It has a very interesting and ironic history…..read on – source: Wikipedia

In 1964, Walter Ulbricht, leader of the Socialist Unity Party which governed East Germany, decided to allow the construction of a television tower on Alexanderplatz, modelled on the Fernsehturm Stuttgart. IT was intended as a show of the GDR’s strength, while its location is thought to have been deliberately chosen so that it would impose on views of West Berlin’s Reichstag building (when viewed from the front).

And this, in my opinion, is the best part – The Pope’s Revenge.

When the sun shines on the Fernsehturm’s tiled stainless steel dome, the reflection usually appears in the form of a crucifix. This effect was neither predicted nor desired by the planners. As a jibe against the atheist foundations of the Communist government, and the ongoing suppression of church institutions in East Germany, Berliners immediately named the luminous cross Rache des Papstes, or “Pope’s Revenge”.

(insert shameless plug – you can have your very own, limited-edition print of this image by clicking HERE)

Our original plans were to fly from Paris, where we attended the OFFF conference, to Berlin…….BUT, the folks at Easy Jet decided to make that impossible by checking us in at the airport, and then going on strike and walking off the job. You read that correctly. Juan and I, after going through security around 6:00pm and checking in, sat and waited….and waited….and then our flight was delayed….and an hour later it was CANCELLED, and guess what? There was NOBODY from Easy Jet at the airport to help us. We were left to fend for ourselves and there were some folks on our (cancelled) flight who went through the same thing the day before. Long story short, the wonderful folks at Paris Orly Sud airport took us to a hotel at 3:00am, we slept for about 5 hours and decided to take a train to Berlin instead.

Alas, this is a portrait of one of the ladies who took care of us during our first leg of the train ride to Berlin.

We rented bicycles from Fahrrad Box, and this gentleman helped set us up with our bikes, making sure we had the right frame size and height. There is no better way to explore Berlin than via bicycle, and one of the most incredible things we noticed was that the bicyclist was king. There are special bike paths on the street and when they’re abstent in certain areas, vehicles share the road with no qualms. Pedestrians get out of your way and the roads are easy to navigate at all hours of the day and even late at night.

If you make it to Berlin, we HIGHLY recommend you rent your bicycles from Fahrrad Box!

During our biking tour of Berlin, we stopped at Checkpoint Charlie and noticed there were 2 men and a woman posing for photos (for 1 Euro) with tourists. I went up and started talking to them and made this portrait of the female dressed as a solider.

Shortly after that stop, we happened to come across a photography lab called Das Foto Image Factory. I am currently exploring different mounting options for a collection of images I have and so we started talking to one of the employees there…..and I took his photo as we left.

Due to time constraints, most of the street art that we saw was not in this book, so if anyone out there sees this post and can help me credit the artists below, I would greatly appreciate it.  Just drop me a line at catalina@catalinaphotography.com

Enjoy!

Banksy

Banksy, we think.

is this Banksy too?

Please help us ID these amazing works of street art!

Thank you @jmphotography for the ID – image below is by Blu

I was in complete and utter shock at the amazing weather we had while in Europe. Each day, we had a beautiful sun and skies filled with variations of clouds, from whispy formations to puffy, full-on clouds.

To me, the most amazing thing about these photos and the weather we had were the intense tones of blue that the sky had at different times of the day.

Some of the photos in this blog post can be purchased as 16×20 limited-edition fine-art prints HERE.

Needless to say, it was an emotionally charged trip and a visually stunning one at that.

Over the next few weeks I will be posting a series of images from this trip; from portraits of folks in different countries to some of my favorite abstract and personal images from our journey. I hope you come back often and check them out.

In case you envision one of these images hanging in your home or place of business, you’re in luck!

The images below (and many more to come!) are now available as limited edition fine art prints HERE

And now, here are a few images from Berlin, beautiful Berlin!

Potsdamer Platz

The Berlin Wall

To be precise, this photo was taken around 4:00am, amidst the dancing and fun that we all had that day/night/eve.

Andrea was taking a break from the festivities so I quickly grabbed my camera and made this image.

Isn’t she a gorgeous bride?

I have a list of things I want to see/do/visit/photograph while I’m on this earth, some that happen in New York, and ever since I heard of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade a few summers ago, I knew I had to go and see this crazy parade with my own eyes.

