2022

December 21, 2023

Another year has yet again come to an end. 

Between hotels, cities, nature and conceptual creations - that was my 2022. It started in Brazil, and it is ending again here. 

I still remember the feeling I felt when packing my things in the Brazilian summer at the end of January 2022 to travel back to where for the past 12 years, I had called home - Switzerland. It was the first time it somehow didn’t feel like going home. It felt strange. I felt out of place (for various reasons). 

The first few months weren’t easy. Jobs weren’t coming in, things weren’t flowing, and I had to improvise by the minute (where to stay, what to work on, where to focus my energy, etc.). But it was equally an opportunity to join the 1% for the Planet community and commit to sharing my work with nature.

Eventually, things started picking up some pace again. In June, I was invited to talk about Content Marketing as a guest lecturer at the Director of E-Commerce course offered by SHS Academy & Hotel & Gastro Union.

From May through August, I was booked entirely with hotels while in parallel also working on the project Art for Impact - Protect our Glaciers (using art to fundraise for Protect Our Winters Switzerland). This project gave me my energy back and gave back my purpose. 

By then, I was tired. I was tired of continuously moving, working alone, staying hours and hours in front of the computer, and not being able to follow a healthy routine. Luxury problems, yes. But my health (both mentally and physically) wasn’t keeping up. 

August was a transition period. Artistic projects while still working in the hotels and pursuing a completely different training - a first aid course and a week in France to become part of the guiding team at Butterfield & Robinson. An opportunity to try something out of my comfort - working with others and spending time outdoors while exploring another part of Europe.

September and October were dedicated to discovering the region of Alentejo in Portugal and learning how to become a guide (for luxury bike trips). It was a challenge in so many ways - mentally and physically. I thought about giving up several times. I wanted to click the eject button and asked myself why I was doing that. Towards the end, I understood. It was a steep learning curve, and everything new scares the sh** out of us, especially when it is an area we do not possess any type of expertise.

I was lucky enough to have a robust support system that had my back and motivated me to stay steady (friends, family and even the company's network).

Everything was new to me, the Portuguese culture, the guiding process, and even the biking itself. 

But by the end, the feeling of having overcome my fears, of staying even though I wanted to run, and soaking it all as learnings, changed me. It changed how I started seeing things and even myself. It enriched me with new perspectives that were until then unknown to me. 

The beauty of stepping out of the comfort zone. 

The trips finished with a guide gathering in Provence, France, which allowed me to dive into the company’s culture and inspire myself with its vision, the owners, employees, and the guides present. Being a nomad in this environment is not unusual. It was a gathering of unique personalities, each seeking the reality that best fits their dream—chasers of alternative lifestyles, travel lovers, and exceptional minds. 

Back in Switzerland, I had less than a month to still do some hotel work and other commission-based photoshoots, as well as host the second event of the Protect our Glaciers project (one that I was super proud of the results, with the fantastic collaboration of Protect Our Winters Switzerland, Impact Hub Zürich , Patagonia, Felix Keller, James Niederberger and other partners - each one supporting the project the way they could). Here you'll find a few impressions of how it went.

Not only was that happening, but it was also the period I had to empty my storage in Switzerland. 

Due to various reasons, I decided to clear the storage in Zürich, which I had been renting since 2020, with all my things, and buy a one-way ticket to Brazil. I knew what was going to happen until then, but not after. 

It was a call to have a break from the frantic lifestyle I was living. A handbrake to breathe again, give that step back, reflect and reconsider my reality. As I wrote in one of my last posts, it doesn’t mean I’ve left Switzerland for good. It’s a standby modus until I figure out the next steps. 

November and December, while in Brazil, have been mainly dedicated to focusing on quality time with family and finishing open projects, probing possible opportunities locally, and making plans for the year to come. One milestone in the last month of the year was my first participation in a joint exhibition (together with 11 other photographers) at the NXT Art Gallery in Sao Paulo. 

In sum, 2022 was a compilation of accomplishments, frustrations, epiphanies, growth, moments of desperation, development and learnings, all between cries and spurs of complete happiness. 

Life is not linear, and that’s one of my biggest learnings this year. Embracing the ups and downs is part of the process.

Below you'll find a retrospective from my photography lenses of this year that is coming to an end today. It is a summary of the work I’ve done. It wasn’t easy to choose which ones to include since there are so many - there would be enough material even to do a video for each month 😂

When doing this compilation, I became aware of how multifaceted photography can be and how this nomad life offers precisely that - a space to explore different worlds, different realities, and different perspectives. The camera gives a chance to share and tell stories through its lenses. They say pictures say more than words. I like to use both.

Under this link, you can see explore more results of the Hotel-related commissions.

I already have a few plans for 2023, but much is still up in the air. I’m excited to see what it has to bring 😏

With that note, I wish you a lovely year ahead, with loads of health to you and your dear ones, love and plenty of joyful moments, with those sincere laughs.

Another thing I wish for you and me is that we immerse ourselves more in the present moment, soak in all that life offers and jump into the opportunities that feel right to us. 

Life is too short not to live it fully 🚀