Explored 18 June, 2023

#sliderssunday

Actually, I'd wanted to upload something sunshiny and summery for Sliders Sunday, but then I remembered that 2023 marks the 70th anniversary of 17 June 1953, the Day of the East German Uprising. The uprising started on June 16 in East Berlin. Construction workers had decided to strike against unbearable work quotas. The momentum of this strike spread across the GDR and accumulated in a massive uprising in numerous East German cities and villages against the East German Government and the SED (the Socialist Unity Party). Workers were joined by students, people demanded free elections and the release of all political prisoners. Just like in Prague 15 years later, the East German Uprising could only be brutally stopped by Soviet forces who sent tanks to the streets of East Berlin. More than 50 people were killed during the uprising, several more were sentenced to death later. In West Germany and West Berlin, 17 June was celebrated as a public holiday until 1990 when it was replaced by the Tag der Deutschen Einheit (German Unity Day) which we celebrate each year on 3 October.

This photo doesn't have a direct connection to 17 June, it is related to the German division in general and specifically to the Berlin Wall since the White Crosses memorial remembers the people who were killed in their attempt of fleeing the GDR. The last victim of the Berlin Wall and the German division, Chris Gueffroy, was shot on 5 February 1989, only nine months before the Berlin Wall fell. He was only 20 years old.

In this particular spot in Berlin's government district, the border between West and East Berlin ran right through the river Spree. In fact, the opposite side of the Spree where you can now see the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus, one of many government buildings in the Mitte district, belonged to East Berlin, while this side of the Spree, the Reichstag building included, belonged partly to West Berlin. The white, highlighted strip in the lower right corner (next to the steps) marks the course of the Berlin Wall.

Tags:   Berlin Germany Deutschland 17. Juni 1953 Aufstand des 17. Juni 1953 Day of the East German Uprising Spree Weiße Kreuze White Crosses Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus clouds river stairs architecture history black and white wide-angle photography

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Explored 15 April 2023

#sliderssunday

Weekend postcard for Sliders Sunday and the first boat(s) for 2023 :) Taken last May on a nice and sunny walk along the Spree at Berlin's government district. The lady in blue is magrit k..

The historical building on the left is the Reichstag building (the seat of the German government) with Norman Foster's modern dome peeking out between the Flags of Europe and Germany, and the modern building center-right is the Paul-Löbe-Haus that houses offices for the members of the German Bundestag (parliament).

I do not recall any of my sliding/processing steps, because this photo has been waiting patiently in my "Flickr coming soon" desktop folder for a few months. Ever since I put that folder on my desktop, unmissable, so to say, I am actually posting from it. I had said folder on drive D before which meant that I never ever opened it – out of sight, out of mind, I guess ;)

Have a nice weekend, and HSS, Everyone!

Tags:   Sliders Sunday Post Processed to the MAX!!! Berlin Germany Deutschland Reichstag Reichstag building Norman Foster Paul-Löbe-Haus Spree river boat sunshine clouds Spiegelungen reflections architecture old and new low angle of view POV wide-angle photography Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III M.Zuiko ED 7-14mm f2.8 PRO Micro Four Thirds MFT ThroughHerLens

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Explored May 1st, 2023

#sliderssunday

Another boat on the Spree, the "Berolina" :) This is also the first boat of 2023, taken at a fabulous (and surprisingly sunny) Easter Sunday photowalk where magrit k. and I met m_laRs_k for the first time. I'm starting with my "postcard picture" from our photowalk, duly processed and enhanced for Sliders Sunday. We had mainly focused on Architecture, or, as Mathias puts it, architeXture, but in the late afternoon, when we walked along the Spree, I couldn't resist taking another "boat with sights" photo. The sights here are, from left to right, the John F. Kennedy House, Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Central Station) which frames the Berlin Cube, and the Moltke Bridge.

The main sliding action here was to add some clouds to the bright blue sky because this type of image works better with clouds, I think. There had been a few fluffy clouds, left over from the rainy days before Easter, at the beginning of our photowalk, but they were gone soon, too soon, I might add. These are Photoshop clouds because, unfortunately, I couldn't find a photo in my archive with the "right" clouds for the light situation we had that afternoon. Additional filters used in Color Efex were: Brilliance and Warmth, Reflector Efex silver, Detail Extractor, and Skylight.

Happy Sliders Sunday, Everyone, and wishing you a wonderful 1st of May :)

Tags:   Sliders Sunday Post Processed to the MAX!!! Berlin Deutschland Germany Frühling spring Regierungsviertel government district Spree glitter river sunshine happiness sky clouds bridge Cube Berlin Berlin Hauptbahnhof OM System OM-1 M.Zuiko 12-40 F2.8 Pro

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Explored September 16, 2022

Another one from the Reichstag dome on top of the Reichstag building, the seat of the German government. This is the "top of the top", the highest point of the dome that you can reach as a visitor. And yes, the top of the Reichstag dome is open. Always, 24/7/365, and there also is no mechanism to close it, not even when it rains.

