I had an idea of capturing every month of this summer on film. Unfortunately, my travel plans fell through, but I didn’t want to let that change my plan of making amazing memories. I feel that sometimes we forget to romanticize everyday life in our hometowns, as we often do when on vacation. And although I often have mixed feelings about the city I was born in, I must admit that it is beautiful, especially in the summer months. So, without further ado, I present Belgrade on analog film to you!
I decided to write a post not to tell you to use this time to be productive or learn a new skill, to workout or read or DIY and redo your wardrobe, but just to try to stay sane. If I read yet another piece of advice on how to spend the time at home, I swear to God… This is not a normal time, we are, yet again, witnessing a big moment in history. And it is scary. And we do not all cope with it easily.
Some days I am paralyzed with fear and worry about the future, about my family and friends, my work as a freelancer, I worry about my brands, and how will corona virus affect the economy and world in the years to come, and some days I am happy and creative and optimistic. I read a book on my balcony and sunbath with my cat with a big glass of ice coffee. This month was an emotional rollercoaster and I just came to terms that it is normal.
How are you spending these days in quarantine? How are you feeling? What brings you joy? For me, it is a solitary walk I take on my way to the grocery store when I bring my camera with me and capture the spring on empty streets of Belgrade. Or a beautiful sunset or the most beautiful golden hour light in our apartment. Little things I do usually take for granted. Another cliche that turns out to be so true, I know. The hardest thing for me is being patient and waiting and I am still learning to let go of all the things I can’t change and just stay still until the storm passes. And then I will rebuild parts of my life if necessary. I guess the change is good, it helps you grow, although you might not be aware you need to.
One of my nye resolutions (or as would my sister described it, a list of demands from myself to myself) was to write more, and generally be more creative without second-guessing my actions, and ideas, as I tend to do it a lot, and it seems it is gotten much worst with time, even more, influenced with social media.
I tend to spend hours editing photos for Instagram or my blog, even tho I do it for the pure pleasure, just because I love everything to be aesthetically pleasing. I’m well aware that nobody but myself care if my insta squares match or not. Lately, I’m trying to post photos just as they are, not edited, just to push myself to get out of my comfort zone and to push my imagination in other direction, the one I wouldn’t normally take.
Hence, here’s a blog post written in approximately 10 minutes, with photos from the test roll I took on my new Olympus Mju II and surprisingly, didn’t edit at all, except the size correction on a few of them.
For anyone reading this, thank you that you’re still here, let me know what do you think about the photos, and let me know if you have some tactics to bust your creativity.
I did promise to myself that I would be more active here, but, life happened. As I have maybe mentioned earlier, it was a really busy summer (work related) and followed by a quite a few personal things, I really wasn’t in a mood to be creative just for fun, so my blog paid the price. I wanted to get into the mood and design a new to do list and a September calendar, but this month flew by, so I think there will be a few posts following week. As you can see, there is a pattern, I never was nor I will ever be good at time management, but I won’t stress about it now.
Anyway, my sister visited us in September, as you may know, she lives in the UK now, and we own a jewelry line together, JewelryLanche. And I always feel that we are the most creative when we are together because of our energies are complemented. We have different styles but because of that, some of our best designs were the ones we made together, from the beginning to the end. We didn’t work this time tho, just take time to relax, be with our family and enjoy like a tourist in our home city.
Her visit kinda pushed me back into the creative mood again. Here is the thing I recently realized, I constantly need diversity in my work in order to stay inspired, and last month I spent mostly doing graphic design, neglecting jewelry and photography, and don’t get we wrong, although I love it, if I do too much of anything, I easily become overwhelmed, since it feels like work, I guess. That is the reason that my corporate days, most of the days I felt like I was drowning, I wasn’t being challenged at all. Not exaggerating at all, those months before I quit, I was depressed, I wasn’t myself. Anyway, I digress, and that wasn’t my intention. Anyone who knows Milica and me knows that we spend a lot of time photographing, so you will usually see us running around the town in pretty dresses, with our cameras. And that was just what I needed this time.
On the other hand, I fell in love with Belgrade again, I often rant about it but I must admit that it can be quite charming. If you are planning to come to the capital of Serbia, I would say that September is maybe my favorite month to visit it. It is still hot, but not too hot that you can’t stroll around, as it can be during the summer, Sun is shining and all the beautiful cafe gardens (like the ones on Kosančićev Venac, trust me and thank me later) and all the rafts are still open. And Ada Ciganlija is still beautiful and not as crowded as it can be since everyone is back to work, so you can really enjoy a swim or a tanning session in one of its many cute beach bars.
Anyway, I hope you like this life update-photography post, let me know what you think about it and talk again soon!
The first half of 2018 was all about work for me, and from this perspective, I will probably be in the same mode indefinitely or at least for an extra few months. It is time to get serious and finish some goals I have on my mind for a way too long. So, no holiday plans for this little angel (for now). It crossed my mind that I could (and should go) on a weekend getaway, and then I remembered that I have really cute photos that I took last summer when I was in Novi Sad with a friend and never shared them here although I planned on doing that for a while.
Novi Sad is probably best known for Exit festival and it is located about an hour drive from Belgrade, and even if you are not into the festival madness, it is still a pretty beautiful place to visit, so if you are coming to Serbia this summer, maybe this post will inspire you.
We were there just for an afternoon, but I know there are many cute flats on Airbnb if you want to spend the night, that I highly recommend.
Hope you liked this short walk down the memory lane, I sincerely hope that I will have more free time soon to go somewhere fun and write about it, aka to live a little, but until then, this will have to do.
imchasingsunsets 