PHOTOGRAPHING BERLIN BRUTALISM: a minimalist approach [Leica M6 + Yashica T4]
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 21. 08. 2024
- BRUTALISM. Raw concrete, geometrical shapes, grey color pallets - the ideal motifs for a minimalist approach to photography. In this video I explore some brutalist buildings in Berlin, packing minimal to match the subject matter. All I have with me is my Leica M6 loaded with some Ilford HP5 400 as well as my Yashica T4 loaded in with some Kodak Kodacolor 400. Also, I meet my friend Vince again, who gives me the most incredible present ever!
What works better in your opinion - the contrasty, minimal black and white images or the saturated, expressive color images?
Follow Vince here:
IG: / vince.petrovic
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![PHOTOGRAPHING THE MOST BIZARRE BRUTALIST BUILDING: is it dangerous? [Leica M6 + XPAN]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3wnYXC2HeWw/mqdefault.jpg)
Berlin has been my home town since 2017. Probably the most outstanding advantage of living here is the "mix" and entirely different feel of streets and quarters in very close proximity of each other; a walk of hundred meters can transport the explorer into new worlds and spots, into vast parks, alongside waterways and romantic canalls, into alternating lifestyle areas, and also mindsets. The "brutish" architecture, on the whole, is mostly sprinkled out in tolerable quantities in between long roads with 6-storey houses from the imperial period. Dunno how they survived the war - looking at 1945 areal photographs would suggest they must all be gone, but they are still here, fortunately.
Thanks for your comment and all this useful additional information - I appreciate it! :)
Thanks for sharing Karin - youâve got a wonderful âeyeâ that finds the nice perspectives and contrasts. I appreciate your videos !!
Love Brutalism and all kind of Arquitecure
Hi, Karin
Always nice to see your photos and nice smile đ. The label of brutality or brutality design in city design is understandable, but we need to remember in the post war period to rebuild as much and as quickly as possible. The damage from WWII bombing could not be called subtle, and much effort was put into rebuilding, perhaps with funding & help from the Marshall Plan. There was fear that keeping the devastation & poverty in the post war period would be fertile ground for communism during the Cold War, so what we can refer to as ultra modern or brutally displayed concrete was pushed by the politics & fears of that time.
It is good to see your work & efforts to photograph this cityscape, because we can miss or overlook these angles and patterns as just big city design. it takes a focused and keener eye to point how this exposed concrete might contrast w other designs in the layout of a city like Berlin.
In the U.S., artists and photographers can point to the massive and austere public housing that got built in the early 1960s as part of 'urban renewal'. Impersonal & austere design isn't confined to Berlin.
Well done, Karin. Stay safe and keep smiling.
Here in Montreal, brutalism was very popular in the 60's and 70's. A most of our metro stations are in that style. Complete with mosaics, burnt orange tiles and sometimes even stained glass!
There is also the college where I took my first photo class and a pavilion of the university I went to. Too bad people don't seem to appreciate this truly iconic style.
Interesting that Canada had the brutalism wave a little later as it seems. Thanks for sharing! :)
When I went to Montreal in August, I fell in love with the metro! So beautiful compared to Vancouverâs boring metro.
Oh! I really love your backpack and water bottle. đ€Ł As always... great video! đ„°
Haha, awesome compliment! đ Thanks for your comment :)
Berlin and Brutalist architecture + photography =đ Thanks for sharing Karin and Vince.
Thanks so much for your comment, I appreciate it! :)
Great music at the start of this. As always the photographs are brilliant.
Thank you, I appreciate it! :)
Wirklich super Thema und ErklÀrungen. Danke!
Fantastic work
Gut gemacht!
The pallaseum was my favourite area of the day. I canât wait for your next video đ€©. I only discovered Brutalist Architecture this past year. I love how the architecture lends itself very well to photography. Especially black and white. For me anyway âșïž
That was definitely also my favourite spot of the day! :) Thanks for your comment, I agree that black and white photography and concrete go very well together âđ»
The gift of film is always a good thing. You have a great friend.
Absolutely! Thanks for your comment :)
Great video, I love Berlin, I can't wait to get back and do more photography. You captured some lovely photos of the Brutalism space!
Thanks for your comment Todd, I appreciate it a lot. Hope you will make it to Berlin for another photography trip. :) (I love your channel by the way!)
