Ok, drawing from corporate bullshit bingo, this was one of the few calls to action that I was keen on following: Hamish asking 35mmc contributors to submit their single photograph of the year of 2025 – and for readers to become contributors. I was hooked as I immediately had my photograph of the year in mind. And intimidated as I would need to become a contributor and write up a piece to go along with the photograph. So, here we go…
To make sure she was the one and only, I sat down to browse my image collection from 2025, a few hundred images, mostly film. Several dozens of them proved special to me, but the initial flash of inspiration stood out. Done deal.
There were times when I thought that creating special photographs would require travel. The more exotic, the merrier. It took a couple of years to realise that there is no place like home. Like so many had found out before me. Repetitively revisiting the same places in our close surroundings distills the very essence of where we enjoy life, for the most part anyway. Those areas out and about in hiking or cycling distance, and the micro places within them. Or the most obscure and dodgy spots in the village or the town nearby. It’s not your usual postcard scenery that entices me, but the subjects others would consider ugly, that would be avoided, or, best case, that they would ignore due to their putative arbitrariness.
These Douglas pines were no strangers to me. I had visited them many times before – on sunshiny afternoons, snowy winter days, dusk, dawn, moonlit nights. Foggy days were always the best. Fog is a blessing granted by Mother Earth any day. I dropped by my friends over and over again. They never complained about my company, even if they repeatedly had their picture taken on what seemed like a fulsome variety of cameras and films. Those photographs would always fail to express the depth and density of this little spinney.
But one day, in February of 2025, on a mildly misty morning, I cracked it, I think. The pines were very happy with their family photograph.
My photograph of 2025 was made with a Plaubel Makina 670 on Kodak Gold at f/22 for 1.5 seconds – guess why. C41 development as per usual, camera scanned at home, then home printed on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag Satin for those pastel colours.
More of my photography can be found at einefragederzeit.de or on Flickr
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Karen McBride on They were yearning to become a photograph of the year
Comment posted: 07/12/2025
Comment posted: 07/12/2025
Art Meripol on They were yearning to become a photograph of the year
Comment posted: 07/12/2025
You should post more often.
Comment posted: 07/12/2025
Michael Flory on They were yearning to become a photograph of the year
Comment posted: 07/12/2025
Comment posted: 07/12/2025
RichardH on They were yearning to become a photograph of the year
Comment posted: 08/12/2025
I agree with your comments on revisiting local places. You have shown that persistence and patience will reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Comment posted: 08/12/2025
David Hume on They were yearning to become a photograph of the year
Comment posted: 08/12/2025
I think this is a really beautiful picture. Congratulations. I think that there are a couple of things worth remarking. Firstly that you made it, which is great, and secondly that you recognised how good it was.
So with all that said I will now say where I think it might be better. I know you did not ask for any feedback but I feel that the white trails from the hot highlights at the top of the frame detract from the whole thing. To me, they signal the long exposure aspect of the photograph and diminish the dreaminess and mystery of the rest of the frame. I'm not saying that changing it would make it better… Just pointing this out. I really do think that the composition is excellent as it is, and any changes to that would be problematic so it might be that what you've got you've got. But I will say that the bottom half of the frame has such an enigmatic other-worldliness to it that the fact that (to my eyes anyway) the trails at the top give away the secret could be something worth considering. And I hope not to damn the picture with faint praise. It is a great shot and I think it's wonderful that you have joined 35MMC to show it to us. Thank you.
Comment posted: 08/12/2025
Danai on They were yearning to become a photograph of the year
Comment posted: 08/12/2025
Omar Tibi on They were yearning to become a photograph of the year
Comment posted: 08/12/2025
I can relate to your journey of discovery, and I'm glad that you're finding lots of inspiration around you. It's something that I've come to realize and appreciate too, the beauty in the banal, the mundane, the everyday. Beauty is everywhere in this world, we just have to keep our eyes open. And, as photographers, we have the ability to turn what others may ignore, into art.
Looking forward to seeing you & your photography on here more!
Comment posted: 08/12/2025