Live the same

With all the stories about alcohol, dogs, and rock ’n’ roll, it was easy to forget that I was still working as a photographer for a travel company. Between all the adventures, there was a routine — but a good kind of routine.

Life in the Dominican Republic, compared to my home country, felt like a pleasant state of relaxation: endlessly blue skies with gorgeous low-hanging clouds, the sound of the ocean, and fresh, clean air. I enjoyed that much more than life in a noisy metropolis. Even though a place like Bavaro didn’t offer many entertainment options — especially after living even in a small European city.

On the other hand, even finding a good beer, especially a dark one, in Bavaro turned into a real quest. Back home, it was just a quick trip to the nearest store. The local Dominican beer, to be honest, wasn’t great — haha! There was even a legend about one of the brands, “El Presidente”: supposedly, the recipe was a gift from Hitler to the former Dominican dictator Trujillo...

Back to the topic of working as a photographer, it always bothered me how people tend to want the same thing. I started hearing the phrase “We/I want it to be like this photo” literally every day, after only a month of work. Of course, it made it easier - when you have little time and you are working with complete strangers, it is not always possible to get a perfect result. But still, doing the same thing over and over again in this line of work seems like a kind of degradation))

And don’t get me wrong - it’s not only vacationers who want the same thing. I have worked in other countries, and I still heard “We/I want it to be like this”. Most of the time, the only difference was the location, and I essentially had to weigh the beauty or uniqueness of the place against the request “We/I want...”.

People rarely came with their own ideas or asked me to come up with something unique for them - and these shoots were always the most interesting.