Old and new thoughts

Happy new year guys. Hope you had a good break.
I want to share with you at the beginning of this new year some photos I took back in 2018 when I went to Germany for a break.
I didn’t look at those photos till now. I was putting in order my catalogues as 2019 is finished and I came across these photos that I totally forgot about.
I want to share them with you because while editing them they have made me remember that I love to take photos just to experiment and to have memories of where I have been. Something I didn’t do in 2019. I was just trying to get the “perfect image” wherever I was going to sell my work.

How weird. While I was in Germany I didn’t realise how beautiful it actually is. I wasn’t exactly looking as for a while I have been a zombie. Dead but still walking on this earth. I have been in a dark place for a quite long time. Fighting old and new demons. I am still in grey zone but I am working on it. I learn that I don’t have to fight these demons, but listen to them and try to understand them because in the end, they are part of who I am and they are not bad. They are just sad and frustrated and angry. Yes feelings are not easy to understand and to deal with. I am still learning how to do it.
I did lose lots while being in this darkness. People too. I had to choose myself, for once or I wouldn’t be here no more. I don’t feel bad towards those people that we didn’t manage to get to stay together. I understood that sometimes is better to let go for the good of both. Sometimes we are just not compatible for each other. It is fine. It is not been easy choosing myself as I was sad and sometimes still am because I still have good memories. I don’t really think those people are bad at all. Just as I said, sometimes we are just not good for each other and the best thing we can do is to let go. I am sure someone has thought the same about me.
For who managed to deal with me while I was in this dark place, and still managing to stay with me. I want to say thank you. I’m really glad you have been on my side when I needed most and you didn’t give up on me, as for a while I actually did give up on my self. I still have some up and down but this is life right?
I know I haven’t been easy but I am so grateful that those people are still around me. I literally can count them on one hand. You have no idea how much I appreciate your friendship and glad that you can share with me your time. Yes time. That’s all we have. It is the only thing important for all of us.
So don’t pretend from people their time but be happy when they get the chance to share it with you. Don’t make promises you can’t keep, whatever is your reason. And specially don’t put your s..t on others, first is not nice and second those other people are dealing with their own s..t too.
Just try to respect people in the way they asking you to and not the way you think is good. And if you can’t give to them that respect no worries. It doesn’t mean you are bad or that they are bad. It just means you are not compatible with each other so just let them go even if it is not easy.
How weird that some photos that I didn’t look for long time have made me think about my journey in those two years. How far I came and how many experiences I had. Good and bad.
So for 2020 I will try to do two things that make me… feel alive I think I can say.
The first one. Photograph, and not only with the purpose to sell my photos but because I want to take the shot. And writing, I think I am quite good with it and specially it helps me to express my self as for who knows me, I am not exactly a good talker. If you ask me how I am, my answer will be “fine”.
These are my two new intention for 2020. What about you? Any new intention for this year?

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Travel: Cambridge

Have you ever been to Cambridge? Well I did even if it was for a short time and it wasn’t during spring or summer which are apparently the best timings to visit it for it’s beauty and various colours of it’s nature.
I did go when the weather was grey and the rain seemed never end. Even if the weather wasn’t that great, I did enjoy Cambridge a lot.

There are lots of places and things you can visit in Cambridge. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge University Botanic Garden, The Backs (a nice park to enjoy a nice walk), Mathematical Bridge and the Bridge of Sighs and King’s College Chapel. There is lots you can explore in Cambridge, but it is not what I am writing about on this blog today.

What I want to write about are the amazing fields all around the city.
I was staying in a campsite, only twenty minutes from Cambridge by bicycle. Yes, I love to go around and discover places riding my bicycle. You go through amazing fields, with wonderful colours and unbelievable views that you can’t even imagine.

Back to us. I was staying in the campsite call Highfield Farm Touring Park, this is their website if you are interested: http://www.highfieldfarmtouringpark.co.uk/
No, I am not sponsored or I am not taking any money from them. I just decided to share it with you cause I really liked this place.

It was my last day in here and the weather wasn’t the best. I did like this campsite one because it is a farm… the fresh eggs are great, I love fresh food, I love farms. Second… as they have lots of fields and they live in this beautiful place near Cambridge, they decided to share with everyone their amazing landscape. Basically behind their campsite, they left a massive field for who does stay in their campsite to have a walk and enjoy the nature, the colours and the landscapes that Cambridgeshire can offer.

