There are places we know.

And then there are places we continue to discover.

Cologne is both for me.

I live here and know many of its familiar views. The Cathedral, of course. The Rhine. The major squares. The architecture.

But that is exactly why I find myself asking:

How do I actually see Cologne?

The second of my three long-term projects therefore has a very simple title:

My City.

This isn’t about creating a photographic guide to Cologne.

I don’t want to show what Cologne looks like.

I want to discover what Cologne looks like through my eyes.

The Cathedral can absolutely be part of it.

And it can appear again and again.

In sunlight. In rain. In fog. In winter. In evening light. At night.

With a wide-angle lens or compressed with a telephoto.

As a complete view.

Or perhaps only as a detail.

Maybe one day it will be reduced so much that it is barely recognizable as the Cathedral at all.

And it can just as easily be an ordinary corner of Cologne that most people would simply walk past.

Because perhaps, over the course of this project, I will discover something about myself.

Maybe I will realize that it isn’t the famous landmarks that interest me most.

Maybe it’s lines.

Spaces.

Architecture.

Solitude.

People.

Contrast.

Or light.

I don’t want to decide that in advance.

That is why there is no lens limitation here and no predefined list of subjects.

Camera or phone – the tool is secondary.

What matters is the moment when I see something that makes me want to stop and capture it.

This project is also allowed to develop over many years.

And perhaps one day it will become a personal portrait of my city.

But not necessarily the portrait that others expect Cologne to look like.

Instead, it will be a portrait of what I see in Cologne.

And perhaps, along the way, I will discover a connection to my third project.

Because the longer I look at my images, the more I notice how important light and shadow are becoming in the way I see.

Next week, that’s where the journey continues.