L-Camera TV #1 - Does Leica still make MP and M7?

This interesting video shows some scenes from the production line of Leica M7 cameras.

18-Mar-2008: Lena Platonos, Photos from the release of the new CD "Diaries" at IANOS bookshop, Athens, Greece.

"Lena Platonos (http://www.myspace.com/lenaplatonos) has contributed much to the Greek electronic music scene with records such as Maskes Iliou, Gallup, Lepidoptera, at a time (mid 80s) when this kind of electronic narration of the Greek - and often of her personal-reality did not have the impact one would expect. "

This photos are from the release of the new CD "Diaries" at the bookshop IANOS in Athens on 18-March-2008. All the photos that I have shot are in the following "contact sheet":

19/4/2008 .. 4/5/2008: My participation to the photographic exposition "Photograma" at Zakynthos, Greece.

Between 19-Apr-2008 till 4-May-2008 will take place the photographic exposition "phograma" in Zakinthos island, Greece. This exposition has photographs from photographers that their albums has been selected in the past as "album of the week" in the Greek photographic portal www.dpgr.gr. My album where the above photo belongs in www.dpgr.gr is "Photographs from Thrace". The above photograph is shot on 19-Apr-2005 at the Muslim minority school of Komotini.

In the pictures above you can see all the procedure that you have to follow in order to make the frame for the photograph.

Where can I buy a Leica camera? Useful information.

The German firm Leica is considered one of the best (and one of the most expensive) of film cameras. They say that Leica lenses and cameras (film cameras) are the best in the world. I can say, from my personal experience (I own 2 SLR Leica R4 bodies and three lenses), that Leica camera/lenses are very expensive comparing quality/value with other firms (ie Nikon, Canon etc). For example a camera body of Leica R probably is a a little better from a much cheaper one of ie. Nikon FM2 or F3. Also an expensive lens of Leica 50mm/1.4 it can be a little better that a much cheaper lens with the same characteristics from Nikon/Minolta.

By the way, Leica has solid, metallic and beautiful cameras/lenses. Nowadays, many photographers buy digital cameras and they sell their old cameras in very low prices. A paradise of buying a used Leica camera/lens is the Leica shop in Berlin. All the cameras that you see in the above two photographs (shot by my mobile phone) are from that shop.

face2faceproject.com

As we already seen in a previous post March 2007: face2faceproject.com the work of photographers JR + marco in Israel, the face2face project (the site don't work with firefox, needs explorer ;-(). Their idea was to make funny portraits of Jews and Palestinians using wide-angle 28mm lens and expose them on the Palestinian wall and the in Israel.

JR + marco's 28 millimeter project: Using a wide-angle lens (ie. 28mm) you have both barrel and perspective distortion. So JR + marco are using 28mm lens in order their portraits to look funny but also like caricatures. The above photograph is from Paris where they recently exposed their portraits from Israel. More photos from this exposition you can see at the post: JR + marco from the blog BEE-ZEE.

The next video is about a previous work of photographers: JR + marco. Using 28mm lenses they shot funny portraits of immigrants living in ghetto areas in France. Note: When you shoot portraits using a 28mm lens you have to be very close to the face as you can see in the video.

The following video is from the project face2face project at the wall of Palestine.

The following video is from their exposition in Paris.

14..16-Dec-2007: Odyssee youth hostel Berlin, Germany.

In this post we will see some photographs of the excellent youth hostel Odyssee in Berlin, Germany. In the first photograph we see the reception of the hostel and if we observe carefully we can see that the bar is consisting of a set of wooden boxes:

These wooden boxes were containers for guns and bullets! The building of the hostel (which is located to the east part of Berlin) used to be a factory of guns and bullets ;-).

All the hostel has very interesting decoration, and most of the walls have graffiti.

Every floor has different style of graffiti. For example here we see the graffiti of the second floor.All the hostel is very clean and well decorated:Interesting is the design of the heating system of the hostel that we see in the above photograph.

In this hostel the prices of the dormitories vary from 10-19€ and there are also available single/double and triple rooms (check photographs and prices at the web site of Odyssee hostel). In order to lock you luggages there are available metallic lockers. The hostel is located at ex-east Berlin and close to the hostel you can find a lot of Turkish fast-foods with cheap sandwiches. (general speaking the food in ex-east Berlin is cheaper that the west Berlin)!

7..9-Dec-2007: Stayokey youth hostel Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

A few days ago I was for a meeting in the Netherlands (Eindhoven), but I am stayed 3 extra days in Amsterdam. Many of the people that do not know me well, asked me where I find all the money and I travel so much. The answer is simple, if you want to travel on budget, it is not necessary to have a lot of money but being a little flexible. For example, in Amsterdam I have stayed at Stayokey youth hostel. The mixed dorm room there cost 22.8 € (the price includes a satisfactory breakfast). Here are some photographs from the hostel:

The above room is the breakfast place. From the windows you have directly view over the canal.

