The Story: I took this photo in Mostar, Bosnia which is located in the southern bit of the country.  Ma and I bussed in from Sarajevo, leaving Pops behind in the hospital as he had bailed on the cobblestones and shattered his elbow, requiring 2 surgeries.  I was totally gutted that my dad wasn’t there with us because Mostar and its iconic bridge was the place I was most excited to see on our trip that year.  Ma and I tried to make the best of it – shuffled over the bridge a few times, looked at some local artwork, shopped the open air markets, eventually turning into a restaurant recommended by our B&B proprietor, Susanna.  After our dinner overlooking the bridge and Neretva River we walked back to our B&B when I spotted this little Bosnian girl all by herself minding her own business in a sea of cobblestones.  I took several snaps of her deciding this was my favourite.

Why I Love It: When I took this photo I was so, so sad, but this girl made me feel a little better.  I love that you can tell she’s a cute girl even though you can’t see her face, but you can see the outline of it.  I love that the black and white gives it a bit of a timeless feel and that she is a single living entity seated amongst a myriad of stones.

The Story: Still just me and Ma in Dubrovnik, Croatia, we headed into the old walled city (which some of you will recognize from that show that has dragons and everyone dies) in the early morning so we could spend most of the day exploring.  We had breakfast in an outdoor cafe on the main promenade (or Stradun), drank copious amounts of delicious coffee and watched the people go by before the hoards of cruise ship tourists overtook the city.  In the middle of breakfast I spotted this little girl in the main square feeding the pigeons, told my mom to watch my stuff so that I could grab a shot before this little muse took off or noticed me.

Why I Love It: Again, the mystery behind it.  Who is she?  Where is she from?  In such a touristy place, she could be from just about anywhere.  I love her playful, youthful dress and I love that you can still see the beautiful architecture of the city behind her.  I’m glad I took as low an angle as I could because I like that the bottom quarter of the photo is just stone floor.