November 2024

Kind Of Like This

Text & Images: Cara Stricker

As a writer, I try to sit down and let the words come to me. They usually don’t, and when they do they make no sense. But when I sit in the middle of the unknown, amongst situations that I can’t control, I feel my way through. This is how I take photographs and films. Shooting on a 35mm camera is an extension of this process. It does not inhibit you from being in the moment. The film rolls in and out and captures its own take on the moment. Untouched, the film remain uncontrolled and naked to tell their own story. It is at this stage when I sit back objectively and create my ‘words’ in the story.

It Was Kind Of Like This was shot in the Californian desert and Nevada’s Black Rock desert. After shooting a collection of shorts and video clips, I needed to clear my head. We took off from California and after a couple of days of driving through the desert, we settled in Black Rock desert. Burning Man was an ironic utopian experience, set in an almost post-apocalyptic landscape. Someone was saying to me the other day, is it true that every year at least one person disappears at Burning Man? I said, it depends on who you’re asking. I mean, you’re walking through the desert for an hour, a dust storm is rolling in and a cop car rolls on by. An ironic dream landscape that you never wake up from. You do feel like the world’s a little different amongst the golden rays. On my first trip to the supermarket after landing in America, the regular Joe standing in front of me bends to reveal his leopard print g-string. It’s inspiring.

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Cara Stricker

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