"Those Were the Days" - Schloss Lembeck, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany (November 1982)

.

After reading two books by Irvine Welsh (“Ecstasy”, “Trainspotting”), I decided on one by Paul Auster (“Leviathan”).
By comparison, this last author reads a bit like “Reader’s Digest”.
It kind of misses something…

I always felt the same about my humanistic photography: it’s like ice cream with eierlikör on top, it’s like sex with a pillow.
Aiming at the higher-levels of some of my “heroes” (Josef Koudelka, Robert Frank, William Klein…), I am obliged to concede that my efforts seem to be in vain.

My images are a little too soft…

My photography lacks punch!

Wanting to widen my horizon, rucksack on my back, 2000 escudos in my pocket, I hit the road to Germany in the distant year of 1974.

I had met a german girl before, so the first town I lived in was Münster.
What a difference!

Coming from a small and forgotten little land that suffered 48 long years of dictatorship, my young naive eyes would just marvel at this open-minded world.

I felt lost and enlightened at the same time: I couldn’t really feel at home, and I didn’t want to leave and go back to the darkness where I was coming from, either.

The girl soon became my wife. She was coming from Gross Reken, a village not far from Münster, so I quickly became acquainted with Münsterland, a region that I kept admiring and enjoying through the years.

Belonging to Dorsten, Schloss Lembeck is only a short distance from Reken. When I was bothered from hanging around my parents-in-law, I often went for a visit to the Schlosspark (after that Veltins Pilsener would taste even better…).

Again and again I had a Leica with me.

Shot with Leica M4-2 + Elmarit-M 28mm

The images might be soft-spoken, but aren’t those trees beautiful?


Technical data:
Camera- Leica M4-2
Lens - Leitz Canada Elmarit-M 2.8/28mm
Film - Kodak Tri-x
Developer - Kodak D-76, diluted 1+1
Location - Schloss Lembeck, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Date - November 1982


.