This blog is officially dead. It will not continue in the future.
If you enjoyed following this blog, I apologize for letting you down.

Feel free to visit the following links, in case you would like to know what I am up to.

MALTECORNELIUS.COM
NEW WEDDING AVANT-GARDE
S ND Y P RL RS

I must admit that sometimes I do waste a lot of time on the internet. But that's no news. Once in a while I actually stumble upon something great. Like a few days ago when I discovered the photographs of Ima Wuytack from Antwerp, Belgium.

All of them are magical. I think they have something you rarely see nowadays. Something natural and candid. No hipster fake begging for style. Something natural. Something hard to find.










Ima Wuytack on Flickr.

The Reykjavík Art Museum currently hosts a great exhibition named STEiNUNN. Acclaimed fashion designer Steinunn Sigurðardóttir presents recent works of her label STEiNUNN, beautifully photographed by one of my favourites, Mary Ellen Mark.

There are not much words worth to waste on both of these artists and their works. STEiNUNN quickly catched my attention passing its boutique on Laugavegur. I once took a photo of the shopping window, click here. Mary Ellen Mark photographed Steinunn's delicate dresses on 20 x 24 inch polaroid, color and black and white.

It reminded me so much of the l'âge d'or of fashion photography of the 30's and 40's.
A rare treat!

Chapter 11: To prove you, you're always ahead of me

I decided not to post some average art stuff of mine this time again. This should not be about me. This should be about greater things. I've been reading a lot about painting for quite a while now. I want to understand it, as it fascinates me so much as a photographer. Vilhelm Hammershøi (May 15, 1864 – February 13, 1916) has always been one of my favourites.


Interior, 1899


Lady Reading In An Interoir, date unknown


Portrait Of A Young Woman, 1885


Rest, 1905

"Ich weiss es auch nicht.
Ich weiss gerade nichts." -

"Kenne ich."

Chapter 10, Part 2: How the cars don't notice her walking in the street.

There is nothing more fascinating and probably also influencing than film noir to me. It will always be my only true love of cinema. Of course mainly because of the incredibly intense cinematography. These black and white shots. Paris, at night, in 1958. Jeanne Moreau walking in the rainy streets, with Miles Davis' breath-taking trumpet lines following her with every step she takes.

These times will never come back. This is not meant to sound that nostalgic - it can't actually, since that was before my time - but in a way it is supposed to as well. Maybe I just live in the wrong decade. Photography was way better back then too. Oh photography, you were!

Chapter 10: I'd be never willing to do you harm.

Natalie, September 2009, Reykjavík

Úlfur, colored analog black and white photograph in three layers, June 2009, Reykjavík

Chapter 9: YOU ARE FREE

It's been a while again. And I know almost everyone starts goddamn blog entries like this, but I am just like everybody else. Lots of things happened, or it least it feels to me like that. I've been busy with my exhibition. Browsing through my folders, selecting photographs, scanning, buying print paper, printing, buying frames, cleaning frames, framing, painting the gallery in a new fresh white again, thinking, rethinking, organizing photographs on walls, and rethinking it all over again, montaging the photographs, doing the math for it, and all that stuff. It's lots of work if you have to do it all yourself. And it felt good doing it all myself. And at the end looking at the show and more or less being happy with it. The exhibition is ending this week. It's been an interesting month. Interesting people dropped by, and I hope they enjoyed it more than they did not. (All prints are for sale, by the way, if someone reading this is interested?)




It's been a time without even holding a camera in my hands which felt so weird because I was so busy this summer photographing. I am back to that. Working on new projects and portraits.



Mary Ellen Mark was in town. She was holding a lecture and showing photographs of Exposure (Phaidon Press, first published in 2005), Seen Behind The Scene (Phaidon Press, 2008) and her project Prom. We were also honoured to see the yet-unreleased short film Mark's husband Martin Bell directed about the Prom project. It shows interviews with the teenagers Mark photographed with an 20x24 Polaroid camera. The film is really moving. The project will eventually, so Mark, be presented as a book (including the film on DVD) and an exhibition.




I had the chance to meet her and to have 30 minutes of her time to take her portrait. I was so nervous. But thank God, she is not only a great photographer, she is also a great and kind person. I felt so honoured.