@@KarinMajoka Thank you, right back at you, I always watch out for your videos. ;-)
great video! ill be in Berlin this weekend for the marathon and I'm certainly hoping to also see some of the brutalist architecture so it was really cool to watch your video first
Awesome, have fun during the marathon! I am sure you will enjoy Berlin, plenty of interesting subjects to shoot :)
Very happy to see you getting into this style, brutalism and flat architecture shots are my favourites and Berlin seems to be an amazing playground !
Thanks for your comment! :) There are still so many more brutalist places to visit in Berlin, so I cannot wait to be back and shoot some more.
In case you somehow make it to London, make sure to check out the "Barbican"...huuuuuge building with apartments, libraries, parks, theaters, indoor-gardens, etc. Really amazing for taking phootographs!
I have heard about Barbican before, thanks for the tip! In case I will make it to London, I will absolutely check it out! :)
Very good job. Nice video and great shoots. Thank you
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it! :)
đ
Awesome video! I love brutalist architecture and it's really fun to photograph, but there isn't much of it where I'm from. I really enjoyed the photos that have some plant life within the brutalist scenes. The contrast between these two things is so satisfying!
Thanks for your comment, Reimann! :)
interesting place and pictures, definitely a place to visit. I am more into black and white but the colour ones do work well.
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it :)
I didn't know the concept of brutalism before watching this but totally get it. Aesthetically it calls for demolition of these horrific buildings. But on the other hand the contrast is what makes beautiful architecture stand out. And I'd rather have a few brutalist buildings around than a whole city of boring middle of the road indifferent ones. And it can also become to neat for me. As for your photos, I have to say that you have good eyes! They make interesting impressions of sometimes seamingly dull motives. I like your work - it is very inspirational!
Thanks. That is well done.
Absolutely love this video Karin ! Photos are amazing as always , I really love brutalism photography I hope to see you do more of it !
Thanks, I appreciate your comment! :) There is one more video planned from my last trip - but I definitely feel like visiting more brutalist places in the future!
So cool !
thanks!
wunderbar, herzlichen dank!
I think it's not a surprise that I'm a fan. Great selection of locations and photos! I also love the Sony Center but have never been happy with photos there, but I really liked a couple of your quite original compositions. Looking forward to the Mausbunker.
I remember seeing a couple of videos about brutalism on your channel some while back. :) Thanks for your kind comment as well âșïž
Great video Karin, looks like you all had a great day! :)
My two favourites, one B&W and one Colour, are similar in appearance but taken on different cameras/film stock; time stamped on your video at 10:38 and 10:46 :)
London (UK) âSouth Bankâ area has some Brutalist architecture designed in the 1960âs.
Thanks for your comment Kevin, I appreciate it! :) Oh yes, I have heard that London is also blessed with some incredible brutalist architecture!
Thank you! Beautiful photos and great video. I grew up near the Pallaseum and this brought back memories. I used to visit friends who lived there as a kid. I also loved the other locations you took photos at. It reminded me how photos can give you a new perspective on places and bring out their beauty. There is so much to see in Berlin. I now live very far away from Berlin but I look forward to visiting those places on your photo walk again.
While being there I had to think a lot of about how it must be to grow up in such a place. So interesting to get an insight that you spend some time of your childhood there, thanks for sharing! :) I could not agree more, photography is such a strong tool.
Just seen this after recently picking up an Olympus 4/3rds camera. Really enjoyed this video and will watch part 2 now.With too much fear of people I am finding this sort of photography is something that appeals to me. Maybe a project titled âbuilt by, but empty of humansâ could be worth doing.along with abstract style there should be enough to photograph for a long time.
really have a love hate relationship with this architecture style that allows for minimalism photography to shine so well
I totally understand! I love this type of architecture for minimal photography as well. But on the other hand it's a bit harder to not only shoot "the obvious" images most people would get
So good! This is a day of photography I have wanted to do since spending 10 days in Berlin on a family trip 6 years ago, so it was cool to see it! I love the hints of colour that you were able to get, a little unexpected from the usual brutalist architecture images that you see online.
Thanks for your comment, glad it brought back some memories for you :)
Loved it
Thanks!
Tolles Video...
Danke! :)
Wow! Love so much what you`re doing. Seen all your vids. Now IÂŽm so tempted to see If my T4 still works, in other words buy a battery and film.
Wow, thanks so much for your comment and the support! And yes, you should absolutely do it! Fingers crossed that it works just fine :)
Nice shoots! Really like this video since I'm in love with photography and brutalism. In 2021, I actually made a one year photo project about the brutalist buildings where I live, Stockholm.
Thanks for your comment! :) Oh wow, your projects sounds really interesting, is there a way to check it out somewhere?
