A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

   

Voskopoja

Monastery at Apollonia

I love pictures. Whether taking them myself and sharing them with others or viewing photographs taken by friends, for me a picture truly does say a thousand words. My photography skills aren't great but they are improving. Regardless of the quality of pictures I take I make a point to document our adventures through photographs where ever we go.  More often than not I have a camera ready whenever we are in the car. After all, some of the best shots are those that appear when you least expect it. Posted on Facebook they provide friends and family with glimpses of our Albanian life. Words often cannot describe our experiences but pictures can.  I've lost track of the number of times someone tells me I can't really be describing some place or some event but once I show them the picture they can see for themselves exactly what I am talking about.

My pictures fall into two categories; those with people and those with only scenery.  We've made a point of taking a family picture on each and every one of our trips. From Dubrovnik to Istanbul, Copenhagen to Prague, all of our travels are documented with an iconic city skyline as a back drop.  While I post these pictures on Facebook we've gone one step further and printed and framed a single picture from each trip.  These pictures line our stairwell and as a result inspire conversations when friends visit.  The waterfall 

A river runs through Thethi

backdrop?  That was taken during a family trip to Thethi last June.  The one where we are wind blown, squinting through snow squalls, and wrapped up in so many layers? The top of the Zugspitze this past winter. Looking at the pictures brings back fond memories of our travels and serves as a daily reminder of the amazing opportunities we have had while living overseas.  (They also remind me of how much Sidney has grown. Whereas he was a little baby when we arrived, as is evidenced by our most recent picture, he is now a toddler).  And much to my delight, these pictures also provide hours of story telling for Sidney.  He loves to point out the pictures and talk about what he remembers from each trip. Whether or not he actually remembers the location doesn't matter. He knows that Mamma, Daddy and Sidney were there together.  I do suspect he does remember snippets of certain trips. Our Rome picture inspires talk of water fountains while the picture from Budapest has him talking about all of the trains we road with my friend Miss Pam.  If I ever had any doubt as to why I do it, this is why I take so many pictures.

Cape Rodon

The second category of photographs are scenic shots capturing the places we have visited.  Whenever possible I omit people from these pictures and focus on the natural, or perhaps man made, beauty of the world around us.  I first did this during a trip to Italy with my mom.  Three of those scenes are now framed and on display in our public reception area.  The majority of my current scenic pictures were taken in Albania.  From Rozafa Castle in the northern Albanian city of Shkoder and the UNESCO designated city of Berat in the south, to a monastery in Apollonia, the churches of Voskopoja, and the iconic aerial view of Cape Rodon, I have captured aspects of all of our visits.  I've taken the best of these pictures, enlarged them and had them printed on canvas.  These pictures are now on display in our reception space along side my Italian prints.  Whereas the Italian pictures cover a small portion of one wall,

UNESCO houses in Berat

an entire other wall is filled with our Albanian adventures.  These pictures are quite impressive if I must say so myself. More importantly, they show our guests, especially our Albanian ones, that we are getting out, visiting, and appreciating their country.  It doesn't matter what the event is, there is always one guest who happens to be from the village, city, or area we visited and they love to talk about their birthplace and find out what we liked the best about our visit.  Sure these pictures could serve as conversation starters during slow moving dinners but more importantly, they capture a part of this country that we have visited and enjoyed.  By displaying a picture we are letting people know that we value that little piece of Albania and that simple picture says more than all of the words in the world ever could.