“To me, photography is an art of observation.
It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… little to do with the thing you see and everthing to do with the way you see it.”
Elliott Erwitt
I was born and raised in a small town close to Zurich, so I’ve been there thousands of times. Every time I visit home I also visit Zurich. This means I got lots of photos of the city some I liked enough to put into my portfolio. But I got a lot of the usual same same viewpoints that you would get if you would google for images. Don’t get me wrong, those viewpoints are very pretty. However, there are only so many times I feel I can post the same view unless it’s a spectacular amazing photo I feel I have done that. So the last few visits I didn’t even bother taking those photos, yet I have taken quite a few photos, which I would not add to my portfolio or my professional IG, because I simply felt they were not quite good enough.
Lately, however, I have been rethinking the expectations I have of my photography and I have decided not to niche myself according to what I think is expected instead I am trying to just take photos of what resonates with me in the moment. Like snapping moments that I find interesting, beautiful views, details that catch my eye, the way the light falls… trying to convey a viewpoint and feeling more than the perfect photo.
It’s been creatively quite liberating because frankly I have been overly critical of myself and the result was not better photos but fewer and fewer photos with lots of frustrations. I still think that it’s important I push myself to improve my craft and snap the best possible picture. I am still a relentless overachiever and a perfectionist. But in all honesty, when I look at my work the photos I like best are not the ones that are technically the best or the ones one would put into a travel catalog, it’s the ones that somehow reflect the most what captured my attention at that moment. Those moments of beauty that I managed to capture really well.
Going through my photos of the last year I realized that I have lots of unpublished photos that I really like. They are not quite your usual viewpoints of places, nor the prettiest. And clearly, I didn’t feel they fit my professional IG, yet I feel they reflect much more of that trip and my creativity. And quite a few that I really loved were taken in Zurich. I realized that they portray a much more personal account of the city I love and know so well.
While I am not sure I will share any of these on IG, I decided to share them in this space. That’s what this space was for to share my thoughts and inspirations. So here are snippets of Zurich from another point of view. Or more accurately: Zurich from my point of view.
