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# 008 - Taking the Time: Slowing Down to Move Fast
- URL: https://www.luisnatera.photo/008-taking-the-time-slowing-down-to-move-fast/
- Published: 2025-10-06T15:05:26.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-15T07:21:06.000Z
- Description: A reflection on slowing down, reclaiming time, and building intentionally—one step at a time.
- Author: Luis Natera
- Tags: cities, side projects, travel, Nikon

Hello dear reader!

Welcome to another issue of this newsletter. This week I want to talk about **regaining our time**— making time to build toward bigger objectives. To break up the text, I’ve included some photos from the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. Taken with my Nikon FM10.

In this issue:

- Owning our time
- Building for the big picture
- Film photography at the Alhambra

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Recently, I have been thinking on revisiting my Ph.D. thesis—rewriting some of the studies and combining them with photographs of cities. A merge between art and science. It is still an early idea (let me know if you think it’s a good one), but it pushed me to start reviewing my material, and returning to the archive. It also triggered some memories—and a bit of PTSD—but that’s for another post.

![Alhambra architecture in Granada shot on Nikon FM10 film camera](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2025/10/IMG_1617.jpg)

While reading through my old notes, I was reminded how important is to take the time to build. Those four years of studies, research, experimentation writing and rewriting, didn’t just shape academically, they taught me the importance of slowing down and working steadily toward big objectives, piece by piece.

![Detail of Islamic geometric patterns at the Alhambra](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2025/10/IMG_1639.jpg)

![Courtyard view inside the Alhambra palace on film](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2025/10/IMG_1627.jpg)

In a world that moves fast, where we scroll through endless feeds and our attention span keeps shrinking, it’s worth pausing. Take time to think, plan, act. Take time for yourself. Push back against the constant scrolling, and the “one more reel to watch”. Slowdown to move fast. Build small, intentional pieces that contribute to the bigger picture.

![Alhambra arches and light captured on analog film](https://storage.ghost.io/c/19/ae/19ae7b7e-3267-4ec9-a3d4-d56fe8dd66fb/content/images/2025/10/IMG_1659.jpg)

I’m trying to bring back this mindset into my creative and professional practice: setting long-term objectives and making steady progress toward them. I am also taking time to be more deliberate on my photography practice—shoot with manual lenses and film.Return to the basics, and build from it.

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I hope this serves as a reminder for you to take the time, own it, and make it meaningful. This is your most valuable, non-renewable asset. Spend it wisely.

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That’s it for today! If you enjoyed this issue, **share it with a friend!** Know someone that might need a nudge to reclaim their own time? Send it their way, it might inspire them too.

Luis