Hitting the streets of Roermond
Damn, it’s been a while since I shot street! With this global pandemic going on, I haven’t been hitting the streets as much as I’m would have liked to. I actually shot the last street shots in September last year, when I had a great weekend with friends in Berlin! So I was delighted when Mascha, a photographer and old friend, asked me if I was up to go out and shoot a bit.
And so we did. We agreed to go shoot on the last Saturday of February, and that was a good thing. The weather was great, the sun was shining, even though the temperature could have been a bit higher. We kept the suspense going until we were actually driving, and then chose to go to Roermond. A city not too far away, not too small, but you can’t call it a metropolis either. But that wouldn’t spoil the fun!
Picturesque small-town life
Roermond is more of a picturesque town with small, quite narrow streets, old colorful buildings, and the occasional square. It’s a great place for tourists to stroll around, with nice cafes around these squares. Of course, we couldn’t go in due to the aforementioned pandemic, but many of these cafes made the best out of it by having a stand outside where you could get anything from burgers to coffee with a piece of pie to go. Delicious!
This all made for a nice day in the sun, something I was really up for after all the cold winter days we’d had in the last couple of weeks. Armed with our bags and cameras, we made our way from the car into the city center, to see what awaited us.
A challenge
Normally, I love shooting in big cities, where you can find heavy brutalist architecture. And I can tell you, that’s something you won’t find in Roermond. At all! So Roermond proved to be a bit of a challenge. But not to worry, the day was about having fun and getting in the game again.
And fun we had. We walked around, the sun was nice, we had a good coffee, talked about photography, life, and much more, and of course, shot quite some photos.
Different than normal
Because I could not find or rely on what I knew, I had to try other stuff. Which is good. It keeps you on your toes. I shot some stuff for my Days of Entropy (365 days, one photo a day) project, and tried some other angles of street photography. I even went the high contrast, silhouette route for a bit!
It’s not what I would usually shoot, so it was a lot of trial and error, but how boring would life be when you’d already know everything. Through falling and getting back up, we can learn. And I learned a lot about my camera (again) that day. I started with my 35mm lens, to try something different. Well, everything’s different then.
So it didn’t take all too long before I was running around with two cameras, one with the 35mm and of course my trusted 23mm workhorse. Talk about looking like a tourist, with two cameras strapped. Or a photojournalist? Who knows. I couldn’t care less, I had my fun.
Back home
After we had a nice sitdown in the sun and ate something from the local market, we made our way back to our car. But not before being surprised by amazing light on the market square! It doesn’t look at all in pictures like it was for real, but that’s what real life, real experiences are for. We don’t shoot photos to keep these memories alive, they are embedded in our soul.
Thanks Mascha for a great day, let’s do this again soon!
~ B. B.
