Berlin's Festival Of Lights
Berlin is home to some iconic landmarks. Berlin fosters a reputation as the city of artists. In 2005 an idea was born. Why not project art in the form of light shows onto some of our historical buildings and monuments?
That idea became the Festival Of Lights which takes place over 10-14 nights during October. Artists use laser projections to display images and videos directly onto the facades of buildings or build light installations in public areas, illuminating the city. The festival has become extremely popular with Berliners, visitors and of course photographers.
This year I was confident that my night photography skills had improved enough to get some worthy shots. Attempts I'd made in previous years weren't great and I realised one of my mistakes was trying to do too much too quickly. I'd spend maybe half an hour at a location, fire off some shots and move on. There was just so much to try and capture.
So this year I decided to concentrate on just a few of the locations, spending the whole evening in the same place until I got something I was definitely happy with. That decision made, I started at the Brandenburg Gate.
It's probably Berlin's most popular tourist attraction at any time of the year and one of the festival's highlights. Knowing I wouldn't be the only photographer there, I arrived an hour and a half early to make sure I got a good spot. I was quite surprised to be the first so I was able to set up in the perfect position, exactly central and just the right distance away. With its beautiful symmetry and the strong vertical and horizontal aspects to its architecture, a head on photo of the Brandenburg Gate doesn't look quite right unless it's in the center of the frame and has minimal distortion.
I think I was the envy of a few photographers who started showing up later. I was asked a couple of times if I would be moving soon. Unfortunately for them I wasn't giving up my spot until I had what I wanted which could be in ten minutes or two hours. I didn't want to be a bozo but you don't arrive early to beat the crowd, then graciously step aside!
Of course you can't stop the people who have come to watch from gathering in front of you. The best you can do is snarl at someone when they kick your tripod. But in long exposure, nighttime photography, crowds aren't necessarily a problem. They morph into a shadowy, ghostly mass of figures which I think adds an interesting element to the photos. An audience to strengthen the impression that a show is going on.
On the second night I headed to the Berliner Dom. Photography conditions were a bit more favourable here because still images were being projected onto the cathedral for a few minutes at a time, rather than videos at the Brandenburg Gate. That made it much easier to get sharper shots and more accurate exposures.
The roof terrace in the Humboldt Box across the street offered a great vantage point and again I assumed other photographers would be clamouring for the best positions up there. But no-one else seemed to have thought of it that evening.
Back on ground, the crowd was smaller than at the Brandenburg Gate but a few silhouetted figures intruding into my photos was still unavoidable. I don't think they were too distracting but a shot completely free of people would have been nice.
I achieved that the next evening in Gendarmenmarkt, mainly because of the poor weather. I didn't mind the rain too much, I thought it would give some nice reflections of the Konzerthaus in the wet surface but I wasn't really happy with my shots from that night. The artwork consisted of only two colours, purple and yellow and I think it needed something a bit more dazzling to punch through the drizzly conditions.
There was a very cool installation at Potsdamer Platz. The House Of Cards was a project to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel. Over 100 giant playing cards were used to create a structure that looked very fragile - as if it might collapse any second.
Different light sequences were programmed into the cards every few seconds which gave me a headache trying to set the right exposure. One moment only a few cards would be illuminated then suddenly they'd all light up, making my scene far too bright. I'd quickly stop down only for all the cards to go dark again.
It's often said the most important skill a photographer should have is patience. I certainly needed it that night as I tried to memorize the sequences and predict when the best photo opportunities would come around again, hoping in that moment there wouldn't be too many people standing in front of the cards taking selfies. It took about 3 hours and almost a full memory card to get the shot I wanted but it was worth it. That display will never be there again.
