10/09/2023
10 years. On this day in 2013, I moved to Albania. š¦š±Thereās something about that decade mark that stands out. It doesnāt really feel like it was just yesterday anymore, but when I came outside this morning to the crisp feel of autumn, I was immediately transported back there. The sounds and smells of the city here are a bit different, but as I write this, there is a whine of traffic and a dog barking off in the distance, which unlocks a whole vault of memories.
It was this move abroad that made me change many of my systems as a photographer. I was serious about dates and metadata and folders and backup systems in a way that I had often neglected previously. While countless memories are forever etched in my memory, there are so many details I could not recall had I not captured them in a photo or video.
Albania is one of my favorite places on the planet and some of the people dearest to me call it home. Fingers crossed, Iāll get to visit again soon! It wasnāt all sunshine and roses or even all castles and goats, but both the joyful and complicated experiences have profoundly changed my life. My photos are my journal of that time. From my perspective, take the photo, document your every day, press record. Be in the moment in the best way for YOU. Sometimes for me, that also means looking through a lens.