Through the woods to the shore – My image of the year 2025

Since the reunification of Germany, traveling to the Baltic Sea beyond the former border has become uncomplicated, and I was one of the first to visit these places—frozen in time—as a tourist and have returned since then at least once a year. Before 1989, the GDR coastline was a restricted area and one needed a special permit to visit; the Danish coast, and therefore freedom, lies only a few nautical miles from the beach, and the temptation to leave the workers’ paradise in a rubber dinghy, in a small sailboat  or even on an air mattress, was simply too great.

My picture ties into that atmosphere: on a rainy day my wife and I hiked through the forest (no public roads, only forestry paths) to reach the wild and, at this time of year, completely deserted beach. Here, the forest—a mixture of pines and beeches—meets the sea directly. Autumn and winter storms repeatedly tear the trees into the water, creating a wild shoreline. As always, my wife walked ahead while I was busy taking photographs. Shortly before we reached the beach, the rain stopped, and in the late afternoon, just before sunset, the light took on a magical quality. Fortunately my Rolleiflex was ready to shoot, the exposure was set correctly, and all I had to do was press the shutter…

Rolleiflex 3.5/75mm Planar, Kodak Portra 800 @ 640.

Share this post: