Archive

I’m keeping it short today by merely letting you know a new issue of Dialogue [https://mitchellens.ink/dialogue] is going out in a few hours! You still have time to subscribe [https://mitchellens.ink/dialogue/004/] and catch the story in real time or you can read the previous stories on the Dialogue archive page [https://mitchellens.ink/dialogue/] right now.

How many cat photos can you pull off before people start to categorize (pun intended) you as the pet photographer? I hope it’s not too many more, as I presume I will enjoy photographing animals a lot more than dusty office people.1 I’m never going back to doing that again. In fact, don’t even reach out unless you have a four legged friend to photograph. Otherwise I’m way too busy walking and riding circles around my hometown, photographing whatever I come across, until I’m ready to commit to a

It’s time. So far, only one color preset and one black and white preset have been living on my Fujifilm X100V. This afternoon another color preset was added. Heavily leaning on a Fuji X Weekly film recipe, I’ve added a version of Bleach Bypass to my camera. Next to warm analog-looking photos, I really like harsh tonalities and low saturation so Bleach Bypass is perfect to give a try. It’s sadly not part of the X100V by default but the Fuji X Weekly version seems very nice on first try. We’ll see

I’ve been dipping in and out of my Dialogue 004 draft for the past few days and it’s slowly starting to take shape. I never planned for it to take this long but the moment I started writing I realized I didn’t really know what I wanted to say yet. That doesn’t happen often for me as I usually wait long enough until the general idea is formed in my head. Only then I pick up the pen and write my thing — mostly in one sitting. This time, I come up with a few sentences and then I’d have to sit and

Ticking off as much as possible from my to do list today. Or shaving my yak a little too much. I’m not entirely sure.

Short and sweet is still sweet. Not sure if it can beat long and luscious but not all days can be lengthy. Exemplified by this entry. See you tomorrow.

Hello again! This time from the other side of a much-needed 12-hour night’s rest. I am currently uncharacteristically sipping on my third cup of coffee. Already regretting the caffeine induced bodily restlessness I am soon to experience. Nevertheless I am here to talk to you about my recent ‘And the camera was there…’ project. Yes, that’s what I’m calling it. If you have no clue what I am talking about, I suggest you first read my story from the day before yesterday and then yesterday’s story, w

Hello from the other side of what is currently my longest bike-ride ever! It was a leg-numbing headache-inducing experience but I’m proud (so proud!) that I’ve completed a ride like this. Just over 73 kilometers in a little under 3,5 hours. Not bad at all but I did struggle in the second half. I was already expecting a hefty headwind but the reality was a little more severe than my expectations. But I digress. I’m actually here to show you the photos I have made yesterday. I took exactly 100 p

The camera was there the entire day. Going where I went, seeing what I saw. Every time something significant happened, it snapped. Even when significance meant getting a morning coffee because, realistically, how much can you expect on a regular Friday. The day isn’t over yet so coming to conclusions seems premature. Nevertheless, the experiment felt like a good trial run. Perhaps giving it another shot on a day that’s filled with more exiting things will benefit the project. We’ll keep it in m

Please do not disturb me today. I am writing my newsletter, as promised.1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Which basically means leaning back in my chair, listening to entrancing music, thinking about nothing at all until the words pop up in my head again. I know, it sounds a little weird but sometimes I write like this. Other times my fingers fly over the keyboard and can barely keep up with my mind. Either option works fin

Empty screen, eyelessly staring at me. Flickering cursor, taunting me with my indecisiveness. One flash, two flashes, three. It’s almost — almost — as if I can hear my word processor say ‘you will never write a solid story today, there is no way you have anything to share’. It wouldn’t be a lie; how can I say something of interest 365 days in a row? I don’t experience enough interesting things to be able to do that. Would this project require an update every week then yes, maybe I’d be able to

My loops are getting bigger and bigger. Every outing in the same direction ends up being further than the previous one. A good development! Today after work, I drove off in the wrong direction again, to expand on my previous outing [/i-drove-off-in-the-wrong-direction-on-purpose/]. Taking an extra left where I would’ve called it quits last time. Then feeling good and adding another left turn where turning right meant returning home. A wonderful little loop of (checks Strava data) almost 17km tha

Looking around social media I see people living their best lives. Traveling, going out for drinks, barbecues with friends; though it’s mostly the traveling that sparks my jealousy. I want to go out and see those places as well. Why don’t I? Is it because I can’t? That’s not true at all, I can go whenever I please. Though not with the frequency I see some people doing on the internet. Then I think: what is it that I see? Highlights, snippets, glimpses. Not the whole picture, at least. It can’t

Okay this is going to sound a little pretentious (or maybe even a lot) but as of late I’m starting to see myself more and more as a documentarian. A person who’s job it is to document and register for times to come. A person who preserves the future for the present (not coincidentally that’s how I’ve currently formulated my mission statement). I don’t claim to be any good at it (yet) but I do aim to have this be the way I leave my mark on the world. Perhaps that isn’t much, but it’s honest work.

I cycled 25k to revisit all three locations of The Silence Around [https://mitchellens.ink/the-silence-around] this afternoon. I figured that while I have this Final Cut Pro trial, I might as well create some more videos. So I shot a bunch of clips on all the locations so I can use that as B-roll while I deliver a piece to camera again. I get home, a little tired but content, and sit down in front of the camera. I speak about 10 minutes of incoherent sentences and decide it’s maybe better to tr