The dormitories are not something really special and not very clean. Some beds close by the window have a view over the canal.

Unfortunately, the shared areas of the hostel are few tables in font of the reception.

In each room there are available closets. In order to lock your luggages you need to have a locker otherwise you have to buy one for 3€ from the reception. Of course this does not apply to all Hostels in Europe. For example in Germany if you do not have a locker, you can borrow one from the reception. The Dutchs are trying from everything to earn money! :-)

This is not the best hostel I have stayed but there is a general problem with hotels in the Netherlands. Most of them are expensive without being so good. For example in Eindhoven I stayed at Holiday Inn where a room costs 190€ per night. The room had a dirty carpet, in the air you could smell the smell of cigarettes and I wasn't satisfied for some services (for example the internet was very expensive / 22€ for 24 hours internet).

15-Oct-2007: проект о.г.и. (proekt ogi) bar, Moscow, Russia.

This is an interesting bar that I visited in Moscow a few days ago. This bar is "проект о.г.и. (proekt ogi) " in Moscow. It is an underground bar, concert place and a book/CD shop.

In the above image we see the graffiti on the pavement outside, in the street indicating the way to the "проект о.г.и. ". Notice the symbol of the book in the graffiti. In the next photos we will see the bookshop inside that bar:

It is a very beautiful bookshop as you see. Also the people working there were very kind when I asked them to suggest me to buy some CDs of Russian music. Generally speaking the Russian read a lot of books. Inside the metro you can observe many people reading.

The decoration of the bar is simple and the atmosphere there is nice. Unfortunately the day that I visited this bar was not scheduled a live concert but I found the following live concert in that bar from youtube.com:

This is a live of the "Afro-Russian afrobeat orchestra "Compatriotes""! ;-)

17-Oct-2007: Visit at the house/museum of Vladimir Lenin, Moscow, Russia.

In this post we will see some photographs from the house in Moscow/Russia that Vladimir Lenin have lived. In the first photo we see the grave / mausoleum of Lenin in Red Square in Moscow (behind you can see Kremlin).

The Lenin's house / museum is located a few Kms outside Moscow. Here you see the entrance of the museum. 99% of the signs in Mosocw are in Cyrillic alphabet ;-).

Here we see external view of the house/museum of Lenin. In the next photographs we can see some rooms of the interior of the house. Notice that the house has wonderful view at the forest.

The decoration comparing to the nowadays aesthetics may look kitsch. Notice the details on the paintings, furniture of the rooms.

It is very interesting the Lenin's car. Look the technology used on the wheels ;-).

Very interesting is the electrical board installation of the house ;-)!

Something that I didn't like to the museum is that they charge 100 rubles (=3euros) if you want to have the permission to make photographs inside the house. I suppose that Lenin wouldn't like his house to be used as "a capitalistic product". I didn't pay the photographic fee and the people in the museum finally didn't forbid us to make photographs.

The following video is from the movie of Theo Aggelopoulos: "Ulysse's Gaze". We see the scene of the transportation of the statue of Lenin with a boat in Dunarea river, Romania:

13..17-Oct-2007: Sherstone youth hostel, Moscow, Russia. Travel tips.

In this post I will write to write some practical details of my recent visit in Moscow. Moscow is one of the most expensive cities (like London). Prices are overestimated and you can pay really a lot of money for an average quality room.

A budget option is to stay in a hostel, and the above photographs are from the Sherstone hostel where I have stayed during my short visit in Moscow. The price for a person in a 4 persons dormitory is 27€ (without a breakfast). I have to mention that Sherstone Hostel (also most hostels in Moscow) are not real hostels but rooms within a big hotel managed by the hostel owner.

These photographs are interesting to see the soviet Hotel's aesthetics (look the decoration of the room, the curtains etc).
Some of my roommates in the hostel was Lewis (UK / first photo) and Jamal (Malaysia / second photo). We had interesting discussions about travel destinations. Jamal proposed to visit Uzbekistan (before Moscow he was traveling there, and he said that it is safe for visiting as a tourist) and Lewis told me about his trip, a few years ago, in Balkan countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece).

Even Moscow has really expensive restaurants, cafes everyday I had a breakfast in the following kiosk close by the hostel (at Petrovsko market).
The people from the kiosk like me ;-), and every morning they were smiling to me ;-).. The above breakfast (2 pieces of pies + coffee) cost around 40 Rubles (around 1,1€).