2010 Honduras
Choluteca, Pacific & Atlantic coast, San Lorenzo Reserve, Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula
At the border crossing El Salvador/Honduras the officers wanted a big bribe.
Silke Gondolf // Locations
2010 El Salvador
Sunzal, San Salvador, Tazumal, La Libertad, El Amatillo
I had armed guards with me at all times, even when buying an ice cream. The guards didn’t want to be treated for an ice cream, because when they share an ice cream with you – they cannot fight off attacks.
2010 Guatemala
Guatemala City, La Mesilla, Huehuetenango, Panajachel, Reserva Los Tarrales, Quetzaltenango, Atitlan, Antigua, Volcano Pacaya, Las Chinamas, Finca Santa Isabel
The sound of liquid lava is like that of breaking glass. On May 27, 2010 – 3 month later – the Pacaya volcano erupted, followed in several tremors.
2009 Mexico
Mexico City, Nogales, Hermosillo, Copper Canyon, Creel, Cerocahui, Mazatlan, Jalisco, Guadalajara, Tequila, Mexiko City, Teotihuacan, Puebla, Popocatepetl, Oaxaca, Juchitan de Zaragoza, Huatulco, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Palenque, Sumidero Canyon, Chiapas de Corzo, La Mesilla
Mexico being in the news for no good things is actually a very interesting, cultural rich and welcoming country. They are the nicest people!
2009 USA
West Coast: San Francisco, East Los Angeles
Hanging out with a Low Rider gang in East L.A. was special. I never felt so safe.
2009 India: Ladakh
Nubra Valley, Sumur, Hunder, Changthang Province, Dha, Beema, Tso Moriri
Sleeping in a tent, at 4,800 meters above sea level, at minus temperatures can be very romantic. Above the brightest stars, so near.
2009 Kenya
Nairobi, German Embassy, Mathara Slum, Kibera Slum, Slum Hospital Kibera
Meeting the street photographers of Nairobi. Samson, one of them, showing his work, his collection kept inside a shoe box.
2008 China
Beijing, Historical Hutong, Behai Park, German Embassy, Hefei
After the Olympics, China had changed. It was so much easier to travel and film now – but much harder to breathe.
2008 Spain
Gran Canaria
Filled with German and British package tour tourists, but beside that, wonderful nature to be discovered.
2007 Mali
Bamako, Segou, San, Mopti, Niger, San, Timbuktu, Essakane, Djenne, Dogon Country, Douentza, Festival au desert
Mali looks like a dry loaf of bread. People have cold hands and sweat at the same time.
2007 Malawi
Lilongwe, Karonga, Kasungu, Mzuzu, Malawi Lake
Malawi is a surprising African country. Malawi’s population is energetic, brave and people enjoy life.
2006 Netherlands
Amsterdam
Christmas in Amsterdam – precious.
2006 Spain
Gomera
It is very difficult to find decent lunch in Spain around 1pm. Beautiful countryside, breathtaking road trips to the hills.
2006 India: Sikkim / Spiti / Lahaul
Sikkim, Spiti, Lahaul, Kinnaur, Kalpa, Donkhar, Thanadhar, Darjeeling, Shimla, Gangtok
If it smells intensely like cat, it is a snow leopard. I am not keen to see rare animals, which can potentially attack me.
2006 Poland
Krakow
Wintertime in Poland, foggy cobblestone streets.
2006 Bhutan
Paro, Phuntsholing, Bagdogra, Punakha, Mongar, Lhuntshe, Bumthang, Trashingang, Trongsa
In 2006 the only country on earth where tourists have to pay a daily entrance fee.
2005 India: Rajasthan
Jaipur, Udaipur, Jain Temple, Delhi
Cows between people, mixed with mobile street stalls, cars and beggars. Rajasthan is India in its essence.
2005 India: Kashmir
Kashmir: Srinagar, Dal Lake, Nagin Lake, Khimber, Dara, Palang
I was revisiting the old houseboats a colleague of mine photographed 20 years ago for a STERN reportage. The police in Kashmir thought I am a spy. I got into trouble. And the big earthquake didn’t help the situation either.
