Happy Mayday from the Streets of Nuremberg. A strange first day of May it was. Covid-19 lockdown, stormy weather, empty streets – far away from the usual cheerfulness at the start into what we Germans call the “Wonnemonat”. Dearly in need to see something else than our home and the supermarket, The Significant Other and I headed downtown to the Wöhrder See, where the Pegnitz River is dammed to a lake just before entering the city walls.
Public life has come to a total standstill on the Streets of Nuremberg. Bavarian state authorities have issued a 24/7 curfew for the next two weeks. We can leave our homes only to go to work (if we have a pass from our employer), to seek medical assistance or to buy groceries. Single persons (or people living in one household) can also go for a walk outside. Only grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations and places selling take-out food are open. When things got bad in China and the government locked up 15 million people in Wuhan, we all said that would be impossible to do in our western democracies. Four weeks later we know better. Crazy world. Amazingly, the majority of the affected population is fully supportive of the measure. Including me.
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women, merely players”, said William Shakespeare once. It’s also the motto of this blog. This monochrome street photograph is yet another example of it.
Took the Leica on a stroll into town on Saturday. There were noticeably fewer people on the streets of Nuremberg. Could have been due to the week of school holidays. But maybe it was the fear of getting infected with the new coronavirus that leaves people confined to their houses.
Yesterday was my first day back shooting on the Streets of Nuremberg after the passing of my mom. The past four weeks have been tough, both emotional and physical. The two weeks being daily at her side, when it was already clear that her life will come to an end. Sitting at her bedside the last hours. Then, coping with the loss and with all the tasks that come with it. I didn’t feel like picking up a camera. Neither I was up to do any blogging. But now it is time to get back into the light. I missed going out to play with the light. It’s the best therapy one can ask for.
Sometimes it is important to revisit your work. This image from The Significant Other climbing up the staircase of Nuremberg’s Schauspielhaus I posted already back in early 2019. While putting together our photographic yearbook of 2019, I was looking again at this photograph I took with my iPhone, and it still is one my fav images from last January.
The sun is missing in the Streets of Nuremberg. On days like this I’m in need of some color. So is my street photography. I’m not really looking for the classical high contrast black & white images, but shoot in color, looking for those scenes where color makes the photograph better.
The Oregonians call their rain “liquid sunshine”. And true Portlandians refuse to carry an umbrella. This is different on the Streets of Nuremberg, especially on a day like today, where it felt like breathing pure water when outside.
But the pouring rain is also an easy subject to get into small talk with a visiting tourist. Before asking if I could make their portrait. The request was of course approved with a smile. And gratefully acknowledged by the photographer with a smile. It’s easy – try it!
For tips and inspirations around street photography check out my free Learning Center. Then take your camera, go out in the streets and shoot! Make the portrait of a stranger!
You should shoot all the time. Use every opportunity to press the shutter. Shoot everywhere. Even in a changing room of a department store. Look for gesture, shapes, lines, layers. Just train your eye, and snap away.
Like I did here while being shopping with The Significant Other this past weekend, using my Ricoh GR II, shooting in P-Mode.
Oh, and The Significant Other didn‘t buy the shirt 😉
As I have written many times on this blog, capturing gesture is what makes a street photograph. Like the wave of this boy standing next to a Coke machine in a village in Jordan. I was photographing him out of a moving bus – hence the slightly degraded image quality, because of me shooting at an angle through the bus window.
The last day of 2019 is upon us, and so the last episode of my five-part series looking back at my photographic ventures during the past year. And as the “Streets of Nuremberg” are principally a street photography blog, here are my fav street images of 2019…
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