Continuity and change. By Eloi LEMAIRE, Antoine BOURSON & Antoine MORVILLIER

Sunrise

Sunset

I took the first picture in May 2015 on the Europaplatz in Berlin during a trip with my class. I didn’t really pay attention to how I took the picture because we were in a rush. It was quite hot; I could only hear the noises of my class and obviously of the crowd. I was tired because of the twenty-hour train journey. I also felt glad and curious because it was the first time I had been to Germany. I felt a bit stressed too because my whole class was lost; we had only a few minutes left to find the riverside dock to go on a river trip. We can see a railway station made of glass panels and steel frames. By looking through the wall of glass we can see two catwalks and a concrete bridge with a train on it. The first thing I saw when I took this picture was the small white clock below the name of the station because of its colour; it’s the only thing which is in contrast with the building’s colour. It reminded me that we were in a hurry. The title I chose is “Sunrise” because it was early and there was sun; also, this railway station symbolizes the “dawn” of today's Berlin with its high-tech architecture. The original railway station dates from 1993; it took eleven years to complete. It was modernized in 2006 and is now the biggest railway station in Europe. The curved roof is made of glass panels, which house photovoltaic cells, and steel frames. When trains arrive in the station they are fifteen meters above the street. The bridge is 450 meters long, it goes over the Spree river. The construction of the station cost €700 million. The use of high-tech metal and glass, and the sheer size of the structure, show the wealth and power of the city (to the people arriving).

                                                                                             

I took the second picture from the Monbijou Park in Berlin during the same school trip. I took it from this angle because I wanted to take the cathedral and also the column on the right. I applied few effects; originally the picture was darker. I felt particularly good because we were relaxing in the evening sunshine. It was still really hot. I could hear the noises of the Spree and the boats. I could hear the crowd like almost everywhere in Berlin. We can see the main Protestant cathedral of Berlin. In the foreground, there is a lawn with about ten people resting on it. In the middle distance, we can see columns and a bridge which is above the Spree. In the background we can see the cathedral. It is made of bricks; the cupola is made of copper and gold. We can also see two cranes used in the church restoration. There’s a small wood. I chose “Sunset” as the title because it contrasts with the first picture: it is the end of the day, and the architecture is “old”, symbol of the glorious past of the city. The Berlin cathedral is located on the “Museum Island” in Berlin-Mitte. It was designed by Julius Carl Raschdorff from 1894 to 1905. It is 116 meters tall, 74 meters wide, and 114 meters long. It was damaged in 1944 by Allied bombing. The construction cost, at the time, about €6 million. There are quite a lot of people in front of the church; it shows the place is attractive to tourists and still valued by the Berliners. The crane in the background proves that the city values its architectural heritage.

As a common title, I chose “Continuity and change”. The buildings in my photos show that Berlin both cherishes tradition and invests in modernization.