FIFTY: A MAN, A PHOTOGRAPHER, A REBEL

I turn fifty today

Half a century of mistakes, triumphs, bruises, obsessions, and reinventions. A road paved with fuck-ups and revelations, where every scar has a story and every story is worth telling. I never played it safe. I never followed the herd. And I sure as hell never asked for permission.

Photography has been my battlefield and my sanctuary. It taught me patience and impatience, how to wait for the perfect shot but never wait for life to happen. It’s all about timing: one second too early or too late and you miss everything, and that I applied also to my life with decisions that maybe exposed to problems but with the awareness I gained also good things. And here’s the thing: at fifty, I still shoot with the same hunger, but with sharper instincts. The world doesn’t get easier to photograph, but I get better at cutting through its bullshit.

I’ve spent years capturing stories through a lens, and now I’m writing a book. And this time, it’s not about photography. It’s about life and a mystery, that continues to charm me.

So what’s next? More rebellion, against the system(s). More creating on my own terms. More chasing down the stories that need to be told. And no, I don’t give a damn about approval. I am a street photographer, essentially, but this doesn’t mean I constrain my creativity in the fences of a photography genre.

To those who’ve followed my work, who’ve found something in my words or my images: THANK YOU. The journey isn’t over. In fact, I think it’s just getting started.

OK, way too self-referential here. I would just say thank you to those souls that feel connected in some way with me and my vision.