This past Tuesday I gave another talk at the German-American Institute (d.a.i.) here in Tübingen on 20th Century American Women Photographers. It was part 2 of the lecture series, and I presented the women who were what I called the “Photo Journalists: Documenting the World in Difficult Times”.  The four women I profiled all had very different careers as a whole, but in the 1930s, all four of them did social documentary-style photography of one sort or another.

One of the women, Berenice Abbott, did a project in the 1930s where she profiled life in NYC, which was changing radically during the ’30s, what with the construction of many new bridges and skyscrapers, among other things. Abbott roamed the city streets, carefully noting typical American and/or NYC scenes/buildings/iconic places. She would scope out the natural light available at different times of day for each subject, going back when the conditions were optimal to take an amazing photo.

You can find a number of her photos online at the NY Public Library digital collection by clicking here. In addition to buildings found in neighborhoods all over the city, she took photos of things common to daily life, such as elevated train platform waiting rooms, and the Automat, that uniquely New York eating place. Yes, Mom, the people at the talk heard about how you used to love going to the Automat with your grandfather – it’s a nice story that fit well with my description of Berenice Abbott’s project. 🙂

Anyway, one of the other stories I told about Berenice Abbott and her 1930s Changing New York project was how she always used available light to take the photos. She was always conscious of the effects of light and shadow on the buildings she wanted to photograph, and she would figure out the optimal times to go back to get her final photos of any given subject.

Now, I knew that this type of planning wasn’t easy. But I have a renewed appreciation for her efforts in this regard after trying to capture a photo of our favorite restaurant, Zum Guttenberg, which is in a building that is down the street from our apartment.  I was inspired to take a photograph of it because, unfortunately, it’s going to be closing on Monday. So sad (for us). The couple who runs it is from Thuringia, in eastern Germany, and after more than 10 years here in Tübingen they have decided to move back there. Chris and I have gone there almost every Sunday for lunch for the past 2.5 years.

Anyway, over the past week I have attempted to take a definitive photo of their restaurant. It hasn’t been easy. They typically put out chalkboard signs in front with items they are spotlighting in the restaurant that day, but those boards only go out when they are open.  So my first attempt at a photo — the one with the bike, included in the gallery below — wasn’t ideal, because those typical boards weren’t out yet. Plus, the light and shadow was such at that time of day that I got odd shadows on the building – not ideal.

The next time I tried, earlier this week, the boards were out, but unfortunately so were all the cars and people going by on the street in front of the building. The woman on the left in the photo with the women is actually one of the owners of the restaurant – the other woman is just walking by. I did two versions of this photo, but ultimately wasn’t really happy with either version;  the one in color is slightly blurred for effect, and the one in black and white, with a slight sepia tone, was attempting to evoke an older type of photo.  I don’t really think either one is great.

But then, I only tried twice to get a great photo. Berenice Abbott devoted 10 years to getting all her astonishing photos of NYC in the 1930s. Well done, Berenice – your persistence and tenacity created a portrait of a city that has yet to be equaled!

My photo of the Zum Gutenberg restaurant isn’t in the same league, of course,  but at least we have some kind of record of a particular time and place, something the restaurant that quickly became our favorite here in Tübingen. It will be missed.