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| Dresden at Night Camera: X-E2 Focal Length: 26.5 Exposure: 15.sec, f/11, ISO200 |
I initially thought that a winter weekend would be sufficient for Dresden. The Altstadt is pretty condensed and very walkable so I could get those nice morning and evening scenic shots without having to take a bus or tram. Then, in the afternoons we could duck into the museums to stay warm and get a little culture. If the weather was more mild we could head to the Neustadt to visit the markets and do a little street photography. But, we soon discovered that Dresden deserves more than a weekend and that a return visit will definitely be needed.
The train from Frankfurt is about five hours, so we arrived at our hotel about 10:30pm. By then, the sidewalks had been rolled up and there was hardly a soul around. The forecast I had been watching made it look like there would be snow waiting for us and I was really looking forward to getting out early the next morning to catch the soft light on fresh snow in the city center. But, there wasn't a flake to be seen. Oh well, I thought, perhaps it will come overnight for us. Still a little revved up from the trip over we decided to walk around the city for a bit to get the lay of the land and make some mental notes about locations for the morning. Even though the Alstadt center is compact, I quickly deduced that there was no way I was going to capture everything. For once, we had arrived in a city that wasn't under complete construction. Only a few cranes loomed in the sky, and there few tarps draped over the massive buildings. Years of travel has taught me to plan around the most important landmarks being enshrouded in construction materials so when a whole city center is almost construction free it's like being a kid in a candy shop. Winter is probably the most risky time to shoot a city (besides the weather) because that is the time to get refurbishment projects done while the tourist count is low.
Anyway, our first night there we walked a good portion of the Altstadt and along Brühl's Terrace. With it being so dark by then I wasn't planning on doing any real shooting, so we left the tripod in the room and I just carried the X-T1 with the 10-24mm. The first shot of the Fürstenzug was just done handheld. I never shoot handheld when it's this dark, and I have to say I was really impressed with X-T1's performance. For the second shot the ground was obviously used as the tripod. I developed the RAW in camera, something I haven't played around with too much. While I will likely stick with development in Photoshop for most shots, for a simple scene like this it certainly is the faster and easier route.
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| Fürstenzug Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 24mm Exposure: 1/30, f/5, ISO 4000 |
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| Schlossplatz at Midnight Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 10mm Exposure: 2 sec, f/8, ISO200 |
Dresden has a glorious and tragic history. Although smaller than Leipzig, Dresden is the capital of the state of Saxony. It was ruled for generations by the Wettin Dynasty, one of the oldest houses of Europe. The most famous Wettin of Dresden is Augustus II the Strong (1670-1733), and statues and mentions of him are seemingly every few hundred feet. He was not only a Prince Elector (a noble who participated in the elections of the Holy Roman Emperor), but he was also a King of Poland. During his reign, Dresden became a center for culture and art and one of Europe's most important cities. It was under Ausgustus that Dresden and Meissen became the first places in the world outside of Asia that produced porcelain. It was known for its ceramics ever since. Unfortunately, its size and location made it a prime target during conflict. It suffered heavy damage during the Seven Years War and the Napoleonic Wars. The center was also somewhat destroyed during the May Uprising in 1848. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Dresden became a center for the modern age. It was known for its auto factories, cigarette factories, camera factories, food processing, and medical equipment works. It was also a European center for the modern art movement.
Of course, what Dresden is remembered most for today is the tragic firebombing which took place February 13-15, 1945. The bombing was carried out supposedly to destroy military production in the area, to prevent retreating Nazi troops from regrouping in the location, and to cause panic and confusion. It is also widely held that it was in retaliation for Nazi bombings in England. Over 90% of the city center was leveled beyond recognition and between 18,000-25,000 people (a majority of women and children) were killed. It wasn't until 2005 that the final reconstruction project ended with the completion of the Frauenkirche. So, in fact, the Altstadt is rather quite new and the Neustadt (which wasn't bombed) on the opposite side of the Elbe is older. However, even with this knowledge, it is hard to believe that the beautiful structures of the Alstadt haven't been standing for hundreds of years.
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| Brühl's Terrace Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 15.1mm Exposure: 5.3sec, f/11, ISO200 |
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| Academy of Fine Arts Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 10mm Exposure: 2sec, f/11, ISO200 |
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| Dresdner Residenzschloss Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 10mm Exposure: 1sec, f/11, ISO200 |
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| Semperoper and statue of King John I of Saxony Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 10mm Exposure: 1.3sec, f/14, ISO200 |
We rounded out our morning walk at the Zwinger Palace, where we hoped to spend the later half of the morning having a leisurely stroll through the Old Masters and Mathematics & Physics galleries. The Zwinger palace is not massive compared to the average European palace from the Baroque era, but it is home to some rare collections. We figured a morning there would be well spent enjoying them while staying out of the 20F weather. It is the only landmark building in the Altstadt undergoing major refurbishment, so I didn't spend too much time shooting inside the palace itself.
