Hamburg: Monday, 24 June 2024

The first day of my Travel Week, which turns out not to be an entire week after all, since we all have other commitments, but close enough to be satisfying. And where better to start than in Hamburg, on a beautifully sunny Monday morning when, as I thought, there would be little if anything going on, and perhaps a few good images to be caught. The images were certainly there, I have a selection of nearly sixty I’ve saved from the day, but if I had imagined a Monday would be quiet, then events were to prove me wrong. Hamburg, especially with the weather we are enjoying at the moment – despite its dangers and the future being laid out before us – seems to have drawn everyone out of the offices and onto the streets.

To be able to relax and eat a midday meal beside a lake is, possibly, an ideal many set themselves when looking for somewhere to live, somewhere to work. Clearly an ideal which few can achieve: there are relatively few areas where this can be experienced, where life is so relaxed that anyone can simply slip out at midday, settle themselves down in the sun, and eat a bowl of whatever is in fashion at the moment. I’d not wish to make any comment on what people were eating although there are plenty of fashion-conscious, vegetarian / vegan / salad / Sushi establishments in evidence, but the number of people I saw eating with chopsticks – successfully or otherwise – surprised. Fortunately I am not one to be embarrassed by my chosen breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon, nor my later lunch of fish and chips: walking between ten and twenty kilometers a day with my camera tends to make me feel as if I am doing something for both fitness and figure.

Contrary to what might be popular opinion, more people out on the streets does not make life easier for the average Street Photographer searching out individual and small group photographs. A crowded square does nothing for me. The constant flow of the masses disturbs a seen image, and either patience is needed until the mass moves on – although some seem to stop right in front of the camera just at that precise moment, and then idle there – or the chosen subject stands up, moves, disappears, turns and so loses that special something. And then some of the settings seen with a keen eye turn out to be rather more than an ordinary camera can quite manage, and there is too much space, not enough focus, even some wobble. I’m not one who carries several cameras across shoulder, stomach and back, nor do I own the Hubble telescope.

So an interesting view is sometimes just a little too far away, even if the surroundings have something special about them, and getting closer would be an impossibility, for many reasons. It is also the spur of the moment, this style of photography, and not something which has been planned. I do not get up in the morning and decide I wish to capture five people eating noodles from Mai Mai or bowls from Dean & David, three engrossed with their mobile phones, and one who is annoyed at seeing a slinking photographer taking his picture. And sometimes it is simply open space which disturbs. Nowhere for the photographer to hid away and surreptitiously perform their duties. Hamburg, as with so many other cities, is no stranger to large open spaces, as much as to small and cramped streets lined with cars and portable household waste containers.

Now and then, though, something catches the eye, and all the parameters are almost perfect: not too far away; still and distracted; framed. For those who do not have a theme, it is much easier. You could almost snap away in every direction, capture the four winds at each of the compass points, and be content with much of what comes out of your endeavours. A theme, though, makes the whole exercise harder, more of a challenge. And my theme is people sitting. It makes no difference what they are doing, or where they are – within reason – just sitting, and with a few other attributes to enhance the final image.

And, who knows, perhaps a few of my images are worthy of the time and effort spent capturing them.