20er 2010 Kalendar – Asil und Arbeit

Some months ago I was approached by the people at 20er about shooting their 2010 calendar.  The theme was “Asyl und Arbeit” which loosely translates into a study on the plight of asylum seekers in Tirol.  The topic is an important issue in Austria and the notion of shooting 12 black and white images for their calendar was also appealing so I agreed.

The majority of research that I did on the topic was via the internet…the United Nations, Caritas and other organizations dedicated to moving, housing and integrating refugees.  Just about everything I found began to reveal to me that the situation for asylum seekers in Austria is not such a good situation.  People wait for years in state sponsored ‘camps’ in hopes that they will be given citizenship.  While they wait they are not allowed to work and have only limited opportunities for language courses keeping them isolated and poor.  It’s not good for the country and it’s not good for the refugees and it’s amazing to me that things carry on this way.

In addition to research I also had the opportunity to visit one home for asylum seekers in Innsbruck.  A dear friend volunteers German classes so I wandered the halls and talked to some inhabitants while she taught.  They were eager to show me their deteriorated living conditions and to offer their stories. You need to visit your local 20er sales guy to pick up one of the limited edition calendars to see all the images.

What I hoped would be an optimistic picture of untapped potential ended up being a pretty isolated and sad perspective on people that are kept separate and in a kind of purgatory.  It was a challenging and important assignment and I was honored to participate.

The Most Beautiful Fraud in the World

The words have returned.

The haze of the weekend burned off like dew in the sunshine.  My mental hibernation has been replaced with an acute awareness.   I feel a little like a laser beam split between my desire to run barefoot into the jungle to discover my true Oneness with All There Ever Is and Was and Will Be and my desire to climb the corporate ladder to the top and shift the paradigm of international business in a large, multi-national corporation.  I’m wondering now if it’s possible to do both.  Simultaneously.

I never shared the triumph of my first cover shoot and tonight I’m feeling inspired to do that.  MOLE, a new publication in Tirol asked me to shoot the cover of their first edition magazine.  When I say the words, “media landscape in Tirol,” what comes to your mind?  Most people say something like “mountains” . . . but lest I remind them, a media landscape is not always the same as a landscape.  2+ years in the lovely hamlet produced a lot of cultural richness but a real dirth of commentary about it.  Something about the nature of state-funded publications produces a very bland form of coverage.  Come on, every German-adapted production of The King and I can’t be triumphant, right?  In any case, my job was to consider the media landscape in Tirol.  It was my first ’staged’ ‘concept’ shoot and I ended up taking an old cinema called Cinematograph to realize my image “The Most Beautiful Fraud in the World.”

The quote is from the French founder of new wave cinema Jean-Luc Godard.  I don’t want to come across as a French cinema snob, ’cause i’m not, but his quote hit home on what I was trying to capture.  The media landscape to me was something like a beautiful fraud.  The cinema filled with people represents that the audience is present.  They are showing up, buying their tickets and entering into new experience willingly, eagerly and openly.  The openness of the audience in Tirol to new things always humbled me and helped me find my own portal to openess to new media, culture and art.  Its a wonderful thing for a woman who always had the flexibility to carefully curate her sonic landscape (thanks New York!) to find herself in a place where you get what you get.  The glasses were made of the 7 different popular media outlets that cover ‘kultur’ in Tirol.  The majority are state-funded and, as a result, have a very bland way of covering events that might actually be thrilling.  That bland filter is the cause of the audiences obstructed view…the generic coverage and promotion of the kultur essentially alters it, making it similarly moving, similarly edgy, similarly interesting and, as a result, exactly the same as what came before.  The added element of the cinema further removes the audience from the experience keeping it both filtered and 2 dimensional.

MOLE is going to attempt to alter the media landscape of the Tirol.  Make no mistake, they are also state funded but they are going to attempt to shine a new light and bring a new perspective.  The light of the projector is MOLE…hopefully they can be the beacon ,the light, the difference between ‘the filter’ and the unaltered experience.  I’m certainly rooting for them.  Check out MOLE online or swing by any cultural institution in the Tirol to pick up a copy.

