Last saturday, I participated in my first "Fotomarathon" in Berlin, an event where you have to shoot 12 photos in 12 hours. Sounds simple enough right? Well, actually it's a lot harder than you might think. Because there are a lot of rules, that you have to follow. The most important ones are:
All photos have to fit an overarching theme
Every photo has to fit a specific subject, which are revealed as stacks of four and have to be collected at meeting points every four hours.
Sounds hard enough? Well, there are even more rules:
The photos have to be taken in the specified order
Only jpeg photos are allowed
No digital image manipulation whatsoever
All pictures have to be taken in landscape
The theme of this years Fotomarathon was "Beyond any borders/limits"
My brother persuaded me into participating in the Fotomarathon and I dragged my girlfriend into this. She didn't take any pictures but had to model for both of us (of which she did a great job).
I hoped to evolve my photography skills and overcome my fear of asking people to pose for pictures.
I interpreted the theme as crossing my own, personal limits and incorporating strangers into my pictures (though that didn't work for every picture).
First subject: to outgrow oneself
The first image of the series has to include the start number. I directed my girlfriend to stand between these tall columns which I overemphasized with the low angle of view of my ultra wide angle lens.
Second subject: border crosser
For this one, I was getting a bit nervous. Almost three hours had passed and I only had taken one picture. I just snapped a few pics of my brother kind of half-heartedly and was pleased. Phew! Another one done.
Third subject: self sensorship
We picked up the next subjects (so we had eight subjects at this point) and I was getting more and more behind. The stress level rose noticeably. I saw a few people take picture of people with hands in front of their faces -- I wanted to try someting a little different. I spotted this great apartment block with a rainbow on the facade. I nervously approached two girls and asked them, if they wanted to partake in this photo. One of them told me that she had just written an essay on self sensorship and was extremely interested to pose. I asked them to hold their hand bags in front of their faces.
Fourth subject: on the other side of the fence
At the point of this photo, six hours had passed and I only had taken three photos. I didn't know how to incorporate strangers into such a difficult theme, so I asked my girlfriend and brother to pose once again.
Fifth subject: being good neighbours
This one was taken just a few meters from the last one. I got lucky and took it quickly. My brother actually framed the scene better but decided not to submit his version because it was my idea, how nice of him!
Sixth subject: live and let live
My girlfriend got the idea for this one. I asked two tourists to stand in front of a wall and took a picture of their non matching footwear.
Seventh subject: unpresentable
This is my weakest photo. I walked through Kreuzberg finding quite a lot of unpresentable sights but most of them were pretty disgusting as well.
It was important for me to find a visually pleasing image first and match the subject second, so I discarded a decaying rat and other nasty things for those two doors. One of them looks quite unpresentable, doesn't it?
Eighthghthg subject: no kissing allowed
This photo was taken at the second stop just after we picked up our last subjects for the day. There was this very lively dog running around. I asked the owner to hold the dog's snout and attempt to kiss it. I really like how the photo turned out. As we later found out, she was one of the organizers of the Fotomarathon. If you read this, thank you so much for organizing such a fun event!
Ninth subject: the perfect place
After taking a train ride to Warschauer Straße, we were all so exhausted and decided to split up. I took kitschy images of boats on the Spree and the TV Tower as a silhouette but I wasn't really satisfied. I felt my stress level rising again.
After walking for a few minutes, I found a couple sitting at a beer table, waiting for their drinks to arrive. They seemed so happy with each other. I asked them if it was okay to take a photo of them just "acting natural" which they fulfilled incredibly well. I thanked them and moved on.
Tenth subject: parallel universe
I wandered through Kreuzberg, hoping to find an "out of this world" character, which I found in this guy. He sat at a coffee table at a restaurant and was carving wood. I walked past him at first not daring to speak to him because he looked quite unpredictable. I approached him cautiously and he was the nicest guy ever. He encouraged me to take a photo of him and even posed for me with his knife and carvings. He asked me to give him some money, which I gladly did. In return he told me about his personal meaning of "FCKW", which is Freedom, Coffee, Kiffen (smoking weed) and World Peace
In the photo, he seems quite normal. I didn't manage to capture his out-of-this-world aura. I was also quite nervous while taking the pictures and couldn't concentrate on the framing. For my taste, there is too much visual noise in this picture, but oh well.
Eleventh subject: the end of the world
The sun was setting and dark clouds were coming up at the same time. It looked bizzare. I wanted to capture this sight, but when I finally finished the tenth subject, the sun was alredy set and the crazy light was almost gone. In this picture, I photographed what was left of the crazy looking sky through a large puddle.
