Living the dream
Means hard work — the truth no one tells you!
I’m Anna, co-founder of McGunnMedia. Like many businesses, we didn’t just happen overnight, and we still have a long way to go…
About 6 years ago I moved from the UK, having toured and worked in and around London’s West End working 80-hour weeks, to Portugal… where I hit a concrete wall. No job and a lot of time on my hands.
Why move to Portugal? Well, Filipe had something to do with that ;) He had a secure job and I was freelancing at the time, it seemed sensible for me to continue to freelance in Portugal… but that was before we realised that Portugal is certainly no West End, and the type of work I was previously doing just wasn’t on offer here.
“Creating helped me think outside of the here and now”
The pace of life was so slow it almost stopped and pretty much pushed me to the extremes of what I was capable of adapting to. In truth I didn’t adapt very well, I didn’t move and change nearly as quickly as I could or should have done. As most English people do abroad, I struggled with the language and found that I was not going to magically be implanted with a language chip that enabled me to understand Portuguese and speak it instantly — obviously I have watched the matrix too many times!
When I finally did manage to pick up some language skills and gain enough confidence to go out the front door to practice I found that Portugal was a pretty amazing place to live.
It’s in these early adventures up and down the country that the body of our initial portfolio was derived, and to our surprise, something that drew both our love of photography, Portugal and each other together more and more.
It continues to do that today.
I discovered the true heart of Portugal.
I can’t say that it’s been an easy ride, or that it has got easier over time. It hasn’t. When I moved here I understood culture to mean: theatre, literature, architecture, music. I wasn’t entirely wrong, but I had missed the bigger picture.
Culture — actually means how people think.
Even the smallest of things that I was good at before became impossibly difficult — getting along with people. I couldn’t read people’s body language; I felt that they were being rude for correcting my language. Of course now I understand that in fact they care enough that I am trying and will help me improve quicker than if I continued on my own.
Through photography I love sharing this amazing country that even those that live here aren’t sometimes able to see due to proximity. The personal projects we choose are aimed at enhancing the marketing of this beautiful country and people.
The personal projects we choose are aimed at enhancing the marketing of this beautiful country and people.
I hope this has inspired you in some way today. If it has, could you click the recommend button below? It would mean a lot to us. Thank you.
