After a week spending on a olive growth relaxing and living at a beautiful place, I’m back in the city. I’ll be spending the next few weeks here in Auckland with my brother Elwin.
I’ve been working on my photography and specially my videography and it’s paying of! I’ll tell you why!
Let’s Talk
It was always a dream to come to New Zealand, to travel the world. A dream that most people have but for me there was more. More then 2 years ago I got into photography, I bought my camera not knowing what I want to do with it. I started shooting everything, I literally have photos of every week for the last 2 years. Some weeks I made photos everyday. Why I did that I’m not sure, I think I wanted to prove to myself and others that I can do something too. I never had a specific talent or something where I was really good at. Photography was just a hobby, something fun.
Now I feel photography is something more for me, it’s a way to show what I’m capable of, a way to show that I persisted, that I kept going to make something happen. This journey here in New Zealand is not only about traveling the world, it’s about exploiting my capabilities and getting to know myself. I want to prove that I can do something without giving up, that I don’t give up with the first failure. By now videography is a new passion, an other way to express myself and to grow in. A lot of this has to do with being inspired by others like I already wrote about in I got inspired!.
Traveling, photography, videography, adventuring, getting out there, etc. All these things I pushed myself to do, with falling and getting up again. Not always the easy way and it’s not always how I want it to go. Luckily I’m not always alone to do this, there is a lot of people who support me. A like or follow on Facebook, sharing my photos, leaving a nice comment. Showing me how things are done, doing things together, sharing the moment, Some literally show me what I have to do, tips and tricks to get better. This means a lot for me, I’m not doing this alone.
By now photography and videography got more than a hobby, a passion, a goal and not only a dream anymore. This is something where I can motivate myself for, where I can keep working for. I know there is still a long way to go but the last weeks and months I felt I got somewhere already, somewhere I couldn’t have ever thought about 2 years ago.
Because I kept believing in myself, kept pushes to reach the next goal.
You have to push yourself, there is not always somebody to hold your hand. It’s you that has to do it and nobody else, you only get as far as you want to get. Aim high and don’t stop until you reached your next goal.
I know everybody has different interests, goals and capabilities, so for the one person reaching something is a starter for someone else. It’s good to look up to people who got further, reached higher goals then you did, but you are not that person. You can try to be like that person or behave like someone but it is still you who has to do the work.
People say it’s not possible to do this or that, it’s to hard, choose something what everybody does. Take the safe way. It never worked for me like that, I’m a stubborn boy with a dream not going to give up that easy. This is who I am now.
I left Belgium about 7 months ago, not knowing what I was going to do there, I had no plan what so ever. It’s the biggest and one of my best decisions in my life and I don’t regret it at all!
I could live here
So what I did for a week: I worked for food and accomodation on a olive growth, Neudorf Olives. For a few hours work a day I didn’t have to spend any money for a whole week. Susan, Jonathan and Ursula where the nicest people! I wasn’t short of anything.
A day at the farm
Most of the times I got up around 9 am, made my coffee ate breakfast and played some games of Tick-Tack-Tow with Susan. Tick-Tack-Tow is 3D four in a row, a fun brain teaser. After we finished that around 10 am I did some shores depending on the weather. In good weather I did some woodcutting, removed bushes, painted the house, took pictures for them, … In bad weather I cleaned the house, bottled oil, …
In the afternoon I would go for a swim in their giant swimming pond with ropeswing, zipline and deck with a pizza oven and fire place. I made a video about it, Watch here.
I made a lot of pictures and footage so I did a lot of editing. I made that water fun video and also a road trip video of the last 6 weeks on the road and in Queenstown. It took me 3 days to finish that video, Watch here.
Half the week the weather wasn’t great so I had to stay inside, what lead to starting to watch The Flash, the tv show.
It was really nice to relax for a week, not have to worry about money, making food, being an adult. They took really good care of me. Thank you so much!
For the first time in my life I drove a quadbike, so much fun! Susan I have to make a confession: I drove 70 km/h…
If you want to see more pictures of the Olive growth go to my photography Facebook page: Click here.
Go check out Neudorf Olives Website and Facebook.
Thanks again Susan, Jonathan and Ursula!
What now?
Now I’m sitting in my brothers apartment looking for new opportunities. It’s rainy now, the last few days when the weather was better I went out to try new stuff. For the first time I made hyper lapses, these are moving time lapses. Hopefully soon there will be a video of Auckland hyper and time lapsed.
Something really stupid happened, I deleted 20 Gb of photos and footage of Auckland…
Elwin and I supposed to go on this road trip this weekend but Cyclone Cook is going to ruin that apparently. Biggest cyclone in 50 years here in NZ, the place where we wanted to go, The Coromandel is already flooded. Maybe will go somewhere for a day or something, I’ve been sitting here inside for to long now.
I still have to apply for the jobs at the ski fields, something I postponed… I’ll do it now. It’s not going to be easy to find a job and place to stay I like in Queenstown or Wanaka. A lot of people have the same ideas as me. Wish me luck!
Opportunities
Because I took pictures for Neudorf Olives they want to use it for their website and Facebook. That means a lot for me. That’s the third company that uses my pictures, what is good for my CV.
Also Tobias and Sander (aka RP Bastards) want me to make a video for their self produced song ‘Second Day Of Spring’. Coming out soon.
One opportunity already came up, just an opportunity for now. Elwin he works in real estate and he proposed to take pictures and make videos of apartments. It’s not the kind of photography and videography I’m in for but it’s a way to earn money in the field I like.
I hoped you enjoyed reading what I’m doing here in NZ. When I’m writing things it play in my head how it went and I’m trying to put it in words. Lately I’m trying to make a note when I think about something.
Send me any message if you want to know more, there is so much more that I didn’t tell in the blog. I’m ready to tell you everyhing in detail!
If you want to follow what I’m doing each day go to my Instagram for my daily story.
The rest of the pictures of this adventure you can see on my Facebook page.
If you liked what you are reading give it a like or a comment, I really appreciate it! You can always let me know what you think in a message to me.
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