I didn’t travel in December: I stayed all month long in Berlin because I had to move out of my flat. Moving out is horrible: I did it 6 times in 13 years. But it was obligatory, and I don’t regret doing it after all. Initially, I thought of skipping the monthly recap I always write; I could postpone it for next month. But then, an idea came to mind: what if I focused on some Berlin street photography?
My daily life in Berlin consisted lately of two things: writing endlessly day and night and moving with public transport from home to Berlin’s airports. But how about taking street photos while packing things and dealing with German bureaucracy?
I had no idea if it would be successful. But carrying after a long time my Ricoh GR ii in Berlin felt good. Returning daily from Barbara’s place to my old flat translated to roughly two hours in public transport. I’d take the U-Bahn in the morning, and I’d return with the bus late at night -exhausted.
Whenever I had to move out, I promised myself that I wouldn’t have many things next time. All these objects that the sentimental part of myself refuses to throw away end up stored in ridiculous places in every flat. It’s something that gets worse as time goes by. Maybe that’s why I travel: to leave all these things behind. They weigh tonnes sometimes.
I’d wake up early in the morning, I’d squeeze as always five-six oranges, and after charging the Ricoh, I’d head towards my old flat. I spent some good years in this flat despite having a peculiar neighbor. He complained about everything, almost spied on me, and asked silly questions. Most of the time, I didn’t care. But when I was stressed, he was the last person I’d like to talk to.
At some point, I started believing that he began to spy on me behind his door when I was taking the stairs. Sometimes, I heard the door opening and closing before reaching his floor. There was only one thing to do then.
Every time I walked in front of his door, I showed him the middle finger. Not shyly, not secretly; properly. For the past two years, this has happened every single time. If he wasn’t standing behind the door, no problem: I was one more crazy artist living in Berlin. But if he was behind that door? Man, it felt good. This was my “Hello” to him for the past two years.
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Berlin street photography: why?
I’m in my eleventh year in Berlin, and shooting street photography is a passion that developed through time. From the moment I started writing the Letters to Barbara, though, I didn’t have so much time for candid street photos. Instead, I focused on other photographic styles, and I wanted to present mainly travel photography on the blog.
While I’d occasionally shoot street photography, the truth is that I didn’t have enough time to focus on it. So, the occasion of moving out of my flat presented a brilliant opportunity. I’d start walking through the streets early in the morning, and I’d have to walk a lot during the day.
Berlin might not be the optimal city for street photography, especially comparing it to places like New York. But it has its corners, and the light is good most of the time. The Germans are very concerned about their privacy, which is easy to explain if you analyze it historically. Somehow, I never wanted to be intrusive or disrespectful. If somebody realized that I was taking a photo of them, I would delete the picture in front of their eyes.
The days in winter are short, though, and in December, the sun goes down before 4 pm. On cloudy days, the sky is set to sundown mode already from 2:30 pm. There’s never enough time for photos, especially if your camera is relatively slow, like my beloved Ricoh. But every limitation is somehow a challenge to overcome, and that’s what I tried to achieve here.
Shooting street photos could help me empty my mind and fight my boredom to move out. Once again, I promised myself not to have too many things whenever I had to move out again. Right.
Where I shoot street photography in Berlin
Well, everywhere. Berlin is such a diverse city that you have plenty of opportunities to shoot every kind of motive. Modern architecture, old buildings (Altbau), skyscrapers, street markets. On the other hand, people vary in each neighborhood too. From Prenzlauer Berg, which is dubbed as the “pregnants’ hill” due to the number of young families, to more underground areas like Kreuzberg and Neukölln, Berlin is full of characters.
Of course, the gentrification effects are severe in Berlin, and one can only hope that it won’t change the city’s character completely. Nevertheless, there are still interesting figures in Berlin’s streets, and if you know where to look, you can disregard the phonies, as J.D. Salinger called them.
I have specific areas that I love visiting in Berlin when it comes to street photography. One of them was close to my flat, the Kurfürstendamm. That’s the main shopping avenue of the former West Berlin and one of the city’s most legendary streets. Human geography is a mixture of elderly locals in elegant clothes and tourists.
Then, I’d move towards the Zoologischer Garten Train Station, which is a big junction. The Zoo area always has loads of faces, and that’s the spot I’d spent 40-50 minutes. Then, I’d usually cross C/O Berlin for the last part and go down to Kantstrasse. This is a more local street, and the late afternoon sun is always rewarding.
I’d only occasionally shoot street photography in places like the Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) or the Potsdamer Platz. I find them somewhat incompatible with Berlin’s atmosphere. I’d instead focus on more traditional areas like Schöneberg or Wilmersdorf.
As for the Holocaust Memorial, I’d rather not take street photos there: the patterns are nice, but this is a Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The Nazis industrialized death on a terrifying scale. Therefore, it should remain a Memorial reminding us of the Nazi atrocities and not turn into a playground for street photographers.
