Italy and photography
It was 2017 when I made the decision, I was going to travel the world.
I was in Italy. Traveling Venice, Florence, and Dolomites. Oh, the Dolomites, the amazing mountains.
I was over the moon because of excitement. Italy was basically a heaven for photographers.
Making photography the center of your life and travel… Good but how? How to afford it?
After I came back to Turkey I tried to find some clients who would -in my mind- require architectural photography services. Soon I found out that the market wasn’t ready for that kind of photography in Turkey yet. Maybe it still isn’t. (That’s a completely different story by itself.)
Becoming location independent
The only way was to become a digital nomad, by building a location independent business, selling online services and info products and travel.
Speaking of online services, I just published an ad for a client while having one of the best tiramisus I had in my life.
Let me -jumping on the bandwagon- throw a laptop lifestyle image here.
Matryoshka dolls
Back to the matter. Sell online services, info products and travel and do photography. That was the plan.
I started with learning how to rank on YouTube. Everything was fine. I was just starting to make videos.
Soon I realized that ranking on YouTube was a branch of digital marketing. I started studying digital marketing.
Then, I realized that it was a branch of marketing. Started studying that.
Then I realized that it was a branch of entrepreneurship. And I started studying that.
It was like matryoshka dolls. One topic leading to the other…
I spent the last 3-4 years learning these things which were essential in my opinion.
Entrepreneurship
Football players earn massive amounts of money. But some of them go bankrupt in a few years after their career is over. Same thing with lottery winners.
I saw a few months back that Mike Tyson spent his last million dollars on rehab. Last one million of the 500 million he earned during his career. And it was gone.
On the other hand, there are people who consistently start from zero and are able to build massive income.
There is something the latter know that the former don’t.
Well, it turns out that the secret was entrepreneurship which was mostly about mindset like all things in human life.
The topics I learned and the platforms and processes I built for my own digital assets turned into a boutique digital agency in these 3-4 years which was an unexpected outcome of the rabbit hole I dived in. (This is also another story).
Back to photography
I was away from photography all these years. I took so few photographs and I missed it.
This year, 2023 marks the tenth anniversary of my photography journey. I started in May 2013 to learn just a little Photoshop which changed my life completely. (Another story).
I am back to photography after a long time and I’m so happy.
Back to where I was.
This summer was also full of photography trips.
First I stayed in Istanbul for 25 days with the sole purpose of taking photographs.
Then I went to Cappadocia and stayed there for ten days, fully committed to photography.
That was some stretching for my photography muscles.
Unknown benefit of photography
I lost 8 kilos in Istanbul, walking at least 5-6 hours a day carrying a bagful of photography equipment on my back.
That’s another benefit of being a photographer. I can see the fragments of the marketing copy already. 😛
“No need for challenging diets or workouts. Do photography and lose weight. Join my secret weight loss program.”
In December I will be going to another of my most beloved places. But I’m not going to reveal it here in this post.
The travel log of the day
Akhisar
Egea
This place is called Egea. It’s in Akhisar and one of the best places to give a break, have a meal. Desserts are excellent. It’s been a family business for more than 70 years and they know their stuff. I highly recommend it if you are especially traveling between İstanbul and İzmir.
There is also an old olive oil machinery museum inside the same building.
I’m currently writing this post in Egea.
Roka Yemek Evi
In short, today I went to Akhisar, the neighboring city. I’m not sure if it counts as a travel log but I’ll write anyway. Let’s say it’s a digital nomad journal entry.
In the morning I went to a restaurant called Roka Yemek Evi based on advice. I had a chicken soup and it was delicious. Good thing I took the advice and went there.
Köfteci Ramiz
Akhisar is a lovely city in the Manisa province of Turkey. I went to high school here and have quite a lot of memories.
We used to go to Ramiz, a meatball restaurant, for lunch. Almost every single day during the afternoon break.
It is a big chain with lots of franchise restaurants now.
But this is the place they started off and served many long years.
Step by step. That’s how you go where you want to go.
I’m not quite there yet, in terms of being a digital nomad. But I’m close.
Beauties
I snagged this on the way.
Loving all the beauties.
September 14th, 2023