Chapter 8: Sometimes I am not even trying

My second entry for this month. I think I never made such a big bang out of this shitblog here. The only reason I am doing this is that finally my website is online. Feel free to check it out. I like it and I hope you do too. Put this in your URL section: www.maltecornelius.com

Second news. Now that the bloody website is done I can focuse more on my exhibition. That's one poster for it above. I will share the gallery with my flatmate Eva. There will be two posters. One with a photograph by me and one by Eva. And since this is my blog and since I also don't have Evas photo yet I allowed myself to post my poster. The poster shows my friend Joanna from Berlin, Germany. Photographed at my place in Reykjavík this month. (I so love the glasses she bought that day.)

That's basicly it. Over and out. Be well

Vincent, Reykjavík, June 2009

7

It's been a while since I took my time to think about everything that has been going on lately, but I've been quite busy with doing stuff and worrying too much. I am trying to put my photographic work together, or something like that. There will be a website coming up soon (www.maltecornelius.com), and I am working on my exhibition participation. More about that when things are for sure, cause basicly nothing is right now. The recordings I've been hoping to do with Albert must be delayed I guess. But I will play two shows here by the end of the month and I am really looking forward to that.

The Street Theatre project is almost over. It's been a great productive time but it feels good that it's over soon. A busy time is yet to come. Friends of mine from Berlin are over for a week which feels so good too. All the stuff doesn't really make sense to me right now, and I feel kind of stupid blogging this. I should stop that

Þorbjörg, Reykjavík, June 2009

Summer is the brightest darkest of all seasons

Summer has finally arrived here and it is nice and sunny and warm, and there is always a cool breeze from the ocean right next to you. I am quite busy with being a photographer now. As I told you before, I am taking photographs of the Street Theatre Project but also I am working on new portraits

Also it is quite hard to find a good night sleep since the sun doesn't really set here anymore. You really lose the feeling for time. I have a huge dark curtain for my huge window but I still haven't managed to put it up yet and I will probably never do it. I went to Snæfellsness last weekend which is a beautiful area here on the west coast. Plus, Stuart let me borrow his Hasselblad camera and I enjoy using it. I have lots of new photographs, but I am too lazy to post them all. I am thinking about getting a real website for that stuff soon, should I? Besides that there is not much to tell. But I promise I will get back to you with more greater news soon

Rebecca on a boat trip around Heimaey, Westman Islands, June 2009

Every move a picture, or, For a brief moment I thought I had it all figured out

I am doing lots of photography work right now which is really good because it almost feels like I am an actual photographer. I am following the Reykjavík Street Theatre in their preparations for their big performance on the Icelandic National Day, June 17th, and I will be photographing their performance as well as taking single portraits of everyone. It is really exciting to be around these people

I went to the Westman Islands the other weekend and took lots of photos there too. It is a beautiful small group of islands in the south of Iceland. It takes like three hours by boat but it is actually not that far away from Iceland. Heimaey - the main island with its 4000 inhabitants - is a beautiful, quiet place

Furthermore I am working on a Portrait Series, or at least I try to. Reykjavík is awesome in its summer days, and there a quite a lot sunny days here right now. Half of the year is already over which feels pretty strange. These six months went by so incredibly fast and I am afraid the next half will pass even faster. I hope it won't

(For more photos about the places I wrote please check my Flickr, and don't miss the new Flickr for the Reykjavík Street Theatre)

David Lynch, Reykjavik, Iceland, May 2nd 2009


So we went to see Mr. David Lynch this saturday. Needless to say he is one of the most fascinating artists of our time. I admire his work for many years. I never thought I could ever meet or even see him in person in my life. But I did and I feel so honored

He had this press conferance here in Reykjavík. Just a few people including the television channels and reporters appeared. Albert, Eva and me were there too of course. He talked a lot about that Transcendental Meditation Program. I was not interested in it at all, but it was indeed interesting listening to him

After the short conferance he was outside having a cigarette. I walked up to him - I was so incredibly nervous - and asked him kindly for a photograph. He was very friendly and so cool, he said "Sure thing!". After I took his portrait he was just saying "You got it!". It was amazing. I thanked him kindly and allowed myself to tell him how much his work fascinates me. He is so awesome

