Karneval der Kulturen in Berlin, Pfingsten 2015

Hallo Mitmenschen, ihr habt einen Grund zur Freude: Ein neuer Artikel ist da und er enthält sogar zehn Bilder. Unglaublich, aber wahr. Heute geht es um ein kulturelles Event, das jeder in Berlin kennen müsste.

Zum 20. Mal fand der Karneval der Kulturen in Berlin statt. Dabei war es dieses Jahr gar nicht so sicher, ob es ihn wirklich geben würde, denn mit den Organisatoren gab es einige Probleme. Dank einer Petition und vielen Leuten, die sich für den Karneval einsetzten, fand das Fest dann doch noch statt.

Vom 22.5. – 25.5.2015 gab es ein großes Angebot an Dingen aus verschiedenen Ländern der Welt – Essen, Trinken, Musik, Souvenirs – und über eine Millionen Leute kamen, um dies auszukosten. Das Wetter war wunderschön, vor allem am Sonntag, als der Umzug anstand. 

Ich war nur an dem Tag da und habe mir am Abend mit einigen Freunden den Umzug angesehen. Allerdings waren wir zu erschöpft um den ganzen Umzug, im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes, durchzustehen, da wir ja schon den halben Tag rumgelaufen sind. Nichtsdestotrotz (cooles Wort) habe ich einige Bilder machen können.

Freut euch nun auf einpaar Sambatänzerinnen, einen Froschkönig und andere Teilnehmer. Leider hatte ich einen etwas ungünstigen Platz, dennoch sehen die Bilder gar nicht mal so schlecht aus. Ein bisschen filtern und schon hat man ein künstlerisches, professionell anmutendes Werk.

Vielleicht sieht man sich ja nächstes Mal.

♥

15 Shark Drawings

I don't think that there's any further explanation necessary. I like sharks but they're not my favourite animals. Enjoy.

chillin' shark

with cute eyes

It's German and means... 'shark'. Yeah. Surprise.

this one is not so cool

hidden shark

Killer.

serious business

easy

colorful and happy

not colorful and not happy

psychedelic shark

funny shark #1

funny shark #2

Shark in the dark. Not really, but sounds cool.

jumping shark

Glass Animals on a roof terrace two weeks ago in Berlin and this is a long title but that's your problem

Once upon a time, one of my favourite bands played a gig on a roof. It was a sweat-inducing show. Only because the sun shone relentlessly, of course. Everybody else was cool.

Glass Animals are one of those bands I always wanted to see live, but there were always some unexpected obstructions preventing it to happen. Until now. Or then. It’s been two weeks already.

We have this radio station called FluxFM here in Berlin that sometimes organises concerts on the roof terrace of its quarter. When they announced Glass Animals as one of their acts, it was clear to me: I will go there, even if I have to climb up the wall. Fortunately I didn't have to climb. My arms are pretty weak.

So it was a nice summer evening, cool people with sunglasses were chilling and we had a nice view of the city. Oh, and wonderful music as well.

The first song was “Gooey”, probably Glass Animals' best known. Then they played “Pools”, a catchy, tropical song but not as cool as “Walla Walla”. I just realised that “Walla” reminds me of “Walla, isch schör, Digga!” – something that some people say here in Berlin. Back to the song - that percussion! You just have to move and release your inner belly dancer.

The show took 40 minutes and Glass Animals also played some of their old stuff, like “Psylla”. I hope to see/hear them perform “Exxus” one day. I fucking love this song. And the video, though it’s a little special.

Maybe it comes unexpected, but I really enjoyed the show. And in a dark club with some colourful lights and a lot of smoke (from a smoke machine) the atmosphere of the songs would be even more emphasised.

The guys themselves seem to be pretty nice. I even got them to draw something into my idea book. So in case they read this: Thanks for the pictures & keep on making music for at least 20 years! Otherwise…

During the show Dave Bayley (I used to confuse it with “Baileys”) made compliments to the audience, like: “You all look very cool with your sunglasses. We've never played in front of such a cool crowd before.” And no, it wasn’t irony. He also recommended to us to get some ice cream. But I didn't.

Finally, I have some pictures for you. If you want to see some more hipsteresque ones, go to the German article. Enjoy the view!

the band without the drummer

the drummer (Joe) without the band

talking 'bout ice

multitasking Drew: synthesizer, guitar & backing vocals

Ed Singer is not the singer (haha), but multitasking, too

cool shirt (and more multitasking)

that's it
♥

Failed Polaroids

These pictures are not really Polaroids, they are made with an Instax (Fujifilm), but everybody knows what I am talking about when I say "Polaroids". Instax is not that famous yet.

This article is especially for those who have an instant camera themself and sometimes get desperate because a picture just does not look good. Everybody affected by this - You are not alone!
Sure, it is disappointing and probably a waste of (expensive) film, but hey, the pictures are still unique. As long as they are not totally underexposed or
overexposed. In this case - draw on them.

Ok, here you go.

These were made with the Instax Mini 90, a retro-looking camera with  cool settings (e.g. double exposure). But you have  to  experiment a little. The kebab looks a bit scary  because there is also a face on it. Not a failure but a bad idea.

This time with the instax 210. It was too dark. Remember, kids: just because the light looks good in real life, it does not mean that it will look the same on the picture. And a flash is not always useful.

Overexposed and underexposed with drawings. Better than nothing.

You might wonder why I did not draw on these. I do not know. Actually, on the right one you can see a rainbow. Like I said, it is hard to catch beautiful light.

Ok, I have no idea what happened to the first one, but that is definitely not the Klaxons show. The second one is a simple, unintended double exposure. The last one looks like a negative to me, but I have no idea how I did this.

So that's it. I just want to mention that it is mostly my fault that they look bad. For example, I took out the film, but not in the dark. I wanted to check if there is still one in the camera while sitting in a bright room. This is for sure the stupidest thing you can do. Learn from my mistakes.