Mono no aware a joyful melancholy

My name is Marcin. I live in Wieliczka, Poland. I work as a programmer and spend a lot of time at my desk, writing and looking at the screen. That’s why actively spending free time is very important to me. I love to travel, hike in the mountains, run, and ride a bike. And it’s fortunate that all these active hobbies can easily be combined with my main passion, which is photography. I’ve been interested in this subject for several years, but only this year have I decided to take on the classic photographic challenge of Project 365 (actually, the year 2024 has 366 days, so it will be 365 + 1 photos).

Photography has always been important to me, and personally, I consider it one of the most enjoyable and interesting hobbies. Above all, you constantly challenge yourself and learn new techniques, try to improve the quality and aesthetics of your photos. And I’m not just talking about technical aspects or new equipment, but rather about improving the skill of creating good compositions, finding interesting subjects or landscapes, being able to be in the right moment and the right place with the camera ready to take a photo.

The second really important aspect of photography for me is the motivation it gives me to travel and discover new places. I’ve had the opportunity to visit many beautiful and exotic places. I have very fond memories of Southeast Asia, especially Singapore, where I lived for a year. It’s truly an extraordinary city-state, sometimes resembling one of the futuristic metropolises we know from literature and science fiction movies. During my first visit there, I was amazed at how timelessly one could combine steel, concrete, and glass with ubiquitous greenery. Singapore also has other, more exotic faces, which manifest in its amazing cuisine and local customs. We also deal here with an everyday mix of cultures and religions. I remember that a symbolic moment for me was noticing on practically one street four temples of completely different faiths.

Thirdly, and perhaps this will actually be the most important aspect of photography for me, I believe it has an incredible ability to capture memories and details. I tried to classify the type of photography I’ve been practicing lately, and I was pleased to realize that at this stage of my life, it’s mainly family photography. The opportunity to capture the most beautiful and intimate moments in life and keep them only for my loved ones I consider something extremely valuable. Especially in the age of social media, online exhibitionism and apparent authenticity. Despite the many beautiful places I’ve captured in my photos, I am still most pleased with these mini-reportages from walks with my family, photos of my son, who is just learning many everyday activities, or photos of the first spring flowers in the garden. I think there is something poetic about this genre of photography and that it teaches us mindfulness and focusing on the subtle beauty that surrounds us.

And this is exactly what I would like my project for this year to be. I would like this one photo a day to help me notice the transience and ephemeral nature of everyday life. In Japanese culture, there is a concept called mono no aware, which means a kind of sensitivity to the beauty of fleeting things or even melancholy associated with passing. Personally, these kinds of emotions seem to me to be particularly associated with objects we interact with every day and with the places we live in. With our homes, bedrooms where we wake up, kitchens where we drink our morning coffee, tables where we put vases with wildflowers collected during the last walk. I think this is what I would like to somehow show in my photos as part of Project 365.

Although the decision to start the project was quite spontaneous, I have set myself a few principles that I would like to follow during its implementation. The first and fairly obvious rule: 1 day = 1 photo. No cheating and publishing old photos, no skipping days. And I must admit that sometimes taking one photo is more difficult than it might seem. Illness, busy work schedules, visits from friends, bad weather, and lack of sunny weather in Poland at this time of year. These are just examples of mundane factors that make it difficult to be systematic. But there are also internal blocks. For me, the most difficult thing was to accept that not every day I necessarily have to be satisfied with the photo I took. Sometimes there are better and worse days. It’s important to accept this and treat it as part of the process of creating this daily reportage. I also try to treat each photo as part of a sequence rather than a separate entity; it seems to me that they become more meaningful that way.

The next two assumptions are: publication on social media and careful selection of content to show to a wider audience. Why did I decide to post these photos every day on Instagram and Facebook? It’s a kind of public commitment and, therefore, a personal motivation for me not to interrupt this project. It’s a bit like publicly declaring quitting smoking, for example. The next assumption mentioned here is an implication of the previous one. Since I decided to publish photos, I don’t want them to be particularly private photos. So, for example, I don’t want to upload photos of my son every day. Even though he is the most wonderful model in the world, I have to consider his privacy.