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| Looking back to Theaterplatz Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 10mm Exposure: 3sec, f/11, ISO200 |
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| Zwinger Courtyard Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 14.5 Exposure: .5sec, f/14, ISO200, Lightroom Edit |
Unfortunately, the Old Masters Gallery was completely closed for refurbishment. That just left the Mathematics & Physics gallery and the Porcelain Gallery, but for the same price as it would be to visit all three. Now, having spent a good portion of my life looking at ceramics as an archaeologist I wasn't real keen on the Porcelain gallery. I love looking at old stuff, but ceramics bore me to tears. I can't say there was a lobby to see it coming from my husband either. The Mathematics & Physics exhibition sounded very interesting, but we couldn't argue paying the full price of the museum to only see one third of it. It was the Old Masters that had been the real draw for the Zwinger as this era of the German, Dutch, Flemish, and Italian masters of light is our favorite period in art. Even though the gallery only displays 40% of its collections at a time, I knew we could spend the majority of the morning basking in the beauty of the pieces. Oh well, it wasn't meant to be. So, instead of grabbing a bun and coffee at a bakery before heading into the museum for the morning, we returned to the hotel for its more lavish breakfast and then hit the town for some more strolling, window shopping, and shooting.
The famous Frauenkirche was due to open in the afternoon so we headed back there around 1pm to climb the dome and see the interior. The Frauenkirche has become one the symbols of Dresden and one of the most significant landmarks of the destruction of Europe during WWII. The original church was completed in the 18th century and immediately became one of the most unique churches of Europe with its Protestant design and 315 foot dome. It was the symbol of Dresden, surviving cannonball fire during the Seven Years War and the conflict of the May Uprising. However, it was not to survive the Firebombing of February 1945. The dome collapsed on February 15th and the church was destroyed beyond recognition. It would remain in complete ruin for 45 years as a war memorial (and propaganda symbol against the West) under communist rule. But, after the reunification of Germany, work began in 1994 to rebuild the church. It wasn't completed until 2005. The new church is reconstructed of its original materials as much as possible. The original darkened stones are clearly visible amongst the lighter new sandstone. The original cross which topped the church and was crumpled and smashed now rests inside near the altar. Its replacement was cast by the son of one of the British airmen who dropped the bombs in 1945. Today the church is a symbol for many things, but most especially as one of reconciliation and renewal. Climbing the dome is a must for visitors to Dresden and provides incredible views of the city and the Dresden basin region.
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| Detail of the Zwinger Camera: X-E2 Focal Length: 55mm Exposure: 1/60, f/4.5, ISO640 |
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| Detail on the Georgenbau Gate Camera: X-E2 Focal Length: 44.4m Exposure: 1/30. f/4.5, ISO640 |
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| Dresdener Residenzschloss Inner Courtyard Camera: X-E2 Focal Length: 42.5mm Exposure: 1/60, f/8, ISO640 |
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| Pause in the Commute Camera: X-E2 Focal Length: 55mm Exposure: 1/60, f/5.6, ISO640 |
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| Taschenberg Camera: X-E2 Focal Length: 27.7mm Exposure: 1/125, f/8, ISO540, Fujifilm Classic Chrome profile |
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| Looking Down on Dresden Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 13.8mm Exposure: 1/60, f/11, ISO320 |
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| Dresden and the Elbe Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 13.8 Exposure: 1/50, f/11, ISO320 |
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| View of the Neumarkt Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 13.8mm Exposure: 1/50, f/11, ISO320 |
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| In the Dome Camera: X-E2 Focal Length: 42.5mm Exposure: 1/30, f/8, ISO3200 |
Nighttime comes quickly in the Winter. My main goal for the trip was to shoot Dresden's famous Altstadt skyline from somewhere along the Elbe. Originally I was thinking I would shoot directly across the river, but I'm never 100% committed to my plans until I've actually "ground truthed" a city. Upon looking at a few postcards (a great travel photography tip, by the way), I decided I wasn't as inspired by the flat view directly across the river. Also, since we didn't have time or plans to get into Neustadt, it seemed like a bit of a waste to cross all the way over just to walk all the way back. So, the idea came to look for a slightly more unique angle from one of the bridges during blue hour instead. We walked down to the Carolabrücke instead of the more well-known Augustusbrücke and then shot back towards Brühl's Terrace. This view shows the Ständehaus, Hofkirche, Residenzschloss, Augustusbrücke, and Semperoper. I particularly liked the lines of the street and moored boats below the terrace and thought it was a bit more interesting than the standard horizontal view across the river. Plus, I wanted the Elbe to be a star of the shot too. It is such an important player in the city's history as not only its original highway, but the city's greatest threat. The Elbe has flooded three times since catastrophic floods in 2002, once nearly destroying the Opera.
