My true passion!

Getting on adventures with my girlfriend is my absolute passion. When I see this image of Portofino it reminds me of one of the best times I had so far in my life.

This is how things started!

And this was due to my girlfriend. She is half Italian and has a very strong bond for this amazing country. One of her many talents is painting. She made a beautiful painting of Portofino, which I immediately recognized, when I entered her flat. When we moved together, I saw it every day and thought it would be so amazing to surprise here with a trip to Portofino.

I never had enough money!

My whole life I never really earned much money. I always tried follow my passion and didn’t really focus on the money side. I couldn’t really afford to pay for the trip, but it always stuck in my mind to do it one day. Finally, things started to improve a bit. I started my own business, bought a used car and spend my first money to surprise her with the trip. 

This painting of Portofino was made by my girlfriend Tanja Jehde

Just do it.

Since I’m a professional photographer, I thought about replicating her painting with a real image might be an even better idea. Look for yourself, if it worked out. We went in February, which is a perfect time for photography, because it is off-season and no tourists were around. I booked a hotel, and we drove to Liguria for a few days.

One adventure led to another.

The best thing about being spontaneous is that you never know what might happen next. We arrived in our lovely hotel and went to Portofino to take the image of her painting, which was just amazing. The next day was Valentines day and the waiter sang a love song for us. Things couldn’t be more romantic. Because Portofino is actually not that big, we decided to explore this part of Italy a bit more.

Road Trips

We saw that Cinque-Terre is actually not that far from our place. I saw so many amazing images of this beautiful place that we decided to do a little road trip. Oh well, was that worth it. But that’s a different story.

Thank you Tanja for being in my life. I love you so much for being my partner, my inspiration, my explorer in crime and my best friend. Thank you for this beautiful life that we’re making, and thank you for making me feel loved every single day. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

-Dominik-