My mentor  Scott Robert  Lim recently held a  week  workshop  with fashion and  celebrity photographer Matthew Jordan Smith in Japan.  I met Matthew  last year at  his platform  class  in Vegas for  WPPI  and attended 4 of Scott international workshops. I knew  that  this would be an explosive combo.

Part of me wished  that  I attended. I have been hearing about what a great  experience  this was all week. I had very  good  reasons  not to attend  giving the  scope  of what I am currently working on.  At the end of the  day I had to make a choice  and  focus on some priorities  surrounding my business.  I read  the comments &  blogs of my peers who attended this workshop. Their experience  made me  re live  mine  in a way.

I  traveled to  Japan  3 years ago and it was a life changing experience.  At the time I was still mourning the loss of  my mom  in the previous  year  and   was coming out of a  relationship for  good . I had been on an emotional roller coaster  for a  year   with not much   to go on.  Working  60-70 hrs a week   on automatic pilot. Basically   buying time  with no  “life purpose” .I clearly  was depressed which I realized  later on.  

This   opportunity  came at   the right time .  One of my friend’s boyfriend  was re located  to Japan   and she  offered  me the opportunity to come  and  stay with  them  in one of the hottest, trendy areas  of Japan SHIBUYA .   I did not know  anything about  the Japanese culture   and my friend warned me   that I would  be totally disoriented with nothing familiar to hold on. Her words : “ a total culture shock” .  I  rented the cult  movie “ lost in translation”   by Sofia Coppola with actors ; Scarlett Johansson & Bill Murray.  This movie is about an established & bored America  movie star ( Murray)  who travels to Japan  and meet  Newly wed (Johansson)   and they become friends.  The movie explores  their relationship while they  discover Japan’s   cityscape in a very clever way.  I was quite intrigued by this country.

 I had initially made plans to go to Paris, at the time  I kept a humming a song  about how Paris  will  allow me to: “fall   back in love with life  again”  however  this  opportunity  came  and I  was convinced   somehow that I had to  go and discover  this “unknown” culture .  I am so glad  I did  I spent over  3 weeks in that country  and it was life changing. I  went during  the cherry blossom  early spring, a time that  is  very  important  to the Japanese tradition SAKURA “flowering cherry” I was so surprised  to hear  that  people traveled  from all over  the world  to witness this  event.And  there  I was   what an opportunity  this was to experience something so unique. What a blessing!! 

I went everywhere. From the  craziness of Tokyo  night  or day to the quiet  shrines of Nikko . From the  relaxed  green  tea by the water in Yokohama  to  the  hours of hiking to reach the  millennial sanctuaries of Kamakura . This  trip is where I started “breathing”  life again.  Appreciating the  challenges and opportunities. I started initiating  the changes I wanted for myself and taking all the responsibility during that process. I bought my first home, change job  and re-committed to my  craft and dreams. 

 I learned  about resilience, pride, excellence & quality of life. It  opened  my eyes to new possibilities  and took words like “impossible” out of my  vocabulary . In Japan  everything is possible everything can be learned, EVERYTHING CAN BE INVENTED.   What we imagine  in the  future is part of their present. IMAGINATION and INNOVATION are major building  blocks and  there is constant attention to improvement practices, self ,process , service.  Don’t get me  wrong  I am not saying that  they are perfect, I am only highlighting  the lessons  and positive aspects of  the culture I experienced. My only regret  is that I did not climb  Fiji  to watch the sunset but it  is still  on the list:-)  

 Reading  about this amazing  trip  that many  of my photog  friends recently went on  brought back so many memories.   I looked for my old hard drive where I archived pictures from that trip  there are so many  that I never posted.  So here,I am sharing  a few  of the pictures from this life changing  trip  …    Feel free to comment and share  your  own experience! Life  taste so much  sweeter when you take a moment to reflect  on where you have been and where you are in the present.ML www.marielyssa.com