Photographed January 5, 2023

On the 5th of January I went for a walk with my camera, without any particular goal in terms of taking pictures. Soon, however, an almost tangible theme clearly formed. It was cold, but not freezing. It was raining, but not too much. People were walking in the streets, but they did not look enthusiastic. There were still Christmas decorations everywhere, but no longer actual. The festive enthusiasm and anticipation had been washed away by the reality that people had to go back to work, that their bank account had suffered a significant loss over Christmas and that all we had left of the winter was the cold. Many of the New Year's resolutions had probably taken a beating in those five days. And so, as I walked along, observing the sort of emptiness evident in the surrounding atmosphere, fate had provided my unplanned photo session with a minor surprise. For me, photography has an essentially therapeutic quality, and although I myself was not feeling much melancholy at the time, I found it fitting that a rainbow, a symbol of hope, albeit anchored in reality, appeared in the midst of the somber mood.