This is the photo that originated this series, taken in the end of 2020’s summer, in Berlin. One of those days that I carried my camera all day, but only got rewarded by the end of it.

A friend and I had decided to go for a long cycling towards a lake in the outskirts of Berlin (about 80km in total), which is one of my favourite things to do during summer time. In fact, I love spending summer in Berlin. Despite being a big city, it’s also very close to nature. At that point, there was a weird sense of how things were moving due to the pandemic. Uncertainty and fear, but also a feeling of freedom, as we hadn’t had many restrictions up until then. Summer felt relatively normal.

When returning to the city in the end of the day, after having failed to take good photos in the places that we stopped by, we cycled through the Government District, where Germany’s main offices are located, during this weird but beautiful sunset mixed with a summer storm falling in the west part of the city.

While most people focused and pointed their cameras to the sunset, I saw this scene on the opposite side where the sun would hit the building’s structure and reflect the light towards the stairs where this woman was sitting, shinning by herself. I took a single shot from the other side of the canal. While it looked lonely and melancholic, it also felt beautiful, like a fight between light and darkness, while the latter took over the areas around. I wonder how she was feeling.

Eventually, darkness did take over: not long after this day, Germany increased contact restrictions, followed by a national lockdown that lasted for 6 months. A very dark winter that seemed to never reach its end.

But it did end, and almost a year later, I hope she’s shinning again.

September 6th, 19:13:04, 2021. Berlin, Germany.