Project Z

livin' cool all around the world original photography by z

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Tony

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Walk the city. 

Sarajevo, Bosnia

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Aboard a loud, hot, slow, thus uncomfortable train, with no internet connection, I had the privilege of talking with actual people. Untethered from the luxuries of the world, actual people to people relationships were fostered. Perhaps it was because it was so unbearable that we relied on human entertainment to alleviate ourselves. Regardless, the train ride to Mostar from Sarajevo, Bosnia was a fruitful 3 hours filled with dialogue, laughter, and understanding, thus liveliness. 

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Serene would be almost the right word to call it. The feeling when you are soothed by all that warmth you feel around you. Characterizing a city based on only a few days is never possible especially when I'm only a visitor to it. To understand a city you have to live it. You have to dive deeper into conversations and form bonds with the people that inhabit it. You have to develop love and hate relationships with landlords, you have to haggle with local restrictions that you abhor but need. You have to live the city. 

However, there are some cities that have so much splendor, that provide too much love, that ultimately end up spreading its charm to its inhabitants and its visitors. That city was Sarajevo. A city full of love, and charm that upon stepping foot into it, you didn't necessarily have to "live" the city, because you just felt it.

Sarajevo, not only a city, but a place where people live.

Sarajevo, Bosina

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Sometimes a photo can be a delightful surprise. What had been a test shot produced a nice shot of lights and lights and lights. 

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The beauty of the sunset triggered me to wonder to myself, why me? and pondered the reason for my existence. So burdened with all of my egotistical desires to set free, to become different and let my name be known to the world, I had the hardest time to come to terms with, why am I so lucky? The more I tried thinking, the fuzzier all the answers became. There was no answer to being lucky. The existence of luck itself cannot be told as something that has a reason. It exists as luck. You have luck because you are lucky.  I still haven’t the slightest idea why I’m lucky. I just know that I am a darn lucky person.  The more important question was not why was I lucky, but what to do with the luck. It seemed unfair that I deserve the luck. I didn’t think that I deserved it. There are plenty of other people that can benefit more with this. I felt very humbled and thankful. 

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What started out as guilt, that I was the only one enjoying such beauty led me thinking, but why me? What good have I done to have been brought all the way here? I began thinking of the thousands of people that have helped to bring me to this wonderful destination. Even with just the money that I earned, I would have needed the encouragement from my family, the support from my friends, and generous guidance from all the strangers and everyone around me.

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Feeling the pebbles beneath my feet, splashed with the salty wind blown over from the Atlantic ocean, looking out into the deep unknown waters, and blanketed with a cool warmth from the golden glowing sun, all I could think of was “Why me? Why do I deserve this? All this beauty that I am experiencing right now, what have I done right to be able to be here?”

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A stroll down the park with mommy.  Spotted in Belgrade, Serbia

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Inside one of many bunkers in Belgrade, Serbia, tourists experience a trace of former Yugoslavia. 

#Serbia

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This is the beauty of #Seoul #Korea A little chaotic, a bit dark, with just the right light making things shine.

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#Jeju Rainy day

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#Jeju

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Harbor. #Jeju #Korea

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#Jeju #Korea #Aquablue

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Deep.