The Guide to the United States of Love

Poznań, Poland 2018
The Guide to the United States of Love

So hey. My name is Kamil Kiewel, and the person I photographed is Angelika. My girlfriend. We’ve known each other for 7 years, and fell in love about 5 years ago. The project we did is about feelings. My initial intention was to capture that specific thing you feel when you look at somebody you love. The butterflies in your stomach when you think about your common plans, dreams and exciting things you want to do together.

“During our journey I noticed that being on the road for me is exactly like being in love.”

Love has so many components. It’s composed of a whole palette of emotions. From hatred to excitement to happiness and care, from jealousy to lust. It’s an oxymoron.

This year we were traveling across the United States, and the inspiration came by itself. Being on the road, the trip you had in mind for almost your entire life becomes a trigger for feelings. The limitless space around you makes you feel emotions you can’t define. You feel blessed when there’s only a road ahead, and the person you love by your side. During our journey I noticed that being on the road for me is exactly like being in love.

“Love has so many components. It’s composed of a whole palette of emotions. From hatred to excitement to happiness and care, from jealousy to lust. It’s an oxymoron.”

Love is like having an empty road in front of your headlights, listening to your favorite sad songs on the radio, like running outside in the rain, swimming naked in the river, smoking marijuana above the ocean. It’s like lying on the beach and gazing at the stars. It’s like waking up in different places every morning. When she was sitting next to me in the car, when we were lying in the tent, when we were making bonfires at the abandoned campgrounds, I felt satisfied in a sense.

There are eleven photographs. Taken in the mornings, just after waking up. Each morning, we went for a walk and each time we were taking the camera with us. My intention was to make a diary out of those photographs, a set of memories we could get back to and feel exactly the same thing as back then, during those mornings. At the back of each photograph we put the exact localization of each place we chose. Those places are mostly for free, and unmistakable when it comes to making you feel amazing things. Any wanderer in the world should visit those places.

Love,
Angelika & Kamil