Vanishing storefronts

I've always been fascinated by storefronts. Because a storefront can be a window to the past. A storefront is what links the seller and the buyer, it is one of the interfaces between the people and thus, one of the factors that makes a society. That's why observing storefronts you can learn a lot about the people that use them.



This is a butcher's shop in Barcelona. This picture looks very familiar to me, every little bit of it transports me home, brings memories of my childhood to my mind. In this series I am going to show storefronts in Salzburg and Hallein, and how the times are changing for them.



Walking around the city, if you try to avoid the tourist paths you may still find quite authentic stores where time stood still around the sixties...



...stores where actual people still buy their stuff. Stores that, without a doubt, are still making a significant contribution to their local communities. But, for how long?



Because the pressure that real estate and tourism exert on traditional stores is so huge that they are hardly able to survive. All too often, the only recognizable thing is the old store sign which is sometimes still visible. Times are changing, and where once there were plenty of stores where you could find everything you could possibly need, today you can only get the exact same souvenirs and touristy stuff that you can also get everywhere. They all look the same, they all have really little to do with the city but, still, it is what people want, what money wants.



Survivors. There still are some survivors, even at the heart of Salzburg's Old Town. But it is very sad to observe the trend. Every time a traditional store closes to leave room for yet another souvenir shop, which looks exactly like all the others and sells exactly the same stuff as the others, the soul of the city dies a little. People who actually live here observe the signs that announce the closing with impotence and begin to guess which of their favorite places is going to vanish next.



You cannot stop progress. This is the conclusion. But. still, you are allowed to be sad about the direction in which progress goes. Especially in these times, where everything happens so fast that you don't really have the chance to stop to take a breath.

But what you can do is take your camera and make a photograph, and keep not only a vanishing memory but an actual image of how it was back then.

Through the leaves

Read in 2010

Russell Shorto's The Island at the Center of the World	Herbert Asbury's The Gangs of New York
Eric W. Sanderson's Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City	Philip Roth's Indignation
Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes	Steven Pinker's How the Mind Works
Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals	Eduard Punset's Viatge al poder de la ment
Gerd Gigerenzer's Gut Feelings	Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct
Bastian Sick's Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod, Folge 4	Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint

Almost spring again

Abstract Reflection on Stream

A crane flies to Japan

This origami crane is ready to fly to Japan, to join a huge flock that's already on its way, to try and bring hope and comfort to all those who are suffering the consequences of the earthquake that struck the island on March 11th. The whole week I've had these people very present in my thoughts.

It is especially moving for us hobby photographers, because most of the stuff we use for our passion (cameras, lenses, films, ...) has been produced, designed, conceived or dreamed of in Japan. I wish for the best as my crane flaps her wings and takes off...

A new beginning

I guess you noticed that I have been quite inactive in Die Murmeltierjahre im Land des Frühschoppens for a while now.

The thing is that I have been quite busy lately. As I already told here, I reverted to using film with vintage cameras recently, and obsessive passionate about my hobbies as I am, I discovered myself thinking a lot about film types, computing exposure, medium format, do-it-yourself film scanning, colour negatives transformation, and yet another vintage camera.

I have been using my flickr photostream to share my progress in my film adventures, but flickr is not really the right kind of platform for that matter. I realised I was having a lot to tell these days, but it was almost exclusively about photography. Since I did not want to transform Die Murmeltierjahre im Land des Frühschoppens in a photography blog, I did not post at all.

That's why I decided to start a new blog, a blog about photography. I am very happy to invite you to come over to my playground, a (photo) challenge a day ....

What will happen with Die Murmeltierjahre im Land des Frühschoppens? Don't worry, it won't be that easy to get rid of me and my paranoia ;) I plan to continue posting here, and I hope I can canalise better what I have to say depending on the topic. If I have something to say about photography, it will go to a (photo) challenge a day .... Everything else is going to be posted here, to Die Murmeltierjahre im Land des Frühschoppens. Random pictures will continue being posted here as well.

I'd be glad if you would come along with me. Thanks for being there! :)

Bonsuccés

BWV 788