Category: Black and White

The Obvious Answer

I’d be a street photographer. Yes, predictable: a photographer choosing photography. What a plot twist.

I’d go out without a clear route and probably spend far too long beside some ugly wall because something there felt almost right. Most days I’d come home with very little. One decent photograph, perhaps. Sometimes none.

I like that kind of work. The walking, the looking, getting it wrong and going out again. A camera makes me notice the odd little scenes people create without realising it. Without one, I’d probably hurry past.

If the salary were the same, that’s what I’d do. Sore feet included.

2026-08-30
The Day I Didn’t Know I’d Miss

Daily writing prompt
If you could relive one day from your past, which day would it be and why?
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I don’t think I’d choose one of the obvious days. Not a wedding, not a trip, not some supposedly unforgettable moment. Those days already know they are important. Everyone behaves accordingly, which is probably part of the problem.

I’d choose a completely ordinary day. I don’t even know which one. A day when I woke up, had breakfast, complained about something stupid, went somewhere familiar, talked to people I assumed would always be there. Nothing worth writing down. At the time, I probably wanted the day to hurry up.

That’s the day I’d like back. Not to fix anything. I wouldn’t warn anyone or try to behave better. I’d probably still waste time, get irritated, miss things happening right in front of me. But I’d know. I’d know that all those boring little details were already disappearing, just very slowly.

Maybe that’s enough. One ordinary day, exactly as it was. Even the stupid parts.

2026-08-21
Feeding Time

A horse eats from a bucket. The pigeons close in. People pass, wait, work, disappear into the background.

Nothing dramatic. Just the city dividing up a few square metres of pavement according to rules nobody wrote down.

The horse gets fed. The pigeons steal what they can. The humans keep moving.

Leica M10 Monochrom · Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH.

From series Urban Wildlife.

2026-08-11
Before / After: Bringing Him Back

The original was too dark. The face was almost gone, the shirt was flat and the harbour pulled the eye away. I opened the shadows, lowered the background a little, cropped tighter and added some grain. Nothing clever. Just putting the photograph where it should have been.

And that little Brightin Star 28mm f/2.8… bloody hell. It is tiny, cheap and far better than it has any right to be. Sharp, but not sterile. Good contrast, lovely grey tones and a bit of character around the edges. I bought it out of curiosity. It keeps giving me reasons to use it.

Leica M10 Monochrom · Brightin Star 28mm f/2.8

Before / after editing

2026-08-05
The People Were Part of the Show

At an opening, the paintings stay on the walls and people do what people do: talk too much, block the way, glance sideways and occasionally remember to look properly.

At Enrique Mestre’s exhibition, the room had more layers than expected. The paintings, obviously. But also faces close to the frames, gestures left hanging in mid-conversation, a dog moving under everyone’s legs and Enrique himself, briefly caught inside the scene.

I went in with the Leica and a 35 mm, close enough to be slightly in the way. The opening carried on around me: late arrivals, someone leaning too near a painting, someone else already thinking about the next drink. The work stayed on the walls and took it.

That was what I photographed. The small friction between the art and the people looking at it. Or pretending to.

Technical: Leica M10 Monochrom · Summicron-M 35mm f/2

2026-08-02