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2014 in Pictures

“Hey, wanna move to Europe?”

By Ash Furrow

January 23^rd, 2015

"Oh my god, amsterdam"

Amsterdam is, as far as I can tell, the most beautiful city in the world. Arriving in mid-February, the city was already alive and waiting to be shot. I tried to avoid the obvious tourist shots to give mine something meaningful, but in a few instances, I couldn’t help myself.

"OMG film"

So at this point, I was shooting about half-and-half digital and film. I had a Canon 5D MkIII, an awesome camera, but I didn’t take it out for over a month after moving to Amsterdam. Instead, I was using a small Fuji X100S – a “worse” camera, but one that was getting me better pictures. I sold the 5D and continued to shoot more and more on film. Below is one of the last digital photos I took in the first half of the year.

"it's still February?"

So Spring happens in the Netherlands really early. Like, it’s already happening now. Coming from the frigid wasteland of Toronto, this was unexpected.

"This baguette is amazing."

Shortly after moving to Amsterdam, I returned to North America to teach a course at Treehouse in Orlando. My host, Amit, showed me around to some awesome food, including the best baguette sandwich I’ve had to date.

"What do you mean there's no water?"

Late March, we left for a few days to Maastricht. Bathroom renovations were to be completed while we were away. Upon returning, we had no toilet, no bathroom, and no running water at all. We wrote an angry email to our landlord, then booked a pair of train tickets to Paris for the next morning.

"On a une réservation." "Under which name?"

Booking a trip to Paris was kind of a gamble, since I was unemployed. I had been interviewing with Artsy and, while in Paris, received an official job offer. We celebrated that evening. I’d start in four days.

(It would be more than a month until we had a functioning shower, and still another week before we would even have water.)

"What do you mean 'The wrong airport'?"

Some friends were gathering in Innsbruck, Austria for a weekend of gezelligheid. We enjoyed amazing vistas, jazz brunch, and Mario Kart-ing down the face of a mountain.

"... Shit."

I visited Art Basel, the biggest, most-importentest art fair in the world. It was my first art fair. So I mostly listened. And watched. And admired. So many amazing things to see and feel. It was a deeply profound experience.

It was an unforgettable experience, which is fortunate since I shot the entire experience on film which I almost entirely lost to a bottle of expired film developer.

Things Happened

The Summer found me slipping into depression again. This time, it would get worse than it had ever been. I would not leave the apartment for days at a time. Trips to Copenhagen, Warsaw, Kraków all passed without a meaningful photograph made. It wouldn’t be until August that I’d feel excited about photography, and until October for me to begin to feel like myself again.

Through it all, I counted on the unwavering support of my wife Ashley and our two cats. They were with me when I was most alone.

"I can't believe this city gets more beautiful."

Returning to Amsterdam in the beginning of Autumn meant beautiful, beautiful colours shining on the unspeakably gorgeous backdrop of four century-old canals.

"This park is Huge!"

We discovered Amstelpark late in the Summer and it was gorgeous. A park so large it has a monorail to transport patrons from the petting zoo to the miniature hedge maze.

"I don't even."

We lived in Transvaalbuurt for months before we noticed this peculiar anachronism tucked away in a corner of the neighbourhood. I don’t know how long it’s been there, but I hazard to guess a “really long time.” Moss practically oozes from the trunk and the windows are opaque except for the one spot curious passersby have rubbed to peek inside.

"Vino tinto, por favor"

Our trip to Spain would be one of our most fun – as you might expect during a wine festival. We stayed with friends, ate delicious food and drank an altogether impossible amount of wine.

"French Fry Pizza?"

Our visit to Milan was all too short, but things were starting to get very busy at work. We got to spend a day walking around the beautiful, historic architecture.

"Is moscow traffic. What can do?"

We took a cab from the airport to the hotel and my goodness I have never seen traffic that bad. Our cab driver explained in broken English that it does, in fact, get much worse. Nevertheless, we had an amazing time in this city. And we took the subway back to the airport.

"Happy revolution day! right?"

I was fortunate enough to be in Minsk in November, on the one hundredth anniversary of the October Revolution of 1914. I was at a conference where everyone spoke Russian, so I spent most of my day reading Wikipedia articles on the rich and complex history of Belarus, Russia, and the Soviet Union.

"Pass me the film camera. No, the other film camera."

Arriving back in late Autumn, I was shooting mostly film. I didn’t know it, but I would continue to use more and more black and white than colour film. I was mainly shooting on a Leica M3 with a 50mm Summicron.

"My negatives are scratched. Again."

I had been having problems with the lab that had been processing my negatives. I found a new one that offered better results – at three times the price. So I just started doing it myself.

"Let's go for a walk."

Winter found us taking frequent walks, and I made sure always to have a camera (and, usually, a tripod). We enjoyed scenes all around this beautiful city, met other photographers, and had a great time.

"Let's get up at 4am."

I wanted to go to Vondelpark to catch the sunrise, so Ashley and I got up early one morning and did just that. We were graced with an amazing sunrise.

"Nice polaroid."

I was in New York for a week of meetings at Artsy, and I had ordered a folding Polaroid SX-70 camera delivered to the office. I had a great time – my Polaroid shots from 2014 are also online.

"Let's go for a drive."

On my way back from New York, I stopped in Atlantic Canada where I joined my wife for a few days with our families. We drove along the Saint John river I grew up beside and got some nice late-Autumn photos.

"Can we stop to take a photo?" "Yes – stop asking for permission."

On our way back from Atlantic Canada, we had a three-day stopover in Iceland. We rented a small cottage a few hours outside of Reykjavik and spent all our waking time seeing the countryside and making photos.

"It won't turn on."

Despite some water-related problems with my digital camera, we continued to make more photos of the landscape. Eventually, the camera started working again, but I ended up shooting most of the trip on film anyway.

"Oh, look, a waterfall."

We saw this from the highway and knew we had to stop in to see it. What an amazing sight.

"Boring route or interesting route?" "This is a 4x4." "Let's go."

We took a drive a few kilometres through dunes of volcanic sand to reach this wreckage of a 1973 plane crash. The US Navy crew survived, but the fuselage has endured decades of wear from the wind and the graffiti.