Out and about July 2026 – Helle Møller

1 July added a bit to this post (“Looking through ….”).

2 July early morning walk on Tempelhofer Feld

To check up on the Wheatears/Steinschmätzer (endangered species – mentioned in a previous post) and to start thinking about my attendance in this workshop where my project will be about Tempelhofer Feld. Very much looking forward to it. Except my attendanc will mean that I have to start including people in my photos …. :-).

Bonus tip: On my way home, I had brunch in Bergmann Coffee Roastery in Hermannstraße (a few steps south of Anita-Berber Park, on the other side of the street). Not for the first time, and not for the last time either. Very nice café with extremely friendly service, great coffee and fresh food including some relatively healthy choices.

4 July a guided tour to three examples of Brutalism in Berlin

A very informative and interesting guided tour (not a dedicated photo tour) to three examples of Brutalism in Berlin (Architecture Faculty, TU Berlin, Deutsche Oper, and Memorial Church Maria Regina Martyrum, with Ticket B.

6 June A quick walk across my local cemetery

My local cemetery is quite small, and actually consists of five or six really small cemeteries (Friedhöfe am Halleschen Tor). I walk across it often since it is on my way to my favourite bio supermarket (LPG Mehringdamm), and yet, I keep finding gravestones which I have not noticed before. Perhaps because I am usually mostly looking for birds, as it is great for birdwatching thanks to the many old bushes and tall trees, despite its modest size, and location in a busy area, traffic wise. Parts of it is still in use and it has both new and old graves, and in places it is unkempt and gives off a “lost place” vibe. A walk there is recommended. PS the composer Mendelsssohn and his family are also buried there.

On the way home, I spotted a white rock pigeon, and a white butterfly on a white flower.

7 June Schadenfreude

Schadenfreude is an ugly sentiment, but sometimes it just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Belgium beat the cr.. out of USA in the world cup. Serves USA right after calling Brussels a hellhole and Belgium a village somewhere in Europe.

Here, a random photo of the Columbia Theatre building which I have always liked to look at whenever I was passing by:

10 June too many photos of the butterflies on my local cemetery, and other things

11 July Photo Marathon

Attending my first ever photo marathon.

Or that was the plan, but all the factors that I hate about summer when they are all present, and all too much so (too bright, too crowded, too loud, too warm, too windy, ….) conspired together and I had to go home and switch off). With the climate the way it is now, I only like summer from 4.00 to 8.00 in the morning. The rest of the time, I don’t want to know.

I did take this photo:

12 July enjoyed a cool morning on my balcony before the heat set in

Had another go at using the macro extension tube on the 50-150. For some reason, that worked a bit better this time. Perhaps I will get the hang of it after all.

13 July the unthinkable happened 🙂

I had planned to get up early enough to be ready to go out about half an hour before sunrise, but after a – very nice and pleasant – dinner, a Berliner Morgenpost Monatsmenu situation mentioned and recommended several times in previous posts – this time at Carl & Sophie, a table on the terrace by the water, with one of my favourite foodie friends, and although the food was light and lovely and actually quite healthy through and through, of course I had the full wine menu (also very good) so that when the alarm went off, I felt a bit groggy and did what is normally forbidden according to my own rules: I went back to sleep.

I need a discipline transplant.

Anyway, when I woke up again, it had become too late to make plans to go out since by then it would be too warm, too windy, too crowded, too loud, too bright ….. I hate summer and can’t wait for September to come around. So, another slow morning on the balcony and the rest of the day spent pottering around and getting things done at home. Actually, I wonder how long this will last. My almost constant collision course with the world, and anxiety attacks, every summer since that summer of 2022.

15 July an afternoon walk on Tempelhofer Feld

Took enough photos to warrant this separate post.

16 July an organ concert in Sankt Marienkirche on Alexanderplatz

17 July a long-standing issue that deserves a seperate post

But to make a long story short: I am starting to think that Berlin is proud of its reputation as a giant pigsty and that is why nothing is ever repaired:

18 July Tegeler Hafen and Hafenfest

It was very windy so there was no sign of the Grebes in their usual breeding area, and I only took a couple of photos at the Hafenfest: Some people’s idea of fun:

19 July just a tiny visitor on my balcony

21 July Döberitzer Heide

With an occasional birdwatching(hobby photographer buddy, Florian L., in search of the elusive Hoepoe/Wiedehopf and whatever else there might be to photograph. This turned out to deserve a separate post here.

And in the late afternoon, session 1 of this course: https://berlinartinstitute.com/online-art-courses/courses/lenscapes-exploring-urban-identities-through-photography-as-a-fine-art-medium-by-niklas-goldbach/. I am cautiously excited, in the hope that I will eventually understand what it is all about :-). I desperately need a kick in my creative muscle, or wherever one’s creative juices, if any, stem from.

22 July some photos which I might be able to use in the above mentioned course

Almost my entire life I have been wondering why they don’t fit cranes with some sort of lift system; and I might be on the way to mastering the use of the macro extenssion tube; and my weekly grocery delivery.

23 July some more photos for BAI course (too many to show here – result still to come), and a jazz concert as part of ZigZag Jazz Festival, Gasometer Schöneberg. Interesting to see what has become of the Gasometer, but the concert was not interesting – I had a nice snooze most of the time – even the drummer looked bored out of his scull.

Did take some more photos of the crane which I guess will be an integral part of my view for a long time to come (and a white tube sticking out of the house across the street. Even the pigeon in the middle photo seems to be wondering why the crane operator has to claw his way up to what must be around the 15th floor, a gruelling climb and I see him stop to catch his breath several times. How difficult can it be to invent some kind of hoissting or lift system?

24 July Mari Fukumoto in Berliner Dom (Orgelsommer). Ruined by retarded tourists who just wanted to get into the cathedral and make as much noise as posssible. Photos taken on the way to and from:

25 July more photos for my current photography

And trying to use the system which the course provider uses which is clunky and archaic and very fiddly to navigate and requires us to – wait for it – convert jpeg to pdf. I mean – what is next: communication by telefax (not unheard of in Germany). Right now I am not sure I can stand it. Come on, Germany, there are excellent, completely straightforward platforms tailor-made for this kind of purpose. The photos I would submit:

Also played with these:

28 July trip to Dessau

To catch up on the visit to the Bauhaus Museum which I did not manage during a previous visit to Dessau (as described in this post). Also to give myself an excuse to not attend the late-afternoon session of the Berlin Art Institute course I am currently attending. I simply could not bear the thought of looking at that (above mentioned) archaic system for two whole hours. I will look at the recording, scrolling forward to the second part where the teacher talks all the time. The teacher, Niklas Goldbach) is excellent, so I would not want to miss that.

Another problem I have with the course is the tight weekly deadline. We are given the assignment on Tuesday early evening, and the final deadline is the following Sunday, but the teacher made no secret of the fact that the earlier the better – ideally already on Friday. I have the advantage of being retired, but considering that I have at least three different areas in mind that I need to go to for this week’s assigment, and then the time for postprocessing and selection (and converting to pdf (GRRRR) and posting which is also clumpy and time-consuming – I wonder what those with a full-time job do.

I don’t want to be the one to complain all the time, but I hope we are given the opportunity to evaluate the course, in which case I will suggest making the sessions fortnightly instead of weekly, so that we can prepare better and not submit hastily thought out and sloppy projects.

Back to the photos from Dessau:

29 July tried to take some photos for the current BAI workshop

I went all the way to Dahlem-Dorf because I had the impression that the Philological Library would be a really interesting place to photograph. I had misunderstood that somehow. It might be interesting from a drone, since apparently it is shaped like a brain, but as a normal visiitor, there is nothing much to photograph and in any case, photography is not allowed …….