Twelvthestest subject: Mom, there are limits!
It was almost 10pm and there were no moms to be seen anywhere. I got lucky when I found the pictured woman. She was pushing a stroller with her boy in it. I asked her if I could take a picture of her under the given subject. She pointed to her son in the stroller and told me "he doesn't know them", referring to the limits.
I wasn't really pleased with this image but the time was over and there wasn't anything remotely fitting the theme, so I called it a day and submitted my pictures.
The marathon was over
We hung around for a bit after submitting the photos, chatting with the other contestants and exchanging the challenges we faced during the day. This was actually very entertaining and so interesting. I wish everyone would have the chance to write something about the pictures they took for the Fotomarathon as part of the exhibition.
Conclusion
It was incredibly challenging, fun and pushed me to my photographic limits. I would recommend everyone who wants to evolve and get to know himself and the city around him a bit more intimately to partake in one of the many Fotomarathons, that are organized around the world.
Thanks to the Fotomarathon-team for making all this possible!
If you want to see the other contestants pictures, then come to
Magazin in der Heeresbäckerei, Köpenickerstraße 16/17, 10969 Berlin
on the 30th and 31st of July 2016.
All subjects were properly introduced to the purpose of the photos and were asked if it was okay for them to be published. All of them consented. Most of them were interested to see the results, so I pointed them to the exhibition day.
We had to get up at 6:30am to get to the airport in time. As we didn't have any time to eat breakfast, we went for Starbucks. Normally I boycot Starbucks but Starbucks in Japan isn't your regular everyday Starbucks. They offer special Japanese beverages such as Coffee Jelly Frappucino. It was so extremely sweet that I got a sugar shock after drinking it.
At 11:25am, we boarded our plane heading to Istanbul. I was happy to find the same comfort I enjoyed on the flight to Japan.
I watched a few movies but this was the best one. Quite unexpected ending.
The food was perfect. We almost missed our connecting flight in Istanbul because of delays. We were lucky to get seats right at the emergency exit. Finally, legroom wasn't a problem any more. I slept the whole flight through which was tough, because we sat right next to some very annoying Germans who had to talk extremely loud and comment on everything that happend in the cabin.
After we arrived back home, we were both extremely tired and rejoiced, when we finally reached our welcoming bed.
This was our last day in Japan. As such, we had to make the most out of it.
We planned in way too many things and did only half of that.
First of all, we went to the Apple store opening in Omotosando which was incredibly lame and boring. Next, we ate breakfast at Krispy Kreme. A chain that is – to my knowledge – nonexistent in Europe. It was pretty damn great. This picture was taken right in the heart of Shibuya, one of the busiest districts in Tokyo and people only use really thin cables to lock up their expensive bikes. You are pretty safe in Japan. We just finished breakfast when we went to eat lunch. This place was a recommendation by our former hosts. They told me none of their guests could finish the enormous portions that are served here. For ¥700 (~5€) you get a plate filled with Japanese curry and rice that's enough to feed a family for a few days. It took me incredibly long to get to this point. But after about half an hour, I was done with my plate and not able to move any more. Later, we bought some gifts and souvenirs at Loft. We met the perfect dog in Shibuya. He was extremely friendly and just about the perfect size. Just look at that gorgeous fur!
The rainy period was over for the time and you could see broken or dismissed umbrellas everywhere on the street. This picture is shot down into the patio of the building where we lived. And this is the view you get from the top of the building. In the evening, our hosts had invited us to a special kind of place: "The Lockup". This is a haunted prison themed bar. You get locked into cells and drink out of beakers. The drinks are all colored to look like blood, vomit or poison(?). We ordered a beer and roulette food. You get six food items, one of them is extremely spicy. You take turns in eating the food and hope you don't get the spicy one.
Later, they switched off the lights and played some spooky stuff while a "monster" was roaming through the bar. The Japanese girls were extremely frightened.
After the bar, we went to Krispy Kreme again to have some late night snacks. It was a very fun evening and the perfect finish to our vacation. I was really sad to go back to Germany after all of this. On that evening, we swore to go back to Japan sooner rather than later.
Japan day fifteen – Shimokitaza, Monorail and Zojoji
Our second last day was spent in Shimokitazawa which is a very ✌️trendy✌️ place. It contains of old buildings, lots of art and café after café. In other words: the perfect spot for us.
