Up until yesterday, I intended to show the way I saw Zurich in every bit of color the rainbow holds and the city deserves. Contrary to popular belief, the biggest Swiss city is not all about finance and posh boutiques. It has so much life in it that a cold and rainy February weekend does no justice to. It deserves the rays of the sun to fall on it 365 days a year.
For months I have worked down the 260 something frames I have shot to about 50. And when the time came for the final touches and choice to be made I learned that a close friend of mine is going through a rough patch. This fact has immediately changed my plan and I opted to publish only the black and white photography set I already had in mind.
While I was choosing the best 18 photos of the lot, I was thinking of how things end and new ones start. This somehow fitted with Züri’s history (this is how Zurich is called in Swiss German). Back in 1519, the city became the primary center of Protestant Reformation in Europe – a cry for a new begging turning into reality.
Every time we come to a crossroad and start weighing the road traveled already, we stop seeing in colors and the nuances of black and white take over. Upon these, we decide on how to move on and continue our journey ahead. Much like the black and white photography – it brings our attention to the little detail and the dynamic of the object in the frame. As simple as it sounds, it is a personal moment of reflection which can hardly be put in words, at least not by someone like me – a laic in the art of writing.
Interestingly enough, my visit to Zurich was a point of new beginnings and long waited endings. It was my first experience with a newly acquired Canon 6D. It was also an ending of a twenty-five year-long wait to see and hear Depeche Mode perform live indoors. And while this post could serve as an exhibit of my first frames with the 6D, a written word about my DM experience deserves a special one I always set aside. It was a turning point for me, a bucket list “check” of a sort, which I don’t find myself ready to describe rightfully enough yet.
To Züri: I see myself living in you if you’d have me. I also see myself taking thousands of photos of your streets, people, and architecture. Bis bald!
To my friend: It shall pass and a new day, better than yesterday is upon you. I can’t say more than what Whitesnake sang in “Here I go again”.
P.S. The final touches to the photos displayed here and the text you’ve already read were made under the sounds of “Rock of Ages” soundtrack – more than an inspiration.
P.P.S. Rock ain’t dead.
Copyright © 2014 Borislav Kiprin. All Rights Reserved.
