In February I set myself a project. The decisive factor for this project was a small photo walk in the early evening in mid-January through Vechta. On this walk I shot the photo on the right. I took the photo about 200 meters from my apartment in our neighborhood. After I edited the photo on the PC and looked at it more closely, I felt something mystical in this picture. For the walk, I was consciously in Vechta with the camera for the first time after sunset. I discovered spots that would not have been interesting during the day. This photo stayed in my head for several days for some reason. I wondered if I could find more such interesting photos in the dark, that have something mystical. So at the end of January I decided to start a small project for February.
For this project I set myself the following guidelines:
When? February 2021 only
What? Everything that has something mystical about it. It didn't necessarily have to be a person in the picture.
How often? I wanted to go out after dark at least 8-10 times
How? After the first walk, I created an in-camera preset in my Fuji and shot about 80% of my walks in JPG only.
Any presets? Film simulation "Acros"; Noise Reduction: -2; Lights: -1; Shadows: +2
Selection? In the end, I wanted to limit myself to around 10-15 final images.
The goal of the entire project for me was as following: I was only a little outside to take photos throughout January. However, I was looking forward to the dark season so much. Finally taking photos in the dark. However, since there was hardly anything going on on the streets, I lost the desire a little. That annoyed me. After the photo walk in mid-January and the decision for this project, I was suddenly on fire again. I started at the beginning of February with a first attempt to discover mystical images. Using the "mystical" trigger sharpened my eyes and also gave a breath of fresh air to my photographic approach. I went off for several days in a row. I was able to experience Vechta in the dark very differently than before. It was a very refreshing experience and a lot of fun. With the minimalist approach, I wanted to limit and challenge myself. I wanted to try new things with the camera and the settings. Post-processing should only take a little time. The JPG should as far as possible stand on its own. In post-processing I turned on only a few controls in Lightroom, applied a "mystical Vechta" preset and placed it on every image that I found interesting and appealing. Minimal readjustments were necessary, nothing more.
In the early days of my project, the blizzard came over northern Germany. Just right for me! I was in a total photography mood, no matter how cold, stormy or snowy it was. You can see the results of the winter walks here. As February came to an end, I felt more interested in taking pictures of Vechta during the day in the sunshine. So the whole project also had an impact on my other photographic mood that month. In total I was out and about 12 times in Vechta in February, 9 of them in the dark.
The biggest challenge, however, was the final selection of the photos. I wanted varied photos both with people and without people. Of course, every photo should have that mystical something in it. This challenge was also good and instructive. All in all, it was a great February photography-wise that made me want to do more photography in the coming months.
This is my selection of photos for the project "mystical Vechta":
