Checkpoint Charlie
A quick stop at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin…
I have been to Berlin twice now, and find it a bit fascinating. On both visits I went by Checkpoint Charlie and of course grabbed a few shots each time. It’s an interesting spot, full of history. Well worth a stop if you are near!
Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, such a wonderful and beautiful monument...
A must see in Berlin!
When we visited Berlin back in April (my 2nd visit there), I made sure that we made a visit to the Brandenburg Gate. It's basically a symbol of the city. The Berlin Wall ran through here and when it was removed this spot came to symbolize freedom.
I always seek out these sorts of things when I travel. I love to soak up the history of a place. My desire was to get up really early and shoot sunrise here (and hopefully have it to myself), but that never materialized as I continued to sleep in the entire visit. So, I opted for shots like this one where I focused just on portions of this famous monument. Still worth having!
The Berliner Dom
Two photos from Berlin, of their lovely and impressive cathedral...
A magnificent cathedral in Berlin!
I love visiting and shooting the great cathedrals of Europe. They are just awe-inspiring and beautiful. When we were in Berlin, I made a point of stopping by the Berliner Dom a few times so I could capture several shots of it.
It's in the center of town and easily accessible on foot from other spots you would likely be visiting. There is a river behind it and a nice little bridge you can stand on to shoot it, too. I recommend also making a quick visit inside - it's impressive!
A nice view in Berlin
A view of the wonderful cathedral in Berlin..,
The Berliner Dom is an amazing cathedral!
While we were wandering in Berlin, I saw this little bridge that crossed the river right behind their big cathedral, the Berliner Dom. Being a fan of water, and always looking for another perspective, I walked over there to take a look.
I'm glad that I did, because it's a great spot to get an alternate view of this fabulous cathedral (as opposed to the view from the front, which I also got). It also gives you a little perspective on the scene, since you are slightly back from it.
It was late afternoon and there was some gorgeous light in the sky. Sadly I didn't have time to stick around for sunset but I'm happy with this one!
Hanging with the tourists at Checkpoint Charlie
Have you ever been to Berlin? It's a lovely city, though I have only been there for about 6 hours, as I describe in today's post. But what a great 6 hours it was! One of the highlights was hanging out here at Checkpoint Charlie - so much history, and so interesting! Have a look!
Such an interesting place to see in Berlin!
As I have said here before, I am WAY behind in sharing a lot of photos from a lot of different places. Take today's pics for example - I went to Berlin (for half a day) back in July 2013. Yeah, I'm a little behind, but I am working on it.
My Germany trip that week consisted of me flying into Leipzig by way of Frankfurt, and spending 5 nights or so there. I had business in nearby Halle, though I never shot in that town - I just popped over on the train each day. I shot a lot in Leipzig though, and you can find some of those shots here and here. It's a nice little town.
gotta love having a mcdonald's there, just in case you need a big mac!
But being SO close to two German towns I had always wanted to see - Berlin and Dresden - I pretty much had to find a way to squeeze them both in. So, I just made it happen. I'm a bit of a World War II enthusiast anyways - hence my love of all things European, I guess - and getting into Germany is always something I want to do. I actually lived in Mannheim Germany as a kid, for about a year - my Dad was in the Army, and that was our home for a bit. I loved the country then, just as I do know. So much awesomeness. I could spend years exploring and photographing it. But I digress.
Because of my work schedule, I ended up with only a half day in Berlin - literally, about 6 hours.. I finished work early enough to grab the 1 hour train over there, and ended up there just after lunch. I had a list of spots I wanted to see, like the Berliner Dom, and continued until I made it to all of them. What this also means is that, being there for about 6 hours, I didn't have the choice to shoot all these spots under ideal lighting conditions. The day was warm and bright, though some storm clouds made their way in, which I was glad for. I always like interesting skies, and nothing is worse than blue boring nothingness in the air.
That's the challenge with day trips. You can't wait for better weather. You just have to shoot whatever grabs your attention, as soon as you see it. Then you move on, because if you are like me, you have more to go see.
standing in the street and firing away
But I did make it to lovely Berlin, and I made it to Checkpoint Charlie, which is something I really wanted to see. I went through high school in the 80's, and I remember all the Cold War talk back then, and I remember when the wall came down. This is just historic, awesome stuff, and I had to see it. It's just cool.
