Sachsenhausen

CabanSail · 23-09-2009 9:41pm #1

I have been in Berlin for a few days. Went to shoot the Marathon there last Sunday. My biggest shoot yet, took 21,667 shots but had two faulty cameras.

On Tuesday I went to Sachsenhausen. To say it is a moving experience is like saying the Pope is a bit religious. I am still feeling rhe effects of being there.

Here are a couple of images I processed on the flight home.

Borderfox · 23-09-2009 9:50pm

Lovely first shot

greeneyedspirit · 24-09-2009 8:41am

Haunting images. The sepia toning is a good choice, imho.
Horrible, horrible place.

CabanSail · 24-09-2009 9:20am

Now that I have a bit more time, a bit of explanation.

The first image are the haunting words that appeared on the gates of many of these vile places "ARBIET MACHT FREI" or "Work will set you Free". Of course the work in these places killed untold thousands rather than set them free. What did set the surviving imates free was Liberation by the Alllied forces. I had earlier in the year taken some shots of a Lancaster Bomber in a Battle of Britain Fly Over. The shots themselves were just Record Shots but when I saw this gate I realised that a Silhouette of the Lancaster could be a symbol of the fight to free those in this horrible place. My apologies to those who may have thought I was very lucky to be there just as a Lancaster happened to fly past.

The second image is of a washroom. The commentary said that these places would be crowded. The rush meant that those who were weak would often be trampled to death under the feet of the others. The gaurds were also known to have tortured & drowned inmates in the Foot Baths that can be seen on the right side. A little bit of HDR work done after a Sepia Conversion.

homerun_homer · 24-09-2009 9:32am

Did you process the HDR image with one single RAW file or by taking the same shot in different exposures. Great images.
I'm still amazed you took over 19,000 shots on the trip. :eek:

CabanSail · 24-09-2009 9:50am

The HDR was two layers from the same RAW file. I do have a shot which I underexposed but they are both handheld, so tried with the single image to start with.

I took almost 22000 images on the Sunday. My right arm & shoulder were sore after that. The first position I went to I did not shoot that many. The first camera had a shutter starting to die & was missing each 4th or 5th shot. The spare I had was also faulty but this time it was the Reflex Mirror that was playing up. Everything through the viewfinder was out of focus & the framing changed for each shot. I just took images in the general direction & then chimped occasionally to make sure they were sharp. I think I did a bit under 2K like that. The next position was just after the Brandenburg Gate. I had chnaged to a new camera there & shot the bulk of the images as the runners had spread out. There were Germans with Rattles & Whistles right in my ear all day & they would not let up. Almost filled five 2GB cards with Large Basic Jpegs.

With my own camera I only shot about three or four hundred images.

greeneyedspirit · 24-09-2009 10:27am

CabanSail wrote: »

What did set the surviving imates free was Liberation by the Alllied forces. I had earlier in the year taken some shots of a Lancaster Bomber in a Battle of Britain Fly Over. The shots themselves were just Record Shots but when I saw this gate I realised that a Silhouette of the Lancaster could be a symbol of the fight to free those in this horrible place. My apologies to those who may have thought I was very lucky to be there just as a Lancaster happened to fly past.

Ah, yes. The thought of 'how the heck??' did cross my mind briefly, so thanks for enlightening me! Well done, though, I really think the plane silhouette fits in very nicely.
'Arbeit macht frei' - still makes me speechless, I have no words for the atrocities that took place during that time. I haven't been to a KZ (Konzentrationslager - Concentration Camp) as of yet, but seeing how integral it is to my country's history, I really should go.

DaireQuinlan · 24-09-2009 10:29am

CabanSail wrote: »

The shots themselves were just Record Shots but when I saw this gate I realised that a Silhouette of the Lancaster could be a symbol of the fight to free those in this horrible place. My apologies to those who may have thought I was very lucky to be there just as a Lancaster happened to fly past.

I figured something like this, its just a little too neat. So you've produced a piece of illustration, not a photograph. I feel kind of uneasy about casually photoshopping pictures of death camps somehow. I think its the start of a somewhat slippery road.

CabanSail · 24-09-2009 10:47am

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

I figured something like this, its just a little too neat. So you've produced a piece of illustration, not a photograph. I feel kind of uneasy about casually photoshopping pictures of death camps somehow. I think its the start of a somewhat slippery road.

You are correct in that it is not a Documentary Photograph. It is a juxtaposition of two images to express a feeling. Both images are my own & it was not done casually at all. I did wait to see if a bird would fly past, but there were actually very few around. These sort of images have been produced from the very early days of photography. Personally I do not import other elements into a photograph very often, this being a rare exception. I would not try to pass this off as being a documentary image. As to interpreting one's feelings when experiencing something as moving a site like this, I fail to see how it's a slippery slope.

CabanSail · 24-09-2009 7:41pm

Now that I am at home I have fiddled with these images a bit more.

A friend suggested this one may look better with the Lancaster flying away. So I have selected a different image of it to use instead.

On this one I have dropped in the underexposed window which has got rid of the Burn but I am not certain if the extra detail is an improvement or not?

xia · 25-09-2009 12:15am

I think I prefer the first versions.
I do realise the camp is behind those gates, but seeing the plane leaving me behind (even though it's in the direction of the camp) feels much more unfriendly. Maybe because it looks like it is only flying over the camp with no intention to land and help...I felt much more peace looking at the first version.

And not sure about the window in the bathroom. The first version gave the impression of isolation. Now there is something (a world) outside the room and it looks more like just any empty room.

My 2cents.

homerun_homer · 25-09-2009 9:19am

I agree that the first versions were better. The plane just doesn't work in reverse for me.

You mentioning the lack of birds reminds me of the chorus for the Manic Street Preachers song Mausoleum which is about concentration camps.

pullandbang · 25-09-2009 9:31am

Without a doubt the first set work. The Lancaster flying away ruins the effect. Lovely shots....

joolsveer · 25-09-2009 9:54am

I really like the first photos too. They convey something of the horror I feel for these places. I have been to Berlin but didn't have the stomach to visit any Nazi death camp.

I was hoping to pay a visit to Plotzensee Prison where many German anti Nazis were guillotined or hanged but I couldn't pluck up the courage.
http://www.gedenkstaette-ploetzensee.de/index_e.html

Sachsenhausen

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