 

The Most Beautiful Fraud in the World

It was an honor to participate in the 1st edition of an idealistic new magazine and a treat to nab the cover. The team assembled making the print and online editions are excellent, inspired people and I hope our paths cross again.

 

Each relic I leave behind me feels a little like a bouey…like breadcrumbs in the forest…showing me the channel through which I’ve sailed.  I leave pieces of me wherever I go not to show me the way back but to remind me where I’ve been.  Like a ship out on the sea…  I’ll have another fun commission to share with you in the coming weeks that will live in Austria for a whole year!  How wonderful.

  Don’t see the player?  That’s okay…click here for my long distance dedication.  Casey Kasem-style.

In My Head

I just read this article on the BBC about how swearing helps relieve pain.  That’s fucking awesome.  It could also be one of the reasons why I sometimes feel so good.  I swear like a truck driver, you know.  Yelling ‘F#ck!” at the top of your lungs can be a deeply satisfying response whether it be for a toe stub or a well-done presentation…good and bad really have nothing to do with it.  This morning I am considering yelling at the top of my lungs while I sit in traffic on my way to work…really shaking the foundation and trying to figure a way out of my head.

I have been in my head, spinning, stuck for the last 2 weeks.  It’s true that I need focus right now and it’s true that I need concentration but fuck! I’m making myself nuts.  I think there is a limit to how many episodes of 6 Feet Under a person can watch in a row before the seams begin to unravel.  It’s good that there is so much work to be done right now as that seems to be my only respite of sanity.

The 2010 calendar for 20er magazine has commissioned my perspective on asylum-seekers in Tirol…a new publication about the Media landscape in Tirol is offering me my first cover…pmk is hanging some of my images for thier 5 year birthday party on Friday and the BIG WHEELS at Swarovski are turning like Proud Mary.  All is well and, yet, I still feel like screaming at the top of my lungs.  Go figure.

I didn’t share an update to last Friday’s adventure with Grandmaster Flash mostly because he was a douchbag.  The set was something for a senior prom in Tampa, FL or something egually as lame.  He is both a sell-out and a condescending prick so I guess it’s cool that he sucked….here’s a favorite pic from the night but check the rest here.

Grandmaster Flash @ Poolbar - Feldkirch, AT

Here’s a little tune to get things rolling today…been a while since I dj’d for you.  Click it!

Beana Bern on Chocodog

always brings me joy to participate in any little way with the best band in the world…how about clicking here and celebrating a sweet collaboration by buying some Ween merch!!

Have Lense Will Travel

I mentioned some time back when I uploaded these photos that they were for an ‘interview.’  Less interview and more ’sweet feature,’ this is a little article about yours truly and my life outside Swarovski.  As a reader of 2Bean, you know all about this life of mine, too much sometimes, but my friends at work see another facet.  Different name (Kristina Bern Notch), different business…Appropriate that I would land in the Rhythm issue.

(make it b i g g e r)

By the way, if anybody can tell me what “spur of the moment attention grabbers” are, I’m curious.

Fruits of My Labor

yo.

still in frantic mode and looking forward to chilling the hell out this weekend.  its my own fault for spinning in other peoples static and letting the crazy sweep me away but, such is life, and at the moment im weak and going with the flow instead of swimming against the hectic stream.  peace is on the horizon.

a while back i might have mentioned that i was collaborating with some filmmakers on a documentary film called Rcokumentary.  It was made during the first ever Paul Green School of Rock Music Festival in Asbury Park, NJ.  I happened to document the same fest in photos and found these guys right after I moved to Austria.  I ended up doing the graphic design, cover art and a slammin photo slide show of my work from the fest.  Did I just say slammin for real?  what an ass.

in any case, the film (and some dough!) just arrived in the mail and it always makes me happy to see the fruits of my labor. this was a very cool experience and im hopeful to do more collaborating in the future.  speaking of that…i almost forgot that i am in the process of collaborating as we speak!!  its too soon for details but my buddy Andy and I are making some Trans-continental video art.  You will surely hear all about that when the time comes.