So my pics today were taken one afternoon while yours truly wandered rather frantically around Berlin, hitting a few key sights and generally just enjoying the fact that I had, finally, made it to Berlin. The light wasn't great - it was mid-day after all - and frankly, it was a crowded mess. So these pics are more "journalistic" or "documentary" in nature, which is not what I normally do. I like to stylize my shots, but I took a different approach with these. Also, these are all single exposures - no HDR on the blog today. Hope that's ok. :-)
I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed standing there at Checkpoint Charlie, soaking it all in, and raising my camera a few times to fire off a few shots. Admittedly, despite the deep rich history of this location, it's mostly a tourist trap now. And since it was sort of a gateway to the West, it's not some fabulous-looking architectural gem to take photographs of. It's basically a guard station in the street now. So yeah, it doesn't qualify for the "epic photo locations" kind of thing, but it sure offers some rich and significant history. I'll take that, being a history buff of sorts.
I have read many times about how great a city Berlin is, and though my visit was short, I could see that I definitely liked the place. I hope to be able to return some day and shoot it properly. There's a lot to see!
Thanks for having a look!
old pieces of the wall, painted with other dictators around the globe - pretty cool!
Berlin Hauptbahnhof
This is Berlin's Central Train Station...and it's a doozy!
I love train stations and trains, especially in Europe. But if you have been here before, you have already heard me ramble on about that addiction of mine...and you'll hear a little more today! :-)
I was in Germany last year for less than a week, and was technically in Leipzig which is about 1.5 hours on the train from Berlin. Luckily, I found myself with about half a day free so I grabbed the first train to Berlin that I could get, and off I went!
You can imagine my excitement when I arrived into this monstrous train station. I was in heaven! My only challenge was that I wanted to shoot here so bad, but I was also dying to shoot and visit Berlin, because there is a lot to see there, and it was my first time there. Problems, problems. :-)
So, I ran around here like a madman for a little while, and then decided I better get into town or I would never see the city. And I am glad I did, though I have to admit when I came back to the train station at the end of the day, I grabbed a few more shots just in case. Haha, there is always a just in case, isn't there?
This train station is something like 4 levels, with architectural lines going this way and that. It's a masterpiece, and a great place for those that like to photograph architecture (like me!).
It's pretty incredible to see, and as you can imagine it is very busy too. But that is ok with me - I just waited on scenes to clear as much as possible before firing my shots. I just prefer a clear scene, but the only way to get that in train stations is late at night, or early on a weekend morning. I had neither.
So I waited and shot, waited and shot, and never really got a totally clear scene, but I sure loved taking and processing the photos, and here they are for you all to see. Enjoy!
Old National Gallery, Berlin
This is the front of the Old National Gallery in Berlin. I have no idea if it’s a great museum or not, as I didn’t have the time to go inside. My Berlin trip was a very quick one - about 5 hours in total - so mostly what I did was run around to a few select spots to get shots, and of course stop and take shots of interesting things along the way. This is one of those interesting things I came across.
I am a big fan of architecture so this place caught my eye. Plus, I just dig shooting scenes like this because of the combination of cool and warm tones, the details in the stonework, and the moodiness of the sky. Of course, maybe I helped the moodiness a little, but it’s my photo so why not? :-)
Berlin Cathedral
As I mentioned in a recent post, I just returned from a quick trip to Germany - and I mean quick. I was gone for 5 nights, only 4 in a hotel due to losing an evening flying over. From Texas to Germany is a pretty long way, made longer by the fact that I had 2 connections to make. Suffice it to say, I arrived tired (I can’t sleep on planes).
But despite my exhaustion, I still found a way to get a few shots in. I had a little free time one day and zipped over to Berlin, which is a fabulous city and one that I have always wanted to visit.
As is my custom, I made a list of spots I wanted to see and shoot before I left. Near the top was the Berliner Dom, which is their marvelous cathedral, and which you see pictured here.
The day had been really sunny and so I expected all my photos to be rather boring. Although I want to take great shots under great conditions, you don’t always get what you want, and I am ok with that. That’s part of the deal with travel.
But the day turned cloudy and rainy, which may sound like a real drag to some of you, but for me it means that the sky became interesting. So, by the time I made it here to Berliner Dom, the sky was all set up and I was much happier getting these clouds behind it than I would be with a boring old sunny sky.
Sometimes it works out in your favor!