Personal Work

This body of work is a visual diary of places visited and experiences lived, shaped by curiosity, solitude, joy, and the occasional longing to stand still. Each photograph is less about perfection and more about presence—an invitation to see travel not as a checklist, but as a series of moments that stay with you long after you’ve returned home.

Paris

I always thought I had a unique library of art/photography books until I found this bookstore in the heart of Paris.

Comptoir de l’Image. A small bookstore that was located on Rue de Sévigné (an empty street parallel to the busy Rue de Turenne), this bookstore was tiny but filled to the brim with rare fashion, music and art publications – all courtesy of just one old gentlemen, whose knowledge of culture reigned supreme. It has sadly permanently closed.

Père Lachaise Cemetery opened in 1804, at a time when Paris was trying to move burial grounds out of the crowded city center for public-health reasons. Located in what was then the eastern outskirts of Paris, it was named after François de La Chaise, a Jesuit priest and confessor to Louis XIV who once lived on the land.

At first, Parisians didn’t want to be buried there—it was considered too far from the city and unfashionable. To boost its appeal, officials reinterred famous figures such as Jean de La Fontaine and Molière, which worked. Soon, Père Lachaise became the cemetery to choose if you wanted to be remembered.

Over the 19th century, it expanded into the large, landscaped burial ground it is today, laid out more like an English garden than a traditional graveyard. It now holds more than 70,000 tombs and is one of the most visited cemeteries in the world, known as much for its art, architecture, and history as for the famous names buried there.

Of personal interest was the grave of rock star, Jim Morrison, which I had visited not long after his death. On this trip, I couldn’t help but notice the tomb of the Didot Family, and in fact, Firmin Didot. As someone who studied typography all my life, this was a find—the man who created  the fashion font, Didot, and the signage on the tomb? Didot, of course.

Taiwan

You can eat breakfast in Taipei, hike 3,000-meter alpine peaks by lunch, and be swimming in the ocean before sunset. Taiwan has 268 mountains over 3,000 meters—more than Switzerland, on a much smaller landmass.

Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage (2019) and has one of the region’s largest Pride celebrations. It’s notably progressive in media, arts, and civil society.

When China restricted Taiwanese pineapple imports, locals responded by buying more pineapples than ever, turning fruit into a symbol of civic pride. Only in Taiwan.

Italy

ah, Italy. A country visited many times as the experience is never the same and it seems to perpetually call back for more. So much to see: Rome, Tuscany, Hilltop towns, Venice, Naples, the Coast.

Egypt

ah, Italy. A country visited many times as the experience is never the same and it seems to perpetually call back for more. So much to see: Rome, Tuscany, Hilltop towns, Venice, Naples, the Coast.