Eleven years ago, I was in the middle of my fifty two weeks project, where I took a self portrait every week to document what I was experiencing and feeling during my last year of school. For the final photograph in mid September, during the last week before I was turning twenty, I covered a tree in sunflowers, my favourite flowers, trying to put the feeling of ”making it on my own“ into an image. After this project had ended, I put my digital camera to the side a lot, falling more and more in love with film photography. About one and a half years later, while I was working on my portfolio for my uni application, I rediscovered the joy of laying in puddles in the cold or exploring new places in search of a shooting location. And still, over the years my approach to photography changed quite a bit. I documented more and took less self portraits. Setting up a tripod and a camera didn’t feel as natural anymore, yet every time I did, I seemed to grasp a little bit of the person I used to be and at the same time feel connected to who I still am deep down. In a heavy moment in mid November in 2019, I went to find the place where I took the fifty-second photo of my project nine years prior, searching for parts of the person I used to be so many years ago. On a whim, I tried to put my feelings into a new photograph in the same spot. It wasn’t as easy as it used to be, but as I was sitting there, I could really feel myself. And that’s what photography has always been for me for over ten years now.

Tags:   Rona Keller fifty two weeks fifty two weeks project back to the roots autumn autumn memories autumn colours autumn leaves autumn cosiness when in autumn fall fall colours yellow leaves tree love my place in the forest inspiration

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I didn‘t know where to go on this day, so I drove to my place in the forest, close to my family’s home — where I took two of my ”At the end of November” photos, where I used to go running every other day, where I found back to photography while working on my uni application back in 2012, where I took a few people over the years, where I felt safe. This time, I stayed in the car, and let all the memories I connected to this place rush past. In the moment, heavy and tired. But so grateful for how far I’ve come.

Tags:   Rona Keller heavy and tired self portrait through the window through the car window reflections window reflections forest reflections November autumn autumn self portrait autumn portrait

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plucked and relocated

Tags:   Rona Keller Rona sunflower Sonnenblume plucked and relocated Schönbuch a sign of changing seasons changing seasons holding a sunflower caught flower handed flower in hand headless Fujifilm XT-2 October autumn October moments autumn memories

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2014 - 2020

Last year, I didn’t make it to Berlin for the first time in seven years. When I returned briefly to shoot a wedding in early October this year, I made sure to continue this series of trying to catch little glimpses of who I am over the years. :)

Tags:   Rona Keller Rona Rona's film diary Photoautomat Berlin Photoautomat photo booth ronasphotoautomatseries series Berlin film film diary film memories Photoautomat Selbstportraits photo booth self portraits project

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it’s always the little moments that fulfill my heart

Tags:   Rona Keller Rona iPhone shot on iPhone gentle fog Pfalz Palatinate Farn Herbstfarn fern autumn fern orange fern brown fern into the fog forest walk iPhone 8 fog in the Palatinate

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