2005 India: Ladakh
Changthang, Tso Moriri, Tso Khar, Karzok, Alchi, Lamayuru, Hemis, Spituk, Shey, Thikse, Leh Gompa
People know days and seasons, but they do not know hours, minutes or seconds. And they have never seen shoe laces – I made people stop and touch my shoes. They only wear felt boots, no laces there.
2004 Namibia
Windhoek, Otjiwarongo, Usakos, Tsumeb, Swakopmund, Etosha Pan, Walvis Bay
Etosha Pan feels like a drive through an endless zoo. The Namib Desert is threateningly easy accessible and dangerous – and breathtaking beautiful.
2004 China
Peking
China had become my third home, away from home. China changed over the last 10 years. The traditional Beijing Hutongs have almost completely disappeared, ring roads were added and the air is even more unbearable.
2004 Australia
East Coast Australia: Coolangatta, Fraser Island, Bundaberg, Brisbane
Getting stuck in the sands of Fraser Island with a bad car, seeing sharks cruise close to the beach and green bees fly. Australia has the best Ginger Ale, the most poisonous animals and the nicest coasts. It is just a bit boring.
2003 USA
Manhattan
Tankman, building the watertowers of Manhattan.They stand at the crest of the New York skyline like rustic, weathered sentinels. Their design has changed little in more than a century, and though they resemble a relic from a forgotten time, wooden water tanks remain a fixture of the cityscape.
2003 Hungary
Budapest, Tot
Budapest has the nicest café houses and a laid back atmosphere, lots of small mom and pop stores with local specialties, boot makers on every corner.
2003 Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Filming inside the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Very rich and very poor Chinese people are gambling their money away.
2003 USA
Utah: Bonneville Salt Flats
Filming old men with fast cars. Motorcar racing has taken place at the salt flats since 1914. Racing takes place at part of the Bonneville Salt Flats known as the Bonneville Speedway.
2001 France
Paris
Winter in Paris.
2001 USA
San Francisco
Berkeley, Muesli and hippie town. Going everywhere with a car. Hiking in the mountains. Too scared to get on a flight to NYC, after Sep 11th. The terrorist attack on the WTC had changed everything for me.
2001 Japan
Tokyo, Kyoto, Oze
After Sep 11th – in Kyoto the world was as peaceful and beautiful as always. I was stuck in Japan. Not being able to get a flight back home to New York.
2001 Drive across the Himalayas
Drive across the Himalayas from Kathmandu to Lhasa
At a truck stop, on a small black and white TV screen I saw the World Trade Center in Manhattan collapse. I thought it was a bad joke.
2001 Nepal
Kathmandu, Pokara, Fewa Lake, Sagarkot, Pashna, Nagarkot, Putan, Baktapur
Kathmandu got taken over by young, busy tourists and lazy cows.
2001 China
Peking, Chengdu, Chongching, Kunming, Lijiang, Guilin, Mt Emai, Yaoshan, Dali, Leshan, Baoshen, Dazu
China is a huge and very diverse country. There is not “one” China, but one time zone, to enhance national unity.
2001 Hong Kong
Hong Kong
After a long journey through mainland China a treat.
2001 Lhasa གཙུག་ལག་ཁང༌། Tibet
The Jokhang Temple is the most sacred Buddhist temple in Lhasa, Barkhor Square. Tibetans, in general, consider this temple the most important temple in Tibet. My trip and stay in Tibet were during September 11th 2001. The “War on Terror” started, military vehicles were moved to the Tibet/Afghan border. I was stuck in Tibet. No civil flights. Banks closed. The black plague broke out and I was seeing myself walking back to Germany.