@@KarinMajoka I made a photobook about it. It was a personal project. I am thinking about just sharing it for free and I can send you the book in PDF if I get your e-mail. Btw thanks for great and inspiring content!
I just moved from Berlin to Leipzig and was delighted to see a photography video about Berlin. The Bayer AG building is near my fishing spot (Nordhafen) so I used to walk through it a lot. An interesting building and works quite well with an artistry eyes. Well done!
Interesting, I had no idea there is a harbour (?) nearby. Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it! :)
I did not know Brutalism was an architectural style, so I something different in my mind when I first read your video title. Surprisingly this architectural is also present in some large cities in Canada but for buildings built late 60's, early 70's. I have on a few occasions photographed those old buildings.
Arguably it wasnât, itâs a post-justification/name for what was called at the time modernism. Yes there was a lot of use of concrete in post-war rebuilding but even before then people like Le Cobusier were using it. It just got a lot of attention when there was so many demolished cities that needed quickly replacing.
Thanks for the clarification and additional information! :)
Another flawless video, it makes me feel nostalgic for my Berlin trip I did in March. Deffo need to get back and experience it like this again!
Hope you will be back soon and manage to shoot some brutalism architecture yourself :)
I much more prefer B&W to color when shooting architecture, but I like the color photos shown here. My fav shot of the day is at 13:01. Vince also has good eye :)
Same, I usually prefer b&w for architecture too, but in many places we visited that day color felt more right somehow :) And yes, Vince is a great photographer! âșïž
Wow, had no idea that Berlin has still so many remains of brutalism â€
Have you seen much of the brutalism in London? Itâs quite interesting especially because itâs interwoven with pre-war, and also âmodernâ architecture so you get the contrast in context⊠one of the most interesting forms I find is some of the motorways that are built over rather than through the city creating an almost appropriate usage of brutalism, but also at the same time incredibly overpoweringâŠ
The last time I visited London was in 2014 I think. Sadly I did not have the chance to get back there recently, but I have heard that it's a really interesting city to explore brutalism. Thanks for the tip, I hope I will manage to travel there again soon!
Great video!! Thank you.
Thanks for your comment :)
I love this just for so many great photos! Very tough to pick up favorite photo as all were so good.
Thanks so much for your kind comment Neerav! :)
I attended Simon Fraser University on the west coast of Canada which is one of our country's best examples of brutalist architecture. The campus is on top of a mountain making for many foggy days. The grey-on-grey-on-grey was a bit much, but started my love of brutalism.
That sounds like a brutalist dream! Also being at a place regularly and seeing it change over the seasons must be really cool. Thanks for sharing!
10:38 is my favorite picture đđ»
Thank you! :)
@@KarinMajoka no..Thank you for your posting such awesome contend đ
Really liked the out of control plants in the first building (bank I think). I'm kind of in the opposite of Brutalism since I moved to Newport. The campus I work on is surrounded by gilded age mansions.
Thanks for your comment Edward! :) Gilded age mansions sound like the opposite of brutalism indeed - but also like a nice subject matter (in case you can even get that close...).
I really liked the apartments. We have some brutalism on the campus of the University of Chicago in Hyde Park Chicago.
Keep shooting!
I imagine that a university in a brutalist style must be pretty cool!
A fantastic video. I have a deep love of Brutalism and actually live in a Brutalist building NE England 1960s style. The concrete might have been mainly raw but there were little touches of colour which were unexpected.
Thank you for sharing, I appreciate it! :)
đŻ as usual, enjoyed it. Gotta check this area out if I get a chance to visit. Love the retro vibes, a perfect backdrop for street photos đ
Thank you, Ivan! Absolutely, I am sure it would be worth to visit again to focus more on street photography in these locations âđ»
Nice shots from the buildings.
Thank you, I appreciate it! :)
I'm a fan of the architecture of Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Antoni Gaudi. So you can probably guess what I think about Brutalism.
Well done.
So cool that you kept parts of dialogue in the backgroud. The German language sounds so brutal. I feel like drinking a beer now.. or some Schnapps :D
So interesting, that German sounds brutal to other people haha. Thanks for your comment :)
â@@KarinMajoka No no, thank YOU for the photos, for motivating and for inspiring us to do photography.
Nice episode Brutalism is one of my favorite subjects, cant wait to vist Berlin to do some photo walks, *mystery film looks to be Natura 1600 ;)
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it! I am sure you will enjoy Berlin! :) Hehe, no comment on the mystery film đ
GREAT WORK!!
Thank you, I appreciate it!