Thanks to Stuart who developed the film for me, the photograph turned out very well and we made a big A3 print later which is now beautifully covering my wall at home

þingvellir, Iceland, April 2009


The quiet city. April 15th

Shit, it's already april. Time somehow flies so fast. I've been on this island now for four months which makes me feel like I should have lots of stories to tell but somehow I don't. This doesn't mean I don't do and experience things, they just all seem so usual and subliminal. No stunning highlights, irritating flashlights or big surprises. Things tend to go slow sometimes, but actually it all rushes by. And it's over sooner than later

I am desperately waiting for my new 35mm cameras to come, plus I am seriously thinking about buying some instruments and a record player here. While walking in and out of bars, chatting about girlfriends and that Bergman film you saw last week, that great record you bought yesterday, stealing wine glasses from our favourite cafes, spending too much money on unlit cigarettes. The fascination never ends. The stars always above our heads - and the sky actually touches the ground in some way - but soon they will go to sleep and so do we, hopefully

(New panorama view from my blacony here)

I could talk about thousands of things I miss but I won't. I could try to list hundreds of things I love but I won't do that either. And I will definitely not name all the stuff I regret or don't regret. Sometimes this place is a quiet city, and sometimes it walks along with you all the way through the night when you missed the last bus home

Hvalfjordur, Ísland, February 2009


The last two months passed by so quickly. I still wonder if this is good or bad, at least I don't feel bad. It is still hard to get up early in the morning for icelandic classes and it is still great to have a good cup of hot chocolate at Hjomalind. Work is still kind of exciting and relaxing, and the view (look!) from my balcony is still wonderful. I still miss Berlin and my friends and my family and everything, but I get along here with mostly everyone quite well

I try to go out photographing as much as possible. This country has some beautiful spots. I still don't have a new 35mm. I shoot a lot with my old medium format. Though sometimes I wish I could afford some equipment that actually works, that you can rely on. Sometimes the film transfer fucks up on my Kiev. I haven't figured out yet why. The photograph above is the result of such an event

The guys from noise.net asked me to do an interview and you can read it here (###), though I am not really that interesting. They said as a featured artist my photographs will also appear on the main site and in the newsletter, but I haven't seen it there yet. If you do, please let me know

It's slowly getting spring here in Iceland, I think. It's still windy and cold but at least the sun is getting up way earlier than before. The last days have been so sunny. You really learn to apprechiate the sun here

It snowed a lot today. January 28th

My camera broke today. I don't know why and how, but it doesn't work anymore as it used to do. This sucks. I want it to work, I need it to work. I can not afford a new one. The wrong things always happen at the wrong time

These are the last pictures I took with my Yashica. Good night, my love, sleep well


Ragna in the car, somewhere 1 1/2 hours outisde of Reykjavík, January 2009


Laura, we spent all the day in the cold only in sweaters, January 2009


Swans and gooses, Tjörnin, Reykjavík, January 2009

Anywhere I'm gonna lay my head, I'm gonna call my home.

Reykjavík is a beautiful town. I've been here about three weeks now and I don't regret coming here at all. Working at Hitt Húsið is fun, I got introduced to everything and everyone and they have been really kind to me. I put up shows, manage a galery and organize summer festivals about art and culture. The work itself is exciting and acually pretty relaxing. I share a flat with Eva from Austria and there is Mickael from Paris moving in next week as well. They are wonderful people, I am happy I have them and others around

I even have a balcony. A beautiful view. The city and the mountans and the sea. I've seen the Geysir and Gullfoss. The landscapes are stunning. I feel good here. Though I haven't really settled down yet, I feel this town is a good place to be. As soon as I am able I will post some pictures here.I already posted some on my Flickr about the demonstrations going on here right now (it's really exciting, new elections soon and everything). I must admit the photograph above was taken in Sweden in March 2008. Iceland is even more beautiful, it's not even that cold than I expected. But windy, superwindy

I have to say I miss Berlin and Kassel, my friends and my family, my dog, my guitar and the piano too. And I hope they are all doing well. Be patient please, more soon


