After five weeks on the Big Island of Hawaii, it was time to say goodbye. Before flying all the way to South Korea, though, I squeezed in a few days on Oahu, another Hawaiian island, since my flight connection went through Honolulu anyways. I was quite active during these 5 days: went all the way up to the North Shore, took the bus that goes along the coast around half the island to get back to Honolulu. I walked up Diamond Head, went swimming on Waikiki Beach, explored downtown Honolulu and some less touristy spots than Waikiki, and had coffee at pretty much every specialty coffee shop in town.

Last October, I went on a five-week trip to Hawaii to visit my uncle and his wife, who moved there a few years ago and started a farm. Besides growing all sorts of delicious fruits and vegetables, they grow coffee, which was the primary reason for my visit. I made a few short videos about coffee processing and about their farm and a website for their coffee business. What’s more, I got to experience the whole process from tree to cup and learned a whole lot about the wonderful plant. They live in Kailua-Kona, on the west side of Hawaii’s Big Island.

Just like that, the new year has begun. Reason enough to look back on some of 2016’s highlights. A lot of travels, a lot of work, a very busy year. Yet, it was filled with great moments and produced good memories. So many things have happened and changed in my life and around it.

In September, Seraina and I went to New York City. It was my first trip there in a while and the first ever trip for Seraina, so I was super excited to take her to all the beautiful places and show her everything I love about this city. Or at least as much as we could fit in two weeks, which was quite a bit. And of course, we had to go and see Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge, Lady Liberty and all the other famous sights as well.

Back in August, my parents were kind enough to let me use their car for a few days so Seraina and I went on a 3-day trip to Italy, visiting four cities and one friend. First stop was the not so touristy but very beautiful city of Bologna, where we found a nice little room right next to the city center. The next day, we had lunch in Florence, before driving on to Siena to visit our dear friend Manuel at his parents’ wonderful country house. This place was magical.

I hadn’t been to New York City since September 2014. This September – two years later – I finally got to go back. Seraina and I bought a super cheap ticket and booked us a nice and cozy Airbnb in Bed-Stuy.
Luckily, we were able to schedule our trip so I could attend NYCWLK 2.0, a photo walk initiated by Johnny and Rebecca Patience. I didn’t attended the walk the previous year, neither have I been to LNDNWLK, so I didn’t really know what to expect. In addition to the walk, they offered a black & white photography and darkroom printing workshop, which I signed up for.

Buy prints from this post. Just a few days after I got back from Lisbon, I went to Paris with Seraina. Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, Le Marais… We did do a little bit of sightseeing, but our main focus was on exploring the city’s excellent and diverse food and coffee scene as well as just relaxing and taking a break. It would be my last time to shoot the Hasselblad for a few months. After we got back, I soon started to work on my web documentary series, which has pretty much taken up all my time. More about this soon.

Even though it’s such a wonderful camera, I haven’t used my Hasselblad more than a couple of times this year, what with all the old stuff I wanted to organize and post. I needed a break. I did shoot a few frames when I was in Lisbon, Portugal, in late January though. I’ll show you the ones that I like.
Lisbon is such a beautiful city. The last (and first) time I visited, I think I only stayed for two days.

Here’s some more in black and white. Those days in Copenhagen marked the end of almost half a year in the North. Good times. I’d really like to go back (over and over again) to see a lot more, discover new places, and visit the ones I miss. Copenhagen was the perfect last stop to slowly end this time.

Second and last stop in Norway was Bergen, where I fell in love with the old houses that are spread around the city in small groups. Unfortunately, most of the city is different nowadays and the traditional parts are almost gone. Some of the nicest old areas are «Knøsesmauet», «Byggen» (tourist hotspot) and the area at the foot of the hill «Fløyen», near the funicular. I went up the hill too to enjoy the views. Instead of taking the funi, though, I chose to walk up, only takes about 45 minutes and is well worth it.