How to name a city? To this moment I always named this city Cologne on my blog, the English name of this city along the river Rhine in Germany. The Dutch naming is Keulen, that is pronounced the same as Köln or Koeln in German. Until 1919 the city was also known as Cöln, in the Middle Age Colonia Agrippina or Coellen (or even Kölle), and during the Roman Empire it was called oppidum ubiorum and later Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium. Cologne is the fourth largest city of Germany, and the largest city of Nordrhein-Westfalen. It is a city with 2,000 years of history, but most importantly it is the host city of photokina.
After the photokina show in Köln Deutz on the west bank of the city I walked to Köln Hauptbahnhof, the main trainstation, near the famous Dome on the other site of the river Rhine. From the main entrance of the station, along the Bahnhofsvorplatz, there is a clear view of the Dome of Cologne.
Since I had still some time left I planned on photographing the area around the Central Station and the Dome.
This place was full with foreigners, mostly Japanese, who had attended the show.
Some were loaded with cameras, like this Japanese photographer. He was in such a hurry to pack his camera in a tiny bag. He just didn’t notice me making photographs 1.5 meters from him.
But the photographers were not all Japanese. These quys were trying to frame the Dome with the widest angle lens they got.
Many people relaxed on the stairs south of the Dome, enjoying the crowd in front of the Central Station, or just fooling around with their mobile phones.
Underneath the station there was still a lot of crowd coming from the Johannisstrasse.
At the station some were in a hurry to catch their train. Must be pretty hard with that luggage.
Waiting on platform 4 for my train to arrive from Frankfurt.
All photographs by Wouter Brandsma
I like to thank everyone for checking out my blog and reading the previous post about the photokina show. And I hope many are not disappointed with the Nikonians.org photograph.
Wouter Brandsma 
First, I’m certain the fine people of Cologne must appreciate how you have summarized 2,000 years of history into “It all led to Photokina 2008” 😉
As always, lovely pics, but the fourth (the single Japanese photographer) looks a bit strange. Not the photo itself mind you, but…..what on Earth is he doing?
LOL, history the American way 😀 2,000 years in 6 seconds!
The Japanese photographer had three camera bags with him and he was in such a hurry (probably to catch up with a group). But he had been making some photographs with an older film camera (something like an old Ricoh 500 G), and he tried to pack it as quickly as possible.
What do you mean by the “American way” exactly? Are we being facetious? Taking liberties with the cowboys?
Thanks for sharing your experience of the town. These are my favorite posts (although Cologne does not look like a ton of fun – a little dreary actually!)
“American Way”. Do everythings as quickly as possible. So many Americans who come to Europe see all the major cities in less than two weeks. LOL, taking liberties with the cowboys? Yeah, I like that.
Cologne is fun, but the weather was a mess. No sun at all. Since thursday the weather turned bright again here.
Hey Wouter, I agree with forkboy, good info on the city and nice series, especially the 1st and 6th. That Disney trailer had me cracking up! 🙂 I’m going to reference it on my next post.
Thank you James, and have fun with your film camera.
Great imagery!
Andrew, thank you!
Coming back to Cologne yesterday at night, I was still seeing all the advertising and buzz around Hauptbahnhof. Anyway, Photokina is (practically) over and now I´m gonna read what I missed in your Photokina post.
Of the above series I especially like the third and the sixth one (nice contrast with the lights of the stairs!).
Those lights of the stairs are wonderful. Hope you had a good time in France and welcome back in Cologne.
I ended up travelling not to France but to Danmark. Plans are changing so fast these days – in personal life just as in the industry! Recently heard from a big camera producer that 2013 would be the big year of serious compact cameras…
(Sorry for being silly! But I DID travel to Danmark though and will be putting up some shots these days!)
I love constantly changing plans. France or Danmark, both sound like nice options. I hope you had a great time and love to see your photographs.
Cheers,
Wouter
A very nice set of pictures and your summary about it is very good :).
Haven’t been out in Cologne for years now and did not have time over the Photokina weekend but need to go around again at some point when I’m in Germany.