What I'm Up To

LIFE

This month has been wild! I completely fell in love with working with colorful lights and projectors together! Lately, I’ve been getting bored working with martial arts — the people there just like my photos because, for them, they’re simply nice pictures of themselves. But I’m an artist, I love developing my vision, trying new tools, and passionately improving everything. Right now, I feel like I’ve hit a sort of ceiling there, and the photos are just... beautiful, nothing more. On November 25th, I have my second knee surgery, so I’m trying to do as much as I can beforehand — photographing people, completing the WAB driving course to get my new license BEFORE the operation, and I’ll also be shooting IBJJF in Geneva and ADCC in Zurich.

By the way, about photos and lights — I tried it all on myself and it turned out to be really hard! Being the model and setting everything up yourself is almost impossible. And you know what? If I like someone, I just invite them over. Yes, I literally approach people in the supermarket or while walking my dog. Sure, language can be a bit of a barrier, but so far it’s been working! We’ve been living at the new place for three weeks now, and throughout these three weeks, I randomly start conversations with people — I’ve already been invited to someone’s place twice. It’s awesome.

READING

Right now, I’m listening "The courage to be disliked" written by Fumitake Koga, Ichiro Kishimi and reading "E-Myth" by Michael E. Gerber. See all books → and amazing book of Stiven Strogatz "Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe"

WORK

At the moment, I’m passionately working on three projects:

1. This blog — the portfolio you’re reading right now. All the design and code were created by me from scratch, simply because I find it interesting and exciting. I’ve rebuilt it several times, and only now do I finally "see" what I want it to be. It’s truly captivating.

2. I came up with a project for Ukrainians in Switzerland. The project itself isn’t exactly news, but after many iterations, I finally have a vision for what I want it to be and how it should develop. I can’t wait to launch it, as it will be my first big project!

A bit of background: I’ve been living in Switzerland for 6 years, and since the start of the war, I’ve managed several "Ukrainians in Switzerland" chats. Back then, it was a necessity — the beginning of the war was chaos, and we had to help government workers and share the latest information with everyone fleeing the war. There was no order, just total chaos. Everything was passed from person to person, and the government itself had no internal regulation — which is not the case today.

Over the years of war, Switzerland has developed structure, organizations, and step-by-step instructions for newcomers. People have started to adapt and live. New shops, restaurants, businesses, interesting people! But all of this is lost among chats, mixed with ads, scams, or good announcements that no one notices in the stream of "noise" — I decided to try to change this, bring something new, and help us find each other in a more human way.

You can click around the draft of my project here: svoii.ch, and if you’re interested in what, how, or want to contribute — here’s the telegram chat.

3. The third project is a logical continuation of my small Jiu Jitsu events project in Switzerland, but now with potential clients and investors, and the opening of a company :) It’s going to be exciting!

SOMETHING ELSE

I started learning French. I used to always joke about it and thought French was a definite "no" for me, but over time I realized that the French-speaking part of Switzerland is more lively, people are more open, and the language, once you get into it, actually appeals to me much more. For context: I lived in Berlin briefly, then in Zurich, and then near Bern — in total, that’s 7 years in the German-speaking world, and with a lot of "pain" and reluctance, I passed the B1 spoken German exam, and even then... only because I knew exactly what I’d be asked — I memorized the text. I avoided German for many years, and now — suddenly, out of nowhere, I’ve found a love and some kind of joy in French... The new apartment we applied for is in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and for the first time in my life, I looked at the language without disgust or fear, but with a sense of new possibilities and new experiences. It’s not scary — on the contrary! It’s very exciting and inspiring!