My first street photography workshop in Phnom Penh...

Oh my days. I’m only halfway through my travels, yet so much has already unfolded. I’ve been to Malaysia, where I reunited with a great friend from El Camino in Kuala Lumpur, then spent a month in Thailand volunteering at an elephant sanctuary. From there, I crossed the Mekong River into Laos on a two-day boat trip, and now I’m heading to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, to join my very first street photography workshop. To be honest, I’m a bit nervous about how I’ll perform among other photographers, especially since I’ve only been shooting streets for two months. This is also the first time on my journey that I’ve felt truly exhausted, but excuses don’t count. Almost every day I spend 5–7 hours out photographing, then return to edit my images. It’s become a constant loop, but don’t get me wrong, I haven’t felt this happy in years. These are the happiest moments of my life. Consistency is key, and I believe if you put your foot in the door, you’ll be rewarded. That’s why I came here: to prove to myself once again what I’m capable of.

Before Phnom Penh, I visited the majestic Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage site that left me absolutely breathless. But now it was time to focus on why I came here. The workshop had a demanding schedule: early mornings until late at night. The first evening we had a short meeting and introduction about what to expect. The next day, every participant presented their body of work. Man, the pressure grew on me fast. There were so many talented and experienced photographers. But as they say, a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor. My task was simple: learn as much as I could from them and stay true to myself.

The concept was straightforward: start early, shoot in different environments (from easier to more challenging), then select our best images and review them together over dinner. I could already tell this workshop would be the highlight of my journey. Finally, I was surrounded by people who shared the same passion and interests, a truly delightful feeling, and an invaluable chance to learn. Each day, we also had one-on-one time with our teacher, who tried to understand our way of seeing, our creative process, and then gave advice on where we could improve and what strengths we already had.

As the days went on, my performance became more consistent, and despite the short time I’ve been practicing street photography, I delivered a pretty decent performance, something that gave me confidence to keep going. We also got the chance to study photobooks from famous photographers, which was both inspiring and eye-opening. The last day was bittersweet. It was my favorite part, because we had our best photos printed, and we experimented with sequencing, learning why it’s important, how it changes the way stories are told, and even how to create small projects out of our images.

Cut the long story short, I walked away with so much, new knowledge about composition, layering, storytelling within a single frame, and most importantly, the reminder that I’m still only at the beginning of my street photography journey. If I want to grow, I have to keep putting in the hours. Alongside the technical lessons, I gained new experiences, new friends, and discovered a wonderful capital city. Phnom Penh and its people will always hold a special place in my heart.