On the Windowsill – One Shot Story

I took this photo in 2018, in a large city 60 km from my home. I had just turned 70, everyone was talking about climate change, and I wanted to do my bit too, so I’d taken out a senior citizen’s travel pass for public transport and used it regularly. I live on the outskirts of a conurbation with lots of large cities and heavy traffic. There are few expensive car parks, which means you’re forced to return to where you left your car when exploring the city. Travelling by train or bus offers more flexibility, so I often did just that and was able to explore many towns and cities, even enjoying an alcoholic drink or two along the way.

On that day, I headed to Wuppertal, a large city in North Rhine-Westphalia, situated in beautiful mountainous surroundings in the Wupper valley. As the name suggests. It is a narrow valley, with an elevated railway running alongside or above the river – the Wuppertal Suspension Railway, which is probably unique in the world. A railway line also runs through the valley, and there is even a direct connection from my home town. I was there in just under an hour.

I’d just bought another little camera and had decided to shoot my first roll of film with it that Sunday. An Olympus TRIP 35, which I’m sure everyone will be familiar with. It was in production for a long time, sold in large numbers and had its fans. Small, unobtrusive, with a working selenium light meter around the lens and no option to adjust the aperture, except when using the flash. The distance is set using symbols representing 1m, 1.5m, 3m and infinity. The usual problems crop up when you’re not yet used to it. I, too, had a few missed shots on this first attempt. Overall, though, I was happy with the result; the Trip fits in a jacket or trouser pocket. It’s ready to shoot in a flash – there’s nothing to adjust. Faster than autofocus and rangefinders!

This photo, taken from the windowsill of a bistro, was taken in the Luisenviertel, a neighbourhood in the centre of the Elberfeld district, with its old Wilhelminian-style houses, numerous pubs, restaurants and charming corners. The empty bottles caught my eye as I was walking around. The labels on the empty bottles say something about the customers, and I’d never seen anything like them before.

A simple camera, but with a good lens – as you’d expect from Olympus – and it’s great fun even for a slightly experienced photographer.

Thank you for your interest. I would really appreciate your feedback.

Taken with: Olympus Trip 35 (1968–1983) + Fujicolor C200 + developed and scanned at a minilab (1512×1002)

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