Apart from desperately needing to see the sea (this time the Baltic Sea – not a real sea if you ask me, but it will do for now :-)) – the reason why right now was this Fotofestival Horizonte Zingst,

Day one arrival on schedule, finally getting some value out of my Deutschlandticket :-). All of Zingst dominated by all things photography.

Going for a walk after dinner, I noticed scores of swallows doing their superfast, erratic aerial acrobatics, so that is something I will be practising – finally getting a decent photo of one.

Zingst is a very pleasant town, touristy obviously, but people behaving normally, no hordes of druken, loudmouthed Scandinavians or British tourists. A good variety of restaurants, though only German and Italian, some of them very good indeed. Unfortunately just one Asian restaurant – Chinese – which was OK but not great.

I nearly forgot to take photos of Zingst itself just to show what it looks like – until the last day, so there are a couple of photos at the end of the post.

Conclusion – “Horizonte Zingst”, the annual photography festival, was a wonderful experience and I am definitely hoping to attend next year, and this time for the whole festival, and perhaps a bit.

26 and 27 May I attended this Masterclass Abstraktes und Kontraste, masterfully led by Kai Hornung and Nicolas Alexander Otto

Photos from day one (26 May afternoon and evening):

Photos from day two (27 May 03.30 to 06.00 and 14.00 to 18.00. I have to say, Kai and Alex have a real talent for organising sunrises. No mean feat in a week of mostly clouds at that time of day,

I did get a lot of good tips and tricks during the masterclass, but did I really learn something I did not know already? A lot of ICM was encouraged, and I have been doing that on and off for years, until I decided that I actually find it a bit kitchy, and then I stop, until I need to do something diffferent or am reminded of the option in a course or workshop.

Day 3 – 28 May – weather forecast said thunder and lightning so I visited most of the exhibitions before attending Kai Hornung’s inspirational pep-talk in the late afternoon. Also spent some time on the beach before and after the talk.

On my last day I had no firm plans, except parts of the festival programme, which I ditched since the weather was nice and I started by walking south to the inland harbour and hop on a short boat tour overlooking the large island which is a bird sanctuary to Barth and back.

Took these on the way home on 30 May:

Another example why Germans are obsessed with phone calls and refuse to use e-mails: They can be rude and lie to you without any documentation (unless of course you record the phone calls, which I should have done yesterday). One of the many reasons I keep my phone on silent and never answer it when it rings.

However, @Global Reparaturservice, https://waschmaschine-reparatur-berlin.com/, mostly refuses to use e-mails but keeps calling and yesterday I finally gave in since they have had one of my kitchen devices for repair and I was looking forward to receiving it back.

After the time slot they had given me had passed, I e-mailed asking whether I should still stay at home and wait, and as usual, they immediately called me and stupidly, I answered. First of all, they claimed they had been at my door, but I had not opened. A downright lie (a local sport – not sure if it is national or just a Berlin thing, but I can no longer count the times I have been lied to after I moved here) since I was at home all the time, and my doorbell works.

Secondly, there was a lot of noise on the line, and they spoke very quickly (another national sport the minute they hear that the customer’s German is far from perfect) so I had to ask them to speak a little more clearly. They then almost shouted, and very, very slowly, completely exaggerating, as if I am both deaf and dumb, gave me a day and a time slot. (Which they subsequently, by e-mail, surprisingly, denied having given me).

And yet, people wonder why I prefer to conduct all such exchanges by e-mail and not by phone.

Day 1 train Berlin-Munich not without its glitches: Heating problems and – what else is new on DB – no coffee.

In the afternoon the exhibition on surrealism and antifascism, in Lenbachhaus. Surrealism is in my opinion by far the most interesting of all the -isms, most of which range from insipid and spineless to decorative and pretty and in many cases dull as ditchwater.

Also visiting Dachau on the same occasion.

Day 2 Dachau

Easily reached from the centre of Munich by public transport.

Before you ask, please see this post (scroll down a little).

Like an idiot, I left the camera card in my hotel room, so I only took some snapshots with my phone:

And some in idyllic Dachau centre, in stark contrast to what I am sure everybody knew about what was going on a mere three km away:

Day three train Munich-Karlsruhe and Art Karlsruhe.

I do love a big fat art fair, and this one never disappoints. I had forgotten how big it is, and that it actually merits a tro-day ticket. Perhaps next year ……

Added bonus: to spend a few nights in hotels with functioning heating systems, unlike the one in my own home.

Day four: Before returning to Berlin, I had planned on spending the last morning in Städtische Galerie, but the weather was suddenly spring-like, so I went to the zoo instead. (I had already had a view from my hotel room directly onto the Red Panda enclosure).

Apologies in advance for the overload of images (some of them abstracts) of the great white egret:

Although I have always been interested in modern architecture, the particular skill that is architecture photography had gone under my radar till now when someone I had “met” once or twice in zoom courses wrote and said she was coming to Berlin to attend this course – a good opportunity to meet up in person.

Consequently, I signed up at just a few days’ notice, and we met for breakfast each day before the course.

Day one interesting presentations with lots of tips and ideas. Was not in photography mode, did not like the venue, and having to use a tripod ruins my day, if not week or even month or actually makes me lose the will to live, so did not take any photos to fit the brief but only the below:

Day two we went to Technical University, and a strange thing happened: I deliberately photographed human beings, not just one but a whole series. I hope that is not a trend:

Other photos from day two:

Day three a presentation on how to draw up a contract. Not really relevant for me, but interesting and so much information (in German of course) that my head was spinning and I only took the below, totally uninspired photos.

But good course, great teacher, and I learned a lot.

IN PROGRESS

But first, proof that the sun does exist, and still rises every morning.