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Can I let you in on a secret? I’ve done something a little crazy. I’ve missed my flight home. Currently, I should be flying back to Australia from Croatia. I should be on that plane, landing in time for my second week of university to begin. But I’m not. Instead, as I write this, I am about to board a plane to Venice, the first of a series of flights that will see me in four countries in four days. I am about to embark on a whirlwind assignment to take photos in Venice, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Helsinki. After the past two months of non-stop travel, visiting four countries, going on three topdeck tours, and taking over 25,000 photos, I’m beyond physical and mental exhaustion. Yet I’m ecstatic as ever to be thrown another travel photography job and carry on the road.
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This trip has truly been confirmation that travel photography is what I want to be pursuing with everything I have. I’ve loved every crazy minute of this journey, and I haven’t felt ready to go back home just yet. I was on the edge about whether or not to extend my trip, so once this extra photography job came up, I took it as a sign to continue my adventures a little longer.
After I finish this photography job, I fly to Budapest (my favourite city in the world) where I have a few days to recover before heading to Sziget, a week-long music festival. Another very spontaneous decision, a few days ago I stumbled upon the lineup to Sziget and within an hour I’d purchased a ticket. Once the music festival is done, I’m heading to the UK to see my family before heading to the U.S. for a friends wedding in California!
After that, I’ll either go home or see what else comes up in the meantime. It feels so liberating to no longer be on a strict time schedule and to be able to live more spontaneously. The biggest decision amongst all of this was not proceeding with my university studies. For the past six months, I’ve been studying Graphic Design in Sydney. I signed up for the degree with the intention of gaining skills in graphic design to supplement my photography career. The biggest challenge I faced throughout the semester was not having nearly enough time to focus on my photography or travel blog, or really another other than the very demanding university course I signed up for.
As a result, both the things I love and want to pursue were somewhat pushed aside and I became rather frustrated. Upon coming on this trip, I spent a long time weighing up whether the next two and half years of studying graphic design was going to get me closer to my goals of doing travel photography full-time or whether it was going to hold me back. I don’t want to do anything half-heartedly, and if I am not going to be completely passionate about my course then I don’t want to waste the time or the money on such a thing. I’m still not certain what the future holds, what I am going to be doing or even where I am going to be living. But I am okay with that.
The unknown is scary but exciting. I feel like I am finally in a position where I can be working towards my goals and pursing my passions without anything holding me back or tying me to one place.
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On a side note, I need to take a minute to apologize for my very slow updates from this trip. I shouldn’t really make excuses for myself, but after photographing three almost consecutive Topdeck tours in the USA, Turkey and Croatia, spare time has become a very rare commodity. In an attempt to make up for my feeble attempts at blogging on the road, here is a quick photo overview of my past two months of travel… Stayed tuned, as there is plenty where that came from!
