The BLOG article is available as a video below. If you don’t feel like reading, you can scroll directly to the video by clicking on the button. Be sure to take a look, because you can see far more photos from the past year in this YouTube video than I can publish here in the BLOG.
Gear:
Sony a7IV
Sony FE 2.8/16–35 mm GM
Sony FE 4/24–105 mm G
Sony FE 100–400 mm G
DJI Mini 3 Pro
This year I have shared more of my photography with you than ever before. This was clearly due to the fact that, in addition to my actual BLOG on my website and my presence on Instagram, I have increasingly dedicated myself to creating videos about my photography. Especially the on-location VLOGs.
I started by documenting two timelapse recordings of my home village, including this great video of my home.
The encouragement I received from you for the first video made me realise that it was the right decision to share more and more of my photography with you. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your feedback, comments, likes, subscriptions and support so far.
Now let’s start with a little look back. Some of you may have seen the posts on Instagram or read this blog post (Link) in which I talked about my daughter’s illness. Just very briefly to catch everyone up. My daughter, who was almost 2 years old at the time, was diagnosed with a very aggressive and fast-growing tumour at the end of 2022. Of course, it was a huge shock for our little family. For a short time, we had really lost hope and thought that was it for her. But the team of doctors and nurses at the paediatric oncology department in Heidelberg got her back on track. After a few chemotherapy sessions and an operation, our daughter was feeling better again. She is still recovering, but is now almost back to her old self. If not better than ever before. At the time this BLOG goes online, we will be spending our last few days in rehab on Sylt. Maybe I’ll get to take some photos there. If so, you’ll see more of that in the next few weeks, of course.
This will hopefully bring a low point in our lives to a final conclusion. Yes, it has been a difficult few months for us. In order to sort out my thoughts and process what I had experienced, I sought a little distraction and salvation in photography, among other things. In the minutes or even hours that I spent taking photos, I was far away from everything that had been weighing me down mentally. The time in nature provided me with a little balance to the days we spent in the hospital room. This also explains why I spent most of the first half of the year photographing in my home region, around Heidelberg and in Kraichgau.
Looking back, I realised that my visual language had changed significantly as a result of the experience. Quite unconsciously, I was looking for darker, slightly more abstract and minimalist motifs. I found these in the forests and meadows around my home town.
In spring I had a little fun with bird photography. I was inspired by a moment when I was able to observe two storks in a meadow and of course took a nice photo.
When I then had the opportunity to visit a habitat of many wild birds with a full-time ornithologist, I took advantage of this to learn some helpful tips and lots of interesting facts about our native birds.
When spring really brought nature to life, it was the time of blossoms and colour in nature. Over the last year or two, I had collected so many ideas of what I wanted to photograph. But this year I couldn’t find any favour in these motifs. For me, there was no such thing as a perfect world at that moment. I wasn’t in the mood for flower kitsch or a sea of blossom.
It was a time when the past few months were still very much in our bones. The illness was still in the back of our minds. We also still had to wait and see what the next tests would show. We were happy with the outcome, but still cautiously optimistic. I think this can also be seen in the next pictures, which nevertheless already show a much friendlier view of our nature. No longer so dreary and gloomy. I have placed more emphasis on bringing out the colours, especially the spring yellow-green, through to the lush green in the wild garlic pictures. Because we were beginning to think that we had survived everything.
After surviving the operation, we then treated ourselves to a few days of relaxation in the Black Forest. Some of you may have seen the videos of the beautiful local waterfalls on my channel. Among other things, I visited the waterfalls in Todtnau and Todtmoos, as well as some less well-known ones like the Krai-Woog-Gumpen. We also didn’t miss the enchanted forest near Bernau. However, I would have liked some rain, fog or mist for this section in particular. But the summer was probably too dry for that. But I was reinforced in my belief that you can always find great motifs and take outstanding pictures anywhere. Perhaps you just have to “work” a little harder for it.
With a little distance, I can now say what my favourite shots from the Black Forest were. At that time of year, I placed a lot of emphasis on structures and shapes. I also paid a lot of attention to foregrounds, which should bring depth to the picture. Just as we as a family decided to enjoy life even more now and to show our daughter our world in all its facets and details, as she had once again jumped off the brink of death, I attached great importance to including as many details as possible in the pictures during this time. From interesting foregrounds to the background, but also detailed shots. Here is a small series of pictures.
One thing has remained from that time. I love reducing pictures to the bare essentials. In colour and form. Pictures from the summer, which I still really like, are often limited to just a few things and only a narrow colour spectrum. I can’t quite put my finger on why this is the case. Sometimes it takes a little distance and self-reflection. I’ve only had a little time for the latter in the last few weeks.
But I still had enough for a morning on the heath in summer. A beautiful morning. Unfortunately it was cloudless, but I still managed to get some nice pictures.
I had just mentioned it. The last few weeks have been turbulent. Shortly before our holiday in the south of France, we had water damage in the basement. Making a virtue out of necessity, we were at least able to relax on the beach while the building dryers were running.
However, when we got back home, the work really started. On top of that, I came down with corona, then a cold, and so on and so forth. But no matter. We really enjoyed our stay in France. Everything was a bit like it used to be. Carefree and light. La vie est belle. You can clearly see this positive mood in my pictures in France. I liked them with more colours, also with more light to set accents. Actually, I hardly ever got the weather I wanted this year. But one evening in the south of France, everything was just perfect.
This and all other shots of this post you can request under “Prints” as an art print for your wall at home directly from me.
Unfortunately, the late year was over far too quickly. I was able to make a VLOG with a foggy mood in Kraichgau, then another one at the Wegelnburg in France. I wrote about this in one of my last videos. A great location with light and dark sides. Again, great shots where I also saw the colours as part of the composition.
What also made up a significant part of the late autumn in our region was the rain and the bad weather. As the weather this year seemed like it wasn’t going to stop raining at all, I went out one Sunday morning to perhaps look for some small but nice autumn details in our woods. To my surprise, I even found a little snow. But the autumn colours that were still present were also impressive. A nice little VLOG was created about how you can protect yourself and your equipment in bad weather. If the bad weather sometimes stops you from taking photos, you might want to take a look so that you don’t miss any great moody atmospheres in the future.
This was a really great end to the photographic year for me. I was even able to take a little winter interlude in my home town before we left for rehab, which I was very happy about. If I was able to take some more great shots on Sylt, you’ll definitely see them in the next few weeks.
In any case, I’m delighted that you’ve switched on again and wish you good health for the coming year, as well as always beautiful light and weather for your photography. Have a good start into the next year! See you then, take care and ciao!
An eventful year lies behind me. And, as is probably the case for all of us, I have experienced many highs and lows. Photographically and personally. This video is about looking back at everything and what influence my personality and experiences have had on my and your photography.
EN 
DE