A design flaw? No, the open top of the dome is part of the Reichstag building's energy concept. As you can see in some of my other captures from the Reichstag dome (please check my albums, if you like), there's a large funnel at the centre of the dome which was not only constructed to lead diffuse daylight into the plenary hall of the German Bundestag (which is located right below the dome), but also serves as a ventilation system for the plenary hall. Stale air from the plenary hall is directed through the funnel and escapes through the opening at the centre of the dome. Moreover, on its way to the top, it also passes a heat recovery system that can extract usable residual energy from it.

And what happens when it rains? Don't worry, a device directly under the opening of the dome catches the rainwater.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend, dear Flickr friends!

Nach oben offen

Das ist die Reichstagskuppel tatsächlich, und zwar bei jeder Witterung. Was sich wie ein Planungsfehler anhört, ist Teil des ausgeklügelten Energiekonzepts des Reichstagsgebäudes, in das die Kuppel mit einbezogen wurde.

Wie Ihr vermutlich wisst, dient der Trichter in der Mitte der Kuppel nicht nur dazu, diffuses Tageslicht in den sich direkt unter der Kuppel befindlichen Plenarsaal zu leiten. Der Trichter dient auch als Belüftungssystem, indem er verbrauchte Luft nach oben direkt durch die Öffnung im Kuppeldach abtransportiert. Nicht nur das, auf dem Weg zur Kuppelöffnung passiert sie auch noch eine Wärmerückgewinnungsanlage, die ihr verwertbare Restenergie entzieht. Die vom Architekten des Reichstagsgebäudes, Paul Wallot (1841-1912), ursprünglich vorgesehenen Belüftungsschächte wurden beim Neubau der Kuppel übrigens wieder freigelegt und ebenfalls für die Versorgung mit Frischluft nutzbar gemacht.

Und was passiert, wenn es regnet? Keine Sorge, eine Vorrichtung direkt unter der Kuppelöffnung fängt das Regenwasser auf.

Ich wünsche Euch ein schönes Wochenende, liebe Flickr-Freunde!

Tags:   Berlin Deutschland Germany Reichstag dome Norman Foster opening Yes, it's open at the top sunset sunset colours sky clouds sun hot summer day dense hazy steel construction cityscape skyline buildings wide-angle photography ultra wide-angle wide-angle distortion Have You Ever Seen The Rain? Creedence Clearwater Revival Reichstagskuppel nach oben offen offen Stahlkonstruktion Sonnenuntergang farbenfroh Stadtlandschaft Himmel Wolken Sonne Weitwinkel Berlino Berlín Berlim Berlijn Berliini Берлін ベルリン 베를린 柏林 Cúpula del Reichstag Domo do Reichstag Reichstag Kubbesi OM Digital Solutions OM SYSTEM OM-1 M.Zuiko ED 7-14mm f2.8 PRO DXO PhotoLab 5 Luminar Neo #madewithluminar

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...and roofs. So many roofs on which solar panels could be installed, but aren't. That's what I thought when I looked down on the city from the Reichstag dome. There are some roofs with solar panels, but not nearly as many as there could be. Especially not the roofs of the governmental buildings, although that could set a good example. But there are solar panels on some public buildings such as the Futurium (which you can't see in this image). Just for fun, I've marked the one roof equipped with solar panels with an image comment, alongside a few Berlin landmarks and sights.

Processing-wise, this is obviously a slider. The early evening atmosphere of that very hot day back in August had been a little dense and somewhat hazy which made the colours in the original image (an HDR made from exposure bracketing) look a little weird, so I thought I'd try something with the sliders in LR, Color Efex Pro, and Luminar Neo. In the original HDR, there also had been some weird tiny spots (quite many weird tiny spots!), and when I noticed them I was pretty startled because I immediately thought of the dreaded sensor dust – which I've never had on any of my Olympus cameras' senors, and of all things, the new OM-1 should have already gathered sensor dust on its very first proper photo outing?!? Luckily, I remembered that I'd taken a few skyline photos through the not very clean windows of the Reichstag dome, and this was one of those images. Phew ;)

Happy Sliders Sunday, Everyone, and have a nice week ahead!

Tags:   Sliders Sunday Post Processed to the MAX!!! Berlin Deutschland Germany Reichstag dome Reichstagskuppel cityscape skyline sky clouds hot summer day dense hazy buildings colourful Stadtlandschaft farbenfroh Sehenswürdigkeiten Berlino Berlín Berlim Berlijn Berliini panorama urbain panorama urbano stadssiluett şehir silüeti Берлін Скайлайн ベルリン スカイライン (風景) 베를린 스카이라인 (풍경) 柏林 天際線 OM Digital Solutions OM SYSTEM OM-1 M.Zuiko ED 7-14mm f2.8 PRO DXO PhotoLab 5 Lightroom Color Efex Pro Nik Collection Luminar Neo

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