Let the picture speak for itself, but don’t hesitate to tell its story

Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2014

I’m a big fan of letting a picture speak for itself. In this case, the image inspires me to write a little about its story. I was in Amsterdam for street photography triggered by Eric Kim. I then coincidentally met my Australian friend Rob who invited me to have drinks with his clients. When a cat (as in: the furry animal) showed up on the counter of the bar, two of the group reached into their bags & drew compact cameras. It was Kalle Hasum & me. We failed to explain why these little cameras are so attractive to us. Rob summed it up by stating “Must be a street photographer’s thing.” :-). I started using compacts to check if I wanted to get back into film photography. Before buying an analog body for my Leica equipment I thought it’s reasonable to check if I still enjoy the whole process. I came to some conclusions beyond the usual “it’s handy to have a camera everywhere” argument that I’ll write about soon.