Do I see some Natura...? đ€«
I think so too ; )
Maaaaaybe đ€
I'm 90% sure I know what that gift roll of film is
đŹ
Being a city that was on the east side of the iron curtain, the whole southern part of my hometown is brutalist architecture. On the bright side, that part of town didn't felt anything in the recent earthquake (5,5) that shook the rest of the town quite a bit...
Very interesting, thanks for sharing! Brutalist architecture seems to be rather robust...
Great video as always, very interesting architecture! I hadn't heard about brutalism before, I will have to keep my eye out for anything similar in my area. At the beginning of the video I noticed many of the pictures seemed soft/slightly out of focus, and I thought, that's not like Karin to miss the focus! Then I realized my CZcams setting was only on 480p by mistake haha oops! I set it to HD and started over, and of course the pictures looked much better :)
Puuuh, after reading the first half of your comment I was scared I accidentally upload a version with an exporting error - so I am very relieved to hear that it was only the image quality setting on CZcams itself! Thanks for your comment :)
Love the video, and loved the shots even more! Berlin was my home for five years, and itâs always inspiring to see how a talented eye can find amazing frames in the most known places (Sony center, Iâm looking at you! Lol).
I guess you must have collected a bunch of nice memories over the years in Berlin :) Thanks so much for your comment! âđ»
@@KarinMajoka I do have many great memories, I see it as my second home :)
Looking forward for your next video!
Ooh, I clicked on this one fast
Thanks for watching! :)
Remind me also about Poland this whole space
I totally get why, I remember a couple of those buildings blocks back in Poland as well.
Excellent intro!!! â€â€â€
Also is Pro 400H?
I currently live in a brutalist flat with my Girlfriend. It is quite fascinating to sleep right next to exposed concrete. In japan these used to be known as designer Appartements (not sure this is still true), but brutalism is still a thing here.
And fun fact, if you Google for brutalist web design, you can where this term has gone to in the last couple of years đ
Thanks for your comment! :) No, Vince and I both shot different Kodak color films, no Pro 400H.
I like watching videos about small living spaces (e.g. "never too small") and have seen a couple of apartments in a brutalist style there from Japan. Really interesting, beforehand I did not know that it's such a thing there. :)
sorry, I meant the film gift you got, it that was a 400pro H. Was the first film that came to mind that one could have gotten âwhen they were still affordableâ đ
These brutalist flats seem rare, at least they are not often on the market. But they are horrible for the environment. They do not isolate heat / cold well. Not sure if this is a thing with this place (I made a video about it; itâs on my profile) or a thing in general with exposed concrete.
Really beautiful, but perhaps the worst for the environmentâŠ
Voll die coolen spots, du musst unbedingt das le Corbusier Haus auch mal auschecken, meine Freundin und ich waren begeistert
Cool, merk ich mir auf jeden Fall mal fĂŒr den nĂ€chsten Trip. Vielen Dank! :)
During the Berlin Photoweek 2 weeks ago, you could actually book a tour through the czech embassy :)
I had no idea, how cool is that! Thanks for sharing, I will check out (or shall I say czech out?) if they have more tours coming up
@@KarinMajoka Had to laugh a bit at that joke :D
There was a Brutalist bank building in my home town in East Texas ... they recently tore it down for a Chick-Fil-a. đ
Seems like there is something with brutalism and bank buildings - part of the Bayer building was also a bank haha. Sad to hear to one close to you is gone :(
Hallo aus Deutschland. Nice shots of a not nice living area in Berlin. I like your style of photographing, composing a common object in the foreground with gray walls in the background. Instead of the neutral colour style if you vlogging cam let the Kodak Gold200 let pop out the colour spots. All in all a area don't findable in tourists guides. The HP is not my favourite. It increases the distress of brutal beton architecture.
Thanks for your comment! You can actually find a couple of websites online where brutalist places in different cities are collected - but yes, maybe not the typical tourist guide haha. :)
Nice places and pictures! If youâd like to see âtrueâ brutalism you definitely should check out Minsk, Belarus. And better to do this at winter since everything (and everyoneđą) is grey.
Hopefully war will end soon and two of the last dictators will fall so it will be safe there.
Hey, fĂŒr die nĂ€chste Berlin Tour, zwei Ziele die interessant sein könnten: Corbusier Haus, nahe Olympiastadion und der Teufelsberg mit der ehemaligen Abhöranlage im Grunewaldâđ»
GrĂŒĂe aus Berlin :)
Mega, vielen Dank fĂŒr die Tipps! Check ich beim nĂ€chsten Berlin-Besuch bestimmt mal aus. :) Liebe GrĂŒĂe âșïž
@@KarinMajoka sehr gerne:) mir ist auch noch eingefallen, falls du ihm noch nicht kennst, der FuĂgĂ€ngertunnel am ICC (alte Messe) :)
Very nice shots.
