"Stop minimizing and discounting your feelings. You have every right to feel the way you do. Your feelings may not always be logical, but they are always valid. Because if you feel something, then you feel it and it’s real to you. It’s not something you can ignore or wish away. It’s there, gnawing at you, tugging at your core, and in order to find peace, you have to give yourself permission to feel whatever it is you feel. You have to let go of what you’ve been told you “should” or “shouldn’t” feel. You have to drown out the voices of people who try to shame you into silence. You have to listen to the sound of your own breathing and honor the truth inside you. Because despite what you may believe, you don’t need anyone’s validation or approval to feel what you feel. Your feelings are inherently right and true. They’re important and they matter — you matter — and it is more than okay to feel what you feel. Don’t let anyone, including yourself, convince you otherwise." —Daniell Koepke 

Model: Sonia Lawicka

1) I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost… I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes me a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in. It’s a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault. I get out immediately.

4) I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

5) I walk down another street.

 

Is "ready" just an illusion?

Oulu, Finland

I've started to miss Amsterdam already.

A while ago, I was ready to leave right away. I wasn't happy. I was bored and sick and tired of this lovely, vibrant, colourful city without a reason. Now when I know moving is ahead more or less in six months, I've started to live here like I did when I first moved here.

I've wondered around the canals and drank too many fancy beers. I've danced a lot, danced until the morning. I've met so many lovely people from all over the world.. I already miss my colleagues, everyone of them. I already miss my job that I always hate and love at the same time. I've started to miss the smell of joints when you pass a coffeeshop and the cutest street cat we named Cuba and my favourite cafes and restaurants and... I've started to live here again knowing that soon it will be over.

Oh, Dam..

Sorrento, Italy

"I stopped explaining myself when I realized people only understand from their level of perception."

Malaga, Spain, 2008

"there is two
types of tired,
I suppose one is a dire need of sleep
the other is a dire need of peace."
—Mandeq Ahmed

Porto, Portugal

South France/Monaco, 2008

"No, je ne regrette rien.."

Brussels, Belgium

Utrecht, The Netherlands

"Now, though, I am convinced that no one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it."

-Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes.

Utrecht, The Netherlands

AMSTERDAM NDSM, FEB 2015

MODEL: SONIA LAWICKA

Stockholm/Helsinki