Some places don’t need to be photographed only once.

They need to be revisited.

Again and again.

In a different season. In different weather. At a different time of day. Under different light. Perhaps in fog, perhaps in rain, perhaps on a completely ordinary day.

That is the idea behind my first long-term project.

Melaten.

The Melaten Cemetery in Cologne is not simply a subject for me. It becomes a place where I can observe, over a long period of time, what changes – and what changes in the way I see it.

There is only one deliberate limitation:

35mm or Lensbaby.

That’s it.

There is no rule about when to use which lens. No predefined visual style. No requirement for what an image should look like.

The 35mm gives me the opportunity to experience the place in a more direct and spatial way.

The Lensbaby allows me to interpret, simplify, and perhaps reveal things that feel very different through a more conventional perspective.

I don’t know today which of these approaches will ultimately speak to me more.

And that is part of the project.

I don’t want to define in advance what a „Melaten image“ has to be.

I want to collect.

To observe.

To experiment.

And over time, discover which images continue to stay with me.

Perhaps I will notice that certain subjects keep returning.

Certain shapes. Figures. Spaces. Or qualities of light.

Perhaps my compositions will change.

Perhaps my visual language will become more minimal.

Perhaps more atmospheric.

Perhaps something completely different will happen.

The project is allowed to evolve.

And there is no pressure.

I don’t have to photograph something every time I visit. Maybe there will be days when nothing speaks to me.

That’s okay.

Perhaps I will return a few weeks later and find an image I wasn’t even looking for.

Because maybe the real purpose of this project isn’t to document Melaten.

Maybe it is to discover:

How does my way of seeing change when I return to the same place again and again?

That is the question I want to carry with me.

And perhaps, over time, this project will show me that it isn’t only the place that has many faces.

My way of seeing does too.

Next week, I leave Melaten behind – but I stay in Cologne.