Packed to the brim, I rode the Q train down to the second to last stop on the line, the NY Aquarium, and tried to figure out where in this sea of people I could catch a good view of the parade.

The streets and boardwalk were just as packed on this beautiful, sunny and cloudless Saturday as any train platform at 5:00pm on a weekday. PACKED. Like sardines in a can. Like the train I had just taken to Coney Island. Sigh.

Alas, along with several hundred (if not thousands) of people, I made my way to the boardwalk and little by little, made my way to the front row of the parade route. I went alone and I was very lucky to stand next to 2 very funny couples – we all ended up giving names to each of the mermaids that came down the route, including “goth mermaid,” “papa smurf mermaid,” “lazy mermaid,” “pissed off at BP mermaid,” and a slew of other names, each given according to the participant’s costume.

Andy Warhols, complete with cameras and wigs.

In case you’re scratching your head and trying to figure out this image, it’s a man who was wearing a shark in between his legs.

In all this, I had heard of the crazy costumes and seen some photos but I had no idea I would be seeing so many pasties and a few bare breasts here and there.

It just so happened that we were standing next to this metal structure covered in blue, silk-like material – little did we know that this was the platform for some aerial silk performers, so we had not one, but TWO shows we could see from our vantage point, so I was able to catch a few shots of these beautiful, strong women who made dancing in the air look so easy!

A few more shots from the day…..

During a dinner given during Andrea & Brendan’s wedding celebrations, I head the pleasure of meeting one of Andrea’s former co-workers and friends Sylvia, whose friendly, funny vibe I loved right away. During dinner, she started to tell me about an organization she volunteers for called Trekking for Kids. TFK is a non-profit that travels the world once a year, completes hikes to mountains including Cotopaxi (Ecuador), Mt. Kilamanjaro (Tanzania), the Inca Trail (Peru), and completes volunteer work at an orphanage located near the hiking trail of that particular trip.

Last year, TFK went to Ecuador where TFK built a laundry room,  an infirmary and planted a garden for the girls at the Quito orphanage called Casa Hogar Madre Rafaela de la Pasion Veintimilla.

It just so happened that Sylvia was in town for Andrea & Brendan’s wedding and 6 of the girls at the orphanage where TFK volunteered last year in Quito were having their big 15th birthday – called Quinceañera – the Sunday following the wedding. Sylvia was helping the orphanage with a surprise birthday celebration, which included Sylvia bringing the birthday girls beautiful dresses all the way from NYC.

“Would you be interested in taking photos of this special day?” Sylvia asked. I said YES in a heartbeat.

At the orphanage, I felt that the best gift I could give these deserving girls was a portrait in their lovely dresses – a gift they could treasure for the rest of their lives.

I left, filled with joy, ecstatic that I had the opportunity to capture these very special Quinceañeras.

I’ll start with a few photos from our friends Andrea & Brendan’s wedding. They are a very special couple to us for a plethora of reasons, one of then being that when Juan quit his job in Charlotte and came to NYC to find work last September, Andrea and Brendan welcomed him with open arms, to stay as long as he needed in their studio apartment – yes, the 3 of them in a small studio apartment in NYC. How amazing is that?

Juan and Andrea are life-long friends. They grew up a few houses from each other back in Quito, Ecuador, attended elementary school together and have formed a strong, lasting friendship.

Last week, Andrea and Brendan had their wedding ceremony, festivities and activities in Quito, where close to 80 of their friends flew in from many parts of the world to partake in the week-long celebrations.

These are photos from a beautiful lunch at Andrea’s “finca” (or farm) where in addition to salsa & merengue dance lessons (to bust a Latin move at the wedding reception, of course!) all guests received these beautiful locally-made hats that came in special boxes you can see below.

Coming soon are some portraits I took of these love birds at around 4:00am at the amazing, fun and crazy wedding reception.

Her husband, Don Raul, suffered a debilitating stroke five years ago. Nonetheless, the love that she emanates and gives to Don Raul is the same, if not more, than when they married over 50 years ago. Sra. Alba is a strong, proud, loving, giving, kind and amazing human being.

Having lost my sweet Meme a few months ago, there’s something about Sra. Alba that reminds me of my Meme. I can’t put my finger on whether it’s physical, spiritual or emotional, but there’s a closeness I feel with Sra. Alba that’s very unique.