Kristallnacht: The Beginning

I really love this image (it will probably end up on the front of my new web site) - this was the first plate of the day. It's an 8" x 10" black glass Ambrotype shot with a small Jamin-Darlot (c.1864) lens - I like the "keyhole" effect this lens gives the image.

We visited Mainz, Germany today. It's about 45 minutes to the north of us. I made three wet plate collodion images there of the former synagogue. It was perfect weather and a perfect day for it.

The Germans were very friendly in Mainz. We had a paper ready to handout to them explaining what I was doing. There were a few very positive and encouraging responses; I was surprised. There were a few that stayed and watched as I went through the entire process and saw the final plate coming up in the fix. Really great stuff!

I am very excited about this project now; the results were fantastic today and I look forward to going out again in a few days to make more images. Jean and Summer were outstanding! I love you both! Thank you for all of your help - I couldn't do this crazy thing without you!

The memorial plaque - this plate is exquisite in real life. The details are amazing - especially the stones
and the relief of the old synagogue. This is an 8" x 10" Ambrotype on black glass.

 
Quinn exposes a plate as Summer rolls video.

Here's the setup: Toyota 4Runner and a portable darkroom!

The Anne Frank Exhibit

Anne Frank ExhibitOn Sunday, Jean, Summer, Denise and I jumped on the Straßenbohn and went into Mannheim. We walked around and enjoyed the people - pure C-A-N-D-Y, very delicious. There were two young German girls that came running up to us saying, "Engländer, Engländer!" I wasn't quite sure what to make of them. They were probably about 12 or 13 years-old. At first, they seemed to be interested in Summer's Converse bag. We finally realized that they were doing a project for their English class; they wanted to record us speaking English. Once I understood that, I told them to get their recorders ready - and then I said, "I want to know why more Germans can't be as friendly as you are and why they don't remember Kristallnacht here in Germany." I can't wait until their teacher translates that for them - maybe it will start a dialogue! They were puzzled but immediately played it back and were listening to it as we walked away. Several minutes later, they caught up to us again and had us clap (applause) into their recorders - we happily obliged. We were speaking in German and asking them to say "Hallo" to German people as they walked by and to see how many responded positively - few did - it was an amazing, quick sociological experiment and those girls gave me hope for the future of Germany.

We were hungry after all of this and had lunch at a Turkish Döner. Ein Der Turkei Pizza mit Lamm Fleisch (Döner) rocks!! I had the Turkish buttermilk called, "Arayan" - it's a cross between buttermilk and yogurt drink, very popular with Turkish people and very tasty. After lunch, we headed to the synagogue to see the Anne Frank exhibit.

Although we went to the Anne Frank Haus in Amsterdam in 2001, her story never ceases to amaze me, lift me up and sadden me all at once. It's like she knew that she wasn't going to live very long. Her passion and dreams were waiting to be realized, but were dashed and destroyed by insane, possessed people. I hope she can see the positive influence her work and life has had, and will continue to have, on people all over the world. She was an amazing human being.

Kristallnacht 2008

This November 9th (and 10th) is the 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, or "The Night of Broken Glass." Almost 2000 synagogues were desecrated or destroyed. I'm hoping to have a body of work (wet plate collodion images - photographs on glass plates) to exhibit in Germany on one, or both, of these nights.

I'm well on my way to getting my project started (the actual image making part). For the last several months, I've been doing a lot of research. My point of view and opinion about this event has changed a lot. It's one thing to understand an event like this in the abstract, quite another to walk this land, see these places and, in a lot of ways, feel the misery and hurt of the people murdered here - it changes you.

Viernheim Memorial
This is the Viernheim, Germany memorial. I live in this village. This memorial is a five minute walk from my house. To me, this looks like a tombstone. The wet plate collodion process has also created a visual that looks like fire below it. The background is "spinning" because of the old lens I'm using - it's pregnant with metaphor.

The work that I am creating now will be more "radical" and more conceptual than this. Not that there is anything wrong with "documents," I just want to say more visually. Let's see if I can make it happen.