blog 4 john

Balic Sea

2006-12-04T17:51:00.000-05:00

A straight motorcycle tour from Berlin. Amazing.

Rain in Berlin

2006-11-25T18:55:00.000-05:00

The light is essential

Just some pics

2006-07-19T18:35:00.000-04:00

Berlin June 2006. Difficult Architecture.

Leica D-LUX 2

2006-07-18T18:28:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's true: I have a new camera, a digital Leica. It's a wonderful thing: small, you can have it always on you, excellent pictures, extraordinary design. This was exactly what I was missing in times when I'm not on shooting tour; the possibility to take pictures anywhere anytime. Great!

The Photographer’s Right in Germany

2006-03-20T16:13:00.000-05:00

After moving to Berlin, I became very cautious in street photography. People here are much stricter in their rights; you can see it e.g. in the street traffic: some might punish or even kill you if they see you crossing the street when the traffic light is red. In NYC I never feared that someone could destroy my camera, here I'm not sure. –
However, the official rights as a photographer are not clear for me. Everybody has a right, not to be photographed with exceptions. And here is the point: does "art" justify the exception? That's what a street photographer doing; it has nothing to do with marketing or advertisement; however street photographs might be published (exhibition, books, photoblogs, etc.).
In the US, The Photographer's Rights seemed to be clearer.
Does anybody know more?

Lost of photography?

2006-02-26T10:32:00.000-05:00

Since I'm in Berlin, shooting photos got a very low priority, very subconsciously; other things were so important, bread-giving job, apartment, etc. – This makes me very sad.
I just looking though a book with photographs of Philip-Lorca diCorcia and realize how important "photography" is, for me, for my life. It’s an anchor, not to get lost. Not that my work has something to do with diCorcia; no, it's just the kind of expression and the medium; seeing is the center, everything else accessories.
Here is a shot of our New York-tomcat, now in Berlin. Well, he had no problems with the language...

Memory of New York

2005-12-27T17:13:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a while ago since I posted something here.
Lot things happed; at the moment, I try to settle down in Berlin since I moved here almost six months ago. – It’s not that easy as I thought. Berlin is a great city, absolutely comparable to New York and at the same time completely different.
I didn't have much chance to shoot pictures. Sometimes I feel very much homesick. These two shots are from a night tour: I saw some color lighted pubs und somewhere I drunk a cocktail called "Manhattan", ordered in a missing mud.

Stolen picture

2005-05-24T02:00:00.000-04:00

A friend told me that he saw my picture somewhere in the net (unfortunately, he doesn't remember where). I shot it during the DrillingCompaNY show "Honor"; it was the ending of one of the short plays that were shown.

Did anyone see this picture?
Please comment or e-mail me. Thanks!

New York Subway

2005-05-08T23:35:00.000-04:00

NYC, May 2005

I know, it's not allowed to take picture in the subway now. However, this was never my problem. My biggest concerns were that there are so many – or at least some – excellent "subway photographers". I never tried to go in that field, but this one seems to be an exceptional photograph, and I started to like it.

AD III

2005-04-24T20:55:00.000-04:00

Downtown, NYC, April 2005

Today, I found this at a door downtown:
"Wars kill for money, art saves lives for free."
It's trivial; however, it's worth to think of it every day, especially in a country that is at war, not accidentally but self initiated.

Submission for "The Photoblogs Magazine Challenge"

2005-04-15T22:48:00.000-04:00

I just submitted the following photograph to the Photoblogs Magazine Challenge by Nitsa:

Two weeks after I took this shot, Gabriele was diagnosed with cancer. Later, I realized that this picture anticipated it all.

She wrote these words to this picture:

Hesitating for a moment
between now and tomorrow –
life will change in no time.

Photoblogs Magazine

2005-04-12T01:29:00.000-04:00

My photoblog site has just been accepted at Photoblogs Magazine. It's worth to take a look.

Self Publishing

2005-04-07T18:51:00.000-04:00

I just found the post "PUBLISHING YOUR OWN BOOK" by Dave Pollard. It gives lot information about the issue and shows different possibilities.
I left the comment: "[...] I wasn’t aware that there is such a market for self-publishing and I think it’s a great chance to show your work to a different public. I love the internet, because it gives you a very affordable possibility of self publishing; however, I see two major disadvantages in internet publishing: i) only people with internet access can see your work and ii) I believe that written text and – for my case – photographs have a kind of artificial effect on the reader/viewer when seen on a screen. It’s such a good feeling to have a beautiful book in your hands!"

