a day trip to Berlin with an Olympus OM-2N – By Robert Mangelmann
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Comment posted: 01/02/2021
Castelli Daniel on 5 frames on a day trip to Berlin with an Olympus OM-2N – By Robert Mangelmann
Comment posted: 01/02/2021
You picked a great, lightweight kit for a day in a city.
I like the tones of color the film produced.
Rather pastel-like. Could you please explain what the Amerika Haus is? I’m intrigued and curious as a citizen of the US.
-Dan
Comment posted: 01/02/2021
davesurrey on 5 frames on a day trip to Berlin with an Olympus OM-2N – By Robert Mangelmann
Comment posted: 02/02/2021
I think Berlin is my favourite German city. There always seems to be a dynamism about the place.
And the Olymous OM system is my favourite SLR system. Compact, great ergonomics and with a super set of lenses to choose from,
Comment posted: 02/02/2021
AlistairH on 5 frames on a day trip to Berlin with an Olympus OM-2N – By Robert Mangelmann
Comment posted: 02/02/2021
http://zuiko.com/web_5__20150924_029.htm
Comment posted: 02/02/2021
Clive W on 5 frames on a day trip to Berlin with an Olympus OM-2N – By Robert Mangelmann
Comment posted: 02/02/2021
I'm a little surprised at the low saturation you seem to have achieved with Ektar - not a film I've tried in its modern form but one I associate with stronger colours than we see here. I realise it's an intentional effect - presumably done by being generous with the exposures - and you're right that it evokes an earlier era of colour photography, one that works especially well in the Amerika Haus picture. Schön!
Comment posted: 02/02/2021
Comment posted: 02/02/2021