Now I am stepping away from the imac that i should rename Vortex instead of C3PO…this bitch is hard to get away from!!

Beana = Borge (kind of)

ok friends.  i am on the cusp of what will hopefully be a mellower week than last week but in case things move too fast (again) i wanted to drop a line.  the wedding undertaking from last weekend has proved to be a very serious job.  what began as photo editing morphed into website building, slideshow crafting and a basic overhaul of BeanaBernPhotography.  the energy expended sitting before a mac is easier to dole out than the energy needed to run up a mountain and, this weekend, i expended my share of both sorts.

friday was our Betriebsausflug which is basically just a another word for company outing.  we headed to Maurach, above Achensee, and though the meteriologist said sun, it looked a lot like this…

actually, it looked exactly like that.  we had a choice of a big walk or a little one and, naturally, the competitive (not really) group mentality saw me go big.  there was no pressure at all to do so but something made me think it was the ‘right call’ anyway.  here are some photos of the hike.  it looks more like an expedition from the photos but it was only about a 2 hour outing.

Look really closely on this one and you can see everybody coming down from the peak.  A few of us decided to turn around before we reached the slippery and cloud covered summit and headed back to the hut for lunch.  It was a lovely day…so much crisp, mountain air that it was a tad overwhelming but lovely noetheless.  Here is my favorite photo from the outing.  This is my very sweet friend Julia.  Take 2 seconds and check out the whole album, if you’re inclined.

After the day outside I hunkered back down with my computer to try and finish some work so that I could free up the weekend.  Like a lotus, though, the more work I finished the more work was revealed beneath.  This workaholic-ness is not a new trend or a new directions I am trying out…Its just a foundation that Im trying to build so that when and if more photographic work arrives (i hope) ill be ready.  I worked until about 4am on Saturday morning.  I knew by 2am that whatever I had planned for Saturday was toast so I just kept going.

Saturday, in a nutshell…I was the Borge.  Those of you not acquainted with the Borge will know what Im talking about one day.  The entire day and night I banged my head against some code that is smarter than me and ended up finding a solution that isn’t what I hoped for but will be fine.  It isn’t quite 100% yet but it will become that way this week.  It was time for a real wesbite for my ever-expanding body of work and a little more stuff to make it easy for people to hire me.  Go ahead and take a peek…and please let me know how you like my new address.

It feels great to build something though I have to admit that I am looking forward to finsinhing this job so I can enjoy a break, my friends here and autumn in Tirol before im off to New York City at the end of the month.  Before I fly though there is still lots to do on the workfront and still lots of fun to be had on the music front.  Tuesday or Wednesday Built to Spill will do their thing at the weekender and next weekend a musical friend from the US will be a few villages over with something certainly bad ass.   There were 3 or four other things that sounded exciting so stay tuned for some rock shots to come….and, of course, after the bride and groom see them, you will also get a peek at that amazing event.

Here’s a little Built to Spill for you now…Distopian Dream Girl.  Sounds all too familiar tonight.

oh oh oh…i almost forgot.  a few weeks ago my friend Chris pointed out some bad ass Innsbruck street art.  It took me a while but I finally documented it.  amazing!

Melt Fest 2008 – Pictures and Fragments

“Possible Germany” rings in my ear as I ride out of Dessau on a bus through what looks like Ernest Callenbach’s Ecotopia. Windmills turning, wheat blowing in the breeze, my socks still wet from the night before I have time to think…It always amazes me how music can be the tonic to heal wounded ears of too much music. “Possible Germany” isn’t a suggestion this day, it’s a fact.

Rewind 3 days and I’m on the same bus, this time with no music but only the anticipation of 3 days of music to come. Almost 10 years since I’ve slept in a wet tent backstage at a show and I wonder if it’s as brutal and fun as I remember it. My credentials are ready and a kind bus driver drops me right off at the Production office where they set me up with a tent and directions to the Presse Tent. Game on…only 2 hours to spare before its time to sport my gear (almost 40 pounds worth) and make some art and try to stop time.

