weltschmerz


2013 was eventful - that’s an understatement! Through all the ups and downs in my work life I managed to keep going with the photography albeit at a somewhat reduced capacity. I’ve started experimenting a lot, a little with film and developing but also styles too.


Towards the mid to end of that year the turmoil really started and I found myself going out and shooting but not really feeling what I shot, I wasn't really happy with the results either – some were ok, some were good, but some just didn’t reflect what was going on inside. So I changed tack, and for a period moved away from long exposure, calm, tranquility to produce something - well a bit more jaggedy with more angst – which is exactly how I felt. I continued to explore this further and created a project called ‘weltschmerz’.


Weltschmerz comes from the German word meaning world-pain or world-weariness, although has taken on a modern meaning in the German language which is "the psychological pain caused by sadness that can occur when realising that someone's own weaknesses are caused by the inappropriateness and cruelty of the world and (physical and social) circumstances".


That pretty much sums up how I was feeling at the time and what I tried to portray in the shots walking around the city, trying to make sense of what was going on all around.

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