In the beginning, I rode a bus from Skopje, Macedonia to Prishtina, crossing the border checks with my United States passport, a little Macedonian cash and a credit card.

 

Toward the end of a quiet, two-hour bus ride a university student asked in rough English if I was American coming to Kosovo to photograph the independence of Kosovo.

I said yes, but more importantly I was there to photograph Kosovo culture. I realized I didn't have words to explain that I am an artist; seeking to lose myself with a camera and film in a region of the world I have never been.

My first time hearing of Kosovo was at the escalation of the ethnic war a decade ago, listening to the news on the radio. Ten years later, I traveled alone, by bus and foot, and on occasion taxi to four cities, or regions including, Gjilan, Prishtina, Letnica, Prizren and places in between like Zegra.

As a photographer, to lose myself and open my sensitivity to this foreign land allowed me to practice my passion in a most ideal situation.With no deadline or need to illustrate ‘the story’, I was able to photograph from feelings alone. I went to Kosovo to learn about myself in photographing others. I found affirmation in my practice and belief in photography.

I prefer not to direct you to what you should feel or what I felt with each picture. I don't have the strength of mind to write as much. So it is with my camera, an unreasonable amount of trust in a land far from Minnesota, U.S., I present to you an American's view of Kosovo.

 

 

Outside Links:

• Nate Howard