Monologue

Okay, so to answer yesterday’s question [https://mitchellens.ink/i-cringe-every-time-even-now/], yes the quote-type post was a very bad idea. Nobody liked it. No literally, almost nobody gave it a Like lol. I thought about deleting the post as soon as I noticed how bad it was performing but then I thought to myself: “wait a minute, why did I even want to share this?”. The answer to that question is because I care about my own writing and I want to share that with the people who care to listen.

I’m not a 100% sure this is a good idea but here it goes. As I’m building out my De Lens Loves You Instagram feed [https://www.instagram.com/delenslovesyou/], I figured it might be fun to share some more of my writing there as well. That’s why I decided to do one of those quote-type posts. I don’t know, I kind of cringe when I see them but I also want to share my work so here we are. The plan is to take one of my favorite Monologues every now and then and highlight something out of it. Somethi

I spent my entire afternoon on the following: * Installing the bottom bracket on my bike. I almost got it all the way there but I do really need that special tool they talked about. Shame, though not to worry: it’s just an additional ten or twenty coins I might as well miss. * Exporting and uploading the full resolution photos of the prints I sell in my webshop. I keep them on a separate folder in my photography archive so I can access them anytime. Somebody places an order when I

I let myself go in a daydream and emerged with a deeper understanding of the layers in life [https://www.instagram.com/p/COf6yF_L6Hh/]. As fas as ados go, you will not find one here: “Feel the warmth. Interesting. How can a photo that feels so cold, radiate such hope? Such sensations of solidarity. Everything about this shot screams winter, wind, ‘it’s about to rain, please get inside!’ and other gnarly things. But still… I can feel the warmth. At the very least, I am sure the glowing feeli

I wrote another tweet today but rather than embedding it, I’ll share it here directly. “The wind is so fierce today that the detached net from the basket swings so vigorously it’s leaving streaks in the dirt.” And there’s an accompanying photo as well. The seventh installment of an ever-expanding thread to document the changes in a basketball basket. Boring? Not so much. If you know where to look. > The wind is so fierce today that the detached net from the basket swings so vigorously it’s l

I might’ve gone a little too much into the vagueness of describing a photo here but you’ll have to excuse me. A seemingly boring shot [https://www.instagram.com/p/COa4p32jetZ/] has a lot going on if your imagination allows it. And as an ado could not be found: “A windy day. That’s for sure. A pier. Sand. Dark skies. Rain? No, no rain. Just wind. And a very heavy one as well. Judging by the sky, it was a stormy day. The choppy water tells the same story. The beach agrees with the water and le

Let me stay put for a minute. I know you could use that time. A little time to deflate. To reflect. Or simply to have a minute. A minute to yourself. It’s okay, I will stay put. Have your nap time. I’ll have mine as well. If you don’t mind. Let us have a minute. Just me and my kitty cat. Let us stay put.

Continuing my ‘About the photo’ series1, while also continuing the build of my Instagram feed [https://www.instagram.com/delenslovesyou/]. Looking at the likes and comments on the posts so far, I’m pretty sure most of the 26K+ followers are bots or non-active profiles. Or people just don’t like my stuff. But that’s kind of hard to imagine. Sure, a little self-depreciating humor is fun every now and then but in reality, I’m really proud of, and confident in, my work. I realize it might not be f

I have this note that I’ve been keeping for about a year(?) now. It’s called ‘Vrije associatie’ or, ‘Free association’ and I use it to write down literately anything that does not have an immediate place to go to otherwise. Any idea, any random thought, any question, anything that I want to remember; I write down there. It’s a good tool to remember stuff without having to think about it all the time. I know it’s right there and if I ever need inspiration or whatever, I can just scroll through i

I told you I’d be back with original thoughts, right? Well today you can enjoy a new ‘behind the photo’ [https://www.instagram.com/p/COQlgfAL9Dh/]1. As a reminder, I try to approach the stories as if I’m seeing the photo for the first time myself, as if I didn’t take them. If that seems weird to you then I encourage you to try it. It’s a good exercise of looking more closely. Without further ado: A pyramid! Sort of. Not really, now that I’m looking at it more closely. I see the triangular

I mean, daily writing is great and all but I don’t have that much to say all the time. I’ll be back with more thought out ideas tomorrow. Probably. Or maybe not but I will definitely be back.

Who knows what can happen when you set out to shoot high buildings in black and white? I do! You end up shooting close ups of wet leaves in beautiful Fujifilm color [https://www.instagram.com/p/COLijmjFPk5/]. With a little help of my vision. Not by to brag but, I feel like I’m getting quite good at post-processing these days. I really feel like I’m nearing a solid balance of luminosity, saturation and hues that suit my taste. As illustrated by my next few words: “Oehhh I like those details. Th

Staring at the empty screen. Nothing. Looking outside for inspiration. Still nothing.  But then it hits me. Nothing, isn’t that also something? An absence of thought, or a presence of inner peace? I’m not sure. I’m Jon Snow1. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. I know nothing. ↩︎

I wrote a few words to accompany Viewfinder 030 [https://mitchellens.ink/shop]. Feast your eyes and tickle your mind with the ingenuity of my writing below: “This is one of those typical boring shots that you don’t pay much attention to at first. I mean, what exactly am I looking at? Well indeed, what are you looking at? What is that big thing in the bottom right corner? What forms those lines? What is the perspective of the shot, am I looking to the side, or down? Maybe up? But then, ah! Tho

Aahhhh all I need is a little sunshine. Luckily that’s just what our great planet is granting me today. The tables are turning, the tides are changing. My bike, once referred to as ‘vuurflits’, has turned into a beautiful ‘nachtschaduw’ with its new paint and polished parts. The wait is for the final bits to come in to make this thing come together nicely. I can’t wait to do long sunny rides again. Until then, it’s long sunny hanging-around sessions for me. Aahhhh all I need is a little sunshi

I did another instagram post [https://www.instagram.com/p/COBIzU-HUSJ/], which also marks my first background story accompanying my fine art prints. I’ll be adding it to the product page right after writing this Monologue. I try to approach these stories as if I’m seeing the photos for the first time myself. Allowing my to eyes wander and myself to wonder about the image. As I take a good careful look at all the elements in the frame, I just write whatever surfaces. It’s not your typical backgr

Okay so, quick recap: the One Two One test book was definitely underwhelming. I’m redoing it and I’m making a proper photo book out of it. I’m also making it a square, as I should’ve done all along. This does mean that I have to redo the entire layout in the square format to make it fit. It won’t be too much work though, as I now already know what my sequencing will be. I also won’t be needing to write anything. It should be breeze. Or a least more of a breeze than designing the original idea.

I started posting to Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/delenslovesyou/] again, which is funny considering my plea for leaving the platform [https://mitchellens.ink/im-thinking-about-quitting-instagram/] a few weeks ago. The thing that changed is: I have something to sell now. Nevertheless, I am automating the process as much as possible. Which means I’ll be scheduling posts so I won’t have to deal with the platform too much. As my initiation, I’ll be promoting my fine art prints [https://mi