2001 Tibet in Kodak Color
Lhasa, Nam Tso, Drive from Kathmandu: Zhangmu, Nyalam Pass, Lalung Pass, Tingri, Shigatse, Tashilunpo Monastery, Gyantse, Phalkor Monastery, Karola Pass, Khumbum Stupa, Yamdrok Tso Lake,Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Norbulinka Palace, Drepung Monastery, Sera Monastery
The trip and stay in Tibet was during 9/11. The “War on Terror” started, heavy military vehicles drove close to the Afghan border. I was stuck in Tibet.
2001 Lhasa in Kodak Color
Lhasa, prefecture level city – Capital of Tibet – around 4000 meters above sea level and north of the Himalayan Range.Most of the monasteries in Lhasa suffered damage, and many were destroyed, before and during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). Jokhang, the main temple in Lhasa, was used as a military barrack and slaughterhouse during the Cultural Revolution, and then as a hotel for Chinese officials. Jokhang is now the main pilgrimage sides for Buddhist. In the year 2000 it became a World Heritage Side. The Potala Palace was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959, has been a museum since then, and has been a World Heritage Site since 1994. To see more of rural Tibet, click here.
2000 Cuba
Havana, St. Lucia, Guanabo, Matanzas, Vinalae, La Palma, Cigar Factory, Malecon, Trip to the Beach, Matanzas
The US didn’t let me fly from New York directly to the “enemy” in 2000. I had to fly first to Canada and then to Havana.
2000 USA
New Orleans
Café du Monde Beignets: Bliss.
2000 South Africa
Johannesburg, Lapalala Wilderness
Rhinos everywhere, such curious and fast animals. They have a specialty: Rhinos poop all on the same spot – creating big stinky, well-organized mountains of manure.
2000 Botswana
Gabarone, Maun, Okavango Delta
The only way to travel through the Okavango River Delta is on horse back. Days of wilderness, living in a tent – with the threat of lions and hyenas.
1999 Belize
Hopkins, Ambergis Key, San Ignazio, Blue Cave, Punta Gorda, Dangriga, Belmopan, San Antonio
The Chicleros, the bubble-gum harvesters, took me through the jungle to collect rubber from the trees. The horses ate oranges.
1999 Guatemala
Tikal
Stairs to heaven and no one there. The place was almost completely empty when I visited!
1999 United Kingdom
London
Piccadilly Circus, buses, Hyde Park, pretty grass, snobbish people, horses, rain, feeling not British.
1998 Venezuela
Caracas, Merida, Condor Valley, Puerto Columbia, Pico Bolivar, Macuto Beach
Condors cut through the air. They make sounds like moving swords.
1998 Mongolia
Ulan Bator, Dalanzadgad, Gobi Desert, Nomads, Chojin Lama Temple, Bogdkhan Monastary, Gandan Monastary, Zuunmod Manzshir Temple, Countryside Nadam, Ger, Bayanzag, Yolym Am Valley, Bactrian Camels, Morzag Sanddunes/Gobi, Terelj
Mongolia is the country of my childhood dreams. No fences, horses, wide landscapes, constant wind and you can see as far as your eyes can.
1998 Trans-Siberian Railways
Trans-Siberian Railways: Beijing – Ulan Baatar
I didn’t want to get out of the train in Ulan Bataar. The nicest train ride ever. Having your own Samovar is a good thing.
1998 China
Beijing, Hutongs, Simatai Great Wall
We were filming without permission in Beijing and I remember that I rolled myself under a parking car to not get caught by the police.
1998 USA: New York
New York City, Coney Island
This is where the NYC working class has fun. Best Russian food in Brighton Beach – and a Gypsy fortune teller.
1998 Japan
Tokyo, Great Metropolitan Region
Japan became another home away from home. A nice antidote to my life in Manhattan – people are polite and considerate.
1997 China
Beijing: Forbidden City, Lama Temple, Hutongs Beijing, Great Wall, Badaling, Simatai, Behai Park, Ritan Park, Tianzhe, Ming Tomb, Confuzius Temple, Chinese Circus, Drum Tower, Tientan
Buying an original Chinese bicycle for the 8-week production period was a smart idea. This magic China Bike, the brand was called “Flying Pidgeon”.