There is a whole corner of the internet where people walk around a city with an old camera and very little happens. I find it deeply calming.

This one is a photo walk through Budapest on 35mm film. I have never been to Budapest. I have no plans to go. I watched it on a Thursday night when I should have been doing something else, and on Friday I loaded a roll of my own.

What it does to the eye

Watching somebody else look for pictures is oddly instructive. You start noticing what they stop for: a doorway, a bit of shade, someone waiting. By the end you have borrowed their way of seeing for a while, and it lasts just long enough to get you out of the house.

Film helps, because it makes every decision slightly expensive. Thirty-six frames is not many. You stop photographing everything and start asking whether this is really the one, and the answer is usually no, which is a useful thing to practise.

A red and white lighthouse on a foggy day
My own town, my own roll. Considerably less Budapest.

A short list for a slow walk

  • Go out with one lens and no plan.
  • Turn left whenever you feel like turning right.
  • Stop for coffee before you need to.
  • Finish the roll even if the last frames are bad.

A photo walk is mostly a walk. The photographs are the excuse you give the people at home.

I got eleven frames I liked from that roll, and two I would print. More to the point, I got a Saturday morning, a sore pair of feet and the feeling of having paid attention to something.

Video: Matej Lepen on YouTube. Embedded here, not made by me.

Sample content for The Pixel, a fictional personal blog.