Towers – My favorite shot of 2025

Everyone’s wonderful posts here have inspired me to review my reel, and as 2025 comes to a close, I think I need to offer up my own favorite from this year. And what a year it was! Between my Voskhod and Contax SLR system, I’ve shot hundreds of photos, and also dozens of Polaroids via my Polaroid Impulse. Quite a lot to go over…

Surprisingly, finding my pick was easy – best is always subjective, but in terms of my favorite shot, this is a clear winner for me. I took this on a LOMO Voskhod, with ORWO UN54 film underexposed by just about half a stop.

What makes me proud of this shot is two. By taking it, I was able to prove to myself that I understood how to meter and photograph scenes with complex lighting. That I could make use of exposure, shadows, reflections, and the like, to deliver a specific theme. A sort of photographic thesis in a way, graduating to the next level of photography. After seeing the result, I felt very accomplished; well, as accomplished and professional as an amateur can! I still have much room to grow of course, but this made me more confident in my ability, and I know that I’ll remember this shot fondly.

The other aspect of it is that I made this shot with my LOMO Voskhod. An old Soviet camera from 1967, without a working light meter, with a fixed 45mm Cooke triplet lens, the simplest lens formula there is. Admittedly it is made with the Soviet’s best quality lanthanum glass and optical coatings, but it’s still no Schott glass or Zeiss T*. As much as I adore my Contax gear and glass, this photo drives home, that the worst camera is still better than the best photographer. And with how simple it is to use, just a single lens that is easy to zone focus, a quiet leaf shutter with only a range of 1 to 1/250, a bright viewfinder and no mirror to worry about, it helps me spend more time composing and less time preparing. For this reason, on top of all my sentimentality for it, this Voskhod will always have a place by my side.

Film-wise, I shot this on ORWO UN54, and this image enshrined it as my favorite panchro stock. It’s a very beautiful, contrasty, classically grained, film, that gives shots a very noir look. I’m in love with it for urban shots. Hopefully in the near future, I aim to do a review/overview of it.

Thank you all for the inspiration, for taking the time to listen to my thoughts, and looking forward to seeing you all in the next year! Happy shooting!

Share this post: