The abandoned factory next door and Felix’s adventures through analogue photography.

For four years I lived in Cologne, and I felt confident saying that I know the city and had confidence in giving visitors advice when needed. But let’s face it: The human species is one that really much relies on daily routines, that’s where we feel safe and comfortable. It’s the reason why we hold on to the job we wanted to quit already 2 years ago, its the reason why we go get our coffee on the way to work every day at the same old coffee shop and its the reason why we subconsciously tend to walk the same ways. And when we say we know the city, all we really know ate the same old roads we already used to know back then as a child.

Analogue photography is my key to break these habits, its what is encouraging me to find, to take a new path and to explore and see the city I live in from a new perspective.

You might argue: Well, can’t you also do that shooting digital? Yes, you can but you would lose the exploring aspect of it while doing so. It’s not knowing what you get, not knowing if this specific exciting street scene you tried to capture is going to look as exciting as you expect it to be.

It is breaking the habit, it is encouraging you to experiment and to travel to this one part of town that you have never visited before. It is buying a specific roll of film you have never tried before that is animating you to go out and check what this weird looking huge abandoned factory in your neighbourhood is all about. Would I ever have found out that the entrance to this abandoned factory is actually open, that I can walk through all eight (!) levels and eventually discover a private rooftop with a unique view over Cologne if I wouldn’t have bought that roll of black-and-white film, that I urgently wanted to try?

I don’t think so, but the knowledge about the porno magazines the factories caretake obviously used to collect would have remained spare to me.

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By Felix Lohl
aka @felixloeh