DAY 1
I’ve been in Dubrovnik, Croatia since Monday afternoon, having traveled hours after shooting Emily and Kevin’s wedding on Saturday. When I arrived at 12pm on Monday, the workshop had already started and I slept about 3 hours on the 17 hour journey. My suitcase did not arrive when I did, however I carried my camera equipment onto the plane so at least I could shoot during the workshop. Monday was rough, really rough. When the workshop ended around 8pm I had to go find a store to get contact lens solution, a toothbrush, and deodorant. Around 10pm I finally got back to my hotel room and went to sleep. Today I slept in until 8:30 am and woke up feeling very refreshed. I had breakfast, several coffees and headed back to the Excelsior Hotel to the workshop. Today was a great day of shooting and my suitcase finally arrived so tomorrow I will smell all fresh and rosy.
DAY 3
We wrapped up the final day of David Beckstead and Gordon Jovic’s “Renaissance Workshop” today by taking a trip to Korcula, where supposedly Marco Polo is from (which is weird because I didn’t even see a swimming pool there). I overslept and woke up 45 minutes before we were to meet the bus, so I quickly rushed out of my hotel, caught a taxi, and made it to the Excelsior Hotel with a couple minutes to spare (long enough for me to drink a very good caffe latte). The bus ride was about 90 minutes – 2 hours, following which we boarded a ferry for a 30 minute boat ride into Korcula. The light was amazing and because we only had 6 photographers and 2 models, we were able to shoot pretty much the whole time. At 6 pm we took the ferry back to meet the bus for the 2 hour ride home. I pretty much slept the whole way home.
FINAL DAY
My last day in Croatia was spent walking along the fortress walls with Ivan, a fellow workshop attendee from Zagreb. It took about 2 hours to walk the entire perimeter of the wall. Pretty much every turn gave us a new, amazing view of Dubrovnik. It was pretty hot so by the end I needed to drink about a gallon of water. I took the bus back to my hotel to change so I could meet up with Ivan and another friend Iztok, from Slovenia. We met up at the beach near the Excelsior Hotel (where our workshop was located). Swimming in the Adriatic is an amazing experience. As I was floating on my back looking at the mountain, the red-roofed buildings, and feeling the warm Croatian sun, I couldn’t help but feel immensely thankful to be able to have a job doing something that I love so deeply…being able to meet amazing people, and share in such incredible, emotional experiences. I lay in the sun, listening to Lower Dens (likely the best music around), and I just soaked in the experience (pardon the pun). While walking back to the bus stop, I walked past actor Peter Dinklage … I wonder if he’s here to film a movie. I’ve seen movie sets and equipment set up around Dubrovnik during my trip here.
This was my third trip to Europe this year (having never traveled here in my 38 years)…I guess I am just trying to express how thankful I am for the amazing people in my life who allow me to have such incredible experiences. I truly want to bounce my gratitude back to every couple that I meet!