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| Dresden at Blue Hour Camera: X-E2 Focal Length: 42.5mm Exposure: 10sec, f/13, ISO200 |
On the way back to the center we snapped a couple more shots (including the one at the beginning of the post). Blue hour only lasted about 30mins because of the heavy clouds and by the time we were back to the Frauenkirche it had become quite dark.
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| Frauenkirche and Martin Luther Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 10mm Exposure: 28sec, f/10, ISO200 |
After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and headed out for one last look of the powdery city on a circuitous route to the train station.
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| Trees or Tree Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 10mm Exposure: 1/60, f/10, ISO500 |
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| On The Terrace Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 10mm Exposure: 1/100, f/11, ISO500 |
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| Snow Commute Camera: X-E2 Focal Length: 55mm Exposure: 1/250, f/11, ISO1000 |
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| Terrace Steps Camera: X-E2 Focal Length: 23.3mm Exposure: 1/180, f/11, ISO1000 |
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| One of the Four Times Of Day Camera: X-E2 Focal Length: 50.5mm Exposure: 1/180, f/7.1, ISO1000 |
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| On Pragerstrasse Camera: X-E2 Focal Length: 46.3mm Exposure: 1/5000, f/4, ISO1000 |
So, that sums up our first excursion of 2016. I have to say I was very surprised by the city. Dresden has been in the news quite a bit lately because of pro and anti-PEGIDA demonstrations and occasional violence against refugees or people in general who appear to be of Arab or Jewish descent. Even though we stuck to the tourist area, we weren't sure what to expect. Frankfurt has become rather edgy since the beginning of the refugee crisis so we expected to at least come across some anti-immigrant graffiti or posts in a city where this movement is more popular. However, there wasn't a single indication of this while we were there. Dresden is quite cosmopolitan with a great shopping district, the opera, and the museums. It is a city definitely worth a second visit. We would like to get to the Zwinger and inside the Frauenkirche next time, as well as Neustadt. Perhaps we may even be able to explore some areas outside the city like Sächsische Schweiz.
Below is the kit I brought for shooting in Dresden last weekend. Even though it is pictured, I didn't end up bringing the 55-200mm lens and thankfully didn't need it all. I switched over to the ThinkTank Retrospective 7 for my bag since I was carrying two cameras. I brought, but didn't need the ND filters. My tripod is a 3 Legged Thing Brian. I carry it in its own case and since Brian is pretty light that's not a problem. For short trips like this I bring along my iPad to do some quick edits in Lightroom Mobile, and despite having access to the internet in Germany, we always stick a guidebook in the bag as a backup. Other bits and bobs here are a shutter release cable (because it's faster and warmer than using the Fujifilm Camera remote app), spare SD cards, chargers, and a notebook for jotting down thoughts and ideas for a return trip.
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| Shot with an iPhone |
I did quite a bit of street photography, trying to capture some of the local characters in this grand space. Most of the shots will be on my Flickr page by the end of the week, but I wanted to share this one here.
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| Will See You In 5 Minutes Camera: X-T1 Focal Length: 12.6mm Exposure: 1/30, f/4, ISO6400 |
Normally I wouldn't use the 10-24mm lens for street shots, but when we passed under the Georgenbau Gate of the Residenzschloss, I wanted to not only capture the people passing through the space, but the architecture of the gate as well. It was quite dark under there so I cranked up the ISO to its tolerable limit and opened the lens as wide as I could at the focal length. Originally, I was focusing slightly back into the further passage as people passed directly in the center, making it more of an urban geometry shot than a standard street photo. However, this guy was passing much closer to me and there was something about his pace and complete immersion in his phone that stood out to me. Everyone else was strolling through at a Saturday pace. Most were couples, many of them were tourists. But, this guy was clearly not concerned with sightseeing, but instead on getting to his destination as quickly as possible while texting on his phone. So, I snapped the shot, even though I knew he would be out of focus. In fact, that was imperative for me; this hurried, distracted character breezing through this static symmetrical space. I know it's not a clean or perfect shot, but it's one of my favorite from the trip. Cities are built, destroyed, and rebuilt, but we are just fleeting players, usually indifferent to the spaces around us.
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