Kirton 50th Wedding Anniversary; Wente Vineyard, California

Two weeks ago I attended a 50th anniversary party for the Kirton's in Livermore, California at the Wente Vineyard. The vineyard was beautiful and everything the restaurant did with food was equally as beautiful. Put that together with a lot of laughs and memories with old friends, and it was quite the event. To see more, check out my website.

Hamu, the accordion player.

Hamu, the accordion player is famous in Bosnia. There are stories of hearing his music and his wailing as he plays from blocks away all over Bosnia. There are accounts of his music being heard since he was just a young boy. He still is a young boy, which must only mean he's been at this since the day he could span his fingers across the keys. He will play for change, for cherries, or for nothing he will still sit on the streets and play.

8pm-10am

Next time I make Sarajevo my home, I plan on living between 8pm and 10am, that is when the city is the nicest.

A Contrast of Interiors

A restaurant and a shop, the first in Mostar the second in Sarajevo. Donor kebab is the only food served in this store, thus the picture of the only served menu item. The only difference is small, medium, or large; salad, tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and a yogurt sauce for variety. The shop is ran by a man would would talk to me for hours about the Soviet cameras for sale, piled in a basket along with trinkets from Tito's reign of former Yugoslavia.

The girl who feeds the cats

"I feed the cats because if I do not, no one else will."

-Ines, 7th grade, Sarajevo.

no. 4 [gypsies]

No. 4
The gypsies were in the garden again last night.

Mostar Mannequins

It took me nearly three weeks to leave Sarajevo and start exploring other parts of Bosnia. I got really attached really fast and had a hard time leaving. I finally got further than just 30 minutes outside of the city and went to Mostar, planning on staying for a week and travel to various other surrounding areas as well as Croatia and Slovenia. Having my bag packed for a week, I took off. Mostar is a split city. One side Muslim the other Catholic with only a bridge to connect the two sides. During the war the bridge was destroyed, fifteen years ago. It was not re-completed until just four years ago. Needless to say, the tensions between the two sides are strong. Walking around, I did not feel more comfortable on either side and after some really bad encounters with people there, my week long trip lasted 4 hours until I took the last bus out for Međugorje.
This mannequin is from a bridal shop in a store front on the Muslim side of Mostar. It really made me laugh at the time because even the mannequins were destroyed, missing fingers, and having disheveled hair. It was kind of how I felt after only spending four hours there. Nearly everyone else I talked to loved Mostar. Perhaps I just had a bad experience or since I didn't go with anyone else I was more in danger. Whatever it was that made me feel bad energy, I left feeling much like this mannequin looked.

Man under siege/the bridge.

Man in a suit, sitting on a slab of cardboard underneath the bridge I cross to get to Sarajevo from the suburb of Ilidža. He told me stories and stories as I sat by the river next to him, none of which I could understand due to a language barrier. I could not get his name because he could not hear me asking, he went deaf because of the bombs dropping during the war.

Store fronts and window shoppers

The them is tights, which seems to be the theme of many shops. Just about every shop displays a wonderful variety; however, when you go to purchase, check inside the box, many times a different (and more boring) variety and size is inside. It's tricky, but the amazing tights do exist in Bosnia.

no. 3 [fancy]

No. 3
My life and friendships have become a lot fancier, I have had to learn to eat shrimp and veal.

Carnival: Sarajevo.

Carnival for a reason I could not figure out, but it was fun nonetheless. My favorite was on one side of the swing ride was "Hotel Sarajevo" and on the other side was communist block housing. I found it interesting the juxtaposition of the carnival ride with each of those things.

Skee-ball Machines

Skee-ball machines, taken on my birthday 4 months ago from a roll of Holga film I had forgotten about.

no. 2 [wolves]

No. 2

The dogs howled all night in competition with the neighboring wolves.

Dog.

Stretching.

Streets and Taxis

No. 1
If you find the international art school, go to the top where the film program is located, continue on up some stairs, crawl through a window and turn a corner, this is what you will see: rows of cars down narrow streets of Austro-Hungarian architecture pocked with holes from war.

No. 2
They say if you are going to take a taxi in Sarajevo, that Sarajevo Taxi is the only trustworthy company in town. I found Samir i Emir as well as every other service to be just as good. It's like the conflict with Serbia and Croatia, there are good people and bad people everywhere, you cannot hate one whole group, just the bad people. Taxis are less serious, however.

Hip Hop Girls, Sarajevo

"We're into hip hop. There aren't many beautiful things here because we're used to it, once we are done with school we hope to leave this place. There are not many hip hop people here, everyone thinks we're crazy for it. We just love the style of everyone."
-Džemeta & Adma, fifteen years old.
Photo taken while they were taking pictures with a friend's camera phone in a park in Sarajevo.

Shaky Waterslides

This could be a scary movie.
But don't worry, it's just some waterslides. It's been a while since I posted some Holga work, mainly because I haven't shot with it for a while. But I do have two recent rolls to develop. These were taken back in March or April at Seven Peaks Water Park in Provo, Utah. They're a little shaky, I wanted them completely out of focus, but I liked the way they turned out being shaky. Holgas, thanks for making my life even more unpredictable.

Interiors and Exteriors of Butcher Shops, Bosnia

Interior: Sarajevo
Exterior: Zenica

no. 1 [The Miljacka River Decision]

No. 1.

While feet my were soaking in the Miljacka River, I realized that I could not extend my stay in Sarajevo.

Nautical Symbols: Split, Croatia

Images taken on a dock in Split, Croatia during a trip that happened by chance and seemed to work out better than planned.