Inspirational Stories

Before You Watch… A Small Setup

There isn’t much of a story here, at least not in the traditional sense. It’s mostly me leaving Milan, talking about an airport hotel that surprised me, wandering through a massive airport, complaining about a few things with a smirk on my face, and then finally landing back home… followed by what can only be described as excessive B-roll.

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The Long Way Back

Some trips don’t end when you leave a place. They end when you realize you’re trying to make excuses not to. This morning started quietly… laundry picked up with a handshake, church doors open before the town fully woke up, the smell of flowering bushes filling an entire patio without asking for attention. Salo, on the western shore of Lake Garda, doesn’t shout. It hums. And I wasn’t ready to turn the volume back up yet.

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Morning Light, Old Roads, and the Freedom to Choose the Long Way

Some mornings don’t need a destination. They just need a balcony, a lake, cool air, and enough quiet to remind you why you travel in the first place. Riva del Garda gave me exactly that. Perched at the northern edge of Lake Garda, this town feels like a pause button… a place where mountains loosen their grip and water takes over the conversation. The view from the balcony alone could have justified staying put all day. But curiosity always wins.

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Leaving the Mountains, Chasing the Lake

It wasn’t on my original plan. It just showed up on the map, slightly out of the way, and felt worth the risk. Turns out… it was. A beautiful alpine lake. A town bigger than expected, but not overwhelmed.
Tour buses arriving just as I was finishing lunch… perfect timing. It felt like one of those places that quietly earns a return visit. Summer hikes. Winter snow. Rowboats. Long lunches. I left thinking, I’ll be back.

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Working for the Shot – Photographing Northern Italy

I knew I was going to miss this view. That feeling settled in before I even packed the camera bag… the kind of quiet realization that only happens when a place has slowed you down just enough to make itself known. The plan was simple. One last morning. One last shot of the valley. The church. The mountains. That image. Saint Magdalena… or something close to that. I should probably know the name of the mountains too.

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Morning Light in Funes

Good morning from Funes, Italy…
at the base of the Dolomites. Or Dolomite. Or Dolomiti. I’ll figure that out eventually. The sun was just beginning to catch the jagged edges of the mountains across the valley when I started whispering into the camera. Partly because it was early… partly because other people were still sleeping… and partly because mornings like this don’t ask to be spoken over.

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Leaving Trento – Northern Italy, Part 1

Good morning from Trento, Italy.

Today was the kind of day that starts with excitement and uncertainty in equal measure. My first rental car in Italy. A new piece of gear I didn’t fully understand yet. And a head full of ideas that hadn’t quite decided what they wanted to be.

What you’re about to read is less a travel story and more a day spent thinking out loud.

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Traverse Events in Trento, Italy – A Life Long Journey of Learning

Somewhere between breakfast, church bells, and the sound of a city waking up, I realized something. I hadn’t really “vlogged” much at all today. Instead, I’d been learning, listening, and occasionally getting lost — which, in a place like this, isn’t the worst thing.

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Traverse Events in Trento, Italy

Traverse isn’t really a conference in the traditional sense. It’s more like a series of conversations … workshops, discussions, and shared experiences centered around travel, storytelling, photography, video, and what it means to build something creative in this space.

I’ll be honest with you, walking into a room full of people you don’t know can be uncomfortable. Especially when you assume most of them are younger, further along, or more confident than you are. What surprised me almost immediately was how many people I met who were closer to my age … people who had gone through career changes, life shifts, or personal reinventions of their own.

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