We are only broke on money. An addition from January 27th




The premier minister Geir Haarde recently resigned, as well as the minister for business affairs. The icelandic goverment now officially broke up. I am not really that clever when it comes to politics, exspecially not when it comes to the politics of a country I've known only for three weeks. But when you have hundreds of people demonstrating on Parlament Square all day every minute just two streets away from your office, you can't ignore that there is something going on. (First of all I might have to say that the act of protesting is really superunusual for Iceland. It never really happened - except last year when it all started - since the 40's)



The protests started on Tuesday, January 20th. It was huge. I took a break for coffee and a cigarette to walk over and have a look. The crowd was wide spread around the Parlament building. Protest signs facing dozens of police and security men. I felt weird in that crowd that afternoon. I still don't know every detail. You hear various opinions about that everywhere. But I think I am getting the picture. So I was standing there in this peaceful-screaming mess of students, mothers, unemployed factory workers and very talented well-known musicians. I wasn't actually a part of this. Just a quiet observer trying to understand. As my coffee went cold - and I ran out of cigarettes anyway - I when back to my office. Later that day after work we joined that yelling crowd again. They set up a big fire in the middle of Parlament Square and were still drumming their pots with spoons. It felt important



Something is happening here. It's the first time ever a country broke up on a financial crisis and now it's getting political as well. So the resignment is official. I guess that is what the people wanted in the first place. The minister, Bjorgvin Sigurdsson, said the government had failed to restore confidence in the three months since the financial crisis began in October. There will be new elections for May, but who knows what is up for the time inbetween. I still like to take my place as that quiet observer while I am watching out my office window having a look at that pretty girl that is working at Landisbakinn on the other side of the road. As I said, I am not really that much into icelandic politics (not yet!). Check the news for serious official updates


Demonstration on Parlament Square on Tuesday evening, January 20th

Happiness is still a warm gun.

So okay, I will move to Reykjavik. Actually pretty soon. My plane takes off on 5th of January. I promised you to write something about the how's and why's, so this is what I'll do. After I finished school (oh hell, that was great!) my parents expected me to sign in to study at some university. I wasn't ready for this at the time - you know, I still don't feel like it right now. So I gambled away almost a year having this or that silly job - I recorded Oktober in this time as well. Anyway this situation made me crazy and made me move away from home. I got a job as a photographer assistent in Berlin and committed myself to this, then I worked at a booking agency. It all took one year. Berlin was great. I miss it so much

A friend of mine did this program which they call EVS (European voluntary service), it's a cool thing to do and I decided to do the same thing too. So I tried to get into it. After some attempts I finaly did. So now I am moving to Reykjavik in January 2009 for one year. I will work at the Art and Cultural Department of Reykjavik named Hitt Húsið. I am really excited cause this is excatly what I always wanted to do. This island is so fascinating and the work there sounds so amazing. So I am really looking forward to try to make a living there. I will try to keep this blog updated with a little more care during this year. So if anybody is actually reading this "Watch out!", and leave a little comment for me to know you're somewhere out there reading this. Or I'll sooner or later shut this whole thing down

The photograph above shows Lars. I took it on our tour we did not that long ago. I had a wonderful time with him - and yes definitely some drinks too much but who cares?! I miss him and I miss playing shows. I want to record songs again, hopefully I am able to sooner than later

So here is my last month in this city. I am actually gonna miss it. Quite a lot. I will have a tour coming up for late November / early December. After that I will spend almost the whole December at my parents place before moving to Reykjavik next year. I think I am really excited considering it's always been a great dream of me to go there. But I will tell you more about that someday

The time here in Berlin has been crazy. Moving in and out (of apartments, clothes, thoughts, situations and worries) or not moving at all. It's strange how a city swallows you to keep you in its stomach for as long as possible, how it can support almost every possible state you actually can be in. If good or bad. I learned to love this town, in its own most possible ways. It's all too confusing these days. When you know you will definitelly miss one of the hardest times you ever had standing on your own two feet and making life work somehow. I actually made friends here, and I actually miss them right now

The photograph above was taken by ST in his studio in Berlin back in my assistant days.