If the vampire from Nosferatu was a camera nerd
Could he be seen on mirror selfies?
Nosferatu is a silent artsy horror film which premiered 100 years ago, in 1922.
It’s about a vampire, the count Orlok. Parts of the story are quite up to date. Somebody wants to aquire real estate and can´t accomplish this task alone, absurdly long fingernails seem to be à la mode and: there is a pandemic. Some of the key scenes were shot in the cities Wismar and Lübeck in northern Germany.
Analogue double exposure of the Salzspeicher buildings in Lübeck, shot with the Minolta Dynax 550si on AGFA APX 100
As I roam the empty streets of Lübeck with my camera on lonesome evenings after work, the Nosferatu-vibe still seems to be there, almost palpable. I imagine the pale vampire staring out of the window of the old Salzspeicher-building, looking out for new prey.
Obviously, count Orlok was a vile monster who sucked the blood out of his victim´s veins like Kodak sucks out the last pennies out of film nerd´s pockets. But still, I feel a bit pity for him as I point my camera at a bush with some last summer-roses for a double exposure. As a vampire, he´d probably never had the opportunity to go out in daylight and see the beauty of all this.
Analogue double exposure of the „Salzspeicher“, shot with the Minolta Dynax 550si on AGFA APX 100
And for worse: being condemned to avoid light would definitely exclude film photography as a hobby. Poor guy is missing out. But he would make a great helping hand in the dark room, I think to myself, passing the Holsten-Tor.
Analogue double exposure of the Holsten Tor, shot with a Minolta Dynax 550si on AGFA APX 100
If the vampire Orlok was a film photographer, what would he take pictures of? Would his photography be dark, mysterious? With a touch of melancholy for the souls he´d taken? Would he be reposted by a famous travel blog because of his authentic documentation of Transylvanian landscapes? Can he be seen on mirror selfies? Or would he just be into photographing gas stations and classic cars, like the most of us?
Analogue double exposure taken on Kodak Portra and transferred into black and white afterwards, for the Nosferatu Vibe 🙂
I take a last classic double exposure of my hand against the sky, inspired by the iconographic Nosferatu hand scenes, where a shadow seems to take away the life of the sleepy victim. But I choose to add some flowers, I am more of a peace-loving person. I hop on the train back to Hamburg, thinking about where I could pic up some garlic bread on my way home.
Analogue double exposure of the back of the Salzspeicher, taken with the Minolta Dynax on AGFA APX
You can find more of the original scenery from Nosferatu in this Instagram post or on this blog-post both by Andrea David , a blogger from Hamburg who travels to film locations and writes about it.
Got other inspiring film-related pictures? I would love to hear about that!
Vera Elisabeth