Strange days, these. We’ve got time off just for the sake of having time off. No appointments, no pressing projects to wrap up. It’s February—cold, dark, and way too rainy. We’re not exercising, we’re sleeping all the time. Nothing really drives us except the question of what’s for dinner. This is the weirdest holiday we’ve ever had. We’ve never spent several days in a row doing absolutely NOTHING. Well, that’s not entirely true—not with us.
CP’s still plugging away at his 100-day challenge, of course (one large-format photo a day, and obviously I’m developing them, lazy streak or not). Meanwhile, I’m teaching myself how to edit videos and fix up the audio. I’ve even got one of those tiny mics, like every TikTok tosser who thinks a bit of cheap crap will make them go viral and land them on the red carpet at the Berlinale. Right.
Oh, and yeah—we did make it to the photo fair in Fellbach. Had no intention of buying anything, just a browse, and the usual photo-fair ritual: a sausage and a slice of cake each. We ran into so many familiar faces – Björni-Bär, Bernd, Vanessa, our 3F Museum / Club Daguerre crew Klaus and Wolfgang, Leppo (no photo of him, obviously)—and we bagged some bargains. Photo paper, film, cassettes, a back for the Kiev—all proper steals. Came to 280 euros in the end, but hey, I only realised that when we added it up later. Plus 2 x 5 euros entry, 18 euros at the food stall, 4.50 for parking. When you think about it—we were originally planning to go away, maybe even book a room in Prague—it wasn’t that expensive, really. In principle.
The six 4×5″ cassettes even came loaded and labelled “exposed”. No clue if it was colour or black and white, but I went with the classic: Rodinal 1+25, ten minutes rotating, job done. And it paid off—all six shots actually turned into something. Makes you wonder: did the photographer just switch formats? Give up? Why wouldn’t you develop the films you’d already shot? Beats me. Looking at the images, I’d guess it was a cheap lens—unevenly lit in places, strong bokeh—probably perfect for wet plate people. I’ll likely never know who took them or why they ended up for sale with the films still inside.
And that’s how this day’s going too—lounging about, developing film, pondering what we’ll eat next. If this is retirement, I’m signing up.
