In September 2024 I undertook a dedicated photo trip to the Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr valley), which is Germany's own Rust belt and the biggest agglomeration in the country.

Quite what I was looking for there I hadn't properly figured out beforehand. Chosen solely for the fact that the destination needed to be in Germany I assumed a general grittiness and ruggedness of the Ruhrgebiet's urbanscape combined with busy and dense urban scenes would suit my photography well, or at least better than, let's say, Munich would.

The aim was not to portray or document the area but to return with a handful of shots “in my style” I would be pleased with. That criterion turned out to be severely insufficient to base a whole journey on so I kept pondering the conceptual implications of my endeavour endlessly and critically.

Ultimately I don't think I found motifs that I couldn't have found at home in Berlin as well or which serve the purpose of documenting the Ruhrgebiet particularly well, even if that wasn't my primary purpose.

On the other hand it was fun and intense to travel and see something new solely for the purpose of photography and my own peculiar view on the Ruhrgebiet as acquired during five long days roaming its streets and alleys amounts to a relevant portray, because, at the very least, these photos mean something to me.