• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

My World: Underground Stations have their own beauty

W

Wolfgang Plattner

Well-known member
Michael Nagel said:
...
When I started it was like 'Wow, this is a nice station!', but when I progressed from station to station the feeling went more and more towards 'What the hell I am doing here, there are so many things repeating, time to get home.' Maybe I should not do too many stations in a row. ...
Click to expand...

Try to feel the rhythm ...
 
M

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Chris - the fluorescent lighting is not what you would like for photos, but it is there and I have to deal with it...
Groundwater is also an issue in Munich but you have to dig deeper. Still - the U-Bahn passes underneath the river Isar and the tunnels are pretty deep at several places, so parts of the underground consists of watertight tubes.

Wolfgang - Sometimes I manage, but I think that I have to concentrate on stations within the same construction section when I do several in a row. In this case the design shares the same basic ideas through the entire section.


Next station - Machtlfinger Strasse.




This wall is not watertight as the station is above ground water level.



Best regards,
Michael
 
Chris Calohan

Chris Calohan

Well-known member
I wonder if I can be so bold as to suggest an "abnormality" I notice when viewing your images. The AB-Normal condition, I believe is cultural in nature or I'm nuts, or both.

Below I am demonstrating how removing the cultural use of certain color combinations strengthens the image by removing the colors and replacing them in a monochromatic scale.

So much of signwork (as my memmory permits) in Germany is strong on Dark Reds and Dark Greens and very Light Blues. Combined with the white flourescents and copius amounts of marble and stainless and someone from across the pond is immediate visually challenged (well, a rather harsh term, but less than visually assaulted) to colors, textures and reflections.

So, I removed the colors in a few, but as much I think because I like B&W in dark places: If these offend, please note and I shall imediately remove them. I do not wish to disaprage your fine work and in many cases as with the yellow blue combinations, I am quite facinated.

8451782704_f8f41f7ae6_o.jpg



8451782756_f851eac48c_o.jpg

The nice thing about converting is the geometry of the lines , shapes and negative space is not at all lost.


8451782600_c9a8309fbd_o.jpg



8450693249_7440855531_o.jpg


And, I really enjoy this one in both configurations.


8450693643_ac0939c008_o.jpg
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Chris Calohan said:
I wonder if I can be so bold as to suggest an "abnormality" I notice when viewing your images. The AB-Normal condition, I believe is cultural in nature or I'm nuts, or both.

Below I am demonstrating how removing the cultural use of certain color combinations strengthens the image by removing the colors and replacing them in a monochromatic scale. ..................And, I really enjoy this one in both configurations.
Click to expand...


Michael,

With the caveat that you are going to allow your version of his nice pictures to be "monochromed", and by someone else, let's look at Chris' version with your colored original. Only then can we evaluate and feel and experience the extent of the changes.




Chris,

I do like your idea of exploring a B&W version, as we could potentially get a new experience of the spaces and forms. However, in this single case, I feel that we have lost the sense of depth that the original has. It is not a failed idea; we're just not there yet! I just think that different transformations would need to be tried to see whether or not we can maintain the impact of the color picture, even if it provides a different expression of what was recorded. Right now, this version is possible not the most vivid and energetic we might be shown.

Asher
 
M

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Chris,

Perception of color(sets) is mainly programmed in our brains through education and environment.
Talking for myself I never perceived other cultural approaches as visually challenging or even assaulting. I always saw it as an enrichment - though there were patterns I preferred and others I liked less.

B/w is another way to show it, but as the colors are part of the design it would mean to take away part of the information. This works IMHO best for the 2nd and the 4th of your conversions, good for the 3rd, I do not see that much of an advantage in the first and the last one loses a little as the speckled wall tiles blend into the speckled floor of the platform. So are these all better versions? I beg to differ - these are different representation enhancing some aspects of the seen while omitting others. Please don't take offense in what I just wrote - I just want to demonstrate a different point of view. Thanks for making these conversions and showing them here. I hope that they will stay.

