2023. Year in review

I usually write a post like this much closer to the end of the year, but now I've decided to release it a little earlier. It's vacation, there's time to think and write all my summaries in peace. Especially since France is celebrating Christmas right now, and everything around us has been reminding us that 2024 is just around the corner. This time I'm going to depart from the usual theme of writing by month, for then half the year would be taken up with "I worked, then worked again, and then worked again." It'll probably get boring around line 15, I'm not even sure

Okay, here we go!

Major fuck-up of the year

It was bound to happen, and I've written about it before - I was laid off at work. It happens. Again, I will omit details, details and in general everything that I think about it, because in the first place I have already written, and in the second why?

Major win of the year

The top prize of the year goes, suddenly, to the French language and France in general. With all that has happened to me this year, I can't help but note two things that played a leading role in the past year. Being laid off allowed me to get language courses from the government, and yay, I finally spoke French. I consider this a victory of the year without any exaggeration. I am immensely grateful to my French teacher, with whom we have been practicing for over a year now, maybe even two. To the school where I was sent, to every teacher and in general to all those who helped me learn the language

Thank you, thank you all

The second thing I can't thank you for, but nevertheless I can't fail to mention it. France. A country that is becoming a little bit more of a second home every day. A country that in my second year of living here provided me with support, without discounting anything, neither the fact that I am new here, nor my belonging. It's cool.

Journey of the Year

Portugal, Italy and France, each individually memorable.
Portugal with its wind and the city of Faro, which I managed to call the city of storks (and by the way, I never posted a single photo from there, not counting the Telegram channel, which I run in Russian). Italy, and storm-tossed Milan, a concert, a train and a check of documents at the border. And France, with again, storm-torn Saint-Malo, and Mont Saint-Michel, which I've already written about on the site. Suddenly, we are tired of traveling, and are concentrating more and more on either being home more often, or going somewhere no further than a few hours by train

Overall results and plans

Overall, I can't say this year was bad. At least (no offense here), it was better than 2022. Some things worked out, some things didn't as usual, some things fucked up, some things turned out better than I expected. For the most part, there are more positives than negatives. I started to walk more, I started to take more pictures. I see progress in my language every day. Yes, I still haven't found a new job, but my decision was to stop actively looking for one and focus on my studies as more important at the moment

Speaking of photography, I've grown a lot over the past year and am now more focused on, for example, shooting birds not just as a matter of fact photo fixation, but building the shot more artistically, carefully and with an emphasis on the surroundings. As a bonus, I have started to develop my own style of presentation and graphic style, which is especially visible in the last photos and in the visuals in general. In this direction, I can say that there are plans to improve the technical part (buying new long focal lenses as part of the plan) and further work on species diversity and greater depth in the photography of wild animals, with a shift in focus from birds to more diverse

The second point is a return to portrait photography. And as it seems to me - more than successful. Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done in this direction, and I think that next year part of the time will be devoted to it. At least, I can no longer discount the fact that I don't speak French, it's no longer true.
Further development here looks like building up a portfolio, which I have quite limited and old now (I can't keep posting archives forever, hehehe)

As for the rest of my plans for 2024 - nothing changes, I will still continue to learn French, continue to immerse myself in local life, and culture. Photography, traveling, and of course the main goal of this year is to survive the Olympics in Paris (I plan to escape the city for the duration of the Olympics). Otherwise - everything as usual

And a little about sad - I still miss and want to see my parents and friends who stayed in Russia. And I still can't. But I really hope it will be possible in 2024. As I always like to say in such cases -

"There will always be dawn behind the sunset"

It's time to summarize the results.
To everyone who had the strength to read up to here, I wish you a great New Year, fulfillment of all your wishes, and whatever else you can think of. Always be cheerful, smile more often and pay attention to your loved ones

If you want to say hey, or write something nice, or wish me a Happy New Year - here's my email address - ai.kuzmin@pm.me

Happy New Year 2024!

See you soon,

André