Photogenic City

So my first week back at the daily grind has been hectic... to say the least. It's not that the world is particularly difficult or that my schedule has been filled as much as the load has been pretty consistent yet relentless at the same time. You'd think working at a hostel would have long periods of quiet time contrasted with insanely busy check-ins... but ironic enough I have found my days to be consistently busy with very little time to stop and collect my thoughts.

It's less of a complaint and more of a remark as my week has been a hectic mix of work, meeting new travelerw, revisiting old friendships and forging new ones, mourning the loss of a good friends, learning the ins and outs of hostel life as well as trying to take a minute out of it all for myself to stop, collect my thoughts and realize how beautiful the world around me truly is.

So it has been a few days since my last blog post and I know a few of you have been waiting so here's the update in photos.

Early this week I decided to join my friend Diana for a hike up to Mount Srd. Srd is the mountain just opposite Dubrovnik that also lends itself to the many sets of stairs and hills that make Dubrovnik so tiresome to get around. Luckily compared to the Grouse Grind, the path up Srd is quite a walk in the park, it's just the fact that it's built of tiny stones that can be slippery and make footing a bit of a challenge, especially when you don't have a set of runners around.




Srd is really only a 25 minute hike for the average person, but when hiked with me it can turn into a much longer endeavour. Phrases like "Stop and tilt your head to the right" become old very quickly as I try and get my fellow hiking mates to pose for proper pictures. Every once in a while the camera gets turned on myself, usually for a shot to take in the local scenery.



Once we reached the top of the mountain, we explored the top of the gondola station as well as the abandoned fort that was used as a strategic point of control for centuries including in the last yugoslavian conflict in the early 90's. A stone fort that was hundreds of years old that also protected people in modern times and managed to fend off modern weapons still managed to show the scars of war today. Quite the interesting place for a photo shoot as I promptly started directing Diana to "stand in the light" and "look towards the sun". Very worth the effort though.








Anyways photography has been a pretty big part of my life so far in Dubrovnik. It's great to access to a camera in town and be able to capture the life and vibe of the city, although I sure could use a few more days off to really get back into it. I managed to drop by the "War photo" museum which is a world renowned recourse in war photography and have been picking the brain of my friend Wade for comments and thought on the photo industry, photography and ways to improve my technique. If all goes according to plan I hope to learn a thing or two this summer and learn to improve my shots. In the meantime you'll have to take what you get and comment about what you dig and what you don't!

And on that note I leave you with a shot of Dubrovnik at night.