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By Talha Najeeb —

10 Years

10 Years

March 2013. I left my camera at the playground. It was a basic point-and-shoot and I had no idea how to use it. Auto mode, all the way. I'd bought it for travel. But now that we had babies, it was getting a lot of mileage. The photos were pretty bad though. I was known more for pictures I drew, not took. My wife suggested getting a better camera because, well, babies. I wasn't going to say 'no'.

My dSLR arrived in the mail soon. Took it out for a spin with the kids. I had been trying to educate myself on photography and was intrigued. Took a series of photos with my brand new 35mm prime lens. One of them was this one:

The one image that led to thousands more.

My life had changed forever.

It's March 2023 now, exactly 10 years since it all began. I've amassed quite a body of work. Thought it'd be fun to share my favorite shots, one from each year. Keep in mind, these are my favorites and not necessarily what I consider my best.

2013: At a popular local tourist spot – my first attempt at a 'serious' compsition using a tripod in low-light.
2014: Chasing sunsets and seascapes. Spent a lot of time at the beach that year. This image was featured on 'Yahoo News'.
2015: This is when I started experimenting with street photography. My portraits from Pakistan from a trip I did that year are still some of favorties.
2016: Sweeping Tuscan landscapes and nothing else.
2017: Back to the streets of Pakistan; I snuck this image with a stealth street camera in a shrine near Islamabad.
2018: My most successful year. Pakistan series went viral and got featured on Pakistan Televion News, among other outlets. 
2019: I had the privilege to explore and photograph Italy's beautiful Langhe region. This was a particularly special morning in the village of Barbaresco.
2020: Pakistan again, this time right before the pandemic hit. Definitely one of my all-time top comps.
2021: Roma! Enough said.
2022: On my way to Spain, I had one goal: bring back one capture of the Alhambra that was like none before. I think, with this image, I succeeded.
2023: Still early days but I'm not sure I'll surpass this photo I took in January.

Scrolling back up to review this post, it's sinking in what a crazy ride it's been. For every photo from each year, there's hundreds more. Hope you enjoyed the re-cap. As always, if you want to say nice things, you can reach me at talhanak@gmail.com. Thanks for continuing to subscribe, I truly appreciate your support!

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