We started the day with a beautiful cup of cappucino at Bear Pond coffee which was equally tasty.
Then, we continued to J.S. Pancake Café. They offered delicious sweet and salty pancakes. Naturally, I went with the sweet pancakes. Sophie took salmon avocado pancakes.
We spent some time walking through Shimokitazawa and enjoying the gloomy, artsy mood. Later, we took the Tokyo Monorail in Shimbashi and drove towards Haneda airport. We wanted to take the Monorail because we imagined it to be a magnetic levitation train. Needless to say, we were deeply disappointet when we found out the train drives on a concrete track. Bummer. I wanted to try these guys only because I only ever saw them in video games and Emoji: 🍡.
Spoiler: They taste like sugared wax. We went on to do more touristy things and looked at Zojoji, a buddhist temple right in the centre of Tokyo.
Behind the temple, there was a garden and something that looked like a cemetery to us. Later I read on Maikes blog (sorry, German only) that each statue represents one of the child of a family. Maybe they're believed to bring good fortune to the child.
In the evening, we met with our former hosts again to eat curry Udon and drink ¥100 (0,70€) Mango Lasi.
I had to fulfil a childhood dream of mine: visit the Nintendo headquarters. The building wasn’t as exciting as I had hoped, though. And there was no way of getting inside.
It was our last day in Kyoto and we headed back to Tokyo.
Like last time, we purchased a Ekiben for the trip.
This is what my Ekiben looked like. It contained a variety of foods commonly eaten in Japan.
Sophie went for something more basic: Katsu (Schnitzel) with rice.
At 2pm, we arrived at Tokyo and immediately drove to our new apartment which was located in Shibuya – yes, the part of Tokyo with the famous crossing. We actually lived just 3 minutes from that intersection – crazy.
Even though it was located so centrally, it was very quiet. Much more quiet than our last place in Kyoto. As we soon found out, our apartment was directly in what is called “Love Hotel Hill”. Love hotels are a typical Japanese thing. Japanese people tend to not have sex at home and rent a room in one of those hotels instead.
This is how we got into our apartment. The key was located right in the mailbox.
We went to grab some coffee at Fab Cafe. They had excellent cold brew aeropressed coffee and they offered a variety of 3D-printers which you could use for a small fee.
This is how trash is handled in Tokyo. One poor guy was sorting through all these trash bags, making sure they contained the right kind of trash (The Japanese are super strict concerning their waste separation.).
We actually saw the Triforce-Symbol. I don’t know why it’s being used in this context.
In the evening we met with our former hosts to grab dinner together. We went to a fish restaurant which had some excellent options.
We started the day with our standard 7-eleven breakfast: iced coffee (it was already 25°C in the morning), Onigiri and Sushi rolls.
That day, we planned to go to Osaka.
This is the view from the building that we lived in. And this is the view down the building. It's normal to stand in line for the train, a concept that doesn't exist in Germany at all. This is what we went to Osaka for: Osaka castle. It's an impressive building containing an exhibition that depicts its creation and many wars it withstood. We found the exhibition a bit boring and quickly moved on. I found this staircase to be particularly interesting in the castle. In Osaka I experienced women only cars for the first ti me. In Tokyo, those cars are only in use during rush hour. Our hosts recommended us to go to Shinsekai, an interesting area of Osaka. Later we found out that Shinsekai has the largest crime rate in all of japan. The area offered many restaurants and touristy things. Shinsekai is famous for two things: Fugu (blowfish) and Kushi Katsu (fried things on sticks). We didn't want to eat blowfish and ordered a Kushi Katsu assortment. You are provided with a dipping sauce. Per piece you are only allowed one dip to not introduce any of your mouth germs into the sauce. We went for some Katsu Don at Osaka station afterwards. Katsu Don is Schnitzel with soft boiled egg and delicious sauce on top of a rice bowl. It was delicious.
We were both pretty jetlagged and exhausted from walking around so much, So we went straigt back to Kyoto station, where I took some long term exposures (sounds familiar?). Kyoto Station offers some very interesting architecture.
On our 12th day we went to Nara, the ancient capital of Japan. Nara is most famously known for its free roaming deers that are friendly and not afraid of humans.
