It's been a year of many changes that came with a move from Istanbul to Düsseldorf. Photographically, without a darkroom, it's been a year of almost only digital photography with a single old DSLR. I've enjoyed and was often amazed by the capabilities of the digital sensor, and have tried to come to grips with raw converters and other software. For the time being I've stayed away from proper digital printing though, only using a Canon Selphy for the occasional 10x15 cm print of barely acceptable quality.
But at the same time, I've found a new appreciation for film and the darkroom. Simply because it can be completely, inherently detached from the MADNESS that social media and AI have become. Still, I'm a bit surprised that I don't miss film & darkroom as much as I thought I would. I was tired of having printed for decades, with the prints just piling up in boxes with no other use. That weariness still lingers. But we'll see: I find myself constantly searching Ebay for a good and reasonably priced enlarger, so the spark must still be somewhere inside me.
The only black and white film I shot this year was high up on the Anatolian plateau in Turkey. I was holidaying on the Aegean coast in the summer when I received some disturbing news which caused me to embark on a two-day drive across the country. On the second day, heading south on a meandering and deserted road I saw puffy clouds on the horizon. They were rising from the Mediterranean Sea, 1500m below that horizon line! I was so mesmerised by the view that I pulled over, set up the tripod and exposed several frames of FP4+ through my Leica M6 with the 50mm Summicron...similar to the iPhone pic below. That film is still in Turkey, waiting to be developed.
And that's about it. Next year earth will continue its journey around the sun, light and shadow will move across our lives in their own wonderful ways, whilst we go on about our own little journeys, hopefully in good health, with our loved ones around us.
Let me end with a quote from Montesquieu: "We must create a happiness that can follow us in every age."
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