Well, well, well. We've somehow made it through another year, and isn't that in itself a miracle? I do apologise, dear reader, for the rather late post. I wanted to wait for my film from my Christmas trip to Bremen to be developed, and I started the year with an absolute barrage of exams (and that was so messy that I didn't want to add anything else onto my plate), such that I couldn't get it developed until last week. Ironically, the tiniest bit of free time I could squeeze here was at the start of my new semester, so maybe don't expect another post for a while - or until some form of inspiration hits.
Now that I've managed to find some time, I have updated the format of the film gallery page on this site - it'll be present in separate scrolling galleries, which will be sectioned according to date shot. The page itself will be sorted in reverse chronological order; it seems that everyone loves it on resumes and so I've decided to co-opt it for the page's layout. If you check the page out, you'll also see that the format it displays the pictures in are a tad weird, but I do not have the patience to wrangle with Wix at 00.20 on a Wednesday. If you click in, you'll see the full pictures in their correct orientations, so for now that's the workaround. In some ways maybe this is better - everyone can click into the photos they're interested in and scroll past the others.
You'll also find that for the first time on this site (and indeed, the first time in a long old while), I experimented with black and white film! I brought a few rolls of Fomapan 100 and Fujica C200 with me to Bremen, and spent Christmas and New Years there with one of my best friends. Together, we shot a bunch of film, broke her phone screen (long story), tried Bremen's own craft beer, and had an overall blast just reconnecting in person. C200 is nowhere near my favourite colour negative to shoot, but we visited Burgerpark, and I just couldn't do all the vibrant greenery justice with black and white. It does make me long for the warmth of Kodak Gold though; I think the images didn't come out the best and just reinforces to me that I should focus on shooting angles and lighting, and maybe do more photography in cities than anywhere else. Urban environments create so many interesting geometric shapes that filter and diffuse light in different ways, and that really drives my photography process. But anyways.
In any case, 2022 is a new year. We may be stuck with many of the same problems the last two years had in store for us, but it's a mental line drawn under the happenings of 2021 regardless. In this year, please treat yourself with kindness, with humour, and allow yourself to make mistakes or miss goals. Our mortal frailty has really been brought to the fore of our consciousness over the past few years, and I for one think it's important for people to look at life a tad less seriously.
Mask up, cut yourself some slack, and try your best this year. We will make it out together.