Now, I know I have a passion for life, but it wasn’t always that way. The journey to finding it was full of ups and downs.

As a teenager in the late 1990s, I believed that having various interests and hobbies was a sign of indecisiveness and wouldn’t benefit me in the future. One of these interests was writing. I enjoyed it, but I never considered becoming a writer or blogger, especially since this was before the widespread expansion of the Internet. I also loved theater and took several classes at a local art school. At 17, I became fascinated with the history and art of Egypt, spending several months visiting the local library to read everything I could find on the subject.

When I received an Olympus camera from my grandmother on my 15th birthday, I was thrilled. From then on, I always saved some pocket money to buy rolls of film. I took my camera everywhere and captured photos whenever I had the chance.

My parents, focused on their jobs and making ends meet, encouraged me to pursue an education in something more stable, like marketing, management, or foreign languages. Since I never had a strong affinity for mathematics, a degree in economics was out of the question. In 2005, I graduated from Saint Petersburg University of Culture and Art with a Master’s Degree in Art.