How it started / how it's going, the sailing version (AKA sailing on a snail track):

Weather forecast was ideal, but after a first part with almost no wind, it suddenly started to get much stronger than expected. We thought we would get closer to the coast to stay sheltered, but the genoa roller came loose and we had to fall back on a sheltered port much closer by. This is the second time the roller has caused problems that could have been pretty serious without a really responsive crew (thank you!!). We managed to pull it in by hand, soaked by the rising swell, and to push it into the bow cabin through the porthole.

Hopefully the next attempt will be the good one!

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Probably one of my favorite pictures, turned out super noisy, grainy. If I had some post-punk band I'd make this the album cover lol

Location: Tokyo, Japan, 2015

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A small story from my first time in the Chernobyl exclusion zone in spring 2019. Walking along a forest trail and realizing it was not what it seemed.

https://al3f.com/articles/forest-buried-by-man.html

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Brno has some rad trams! Europe is really making me fall in love with trams.

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It met YD through a group of friends. I didn’t really know who he was, maybe my friends told me and it went over my head. We’d gone out one night, and he happened to just be there as part of the group. I found out later he was the drummer for The Kiddie, a Visual Kei J-rock band with a seriously devoted fanbase.

YD invited me to The Kiddie's final concert at Zepp Tokyo. It was the first concert I’d ever been to in my life, and somehow, I was there as a guest of the band I’d only just heard of.

The show was incredible. I sat in the VIP area watching thousands of fans, many shouting “It is not enough” in Japanese, some openly crying. I was witnessing something that clearly meant the world to everyone around me come to an end. It felt like stumbling into the season finale of a show you’d never seen before.

YD started inviting me to make YouTube videos with the ex-members of The Kiddie. Before I knew it, they were people I saw pretty regularly. Yusa, Yousay, and YD had formed a new band called GUTS AND DEATH, and I got to watch it take shape behind the scenes. Attend concerts, film videos, they were often inviting me out and paying for my food.

I always felt out of place, and I don’t mean in the “i was a foreigner in japan” kind of way. I didn’t make music. I wasn’t in the industry. I had no reason to be there.

I really struggle to put into words just how strange and lucky it all felt. Sometimes I wonder if they ever noticed how much that meant to me.

Location: Tokyo, Japan, 2015

https://youtu.be/53uI50mfI4U

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I may not actually be silent today, but...
here is an old one.
Not the prettiest shot, but even an amateur can capture incredible things.
old lava flow, Hawaii (big island), 2005.

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