A bump wakes me up.

My eyes slowly open to some cotton candy shapes right outside the window.Few more bumps and I’m fully awake. But my eyes don’t move.I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster. But for the first time I find myself enjoying the shaking. I’m in awe looking at one of the most beautiful clouds I’ve ever seen. The subtle fear that usually spikes from my guts was overtaken by this beauty.

Clear sky, puffy clouds. And as soon as the plane bites one of the candies everything shakes. Like a sugar rush going through your body.

Love line playing in my ears while the ground gets more defined minute after minute: a lot of green, big buildings and pointed small houses, Sarajevo is taking shape from above.

I take out my book and the first line I read states “what is the future of documentary (reportage) photography?”.

A premonition?

In fact I’m in town for a masterclass on contemporary photojournalism.It’s my first time in the Balkans and I’ve been informing myself about what happened here. Honestly I didn’t know much even if I was living right on the other side of the sea. I was a kid.

This BBC documentary deeply analyses the fall of Yugoslavia, while this one shows a horrific aspect of Sarajevo’s siege: wealthy foreigners paying to have the chance to snipe civilians.

From the taxi, I can see the signs of the siege almost everywhere. Walls with holes still visible, or covered in cement that makes them even more prominent.

On the other hand, I can also see the beauty of the different cultures coexisting together by looking at the groups on the sidewalks.

A brisk breeze touches my face, it feels like it's coming from a hairdryer.

I’m at the destination. Just a day to get the gist of the city before the masterclass will start.But more on that in the next dispatch.

Till then,

— M

PS. This month I went through a rabbit hole about Josef Koudelka and I'm really enjoying his new book "Diaries".

PPS. I gave a refresh to my website.

PPPS. We (me and Niko) are running a workshop in Barcelona on July 18 and 19.