just one picture & how it was created: The ivy coat of the house

The ivy coat of the house

2024

~

Frankfurt. Starting from the grounds of the Japanese film festival, I was on the way to a restaurant. "Walk instead of taking the metro", I say to myself. I don't know my way around Frankfurt. On good days, all the more reason to walk. On bad days, absolutely the opposite and I would definitely take the metro. So it was a good day.

Not far from the grounds and I am captivated by the sight of this house. This house with its turret wears a beautiful coat of ivy. I position myself on a street corner, exactly where I end up taking this photo. I work on the exposure settings. Through the viewfinder, I see the top window of the turret, covered in ivy, opening. An older man, well-dressed, shows himself and looks out. He looks in my direction and waves. I turn round to the back to see who might be standing behind me and would wave back. To my astonishment, or perhaps shock, I don't see anyone there. He's waving at me. Hicks.

He looks friendly but I'm still embarrassed and feel like I've been caught out. I finally wave back and he stands there for a while. I wonder if he wants me to take a photo of him. He gets lost in this big house and the photo, and I don't really like taking photos of strangers anyways. I wait in a very obvious manner and don't take a photo.

He goes back from the window and closes it. Everything is as before. And I take my photo. With this memory between the grains of film.


Camera + lens: Minolta Dynax 7000i + Minolta AF 50 mm f/1.4
Film: Agfaphoto APX100
Development + scan: ON FILM LAB

just one picture: Filling Hydrangea

Filling Hydrangea

2023


At first I wasn't convinced by the picture of the hydrangea, underexposed, too dark. But I still found something beautiful about it. At least beautiful enough for the wall because I had put it on my wall. My perception changed over time and now I quite like it. Has it developped that way because I saw it more often or has the spark always been there?

The picture of this hydrangea is one of many pictures that were created in impatience. Impatience for the other pictures already taken on the same roll. Impatience to see the pictures that were of real interest.

I affectionately call this way of seeing "filling the film". And I'm looking forward to showing more photos of this kind, I still have a few stored in my cupboard.


This has been the Fotokioskso far, this time I call it the format nur ein bild (only one picture). It is not decided yet how this format will be called eventually and I am still on my way of finding out.


Camera + lens: Minolta Dynax 7000i + Minolta AF 100mm Macro f/2.8
Film: Kodak Professional Portra 160
Development + scan: ON FILM LAB

Strawberry tartlet

A strawberry tartlet. How it tasted? I wish I could remember. But it did look pretty, with that golden paper plate (although not much is left on the picture and we have nothing at all). Very photogenic. That's what we have to admit to the strawberry tartlet, don't we?

On that day, in a city that was quite unfamiliar to me, (in the truest sense of the word) I sweetened my time in a café. I was watching people and maybe they were watching me too. You saw each other, a small smile flitted across your face as you saw each other, and then you turned back to your newspaper or notebook.

Well fortified, I set off again to explore the city. To a place that I like to visit in every city: the Botanical Garden. The S-Bahn took me a few stops further west - until I was ready to get off at station Klein Flottbek.


Camera + lens: Minolta 9000 AF + Minolta AF 50mm f1.4
Film: KODAK 100T-MAX
Development + scan: Charlie Engel Lab 2.0