After nesting a little in the Presse Tent with my bone dry locker (sehr wichtig) and a handful of new friends and strangers I headed out to scout the grounds, find all the gates my “freund” bracelet and Presse pass would get me (pretty much everywhere but up a coal digger…which I found my way up anyway) and timed how long it would take me to get from stage to stage. This last excersice was futile after the earth turned deep brown and slippery and kiddies in their funky shades clogged the arteries.

It’s hard to figure how best to re-cap all the music so I think I’ll just go in order. Perhaps it’s natural to start with the “big dogs” first but instead, I will take you through it as I experienced things and, when possible, I’ll give you my impression in words as well as megapixels…

To go a little deeper, click on each picture to see the whole set of that band. Or, if you feel like sitting back and seeing the “best of” album, click right here.

Friday…July 18

Markus Kavka kicked things off with beats and an unwavering smile. Not my thing but it was a good way to get the party started.

Fotos was some German indie pop that served as a chance to adjust the white balance on my camera and check the perspective from the pit. The music wasn’t so memorable for me…

Lightspeed Champion was the first band that I was psyched to see. Dramatic and melodic the highpoint was the Star Wars anthem and the furry hat.

Late of the Pier had a super high-maintainence sound check but these Brits (i think) threw down, what I can only guess would be, electro pop with a major emphasis on the drums. The crowd went crazy and it was a good, if a little too loud, 3 songs in the pit.

Turbostaat was some German mediocre ‘power’ rock. I remember it was awful but the boys in the front row wearing Turbostaat shirts and singing every word would probably respectfully disagree. To their credit they were playing in a shit sounding concrete box and that could have been a factor in my disatisfaction.

My new photog friend Adrian, when referring to the band Blackmail said that he “wasn’t sure why these guys aren’t famous yet’” and I pondered that thought as the bass drum layed down a new rhythm for my heartbeat during soundcheck. The smoke machine was annoying and the music wasn’t super memorable…

This guy surprised me a little and I found myself liking his ‘doo-wop-vegas-indie-folk-jewish-pop’ more than I would have expected. He’s one of those guys that, even if you don’t like the music, you cant help but smile when he and his back up singers do their thing. Funny but nice.

I was aiming for Burger/Voigt but caught Tobias Thomas instead. He had this pharmaceutical mellow thing going that would have been nice to stay with for a bit had I had a couch to sit on.

Kate Nash sounds exactly the same live as she does on FM4 but the lack of imagination in her “KATE NASH” visuals and her kind of late-lazy stage show made me like her a little bit less. The pouring rain could have also been a factor in the overall lackluster performance but im pretty sure it was her.

Gui Boratto was cute but, if i’m being honest, DJ’s can start to sound the same to me after a little while

I first heard Modeselektor on a iTunes playlist assembled by Thom York. I liked it then and I liked it live…these were the only DJ’s I heard with the ability to make people dance like animals instead of robots. Fucking awesome.

The Editors reminded me a little bit of “Live” but I think it had more to do with the lead singers voice than with the actual sound of the band. They had a huge draw and a big sound and, though it wasn’t something I would go and seek out, they were good.

Ellen Allien had too many technical difficulties for me to stick around. This was shot around 3am and I had one gig left to shoot…

Robyn was new to me but clearly not new to the stage. Both diva and pimp, she was like a sizzling Swedish gangster with the soul of Pat Benetar. Highlights of her set were covers of Snoop Dogs “Sexual Eruption,” Salt n Pepa’s “Push It,” and what I think was a Prince cover of “I’ll Jerk You Off.” If I get the chance to see her again, I will.

Saturday…July 19

Sleep came but didn’t stay. After about 4 hours it was time to wander the grounds and watch Melt wake up. After some festival food it was time to park myself in the tent and edit some photos before heading out to do it again. Storm warnings and terrential rain put a damper on things (sorry about that) and the mud came out in full effect.

The first act was a German guy named Peter Licht. I forget exactly what it was that I thought at the time but I think it was along the lines of “emo-german-college-pop.” Boring but he did get the rainbow so you have to give him that at least.

Twisted Wheel wasn’t on the bill but found their way to the mainstage for a short set. Out of Manchester and into Ferropolis….aside from the nice light, I don’t remember what their deal was.