I also did some b/w of the underground, here are four (some reposts):




Best regards,
Michael
 
Chris Calohan

Chris Calohan

Well-known member
I thought the last two didn't fit in as nicely as the first three, but agree with your assessment of 2 and 4. Visually challenging wasn't the right word either, sorry but I am on pain meds about half the time and sometimes I challenge myself for the right words. We also have copius amounts of reds and greens in our daily lives with traffic signs and lights, etc, but they are quite different in tonality and I think that' swhat challenged my thinking.

Please do note I like all of your work so far and wish I had a similar venue to explore on such a wide scale. Looking forward to seeing more of your world.
 
Jarmo Juntunen

Jarmo Juntunen

Well-known member
Michael, I'm glad to see your project is doing so well! In your Hasenbergl set the three first ones are simply fantastic. I do, however, have a favourite. Drei Ebenen nearly made me gasp. Keep it going, always a pleasure to see your work!
 
M

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Jarmo,

Thank you!
'Drei Ebenen' (can be translated as 'Three Levels') refers to the ceiling, the lamps and the floor.
This was a quite short trip - I planned to spend more time, but as there were other photographers around I preferred to move on quickly. I like to take photographs in a small group with friends, but the presence of large groups of photographers in such situations distracts me

I will go back there another day

There is one more station I will post next week and maybe the snippets of the other two I took before I decided to go home

Best regards,
Michael
 
R

Ron Morse

New member
I am fascinated by these. I have so very much enjoyed them that I have looked from start to finish twice and will probable do so again.
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Orthogonal fatigue?

Michael Nagel said:
Yet another station.


Click to expand...


these, until now have been pretty orthogonal? Where they taken like that or were they adjusted afterwards. I ask because this and some others recently posted have a looser, more relaxed attitude to them:

Intentional?

Funny that I just chastised Chris Calohan for not being true to perfect orthogonal form in his B&W picture of a giant entry foyer. I referred to your impeccable standards of your pictures in this thread, as the example of what really is desirable. Who'd have thought you'd show me that my assumptions are a projection of my brain, not your compulsive need for order!

Asher
 
M

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Asher,

It is not exactly a fatigue, but a slight shift of focus, maybe due to the distraction by other photographers as I mentioned before.

The most frequent correction applied is a slight crop, I rarely rotate to correct, other corrections (like perspective) are used in less than 5% of these pictures.

There is not much PP in general as I take jpeg+RAW and - as long as the in-camera jpeg settings suit my intention (I tweak them a little on the beginning of a shooting) there is little gain in working on the RAW - especially with the X10.

The focus in the last one you presented as example was on the correct alignment of the elevator as you probably saw. For me this was the feature which dominated here and it was easier to accept distortions for the rest.

As I do not use a tripod and I try to be quick, this has become also an exercise in speed and precision. I am still somewhere on the learning curve...

I appreciate the approach as seen in Chris' Foyer, as for me architectural photography does need a feel to it beyond the pure view of precision and orthogonal settings.

Best regards,
Michael
 
M

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
There were various reasons why I did not proceed with this project recently, I will resume working on it soon, so here are two old photos from different stations to have someting new (not already shown) to look at.

The first is an asymmetry in symmetry shot - the geometry is symmetrical, but the different wall patterns and colors make it aysmmetrical.



T​


This one focuses on the pillars, light and the metal ornament at the ceiling.




Best regards,
Michael
 
M

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Antonio,

Thanks. I went with a group on two occasions, the last time was more than 3 years ago.
In general the presence of a crowd taking photos and trying to use eiter the same point of view or placing therin tripod where it would disturb what you intend to shoot can be pretty disturbing.
With the arrival of newer sensors, less noisy on high ISO and the presence of a good stabilization, the need for a tripod is now more and more restricted to scenes where a long exposure time is necessary for the view you want to create.

Currenty I go either alone or sometimes with friends (they are not using tripods either) and we are rarely more than three at once in a station.

Bestg regards,
Michael
 
M

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Asher, to complete the picture for you on the second picture you commented here, below are three stations construced for to the Internationa Garden Festival 1983 in Munich. The three stations serve the Westpark constructed for this exposition. The design won a prize and is done in a similar way with a different color scheme, just see:







The stations are lined up as they are placed on the line - the first is green, the second is green and yellow and the third is vellow and orange - a gradual shift of colors.

Best regards,
Michael
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top