Galleries

No text, just images.

  • ZooZoo
    The city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo This is a quote from Desmond Morris, the English zoologist and ethologist, and author of the book “The Naked ...
  • UnrealUnreal
    A lack of reality “Abstraction” means to draw or pull away from, of removal, of isolation. Abstract photography can therefore be where the subject is so captured that it no longer has ...
  • StreetStreet
    Polished black chrome A black and white series taken on the streets of Berlin.
  • GlassGlass
    Through a glass darkly Originally a biblical phrase, to see “through a glass” is to look into a mirror or a lens, “darkly” means that the view is not clear, it ...


© Andrew James Kirkwood – 2024


Glass

Through a glass darkly

Originally a biblical phrase, to see “through a glass” is to look into a mirror or a lens, “darkly” means that the view is not clear, it is imperfect, obscured somehow.
Reflections are everywhere, quite often presenting an almost psychedelic version of our surroundings, reality distorted.


© Andrew James Kirkwood – 2024


Unreal

A lack of reality

“Abstraction” means to draw or pull away from, of removal, of isolation.

Abstract photography can therefore be where the subject is so captured that it no longer has an immediate association with the object world, it’s so removed from it’s inherent context, that meaning has to be sought and interpreted.

The subject can be so abstracted that it’s just a fragment of the original scene, but it can also be a distorted version of the original.

Colour, light, shadow, shape, texture, angle of view etc. are all used to create an image with an unreal appearance, to convey a feeling, sensation, emotion, or an impression.


© Andrew James Kirkwood – 2024


Zoo

The city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo

This is a quote from Desmond Morris, the English zoologist and ethologist, and author of the book “The Naked Ape”.

We are this ape, and Berlin is our concrete jungle, but how do we behave and interact with our habitat?


© Andrew James Kirkwood – 2024


Extras

This is a repository for all those projects that don’t quite fit into any of the other categories.

  • Pecha Kucha: BerlinPecha Kucha: Berlin
    Click on image to watch Or watch here: https://youtu.be/fWfJG2MFvL4 What is it? One way of describing it is, that a Pecha Kucha is a very basic narrated PowerPoint presentation, 20 slides, each 20 ...
  • CuriosityCuriosity
    How curious are you? Welcome to this, an almost scientific experiment, to rate a series of 18 images according to how curious they make you feel about them. There are no right ...
  • Self PortraitsSelf Portraits
    A series of portraits undertaken as representations of the self, as seen by myself.
  • Table Top PhotographyTable Top Photography
    Street photography Until now I would always have described myself as a street-photographer, but here in Germany street photography is becoming ever more challenging, not only are the laws and rights ...
  • YouTube: Bahnhof ZooYouTube: Bahnhof Zoo
    Click on image to watch Or watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGR49rITu50 Exploring street photography locations in Berlin, this is a wander around the Bahnhof Zoo area of Berlin, seeing what the location has to ...


© Andrew James Kirkwood – 2024


Features

This is where I put all my longer single projects, where I’ve take more trouble with the text, and the photography is more illustrative in nature.

  • Fotomarathon, Berlin 2016Fotomarathon, Berlin 2016
    Another throw-back project. This time from 2016, the Fotomarathon – theme: Nervous Systems. This is the original blog-post I wrote after just having won it . . .  Nervous Systems Can our inner thoughts ...
  • Urban Photo Race, Berlin 2017Urban Photo Race, Berlin 2017
    Twelve hours . . . . Six themes . . . . . . . .Eighteen photos . . . . . . . . . . . . Four checkpoints 2017  A throwback project, ...
  • Micro Location: GraffitiMicro Location: Graffiti
    Anglicisms Flipper – Pinball machine Oldtimer – Classic car Handy – Mobile phone The German language is full of pseudo-Anglicisms and the expression “lost place” is another of them. On first hearing the term it’s ...
  • The Crack In The PavementThe Crack In The Pavement
    Mundane However innocuous and mundane things may at first appear, There’s nothing in this world that isn’t interesting, absolutely everything has a story to tell, even the humble crack in the ...
  • Satan’s PileSatan's Pile
    A palace of graffiti This must be Berlin’s most famous “lost” place. The name itself conjures up visions of otherworldly experiences, of a resident evil eliminating the joy of existence, and the site’s ...


© Andrew James Kirkwood – 2024


Project – The Stage

This project started by chance when I saw the potential after capturing a young lady standing behind a structural pillar at the rail Station, Bahnhof Zoo in central Berlin, because within just a short space of time she was gone, and been replaced by the next stranger.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.

From “As You Like It” by William Shakespeare

Due to COVID I have unfortunately had to mothball this project, as the number of people allowed to loiter around the station, providing interesting vignettes of city life, has dropped to almost zero, but I hope to resurrect it if and when the pandemic next allows it.

