Sicily in January

Mai Quynh on 18. March 2024

Sicily in January is as sunny as the sunniest spring, at the same time as frosty as winter can be. In the church, for the wedding ceremony, I really regretted my choice of clothes as I sat on the cold bench. I was freezing for an hour and a half, my toes had already said goodbye to a pleasant blood circulation at the very beginning of the ceremony. But the sun was shining outside!?

The next morning, with the sun still shining brightly, some guests recovered from the long night while others made their way to the beach. We joined the latter. A winter pullover on an Italian beach - I hadn't seen this combination coming. But the flair of the Sicilian city by the sea didn't care a jot about the temperature and invited us to take a stroll. Whenever that may be - I hope that the next time I visit Sicily, it not only looks warm but also feels warm.

Sicily, 2022.

Camera + lens: Olympus XA2
Film: Agfaphoto APX 100
Developement: self developped
Scan: Charlie Engel Lab 2.0

Winter’s invitation

Mai Quynh on 30. November 2023

So winter has arrived.

I really like snow, especially the first one. Actually, we already had our first snow. But this is not about snow. It is about the mud that’s left over from the snow. And about the gray November weather so many people talk and complain about. December is a bright month, with lots of lights and anticipation of the holidays. But then, gray and less pleasurable months follow: January and February.

An observation about myself: I don’t like taking photos on cloudy days. And we will have plenty of cloudy days, or put in other words: only few days with warm light, light that invites one to go outside and to take photos. At least that’s how I feel.

I could say to myself: Let’s go out of the comfort zone and still find and see the motifs. There are for sure plenty!

But I tend to say: It’s fine. Stay indoors. You still have a lot of photos that you haven’t shown yet because life happened and you wanted to be outside.

There are photos from the whole year – from many years!- from everyday life. Shot digitally, which I would like to edit and show here subsequently. I also have a lot of analogue photos that I want to show as well.

For me, most of the time photography means being behind the lens and capturing the motif. I barely take any time to curate the photos. Or get to the editing phase. Eventually, photography is also that and everything else that happens before and after the shutter is released. Including looking through photos, sort them and bring together what might belong together eventually.

Thus, this winter I plan to take time for the photos I’ve already taken. If winter is so kind to invite me to stay inside, then I’ll gratefully accept this invitation.