The days around New Year’s Eve are usually a time for me to review the past year and reflect on things. Last year, I tried something different - an experiment, really - where I journaled everything I did for a whole year. To my surprise, I was astonished to see that I reached more goals than I thought (though, of course, there were plenty I missed as well). Journaling helped me focus on new goals and resolutions, and also to re-evaluate some things along the way.
Woke up in the middle of the night to heavy rain and thunder. Spontaneously, I decided to try my luck again at catching some lightning bolts on Polaroid. This time, I had the distinct feeling the gods were mocking me. There were some really beautiful lightning strikes - just barely out of frame - or so many at once that the picture ended up completely overexposed.
When the rain finally stopped and the silence returned, with only some distant sheet lightning flickering on the horizon, I decided to put my camera away. And of course, just then, a truly spectacular lightning bolt appeared - wide, branching, and dramatic. I just stood there, feeling a bit cheated by the timing.
With the recent storms, I tried to catch a lightning bolt on film - something I’ve always wanted to attempt. There was no real plan or guide behind it, just a lot of trial and error to get a feel for what works with a Polaroid and what doesn’t (and to be fair, I don’t plan on becoming a full-time Polaroid storm chaser). It’s a bit of a dance with exposure settings and timing, thanks to the unpredictability of both the storm and the camera.
A new year is here, and I hope it will be a better one than the last. At least it feels like a good moment to pick up the plans I made at the end of 2019 (and 2021.
Last year, I added three new cameras to my small collection: a Soviet AGAT-18, a FED2, and the new Kodak Ektar H35. All of them should be helpful for some of my upcoming projects. In the spring, I want to try out my Pentacon K-16 with some expired film—maybe I’ll get lucky and it will still work. It would be nice to give the camera a bit of new life, even if just for a short time.
Every evening when the sun goes down, I see the spotlights and bright glow of the Christmas market near Frankfurter Allee. It feels like a foreign object that’s suddenly materialized, distorting the whole area. I wonder if they chose extra spotlights just because cultural events and folk festivals have an exemption in the EnSikuMaV1. I can totally understand why people living directly in front of the market might be upset2 - especially on cold, foggy nights when the light is just eerie and overwhelmingly bright.