Eight Minutes Old

The sun is about 150,000,000 kilometers away. Light travels at approximately 300,000 kilometers per second. Thus, the sun’s light has to travel some 500 seconds until it reaches the earth. Taking a picture with available light, sunlight, means using this aged light to record a scene. 8.3 minutes old light.

What we can learn from this is that everything takes time. Light is fast, nothing is faster actually, but still the sun, this big, bright circle at the sky, is 500 light-seconds away. There is no need to hurry.

Don’t expect a post every day. I know there are lots of photoblogs doing this. Most of them display mediocre photos mostly. Nobody is able to produce 365 exceptional photos a year. Digital photography may speed up the process from taking the shot to displaying it. It may increase the amount of pictures a photographer shoots. But it also puts them under pressure to produce images. They have less time to think about a shot, less time to think about their photography.

I have decided to follow the slow path. I only shoot on film, develop it myself, then scan and post-process it. I don’t even own a digital camera, never did. While developing my films I can contemplate my photography. I love to look at the negatives as they hang in the bathroom for drying. I do this for fun, so why should I care about how many posts I write, how many visitors I attract. I’m happy if you like my pictures, if not, never mind.

This blog is an alternative to the fast-paced average photoblogs. Actually, it’s not only a photoblog. Many photobloggers present their pictures only, which eventually bores me even if I like them. The blogs I return to have more information, i.e. text. I don’t focus the texts in this blog on photography, but write about other things I deem important, too.

Be patient when you write a comment, I have comment moderation enabled. Once your first comment is approved, the next will show up faster. If you mail me, don’t expect an immediate response. There are more important things in life than hacking on a keyboard, communicating digitally.

Take some time to have a look, get a cup of tea maybe. Enjoy this blog, enjoy your life. It’s short and light is slow.