Postcards from Taiwan #1
A visual retrospective
This is the first part of my multi-part retrospective, which is also meant to be a documentation and reflection of the 4 months living in Taiwan. All photos were taken with a Ricoh-FF9 point-and-shoot camera on Kodak Gold 200 film.
The limited first set of printed postcards is now available for sale!
We are back!
In November 2023, it finally happened: Mona and I were able to fly back to Taiwan. Taiwan and us – now that's a long story.
We lived in New Taipei City, the bustling suburb of Taipei with around 4 million residents, back in 2016 and 2017. But due to some health issues, we had to make a sudden exit at the end of 2017 and find our footing again in Germany.
In 2020, after almost three years, we eagerly bought plane tickets back to Taipei. But then COVID-19 hit, and our flight got canceled. So, we had to wait for another three years. Finally, in November 2023, we were able to return to the lush green island in the Pacific for four whole months. It was a long wait, but totally worth it!
An Exciting Place to be
Being back in Taiwan was a deeply emotional experience for us. The stunning nature, the sea, the mountains, the jungle, the bustling cities, the captivating culture, and the interesting people and friends make it an unparalleled adventure and an exciting place to be.
My photography in Taiwan
I wouldn’t say that I particularly enjoy photographing people. My focus is more on human-influenced and designed places, and I try to document what I personally feel or sense at the moment of capture – how a place affects me, what it tells me. Often, this means finding beauty in the mundane. I consider my color photography part of the “New Topography” niche. Between 2016 and 2017, the first shots of my documentary series “Made in Taiwan” were also created.
In my eyes, Taiwan offers the ideal playground for the “New Topography” approach. Growing up in Germany, I have a very concrete idea of architecture and everyday objects. In the Asian context, these “Western” constants and certainties are disrupted. Different approaches, languages of form, methods, views, and norms have always been “different” and continue to be applied here. All of this is reflected in architecture and design. To me, it often appears brutally banal. And that is precisely what makes it so photographically appealing to me. Discovering, interpreting, getting to know, understanding, documenting.
Tech Talk
All shots were taken with a Ricoh-FF9 point-and-shoot camera. Unless otherwise noted, all photos were made on Kodak Gold 200. I develop my films by hand in a rotary drum in my own lab and scan them with a Nikon D810 digital camera. The conversion of negatives is done with Negative Lab Pro in Adobe Lightroom. Do you have any questions about this? Feel free to write me or contact me on my social media channels!
Get your Postcards from Taiwan!
Postcards from Taiwan #1 are now available as haptic products. Buying one set of Postcards will support this project and my analog work. Limited to 6 Sets!