Boy with Cigarette and Earring

2005-04-05T00:50:00.000-04:00

Madison Square Park, March 2005

I'm not quite sure what fascinated me on that shot. It’s technically not perfect; nevertheless, has something that made me not deleting it. I think it’s a kind tension between the eyes in the shadow and the extreme bright light that shines from the background.

Streetlamp grows out of arm

2005-04-02T22:55:00.000-05:00

Fifth Avenue, New York, March 2005

Actually, I’ve nearly deleted this one, but then I’ve seen exactly that scene at several other photoblogs. Maybe, someone likes my interpretation.

A new and pure photo blog

2005-03-31T01:49:00.000-05:00

Finally, I got it: my own photo blog. It was a quite big piece of work to get everything in shape, testing different browsers and get it validated. Now, I hope it works and you can enjoy the pictures. (However, if you find any problems to open or navigate my site with your browser, please email me!)

www.John-Pollak.com/photoblog/

Door in Chelsea, New York

You will find my photographs sorted in different projects where I tried to arrange my work (starting with 177 photographs of the last three years, taken mostly in New York City). This order of the photographs is neither strict nor final.

In future I will also address a pure chronological category. However, I’ll always try to give my priority to quality rather than to continuous chronological series.
New larger and completed works will be published in "The Naked Eye" series.

Thanks for watching my sites!

Diane Arbus: Revelation

2005-03-22T01:29:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, I just saw Diane Arbus' exhibition "Revelation" at the Met. It was crowded (obviously everybody thought to go to the met because it was a raining day here), but even though I could see only some of the photographs in some short quietness: it was absolutely overwhelming. She is an amazing photographer. (I have to go there another time on weekday).

More information you'll find here.

Watching Art for FREE?

2005-03-21T17:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I read the article "For Art Lovers Short on Cash, a Giving Tree Takes Root" in the New York Times and thought: Why can't watching art be free at all? It's part of our culture, something like the air you need to breathe and it's for free (well, usually).

Photo Project: "Winter Abstract"

2005-03-18T01:12:00.000-05:00

The winter is almost gone here in New York. However, the snow can still come back, sometimes much unexpected. The visual beauty of a snow world is their abstraction, especially if it's happening in the city.

Enjoy the series by clicking at the photo!

Winter Abstract (www.john-pollak.com/naked_eye/winter_abstract/)

Discovered photo blogs

2005-03-16T01:59:00.000-05:00

I just discovered some new photography blogs that appeares very interesting:

Photo Project: ”Gate Portraits”

2005-03-13T00:54:00.000-05:00

One center of my work is street photography and my recent project is "Gate Portraits". It was produced during "The Gate" installation by Christo & Jeanne-Claude in the Central Park, New York, in February 2005. During that time, the Central Park was very crowded and you might have seen in the faces of the people that the gates had an immense impact on them.

You can see "Gate Portraits" on my web site
(click on the image or copy and past the address below; flash is required):

www.john-pollak.com/naked_eye/gate_portraits/

This project is shown among other experimental visual works, a collection that is named "The naked Eye".

I hope you enjoy the photos!

It really works!

2005-03-12T16:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I spent almost the whole night to bring this blog page here into a shape I like. And then I thought by myself: "What for are you doing all that? It’ll take some months until someone will see your blog page and you’ll almost never find someone who really reads something of your stuff..."

Today noon, I shortly browsed to this page to see how I left it last night. And you know what: there was a comment!!!
Completely unexpected and surprising, I hardly could believe it. Somebody really was reading the very first blog of my life and asking to see some of my photographs! This is so exciting! Thank you so much "sCruuw"!

P.S. I'll post a separate link so some photos later this day.

Hi there, blog-world!

2005-03-11T15:50:00.000-05:00

This is my very first own blog.
I've already seen a lot of other blogs and thought about it; however, I didn't dare to have an own one up to now. I'm very excited how it'll develop. It appears to me like a new chapter of my life.
I would like to start with a combination of cat and arts:

Botero Cat in New York Winter

See you soon!