Retro//Reflection - Issue #17
From blistering speeds to road works: driving on the Autobahn
Once or twice per month I send out a letter with a handful of (my) photographs and share a bit of insight on the ‘why?’ or ‘how?’. As an enthusiastic photographer, anything goes.
Maybe you learn something?
Or perhaps it will spark some inspiration?
Everything packed?
All set?
Let’s go!
From the Netherlands it’s quite doable to reach Switzerland, Austria or the ‘more sunnier parts’ of Europe (read: Italy) by car and each and every year a lot us pack our cars (often to the brim and beyond) and head off to these destinations where, quite quickly, we find us on the famous - or dreaded - motorways of Germany: the Autobahn.
We’ve been travelling over these motorways for years, often on the A61 (also known as the linksrheinische Autobahn) and A5 which brings you all the way south to the border with Switzerland (border crossing at Basel).
We are quite used to driving on the Autobahn - typically, when not stuck in a traffic jam1, its either go as fast as you dare (or your car allows) as many stretches do not have a speed limit2 or navigate through one the many road works: Baustellen3. Fun challenge with these road works sections is that the left lane if often quite narrow, like proper narrow, so overtaking a wide truck for example needs a bit of careful planning and precise driving.
Never a dull moment.
When I’m not driving I like to take pictures of the surroundings. These last couple of years I simply use my smartphone set in the "BeyondFocus” configuration which means shoot in 1:1 square format and in black/white mode (I wrote about my BeyondFocus project before in Issue #3).
I just look out the window and take photos of anything that catches my eye; this could be a building, fields, trees, bridges, road works or simply the road ahead. There’s no careful planning or framing, we’re driving after all, so there’s no need to be meticulous about things. Photos are by no means “perfect”, often you’ll see the reflection of the windscreen for example.
But come to think if it: maybe this adds to the appeal 🤔
In post-processing I keep thing simple as well (following my BeyondFocus ‘rules’), but for this Autobahn-series I added a little bit of grain and a very slight split tone by adding some blues in the shadow. It’s hardly visible unless you have the true b/w version of the same photo next to it.
Having been doing this for a couple of years, I now have a nice set of photos that I quite like4. Technically it’s an ongoing series, but depending on our holiday plans it might take some time before I can add more to the collection.
That’s it for this post.
Did you ever drive on the German Autobahn? Or if you’re living in Germany, what are your thoughts about these motorways? Getting fed up with the many road works? 😉
Normally each issue I would end with mentioning a photographer, a photography-related website or publication, simply to show my appreciation for what they do. But for once, I think it makes more sense to link to a music video to accompany this post :)
From the legendary pioneers of electronic music : Autobahn by Kraftwerk.
That’s it for this issue. Thank you for reading until the end. Feel free to leave a short comment or message. Appreciate it!
Until next time, cheers,
Ronald
ronaldsmeets.info
ps: this article/newsletter/post is free, because I’m not doing this to make a profit. Also, I don’t like subscriptions at all (Tom Pendergast has a great article about not going paid, which I agree with). However, if you do want to show your support, a coffee always helps me writing and posting here ;-)
It’s a pain, there is A LOT of traffic in Germany. For this reason alone we would recommend to travel though the night if possible.
Although more and more often there are speed limits, often 120kph (approx. 74mph) or 130kph (approx. 80mph).
In 2024 there are over 1300 of them across all of Germany so it is basically impossible to not encounter at least one :)
I have more, maybe I’ll dedicate another Retroreflection in the future.
Interesting to hear about all the traffic on the Autobahn! Last time I was on it was a family trip to Germany in 2009! As a teenager I urged on my dad to try and hit 200 km/h. He almost made it.