After a few songs Dirk arranged a crane tour for us and we headed up one of the 5 major coal digging machines that is Ferropolis. Surreal and scary, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of noise they made when they were unearthing coal and rocks. No doubt they were far louder than any of the noise we were making with our rock and roll. Click on the picture below to see some of this awesome and rustic metal.

Melt by Day

Melt by Night

Ok ok, I got off track a little but after the tour of the big rigs it was time to rock (mostly work) until the sun came up.

Cobblestone Jazz was another DJ thing but live, synthesized vocals and groovier beat was interesting

Fujiya Migawi surprised me with their lack of Japanese-ness but I loved the their sound. A little listen on MySpace confirmed that I liked what I heard and I hope I get to see them again one day.

The Notwist is geekier than all hell but also pretty brilliant. Their set built really slow but after the 4th song they hit a stride and their subdued and melodic sound had some momentum. Not so fun to shoot but they made up for it with the music.

This scary and disgusting dude is called Rummelsnuff. The kind of stereotypical shit that somebody might think would still be happening in Germany. He sings of power and strength and other shit that makes the National nazi-types happy while his oiled body makes the homosexuals happy. His ability to bring these two unlikely groups together seems to be part of his novelty but after 5 clicks of the shutter I got the fuck out of there before the little bit of barf in my throat needed to find its way out.

Franz Ferdinand is so slick and such a well oiled machine that they feel like less of a rock band and more like a vegas act but that didnt stop me from loving every second of their set. They are fucking awesome…and lots of fun to take photos of. Go on, click the pic and take a peek.

Roisin Murphy is such a sexy bitch that its crazy. 3 costume changes during the first 3 songs with the entire stage serving as her own personal cat walk. The music was alright but her stage show was amazing. I would have loved to have photographed the whole set. This is another set that you should take a closer look at if you’re inclined.

Another sleepless night and another day to work, fortunately all my shows for the last day were on the same stage so I only had to scoot out from the press tent between rain showers and acts. I spent the day kicking it with the other photogs, you come to know one another after 3 days of working in the rain.

July…Sunday 19

Los Campesinos had a lot going on with the xylophones, horns and things. Lots of draw for an early show and a sound somewhat derivative of angsty Arcade Fire and insecure but happy Magic Numbers.

Neon Neon’s set was a tribute, maybe homage, to the man who built the Dolorian. Birth was uninteresting but Dreaming was memorable and the old school Casio ‘hand clap’ brought back memories of mine and my sister’s dabbling with our own keyboard many years ago. It got some weird Rusted Root-esque percussion that turned me off towards the end but by then it was time to go anyway…

Get Well Soon is another example of an Arcade Fire want-to-be but, honestly, they are doing it. They are good with the big crecendos and atmospheric rock and, though a little annoying to watch, I liked the sound.

the only word for the Battles are awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome

I didn’t know that I knew Hot Chip until I heard the song about the monkey with a miniature symbol. Damn, that song has a way of staying in my head and running circles. This band saw the biggest crowd of the whole weekend, even trumping Bjork, which surprised me. They were good but throughout the whole set I was wondering whether or not I was going to be one of the lucky few photographers shooting Bjork…

As it turned out, she decided that she didnt want any Press or Photographers in front for her show. Her Management requested a list of media and picked about 10 photographers to cover the pit…I was one of them.

Bjork is more of a life force then a singer…her performance gave me goose bumps and I only wish that I hadn’t been freezing my ass off and suffering from massively cramped hands during her set. By the time these shots were taken I had been working for almost 3 days straight, sleeping for less then 8 hours and shooting what amounted to be about 600 photographs. Believe it or not, I even managed to have a little fun, eject two fucking drunkards (literally, 2 drunk people fucking) from my tent and make a few new friends. This re-cap marks the end of Melt and I hope you enjoyed the pix.

