2019 Beginnings

The beginning of 2019 was already scheduled for me. The first expedition to Paruima in the Upper-Mazaruni was already scheduled - a nine day trip that would be my first venture into the region.

I had learned a long time ago that for there to be great rewards, there needed to be great risks involved. If we don’t challenge ourselves to venture into the unknown, into what we fear, we will never truly know our true potential. This was one such venture, and it didn’t fail to test my mental and physical resilience. Photos allow me now to reflect and also realise that it wasn’t all a dream - Paruima has one of those dreamlike landscapes. The whole experience is something that can’t be imagined, and fortunately all my experience in photography and exploring allowed me to capture some images that I’m very satisfied with. There were immense challenges, but I made do with what I had to create memories exactly as I wanted. There were many opportunities to capture more landscape, wildlife, and culture, but being a first time venture, I’d say I wasn’t fully prepared. More could have been done - hopefully another trip to the region will yield even greater results.

Upon returning to Georgetown, I got down to editing and found that my taste in edits had changed a bit to a less saturated, higher contrast look that I believe brings out a bit of my personality while at the same time creating an evocative look.

I believe that how we begin the year is a good guideline as to how it will continue - if that’s the case, this will be an awesome year for exploration, adventure, and photography.