Photos

It's hardly necessary to say that visiting Auschwitz was a sobering experience. But I have to say, it was in stark contrast to visiting Auschwitz II, Birkenau (the notorious death camp) or Majdanek (the second largest concentration camp in Poland). While Birkenau and Majdanek are nearly untouched by time (whatever still stands after the Nazis half-successfully dynamited the evidence), Auschwitz is set up as a museum--in some parts even disturbingly so. There are gift shops all around the complex where one can buy sunglasses and postcards. Postcards!

Of course, it is hypocritical of me to get incensed by this since there I was, capturing a moment to take with me like anybody else...

This was taken with a regular 35mm point and shoot and scanned. I worked on the contrast in PS, and toyed around with the colors a bit to get this hyper drab effect (though not by much). Cropped and added a frame. I used it as a still in a documentary segment about a woman who's father survived life in Auschwitz.