travel photography and more

Berlin by Alex

When I came to Berlin in the 90s, the diversity of this city really knocked me over.

So many places were there, that sometimes I couldn't believe to experience it all in the same city.

But all these differences had a common thread.

No matter where I was, the television tower was always somewhere to be seen.

For me it became a symbol and proof of being all this in the same city.

This city portrait is now my tribute to this great building.

Berlin, Fernsehturm, Alex, Reiterstaue, Lars Hauck

The photo here originates from my first strolls through the city, it was still made on film at that time and also one of my first attempts to develop photos myself.

Berlin, Fernsehturm, Regentropfen, Lars Hauck

This landmark is with it's 368 meters height so unique and characteristic that the windscreen can be smudged or rainy, a bold glance at the contours is enough to recognize it.

What looks like November here was actually a short but heavy summer rain in June 2014.

And no matter how bad it may be, somewhere and some when then the sun will come out again.

It had been an extremely long and exhausting working day, and a lot of things could have gone wrong with maximum visibility.

But it was also a day in which it became clear that you can blindly rely on a proven team that has grown over time and that you can surpass your own limits.

I rode my bike through the city, it was still really nice and warm.

Somewhere I had bought a beer and just sat down for a while.

After the first swallows - a look up - and I had to do nothing more than to push the button.

Since I had only my mobile phone with me, it might have become a bit grainy.

The fascination for the tower is now in my family's second generation. My, then three year old, son surprised me with this poster as a birthday present.

In the meantime, the tower was also the subject of his first larger presentation at school, and I am already curious to see what is still coming from this corner.

Fernsehturm, Berlin, Historischer Hafen, Lars Hauck

And it's always there, even when you can't see it.

There are days in autumn when it has simply visually disappeared from the cityscape.

I'm always amazed how different a street looks, I then feel a bit uncomfortable because something is missing and I need a while to find out the reason.

That evening in November it was luckily only half gone, and I was able to include it in the picture at the historic harbor.

A snapshot from the city train.

Majestically the ball seems to stand still while the facades of the buildings at Hackescher Markt appear to slide past me.

From Treptow you have a wonderful view along the Spree into the city.

Here you are away from the hustle and bustle - the sounds are far away and you can enjoy the view into the heart of the city.

Fernsehturm, Brandenburger Tor, Berlin, Lars Hauck

It got crowded at the Brandenburg Gate.

For years, I've been thinking every year - oh boy, that's a lot of people, that's more than last year.

I cannot imagine then at all that it can become still more crowded.

But what should I say, somehow it will continue to grow.

The loneliness that surrounded this gate at the time of the division is, at least for me, today really distant and hardly imaginable.

Sometimes, very rarely only, strange things happen in the fog and the tower doesn't seem to be the only high building in the city anymore, but if you get closer, the true television tower has always been able to maintain its title as the tallest building in Germany.