Before we went to Nara, we bought fresh belgian waffles with matcha (green tea). They tasted weird but oddly pleasing. When we arrived in Nara, we were greeted by these little dudes in a stroller. They were busting with energy. About half an hour later, we reached Nara Park, where we saw the first deers. You could buy deer cookies for ¥150 (about 1,20€ at the time) which the deers loved. They loved the cookies so much, they would surround you and sometimes even bite you. A lot of Japanese schoolchildren were walking through the park, looking for foreigners that they could interview to practice their English. They asked us questions like "Where do you come from?" When we answered "Germany!" they greeted us with "Guten Tag." which was super cute. When they were finished, they thanked us and gave us these origami deer figurines. Throughout the park, there were warning signs to inform you not to stress the deer out. "I don't have any cookies any more!" The deer in this picture just snatched the ice cream the little kid was eating moments ago. When the deer ate his napkin, he began to cry. This is one of the main sightseeing spots in Nara, Toda-ji. It's one of the biggest wooden buildings in the world and was partly destroyed and rebuilt many times. Inside Toda-ji is (one of) the biggest Buddha statues in the world.
Those deers were very shy and didn't want to get touched by us. We explored the temple area some more and found this place where we were almost alone. It was peaceful and beautiful.
This was the smallest deer we could find. When we had seen enough deer, we went into a Okonomiyaki restaurant. We were the only customers there. That should have been a warning sign. The food was not bad but also not good. Overall it was the most disappointing meal we had in all of Japan. When it got dark, which is at 7pm, we headed back to Kyoto. I took some long term exposures with the help of my pocket tripod and that was the end of that day.
We stayed three days in Kyoto. We planned one day for the city and all of its sightseeing spots, one day for Nara and one day for Osaka.
We planned to see only the most famous spots in Kyoto since one day is definitely not enough to see everything there. First, we wanted to see Kinkaku-ji, the most famous temple in Kyoto. Instead, we went to Ginkaku-ji which isn't half as impressive. It was a beautiful sight nonetheless.
Lucky for us, we left the rain behind in Tokyo. And we had three beautiful sunny days.
Plus, they had delicious tasting cooled pickles on sticks.
After a lot of bus rides, we finally arrived at the real thing. It looked just like in the pictures and it was unbelievably crowded. You had to stand in line just to get this kind of picture which you only had about 10 seconds to take. We partook in a tea ceremony which wasn't very spectacular. There were Fujifilm instant camera and film vending machines which I found crazy, considering it was 2014 and nobody wanted to buy this. Maybe they should exchange those for SD-card vending machines. We went back to Kyoto station which offers a lot of photographic oportunities. Next, we wanted to go to Fushimi Inari, the famous gate-shrine. We fucked up again and took the wrong train, an express that didn't stop at our destination. Some 15 minutes later, we made it to the right station. Just like any Shinto shrine, you have to wash your hands and face before you enter. The gates build a path to the top of a mountain. It takes about an hour to reach the top. We didn't want to go all the way up there since we got the gist pretty quickly. So we bought some Tayiaki and headed back home. These were the mattresses we were sleeping on. They were surprisingly comfortable. You had to fold them to be able to walk inside of the apartment.
For dinner, we had Ramen at a store that didn't have any English menu. I felt pretty clever when I figured out they had Kimchi Ramen which were absolutely delicious.
Since it was our last day, we needed to pack our stuff.
Kei-San prepared the last of her great breakfasts for us. We exchanged our Exchange Order for a Japan Rail Pass for the real thing. The Japan Rail Pass allows you to take all of the trains in Japan including express and shinkansen but excluding the very fastest shinkansen.
We took the Shinkansen at 3pm and went off to Kyoto. The trains were surprisingly roomy and comfortable. And although we were driving at a speed of 250km/h (155mph) it was very quiet and smooth.
We bought Ekiben at Tokyo station beforehand. Ekiben is a lunchbox that you can buy at train stations. "Eki" means "train station" and "ben" is short for "bento", meaning "lunchbox". In each region of Japan, there are different Ekiben options available. I went for chicken on scrambled eggs and rice. It was surprisingly delicious for prepackaged, uncooled food. Sophie went with the Omurice Ekiben which was okay. During our trip, we passed the beautiful Japanese countryside with its many mountains and small villages. We reached Kyoto at 5:30pm. Because we had to leave our pocket wifi in Tokyo, I printed out the instructions on how to get to our new apartment. It felt very 90s. When we finally got to our apartment and unloaded our luggage, the sun was already going down. The new apartment was very small. Barely large enough to fit two mattresses and our suitcases. For dinner, we went for Oyakodon (literaly "parent child rice bowl") which is a dish typical for Kyoto. It is made of chicken that is cooked inside eggs on top of a rice bowl.
