I don’t quite have the words, yet, to describe my time in Spain. The three weeks went both slower and faster than I expected and ended too quickly. Although if you ask my kids, they wanted to go home two weeks ago. For me, the experience has yet to completely sink in. The jetlag is clouding my thoughts and feelings, and although my body is physically in Washington again, my mind and my heart are still there, staring at the Barcelona skyline.
What I know for sure is that with each new place I visit, I am changed. With the passing of this trip, I am changed. I set out to create content that would help others decide how to pack, things to do with the kids, where to eat great food, etc. I planned to have Ben make epic iphone videos of me shooting gorgeous landscapes and had visions of “Travel Israel” commercials in my head. The concepts I was coming up with had all been done before. They were cheap knock-offs of other people’s marketing materials all because I wanted so badly for my profile to gain views and followers. The means to the ending where my photography is seen and where I can acheive my goals. Except. Once I was on this trip, roaming around the alleys of Barcelona, standing on the edge of waves that could overtake you in one split second, once I’d taken a step away from my social media accounts, I realized that the kind of content I was planning to make wasn’t the kind I wanted to make.
Everyone has their own voice, and I was being lured into the idea that I shouldn’t use mine or my content will never make it out into the world. So I chose to make content that speaks to me. And hopefully I was able to achieve that. And now that I’m sitting here, trying to write about my time in Spain, I need to explain a few things. There are a lot of people on social media telling you where to buy packing cubes and how to find the tastiest restaurants and when to book your ticket so you can get good seats. And that’s great. I use those blogs all the time. They are amazing resources. But this isn’t one of them. I’ll gladly give my opinion if asked directly, and I may even point you to one of my favorite influencers so you can read more.
But what I want for this blog is for you to read about how I felt when I was standing against those waves. I want you to envision the places I’ve been or the feelings I’ve felt, and I want to describe them in such a way that you crave to see it all for yourself. The work that inspires me always, the place I keep coming back to is the place of observation. That’s what I am. That’s what I am as a photographer and a writer and a storyteller in general. I’m an observer making my own comentary about the world.
I’ll keep my observations for a day when I’m not blundering through my words, when I can think and remember and feel my heart lurch at specific moments. I believe those descriptions are just as important as the packing lists. And I hope you do too.