Our time in Almaty is racing towards conclusion: on June 15 we’ll say goodbye to the city and country that we’ve made our home for four years.

It’s impossible to guess what we’ll miss about Kazakhstan. The truth? Our departure will not be unwelcome, but preserving an authentic, essential piece of Kazakhstan feels both urgent and important. So I ask:

What are the conditions for memory-making?

How do we accurately capture our experience?

And in doing so, should we be troubled that these images and narratives will become Holden’s only memories of this place?

My answer? I’ll take photographs, 100 of them, approximately one each day until our departure. Their content will be mundane and material, but all of them will be meaningful. And all of them will hold a story, however small, for Holden to unfold.

I’ll start today.