To finish the day, we explored Kyoto some more and went into an arcade where we played Taiko, a drum game.
As always, we started the day with the awesome breakfast, that Kei-San prepared for us.
It was still raining that day, so we went to Tokyo National Museum.
The building in and of itself is pretty impressive. The exhibition spanned all periods of the Japanese history and showed a variety of items that were used at these times.
This was one of our favorite exhibits.
We spent almost all day in the museum. When the museum closed, we went to Ikkebukuro to meet with our hosts.
We went to eat Sushi for the third time. This time, we tried a frozen beer. The foam is actually frozen and is drawn like soft-ice. You can see the process in this video. The beer itself was okay, the frozen foam wasn’t great, though. I think the Japanese don’t understand the concept of beer.
This day, the rain didn’t stop once. It truly went on non stop. We even didn’t want to take the train as it would have involved a long walk back home. So we waited for the bus to arrive. In this short period of time, we got already soaked.
This was our last night with our awesome hosts. The next day, we went to Kyoto to experience the Kansai area.
On our eighth day in Japan, the rainy season started. It rained the whole day. Sophie felt very sick and wanted to stay at home. For breakfast, we had some delicious Onigiri.
Since I was alone that day and it was extremely rainy, I went to the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi. There was a ticket on sale that offered access to both the art museum and the observation deck. In the art museum, you were required to lock your umbrellas away in a separate umbrella room.
The exhibition addressed growing up in different parts of the world and the troubles that come with it. There was also a video about a kindergarten in Berlin in which they interviewed children about their experiences in the womb. Even though it was rainy, the views of Tokyo were spectacular. That spider is a permanent fixture at Mori Tower. I saw a similar one in Hamburg. Later I found out it was called Maman and there are a few of those around the world.
For lunch I went for a special ramen menu and made half a dork out of me when I brought my umbrella inside the store with me. The ramen were delicious, though. After that, I went for some coffee. This place was recommended on Foursquare and the coffee was pretty great. I wandered through Omotesandō and discovered small places like this cemetery. I went to Kiddy Land, where you can get all sorts of different merchandise from Pokemon to Ghibli stuff to weird stuff. Originally, I wanted to buy Mameshiba but they weren't for sale any longer. In the end, I didn't buy anything. I went all the way to Loft in Shibuya and bought my first Kuru Toga a mechanical pencil that turns the lead so you can always write with the sharpest side.
For dinner, we met with our hosts to eat Omurice, an omelette with rice which is a typical Japanese dish.
On the seventh day, we went to Korakuen, a beautiful japanese garden.
I kept being stunned by the behaviour of smokers in Japan. Here, they smoke inside a dedicated smoking area which is located just outside of the station. The garden itself is very beautiful with a mixture of greenery and stones.
The park is situated right next to Tokyo Dome City, an amusement park/shopping mall.
We went inside the Moomin Café. Japan is kind of Moomin crazy. We saw Moomins everywhere. So it was kind of a must to go to this café. Like in most popular Japanese places, you have to stand/sit in line and wait until somebody else leaves. When you finally are allowed to enter the café, you get seated next to a life sized Moomin doll. We got little My. It was a cute idea but kind of creepy at the same time. We saw a guy who was alone and talked to his Moomin the whole time. The moomin café offers a lot of Moomin themed foods. I went for the Moomin Curry.
In the evening we went to Yodobashi in Akihabara to do some shopping. For dinner, our hosts prepared some mixed vegetables with meat, baked tofu and potatoes with rice. Delicious.
We started the day with a small but filling breakfast.
We left the house at 9am to get as much out of the day as possible as our schedule was quite packed. The imperial garden is a beautiful place. It's very picturesque but doesn't offer much apart from beautiful scenery. After two hours, we saw everything we wanted to see and headed to Odaiba. Odaiba is an island in the port of Tokyo which offers some fun attractions…
…like this epic statue of Gundam… …or the Fuji TV building. Odaiba also has a nice port which is open to the public. Here you can see Rainbow bridge, one of the main ways to enter the island. It got its name because it's being lighted in rainbow colors at night time.
We also checked out the Diver City Mall which had some hilarious English-Japanese stores in it.
Then, we headed to Meguro to check out a Coffee place, that I wanted to pay a visit to: Switch Coffee. The store is very small. Only three customers fit in there at a time. They offered a variety of different coffees that you could try first before chosing one. Great stuff! Grumpy drain cover is grumpy. This is one of my all-time favorite shots of the trip.
At night time, we had burgers which were pretty great.