In case you haven’t been clicking and reading, here’s another shot to see the overview… CLICK HERE FOR MELT FEST 2008

Package of Pixels

So a nice package of pixels was sent off to my friends at Pitchfork last night and it is likely that they will find their way to the eyes of the world later today (or at least the eyes of Pitchfork readers everywhere).  It has been a massive amount of work to plow through all the images from the weekend in addition to getting things rolling again in my Crystal life.  3 days and 28 bands is no small task so I humbly ask for just a bit more patience while I get everything organized…Check out Pitchfork later today for the first sneak peek and, in the meantime, I will keep trucking along so you can travel vicariously through time and space to experience 3 wet and awesome days in Ferropolis in time for the weekend.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<+>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ok friends, here’s a link to the first little taste…just the few that Pitchfork took.  Stay tuned for my perspective on the weekend in a day or so…

2 Steps, Too Far

So I am still kind of reeling from my holiday but trying hard to shake it off and prepare for a very big 2 weeks at work coming up. I tried to relax this weekend, as best I know how, and managed to do a little, I think. I still haven’t quite closed the chapter on EuroWeen as I have yet to compose a new edition of See the Music for my friends at Runaway Dinosaur. All in good time. At least I managed to get the photos edited, the recaps blogged and the myriad emails responded to that I received due to said photographs. I received a really nice response to my Ween shots and want to thank everybody for taking the time to touch base.

Aside from my photographic exploits I also managed my first visit to Wattens swimming pool and was floored at how nice it is. A few laps, a few rays and the bike ride to and fro was my fill of exercise for the weekend. I also took in an odd rendition of The King and I at the Landestheater, compliments of my generous employer, and had to work hard to muffle my laughter at the english-dubbed-german-people-acting-asian. It was 2 steps too far removed for me to take seriously though the production itself was lovely and sparkling and the company was sweet. Toss in some uke chord progressions, some brunch with friends and a drive into the mountains above my house and you have an eventful, mildly relaxing, weekend.

I convinced myself that Hundskopf (dogs head) is going to see me triumphantly standing on top before this summer is over…you are all my witness to this. It might require that I dust off my old climbing gear to pull it off, but that puppy (forgive the pun) is going down! Or better yet, I am going up!

In other news, I was featured again on My-Expressions.com “Member Spotlight” thanks to Sir Elton (and thanks to Jon!) . I also got some linkey love over at Schnitzel.co.uk (thanks Oliver!) due to my EuroWeen 5.0 graphic and my perspective on the shows. Two very rad features and I say, humbly, thank you both.

It’s now time to shut my eyes, my mind (I’ll try) and my laptop so I can rest up and get ready to swing (again with the puns, I apologize) into a new week…Here’s a little tune to help sing me (and maybe you) to sleep. This is the second time this tune has appeared on 2beanornot2bean, now…though still not the original. Guten Abend und Gut Nacht!

Member Spotlight

I received an email recently asking if I would agree to an interview for a “Member Spotlight” Feature on Expressions, a community of talented photobloggers that I am member of. Humbled and happy for the opportunity, I agreed and what follows are some excerpts from that interview. To read the feature in it’s entirety, click here.

“Beana crosses many genres; and is probably best-known for her performance photography such as the photo we featured last month of Pete Doherty (Babyshambles).

She’s a photographer’s photographer with a great style and always a pleasure to see at Expressions.

Beana has been on our ‘must feature’ list for a time. She didn’t know that until late yesterday. The reason we are featuring her today is Pete Doherty is suddenly in the news. Her photo of him is way better than others we’ve seen at news sites today.

Her photos are not always pin sharp and steady, even though she’s a bit of an equipment enthusiast she’s a photographer who thinks that the photo is often the situation not the sharpness.

Read on and enjoy…”

Click Here for the Interview

“Beana Bern is already published. We think you’ll be seeing a lot more of this photographer with opinions and talent.

We like the fact that although she is Austria-based her photos do not scream ‘Tyrolean’ like a travel book, instead they tell about her life and personality.

She must have a great gym membership (or a private chiropractor) to deal with all that gear she carries to a paying gig. “

What a pleasure to be asked to share in this way! I am honored that Jon and Lorissa sought me out and am humbled and grateful for the kind words and support. And as for the gym membership and chiropractor, I wish :)