The fourth and final rule: let each photo be taken with some intention and with some intended effect that I want to achieve. Lately, I’ve noticed that more and more often, I imagine the final shot before I even lift the camera. It’s not super important if the photo technically is far from perfect and a bit noisy or blurry. What’s important is that by taking that particular photo, I tried to achieve some effect and had some idea for it. You can’t develop without making mistakes, but you also can’t develop without making an effort.

In the past, I had one approach to the project of 365 photos a year. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, mainly due to a lack of consistency. But I think I learned a bit from this occasion, and I know how to deal with days when there’s a lack of time or energy for photography. It’s worth considering emergency ideas: macro photography, abstract photography, self-portraits, etc. These are photos that can be taken practically in any light and weather, without leaving home. Personally, such photos please me a little less, but they are also important because they serve to maintain the continuity of the project, and I know that without them, I wouldn’t have created subsequent ones, of which I will be more satisfied. Additionally, sometimes these emergency shots turn out to be surprisingly interesting and inadvertently teach the application of new techniques or trying out a new type of photography. For example, I finally started trying my hand at macro photography, and I must admit that I can’t wait for spring weather conducive to photographing insects.

I think too much is said about photographic equipment and too little about photography, but I would just like to mention that in projects like this, it’s particularly important to just have the camera with you as often as possible. Micro Four Thirds cameras and lenses are very helpful here due to their compact size and excellent quality. I used to mainly photograph with Nikon DSLRs. My favorite set was the Nikon D7200 and the Sigma 17-50mm f2.8. A truly robust set with which I took many of my favorite photos. Unfortunately, for me, it was too heavy for everyday photography or for family trips with a small child when you need to have one hand always free.

At the moment, I use two Olympus cameras: the E-M1 Mark 3 and the E-M10 Mark 2. I almost always have the smaller body paired with the M.Zuiko 25mm F1.8, or when I want to take the camera in the pocket of my jacket, I attach the kit pancake lens M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ to it. When I have the opportunity, I take the larger camera usually with the M.Zuiko 25mm F1.2 PRO or 12-40mm F2.8 PRO. I usually take wild nature photos with one of the best lenses in the system, the M.Zuiko 40-150 F2.8 PRO + 1.4 teleconverter. For macro photography, I use the M.Zuiko 60mm + Renox 250 and Godox TT350 with a diffuser.

When it comes to the Micro Four Thirds system, I must admit that at first, I was a bit skeptical and thought that in worse lighting conditions, the smaller sensor would be inferior to the APS-C camera. Fortunately, my concerns turned out to be unfounded, and in everyday use and my personal feeling, Olympus seems to produce a noise that is pleasant to the eye and easy to control in post-production. And although noise sometimes appears even at low ISO values, combined with color reproduction in Olympus, the photos have something “analog” about them, which I really like. It’s worth remembering that the whole system is more than just the physical performance of the sensor. I believe that the undeniable strength of Micro Four Thirds is the wide range of excellent lenses. The autofocus in Olympus is sometimes not perfect, but it’s relatively fast and reliable. Thanks to this, I can focus on framing and other aspects of the photographed scene. I also love the excellent face and eye detection. It may be a detail, but after giving up DSLRs in favor of mirrorless cameras, I can finally effectively use the screen and don’t have to cover my own face with the camera, which is especially important for portraits and when photographing children.

I hope I will persevere in my resolution this year and manage to finish my 365 project in 2024. I also hope that I have inspired some of you to take on a similar challenge and attempt to capture everyday life through photography. For me, this daily search for a new frame is at the same time a search for the beauty of the details that we have at our fingertips. I then remind myself how fleeting and precious what surrounds me is. And I wish all of us that this joyful melancholy accompanies us every day!