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 Timeless Transit – Westfriedhof, Munich | |
Because I really wanted to start a subway series, I traveled to Munich for two nights – completely on my own, just to focus fully on photography. I was highly motivated yet deeply relaxed, completely in the zone. That’s when I can truly switch off from everyday stress.
A minute or two before each train arrives, you can feel the rush of air in the tunnel. The entire station gets blasted with wind – you even notice it up at the entrance.
And I was never alone for long. People kept coming up to me, curious about what I was photographing. For many, it was just an ordinary subway station – but for me, it was underground art waiting to be revealed. As soon as I showed them my photos, the amazement began. I explained exposure times, the play of light, how an ultra-wide lens changes the entire perception compared to human vision – and that went on every ten minutes throughout the night.
Young people, older ones, travelers, night owls, groups, individuals – it often turned into long conversations. I was out there alone, yet somehow never really alone. Always the same questions: how long I’d been shooting, what camera this was, and so much more.
In the end, I often showed my portfolio on my phone, and some even missed their trains on purpose just to see more. Some told me they had never seen the Milky Way before; others wanted to photograph my pictures directly from my screen. A few said they owned cameras themselves but had lost motivation – until my photos made them want to pick it up again.
A group of young women seemed disappointed when I said I don’t photograph people – they would have loved to appear in my pictures. Others tried to recreate my angle with their smartphones. There was so much enthusiasm, laughter, handshakes, and warm goodbyes. I rarely experience such intensity.
At one station, a local photo group from Munich approached me. Later that night, we ran into each other again at another station and just kept talking. Even the security staff weren’t controlling or distant – they were curious and genuinely friendly. Once, someone sat down and played guitar while we scrolled through my photos together. Again and again, the people around me felt familiar – not anonymous or strange. It almost felt like sitting at home on the sofa with friends.
Sometimes I thought: you could set up a spontaneous underground photo exhibition right here in the middle of the night, and people would love it. Maybe more people today long for mindful photography than we realize.
One thing’s for sure – Munich people are open, sociable, and full of curiosity. I didn’t have a single bad encounter. Everyone felt like someone I’d known for a while. And that guitar moment just made it all perfect.
They say – or so I’ve heard – that Westfriedhof is among the ten most beautiful subway stations in the world. So of course, it became my first stop.
When you work with Exposure Bracketing, you can really shape the light – make it visible in all its nuances, how it shines, fades, and reveals its gradients. I think it took me about two hours until two trains finally passed through at the same time. Sometimes there are two, but rarely in sync – and catching those few seconds without a single person in the frame is not easy.
But time flew by with all those great conversations. And every time I felt that rush of air, I knew – time to get ready – while we just kept chatting.
Here’s the first photo from that night.
📷 Camera: Sony Alpha 7R V
🔭 Lens: Sony 14mm f/1.8 GM
📍 Tripod: Benro Cyanbird Carbon Tripod + FS20PRO Head
🔍 Focal Length: 14 mm
🌞 Aperture: f/8
🌙 ISO: 100
⏳ Exposure Bracketing (HDR-RAW): 0.5 s, 1/8 s, 2 s, 1/30 s, 8 s
 Timeless Transit – Westfriedhof, Munich by Stefan Zimmermann Official, auf Flickr
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