diff --git a/etiquette/photodb.py b/etiquette/photodb.py
index 3bdd912..e3ed280 100644
--- a/etiquette/photodb.py
+++ b/etiquette/photodb.py
@@ -1954,12 +1954,13 @@ class PhotoDB(
 
     # Will add -> PhotoDB when forward references are supported
     @classmethod
-    def closest_photodb(cls, path, *args, **kwargs):
+    def closest_photodb(cls, path='.', *args, **kwargs):
         '''
-        Starting from the cwd and climbing upwards towards the filesystem root,
-        look for an existing Etiquette data directory and return the PhotoDB
-        object. If none exists, raise exceptions.NoClosestPhotoDB.
+        Starting from the given path and climbing upwards towards the filesystem
+        root, look for an existing Etiquette data directory and return the
+        PhotoDB object. If none exists, raise exceptions.NoClosestPhotoDB.
         '''
+        path = pathclass.Path(path)
         starting = path
 
         while True:
diff --git a/frontends/etiquette_repl.py b/frontends/etiquette_repl.py
index 57d0433..436d807 100644
--- a/frontends/etiquette_repl.py
+++ b/frontends/etiquette_repl.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import sys
 import traceback
 
 from voussoirkit import interactive
-from voussoirkit import pathclass
 from voussoirkit import pipeable
 from voussoirkit import vlogging
 
@@ -34,7 +33,7 @@ def erepl_argparse(args):
     global P
 
     try:
-        P = etiquette.photodb.PhotoDB.closest_photodb(pathclass.cwd())
+        P = etiquette.photodb.PhotoDB.closest_photodb()
     except etiquette.exceptions.NoClosestPhotoDB as exc:
         pipeable.stderr(exc.error_message)
         pipeable.stderr('Try `etiquette_cli.py init` to create the database.')