I went for a walk in this field to try to get some photos at sunset. I was struggled a bit as the weather wasn’t great. Literally it was just “flat grey” as I like to describe it. So in the beginning I decided to play with the colours that this field was offering.

After a while that I was playing with compositions I finally found one that I liked. The only thing missing was the sun.
I decided to wait. I didn’t mind if it wasn’t coming out. I was enjoying already the fact that I was out in the nature, I was enjoying the smell of the fresh air, I was enjoying the walk, I was enjoying the colours of this amazing fields all around me. I was happy to spend some time for myself and do what I love. So no, I didn’t care if the sun wasn’t coming out from this grey sky. And guess what?
At half an hour from sunset, the sun decided to come out from these grey clouds and give some of its wonderful warm light to my photo. I was really super happy and I really like this photo.

Anyway guys thank you so much to have pass by and I hope you enjoyed the reading. Remember never give up on your self and on your dreams. Remember to respect others and your self, even if sometimes is not easy. Remember to respect this world and all its creatures. Remember to take your time. Remember to breathe. You can do it.

Thank you so much. I will see you next. Ciao.

 

 

 

 

Pro&Cons Vanlife in London

Hello everyone, hope you are having a good week.
This time I want to share with you some pro and cons that I found by living in the van in London. It is a while now from when I started van life and I decided to put together for you some of my experiences.
If you don’t like to read and you prefer to watch videos no worries. I create for you that too. Just head to my YouTube channel to find out these pro and cons and if you like the content don’t forget to subscribe.
Anyway back to us. Let’s start with the cons.

London Eye at sunrise

Cons number 1
View. You don’t wake up in a nice field with a nice view. You are on the street. So forget about to wake up and look to a nice landscape. The best thing you might be able to look at are foxes eating kebabs from what people left. Yep it happened while I was sleeping in a car park.

Cons number 2
Silence. You certainly don’t want people know you are living in your van and park in front of their houses. Don’t get me wrong, some people don’t have a problem with it but some others might be. So it is better avoid problems and keep silence while you are in the van. So you are acting like you are dead, which is not funny specially when you are back in the van in the afternoon and you still have the rest of the day to go.

Cons number 3
Food. Because I don’t want to make any noise in the van I stopped to cook. I love food and I love to cook. So basically my meals are made from food that is already prepared, bought from supermarkets like sandwiches or crisps. Of course sometimes I am going to visit some friends, thanks to them I can have a nice meal while I am staying in the city because of my full time job.

Cons number 4
Parking. I don’t like to go to work with the van because near to my job there aren’t too many spaces where to park, plus I finish work at 4PM and the traffic is insane. I prefer to go around London with my bicycle but by doing this I need to leave the van somewhere. Here is the problem. In London during the day there are Pay and Display. This mean that a certain times of the day you need to pay to park. So I need to find every time a place where to leave the van without this rule cause it can be quite expensive during the whole month and It is not easy to find parking space where there aren’t Pay and Display.

River Thames at sunrise

Now I am sure you are wondering what the pros are. Well one pro that I found is that actually you save money. You need to be careful to don’t spend too much in food though. As I was saying because I stopped cooking sometimes I like to have a nice meal without annoying friends. Eat out in London can be quite expensive. So if you are careful with this, you can actually save money.

Another pro is the parking space. What? You just said is a cons… Yes I said so but I said is a cons during the day. Pay and Display are only at a certain times of the day. The maximum I found until now is 7PM. After that you can park for free. This mean you can basically park anywhere without paying and this is mean you can sleep anywhere. I park my van in main roads and not in small roads. This is because I feel safer.

These pro and cons are coming from my experiences living in the van until now. Of course yours might be different or some might be similar to mine. It depends on your experiences and of course on your self as we are all different.

Now I decided to share my stories with you not only because of the van or because of photography… I believe there is no failure in what we decide to do, at list from my point of view. There is what you want and your experiences. Do what you feel… of course in respect of others, please remember this, you are not the only one in this world. Respect the places where you are going and of course respect your self. Try things! Because by trying things you discover more of your self, what you like and what you don’t like. You never know where you might end up. I mean I never thought I would be able to speak a second language, I never thought I would lived in a different country and specially I never thought I would live in a van and find out that I love to take photos and share with you my stories. The good experiences will stay with you and from the bad ones you learn.

