A sad and lonely wanderer

*Ilford HP5 + shot at Box Speed on Canon A-1; developed in Ifosol-3, scanned by Speedy E-Photo; Seattle, Washington, 12/31/2024*

Editor’s note: this is the first in my (new) (semi-) on-going series of street photography-related blogs. Wherein I’ll try to opine on something that was brought up by the shots from that roll. I’ll also do my best to give all relevant data from the images, as they will (as of right now) all be shot on film.

You wouldn’t know it, looking at these images, but I took these at maybe the saddest time in my life to date.

5 months before this (on my 31st birthday, no less) I’d just found out my mother had been diagnosed with stage 3a ovarian cancer. Also on that day? I was a week away from flying to Seoul, South Korea, to start a teaching job I had been excited for (to that point). I’ve written, and will write, about my time in Seoul in other parts of this and other blogs. This first one is about the three weeks I spent back at home that following December.

Fortuitously, my mom’s big tumor-removal/de-bulking surgery was the Monday following my flight home from Seoul for three weeks. So I got to be there for her and my dad before AND after the surgery. And in the meantime, I didn’t have a ton to do.

I had prep for second semester at my school (as our finals had been before I left), I had a handful of friends I knew I wanted to visit, and I had movies to watch. Otherwise? Solitary photography.

And when you’re me, and you have flung yourself fully into an analogy-only world, you gotta go out and buy yourself some rolls of HP5. It’s famous for being the most versatile of film stocks for a reason.

I mean, I spent Christmas basically in the hospital. Every night was spent at home watching tv with my dad. Or, rather, by myself until he came home late. (He’s, adorably, quite the ‘wife’ guy. And also a teacher. So he was able to spend his days with my mom. Which was both very hard because of how much she was struggling, and very good because there was no place he rather would have been.) What then could I do for New Years’ Eve?

I felt like I needed to do something. Staying in the house on a night where others were celebrating life felt sacrilegious, even if it’d been consistent with my holiday vacation thus far.

I ended up being invited to a party at my buddy Jake’s house. Figured a change of scenery and time in the fresh air would do me good, I wandered around Seattle for a few hours before the party itself.

The results of said ‘photo-wandering’ were mixed- if only in part because of how cold it was that day. (Also because it was NYE.) Nobody wanted to be outside, really. So a lot of my snaps (like those seen above) are centered not on people, but on things that they could be doing.

So a lot of these shots, particularly as the evening wore on, were of empty chairs. Vacant parking lots.

What does good street photography entail? It depends on the shooter in question. And for me, this night, it was ‘is this reflective of the mood I feel so strongly that I would feel better if everyone experienced it'. Which, hopefully, you’ll see in these frames.

I certainly didn’t need to isolate myself that evening. But there’s an interesting aspect to profound sadness that makes you almost want to be swallowed up in it.

The one that says “it’s easier to be by yourself and observe a brighter world”. To feel like joy is on the other side of the glass. Or that progress is something other people get to make.

This was a weird day in a very weird season of my life. I don’t regret having photos that serve as proof of it, but I also don’t want to return to that time to have a ‘second chance’ to take ‘better photos’, whatever that means.

Wrapping-up thoughts:

My mom, as of the writing of this blog (April 21, 2026) is doing loads better. That was a scary time in her, and my, and our lives.
this is, hopefully, the last roll of film that I regularly post pictures of that I didn’t save the negatives to. Of all the things of ‘pre-medicated’ Aaron that I am happy to have outgrown, this is in the upper echelon
I’m curious how you found your way here! If you wanted to take the time and leave a comment on the form below, that’d be appreciated.
- also in same comment- tell me what you think of the format? And what else you may like to see from this blog.

You wouldn’t know it, looking at these images, but I took these at maybe the saddest time in my life to date.

Wrapping-up thoughts:

My mom, as of the writing of this blog (April 21, 2026) is doing loads better. That was a scary time in her, and my, and our lives.

this is, hopefully, the last roll of film that I regularly post pictures of that I didn’t save the negatives to. Of all the things of ‘pre-medicated’ Aaron that I am happy to have outgrown, this is in the upper echelon

I’m curious how you found your way here! If you wanted to take the time and leave a comment on the form below, that’d be appreciated.

also in same comment- tell me what you think of the format? And what else you may like to see from this blog.

Aaron Leach

FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER

Contact Info

A sad and lonely wanderer

You wouldn’t know it, looking at these images, but I took these at maybe the saddest time in my life to date.

Wrapping-up thoughts:

My mom, as of the writing of this blog (April 21, 2026) is doing loads better. That was a scary time in her, and my, and our lives.

this is, hopefully, the last roll of film that I regularly post pictures of that I didn’t save the negatives to. Of all the things of ‘pre-medicated’ Aaron that I am happy to have outgrown, this is in the upper echelon

I’m curious how you found your way here! If you wanted to take the time and leave a comment on the form below, that’d be appreciated.

also in same comment- tell me what you think of the format? And what else you may like to see from this blog.

Opening Day 2026

Aaron Leach

FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER

Contact Info