What attracted me the most
The loneliness of Berlin is totally different from the loneliness of Athens, where I grew up. It’s actually a matter of being and feeling. In Athens, you can be among people and feel lonely; in Berlin, you are lonely. The vast metropolises that the 20th century created in the form of urban jungles are dedicated to lonely people. They work alone, sleep alone, eat alone: you can observe that solitude engraved on their faces when you see them on the subway wired with their earphones.
I wrote back in 2019 a text about my interest in light and shadow when it comes to candid photography. I first practiced street photography in Berlin before trying it elsewhere. Therefore, I owe to Berlin that chase for lonely figures. There were times that I felt lonely in Berlin, and the thought of it can still bring me shivers: when I’m out with friends on a warm summer night in Greece, the thought of my Berlin life can terrify me. Nowadays, though, I feel less lonely in Berlin; the body, however, can never fully forget.
Even on these days of December 2019, I’d only look for lonely figures, people that I had no idea where they were going. I could only guess -and this sort of speculation is probably the motive force of art. Despite talking to loads of people every day in December, my attention was always attracted by people walking alone in the streets. Still, after more than a decade in Berlin, I wish I’d know more about how those people feel. It might be a comfort for me too.
Can still life be street photography?
Sometimes I’m attracted by what people leave behind. And I wonder: is still life part of street photography? The Berlin street photography scene has a significant presence, and it explores different motives. But to this day, I couldn’t find a reply when it comes to still life. Sometimes I wonder if a still photo is a street photo. Well, I have no answer.
I would wonder about such things in the long public transport days of my relocation days. I never took street photography workshops: instead, I tried to stare at photos for hours, analyze favorite street photographers, and practice a lot. But I never wanted to be a scholar in my life or someone who studies next to a master and somehow becomes his successor. That’s actually why I gave up university back in the day.
I preferred to explore the motifs that interested me on my own and spend hours studying them. It didn’t matter to me if I was good or bad in the things I loved. As long as I found pleasure doing them, I didn’t mind it at all. Deep in my heart, I was never a competitive guy.
And I paid several times the cost of that.
The street photos from Berlin
In former times I used to shoot loads of pictures. But after taking photos with instant cameras, I redefined my approach. We should be thoughtful when we take photographs and not act like maniacs. Nowadays, I shoot significantly fewer photos, and there are periods that I leave the camera at home. I believe in breaks, and I no longer believe in social media and the hungry attitude they enforce. The fewer photos I post on Instagram or elsewhere, the more pictures I see around me.
Most of the photos in this post are taken during the days of relocation. I didn’t want this to be a street photography guide, and I’m probably not the one to offer you street photography tips anyway. If you’ve been following this blog for quite a while now, you know that I have my ups and downs like everybody else. Leaving my flat in Berlin has been stressful, mainly because it was short notice. It’s only now that I’m actually recovering from the stress. To give you a better impression: the company that picked up my boxes arrived at my place past midnight on a Friday.
To this day, I don’t know if there’s a street photography Berlin style. But what I know is that Berlin helped me define myself not only as a writer but also as a guy who likes taking candid photos of strangers. In contrast with the previous recaps, I know that I got more personal in this one. But this period was very stressful, and all that pressure needed a way out. One day, I might have to leave Berlin, I might have to leave Germany, and I might not remember my old flat views anymore. At least, I’d like to remember how I felt when I left it behind.
Most of this text was written on a smartphone, in U7, U8, U1, and M29. Somehow, I didn’t want to forget these days. Oh, and by the way: dear neighbor, living on the other side of the corridor of my weird neighbor’s door, if you happen to have a photo of me pointing the middle finger to the door, please send it over. I don’t mind being photographed candidly when there is a concept. It could also be a fine example of Berlin street photography. And also, of what this beautiful city is doing to us sometimes.
And here’s the rest of my street photo gallery from December 2019
So, here you can see some more photos from my Berlin street photography sessions in December 2019, plus some older ones. If you’d like to see more of my street photography, you can watch the video straight below.
December’s posts
Despite relocating in December, I managed to upload a few posts. Apart from November’s recap, I also uploaded my travelogue from Glasgow and wrote a city guide for Glasgow. In December 2019, I also posted two new installments for my Polaroid Diaries. The first one was a polaroid series from Scotland, and the second one dealt with polaroids from Berlin.
By the end of the month, and after I returned to Athens for Christmas, I uploaded my usual Travel Summary, covering the destinations I visited in 2019. It’s a post full of useful links for your upcoming journeys.
So, that’s it with the Berlin Street Photography – Recap 15. Stay tuned for next month’s update, and subscribe below for more travelogues and travel tips.
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Last Updated on February 18, 2022 by George Pavlopoulos