MATI [ MY FIRST BOOK ]

I take the train to go to a pear farm on the outskirts of Berlin because I am nostalgic of my grandmother’s orchard, which I visited every summer when I was a child. I am picked up by Nicole’s neighbor to the farm.As I pass the gate, I see a large farm and an elegant house. It is so beautiful.Nicole and her friend Claire say hello as I drop off my luggage. And Matilda, Nicole’s daughter, who will later give me many hugs and kisses, also says hi. A little uncomfortable at first, but feels weirdly familiar. I already don’t want to leave.Matilda is shy of my attention but curious enough to make circles around me all day. Nicole takes me out to the farm and gives me a tour.She is energetic and built her career as an actor, which she later told me. But Nicole I know, is a farm owner.She is the mother of late-born Mathilda who travels back and forth between home in Switzerland and a farm in Berlin.Nicole put us on the back of a tractor and uses her long arm to pick out a pear from a tree while driving. She takes a bite and throws it to the side.As she shows me around the orchard she explains,

“There are young and old trees, and the pears differ in sizes and sweetness…”

“Old branches have to be cut down before the winter, firm pears need to be picked now.”

“Other surrounding trees with thorns need to be cut down also to give pear trees their freedom”

“These pears will be made into juice.”

And the most memorable thing she says is,

“100 years later, these organic trees are still providing us with sweet and savory fruits. It always makes me humble and respectful of nature.”

After the tour, we start to pick pears on our own.Nicole finds a nice shade under a tree. She spreads a wide blanket for Mathilda and her dog Heidi to nap. On this warm afternoon,

we are spending personal time together.

My first photography book [MATI] captures the memories of still days on the farm with the family. They were truly happy days. 

I hope you can taste bits of the smell and the breeze on the farm from the book. Thank you. 

000

Photobook by Song Ah Choi

14.8 x 21cm,104 Pages.

ISBN 979-11-976917-1-3

Printed and Published in Korea May 2022.