  • The StageThe Stage
    A City Soap Opera A soap opera is usually a radio or television series that deals with domestic situations and is frequently characterised by melodrama and sentimentality, an important element of ...
  • The PosterThe Poster
    Introduction Today’s vignette: Murder !! A poster requesting information and eyewitnesses to a crime in the Moabit district of Berlin suddenly appears stuck to the wall. The Stage This is part of a continuing ...
  • The PedestrianThe Pedestrian
    Introduction The gruesome details listed out on the poster of the heinous crime committed against one of Berlin’s pensioners give many pause for thought. The Stage This is part of a continuing series ...
  • The Bicycle and the BottleThe Bicycle and the Bottle
    Introduction Today’s vignette concerns the bicycle that was left leaning against the wall for most of the late afternoon and the bottle that suddenly appeared next to it . . . ...
  • Morbid interestMorbid interest
    Introduction The untimely demise of one of Berlin’s elderly citizens continues to attract interest from passersby and those with time on their hands. The Stage This is part of a continuing series of ...
  • Back to realityBack to reality
    Introduction The poster now gone, together with any interest in the recently deceased, the location slowly returns to normal, a reigning atmosphere of calm, almost as though it were an intermission ...
  • A clean sweepA clean sweep
    Introduction A BVG cleaner symbolically removes all traces of previous events, the ramshackle narrative can now continue anew. But clouds appear to be gathering, is it the quiet before the storm? The Stage This is ...
  • The Stage – Video introductionThe Stage - Video introduction
    Click on image to watch Or watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoxKRDRKCEQ The Stage This is part of a continuing series of photos taken of a wall outside the main entrance to Bahnhof Zoo rail station, ...
  • The demon drinkThe demon drink
    Introduction Another case for the emergency services. But it is said that everyone is just one or two personal crises away from living on the street, becoming homeless, and once there it ...
  • Behind the ScenesBehind the Scenes
    Introduction The curtain rises, a hush falls over the gathered crowd, from the wings a lone voice can be heard: All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They ...


© Andrew James Kirkwood – 2024


Project – The COVID Time Capsule

COVID: what a disaster, no one is allowed on the streets anymore, and so like everyone else I’ve been sitting around at home, staring up at the ceiling, and occasionally breaking the monotony by ordering something, anything, on Amazon.
And so I thought I should start a photography project concerning my own reduced situation, and put the objects I surround myself with into some sort of context.

  • The PaintingThe Painting
    Enter the flat and the first thing you see is a painting. Once upon a life ago I led a completely different existence to the one I do now, I had ...
  • The FlatThe Flat
    I’m of the opinion that there’s nothing that can’t become the subject of a photo-project, it’s only as mundane as the photographer makes it. But now during lockdown. with the fear ...

© Andrew James Kirkwood – 2024


Street Photography

This is where I started out, I caught the bug for street photography a few years ago, and although I still do enjoy it, it does at times feel a little intrusive, and here in Germany it’s also becoming very difficult, because of the legal requirement to have the written permission of everyone in an image before the shutter has even been pressed.

This is almost certainly the reason why much of German Street photography has degenerated into just showing old people taken from behind as they struggle home with their shopping on a Saturday afternoon, or under exposed images, whereby almost everything is cast into artificial shadow.

Difficult.

  • Winter Trees in the TiergartenWinter Trees in the Tiergarten
    The Tiergarten This is one of my favourite places in Berlin, translated literally it means “The Animal Garden”, but it’s one of those confusing compound German words that actually just means ...
  • Jewish MemorialJewish Memorial
    PLACES The Jewish Memorial in central Berlin, can there be a more somber reminder that 6+ Million Jews were murdered during WW II? In an area of 19,000 square meters the architect, ...
  • Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Park/GleisdreieckMendelssohn-Bartholdy-Park/Gleisdreieck
    PLACES Berlin is full of such constructions, heavy steel beams riveted together to form an industrial flavoured urban infrastructure upon which the local public transport system flows. This is the section between ...
  • Schlesische Straße/FalckensteinstraßeSchlesische Straße/Falckensteinstraße
    STREET CORNERS The North-West corner of Schlesische Straße/Falckensteinstraße in Kreuzberg, Berlin, 21/11/2020 a Saturday between 15:00 and 16:00. COVID restrictions, lockdown, empty streets, featuring the usual Kreuzberg texture of half stolen bicycles, ...
  • Yorckstraße/MehringdammYorckstraße/Mehringdamm
    STREET CORNERS Welcome to what will hopefully become a series about street corners. This is the corner of Mehringdamm/Yorckstraße in Kreuzberg, Berlin, but not just any corner, it’s the South-West corner, 02/11/2020 ...


© Andrew James Kirkwood – 2024


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