Somehow there is a very German look to most of the shots. For someone, who studied German Literature, Language, Culture and History at university, that's a good thing btw đ
I wonder if that gift you got was a roll of Fuji Natura 1600 - I guess time will tell.
Interesting! I sometimes wonder how my videos/photos (or Germany in general) are perceived by non-Germans.
@@KarinMajoka I think it's the subject, that gave the shots that German look, I see in them.
In general I see your shots as having a European look (like my own street shots have too).
While I'm not German, my German studies - all in the company of Germans have colored my perception of Germany and Germans, I'm suređ
Fun video and interesting to see some of Berlin. Is the city mostly newer buildings because of WWII destruction?
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it :) a big part of Berlin was destroyed and rebuild indeed.
Wonderful video!! Can I ask what lens you had on your Leica M6?
Thank you! :) I used a VoigtlÀnder Nokton 35mm F1.4.
I like Berlin. What about check point Charlie?
Did not fit in thematically in this video. But very interesting spot historically and also photographically!
But I don't think that Postdamer Place surroundings are Brutalism. It is one of the places I like to visit when I go there. Great place.
ICC berlin
There is also a Brutalist Berlin map. #JustSayin'...
âDrĂŒcken - ich bin geimpftâ
Was ist das denn fĂŒr eine BegrĂŒndung?
Was the present a roll of Fuji Natura 1600?
Maybe đ
@@KarinMajoka yep not jealous at all
"Journey" in Swahili is "Safari"
"Understand" in Africaans is "verstaan" ... "verstehen"
hey, is Kodak Kodacolor 400 discontinued?
Yes but it's most likely something like older stock Kodak Gold or Ultramax.
literally the most normal neighborhood of berlin be like:
Hahha, that's so true đ
Hope you didnât order the Berliners as âBerlinersâ at the Berlin bakery. đ
Hahah yes I did with all my heart - I will NEVER say "Pfannkuchen" to Berliner đ
great video, how awesome would it be to shoot chernobyl!!
It would be indeed - but also a bit radioactive though đ
That was a roll of aerochrome wasn't it?
Maybe đ€
Plattenbau. Man sieht den Wald đČđČđČđČđČ vor lauter SatellitenschĂŒsseln nicht.
Richtig đâđ»
Pfannkuchen. Ditt is een Pfannkuchen. đ
Nein, nein, nein, ich lege Widerspruch ein! đŹ Ein Pfannkuchen wird wie der Name schon sagt in der Pfanne gemacht und ist flach :D
@@KarinMajoka Ditt seh wa hier in Berlin anders. đ
Now I understand why the architecture of a lot German cities is so bleak, cold and souless. Mind you, much the same can be said of the 50s and 60s buildings in the industrial cities of the UK too. Good photography, Thank you.
In my personal opinion you see a very harsh contrast between the architecture of cities that were destroyed in WWII and cities that weren't. In the city where I live (MĂŒnster) we almost don't have these types of brutalist buildings at all.
@@KarinMajoka Merciful god. Come to think of it, the menace of the highrise building that started in the 50s in the UK is also the result of this ' Brutalist ' movement. I think it was pioneered by a Swiss-French architect called Le Curbusier and someone called Kahn. I live in Manchester which has a mix of the old and and new. I believe they even wanted to destroy the Town Hall and The Central library buildings that are beautiful Victorian architecture, and build those grey and horrid buildings instead. Madness.
You mean "Pfannkuchen" right? đ€
Jetzt mĂŒsste man nur noch fotografieren können.
Ich weiĂ nicht so ganz wie der Kommentar zu interpretieren ist: Möchtest du gerne Fotografieren lernen oder unsere Fotografie kritisieren? đ
Photos fook the camera ok
I suspect that many of your images need to be printed...LARGE....very nice/graphic.....
Thanks for your comment Stuart! I really love printing and I think it's such an important part of the whole photographic process
Maybe Leica will be introducing an "M6" of some sort in the near future.. sold my M6 last year a Zeiss Ikon 35mm... fun...
No place for children.
Klingt wie ein Referat in der 5. Klasse đđ€
Danke fĂŒr das Kompliment, in der 5. Klasse hĂ€tte ich gerne schon so ein Englisch gehabt âđ»