I am done for today. Hope you enjoy the reading and thank you so much to have passed by. Don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter so I can keep you update with new posts.

I will see you next. Ciao.

Travel: Isle of Sheppey

Hello everyone,
I had to go to Isle of Sheppey to fix the water pump of my van.
I never been there so discover a new place has been wonderful.

I stayed in a campsite called LeoBay where they also fix campervans and convert them to. Basically if you are going there and you have something on your van that is not working, well they will fix it.
Of course these services are not for free but they are reasonable, at list for me it has been. The other good side of this place is that they welcoming you offering coffee or tea, at your choice, and muffins at your arrival.
I did enjoy staying there cause they are quite easy going and everything is included in the price, laundry too.

The weather was also really nice, not too cold and not too hot. I managed to have a short swim in the sea.
As I spent here the weekend I decided to go exploring the area around and take some photos of the sunset.
From when I started until now living in the van is going well. It lets me going around on my spare time and visit new places without spending too much money in transport or accommodation.

I will be in Italy in September visiting “Le Cinque Terre” and for a personal project, as some of you know already I like to take stories of people and their portraits.

Thank you so much to have pass by this blog and to have take the time to read it. You have no idea how much I appreciate. Anyway hope you are well and don’t forget to never stop yourself to try what you would like to do. There is no fail in what we do, only experiences to learn from and to discover our self, even if sometimes can be really really hard. Just learn to do a step at the time and breathe.

Have a nice week everyone. I will see you next. Ciao.

Travel: Limone – Italy

Hello everyone, hope you are ok and had a nice weekend.
I haven’t posted for a while as I have been busy with my new van life but no worries you will soon get to see some of the adventures I have recorded for you. For this post I decided to write about a place I have been to in Italy. A journey that I had with my father to this little town that we used to go to when I was young. I totally forgot how beautiful it is.
So I hope you enjoy the reading and the photos I took for you.

Limone is a town on the West coast of Garda Lake.
I have been there lots of time with my family when I was a child. For this reason when I went back to Italy this year, I decided to go back there for a visit.

My father wanted to come also as he was curious to see the new “Pista Ciclabile” as it has recently been built. Which is a bridge along the shore, built above the lake for bicycles and walks only.
It starts in this town Limone, but I am not sure where it ends. Specially because seems it is not finished yet and it will be longer than what it is right now.

It was in the beginning of February that we visited. Lucky as there aren’t too many tourists during this period cause it is too cold. On the other hand, unfortunately most of the town is closed. Shops, restaurants, market, etc.
It really depends when you prefer to visit places. In the summer time you will find everything open, rent bicycles and boats but be prepared for crowds.

The roads of the town are narrow. While walking across the town you will walk up and down big or little hills as of course it is built below mountains on the shore of the lake. Most of the houses are built in stones with colourful plants growing on them. While I was walking through these alleys and looking at the buildings, my thoughts went back to the past I imagined how this town was built and how people were living there.

Luckily for us while walking, we found a restaurant open, the Gemma restaurant. The service was really super friendly and the food was spectacular. We ordered spaghetti with seafood to share between the two of us. The portion was gigantic, served in a big ceramic tray. After this I ordered for my self, rabbit with white polenta. Yes, I love food and I love it more when is so amazingly tasty. We literally cleaned our plates. Even the waiter was impress.

Besides the nice food and the good service, there was another thing that was enjoyable. The view. The windows were a perfect frame for the lake and the mountains so I decided to take a photo and fortunately for me, two swans decided to pass by and get into the frame giving to the photo a more interesting look.

After dinner we decided to go and walk on the famous “ciclopista”.
Unfortunately we did not manage to walk all the way till the end as my father gets tired after a while, specially after all the foods we had eaten. I think for him it was time for a nap. In his seventieth year, who can blame him? He was really happy with this day and he enjoyed posing for some photos. The sun was setting while walking back, leaving us with wonderful colours and views of the shore and the mountains on the other side of the coast.

It was a magical place for me even if we didn’t spend a lot of time there. I will definitely go back to visit the famous buildings were the lemons grow and to spend more time taking photos and discover more about this little village.