Those of you who know me personally know that I recently turned 30. Those who know me even more personally know that shortly after I turn 30, my mum turns 50. Today is that day, it’s my mum’s birthday and as I am currently somewhere far away from the internet or civilization, I have automated this post to wish the person to whom I owe everything a very happy 50th birthday!

I am very lucky to have a close relationship with my mother or to have a mother at all at this age, some of my good friends don’t, some of you probably don’t. This lifestyle of mine has been rather tough on my mother’s (and father’s) nerves. As I am the only child in my family, my parents both worry quite a lot when I travel.

Even now, as I have turned 30, I send my mother a text message every day, wherever I am in the world (connection permitting). Might sound funny, cheesy or whatever, but heck, it’s the least I can do for the people who have not only given me my life, but have supported me in every way in this crazy journey that is photography, which had no guarantee of ever becoming fruitful in any way.

When people ask me about becoming a travel photographer, how to succeed, what path to take, I suppose I should actually start with talk about my mother. She is the core of my “support system” (then my father and wife) and without this “support system” it’s very easy to lose your mind, to go insane with frustration, to give into the obstacles, the failures of which there is a fair bit when you take this path.

Anyhow, I don’t want to get to sentimental here. This is after all a photography blog, so let’s bring it back to that. Still, since it’s my mother’s birthday, I will dedicate the images to her. She’s fairly sensitive and feels pretty distraught after seeing stuff like the road-workers images and she’s been asking me to show some of the beauty that I’ve talked about over our phone conversations. And so, here are some images of the beautiful, dramatic Indian Himalayas.

That’s all for today. I have no idea when I’ll have a connection again, but I do expect to see some more amazing places in the coming days.

Once again to my mum “С днем рождения, мамуля!"