Home

One has left a version of oneself at the place of departure and it waits for us at the point of return - but she is not me when I get there.

Kirsty Gunn. My Katherine Mansfield Project.

I went out wandering with Mari Lena, a new friend, an Italian staying here too.  And we found these beautiful flowers growing on the side of the road.  It's so lush here in Rarotonga.

The notion of home is coming at me from all over, in my reading ... in my everyday life too, as I head home after 6 years away, after 8 years away before that.

I'm about to buy an e-book.  This extract came from it ...

It's an idea that has always preoccupied me - that notion of creative process as a making, a willed brick-by-brick, word-by-word building of a place on the page that might let a story inhabit it - to create a home of words, where I, the writer, may also live.

Kirsty Gunn, from My Katherine Mansfield Project.

A Family Portrait Shoot ... of almost endless hours

One of the most beautiful things about a portrait shoot at home is becoming known and trusted by those you are photographing.

And you have the luxury of time, for shots like this.

Where The Magic Happens ...

The magic happens, sometimes, in that space where you break all the rules ... or accidentally bump the Mode setting onto another, entirely inappropriate, setting.

I love this photograph, taken with my Canon 5D MkII.  It seems like a water colour and is, perhaps, the only way my daughter would allow me to publish a photograph of her.

She's crouching, photographing her exquisite Romanian rescue dog.  Sahara and Sander are there too.  As is the snow.  

I'm up in Scotland today.  -6 celsius this morning, and frozen feet.

In huge news, for me, I managed to light the fire but while applauding my own cleverness, the vent knob fell off.  I went from feeling like Pioneer Woman to Ms Bean - Mr Bean's twin sister, in a heartbeat.

I opted to leave my slippers out of my packing and so,  feet masquerading as blocks of ice, are my new normal here in the north of Scotland.  I'm also missing my external harddrive, my hiking boots ... and my flatmates loved the Italian Christmas cake I left behind. 

I have never forgotten having to throw away quite a bit of my stuff, at the airport, for the flight between the UK and Italy.

Photographically, I am loving Scotland.  But in other ways struggling with the cold.  It seems I have softened in Italy.  That long hot Spring, Summer and Autumn in no way prepared me for this but but but ... it is so good to see family, to catch up on their news, to eat English food :-)

All of that.

Starting over ...

I think, like a creature that was domesticated for a while, I'm learning how to be alone and free again.  And to really treasure the freedoms I have.

I was wandering today.  All over this city I love.  And at sunset, I went to the coast and played a while, I took this.

My daughter gifted me the most beautiful leather camera strap for my birthday.  My beloved old camera bag died but I had another, brand-new but bigger.  I finally put everything together and went out ... feeling kind of new to this Canon 5D MK II camera thing. 

I've been pushing things with my phone camera.  Applying the rules of photography, playing but seriously. 

I'm pleased with this.

Family Portrait, Portofino

After a bit of a break from portrait photography, I had a family session up on the top of the hill at Portofino.  My friend Leah has an agriturismo, under construction, up there in that beautiful place.

I had the loveliest time with this beautiful family.  There was much laughter and sunshine, some Prosecco too.

And so much love between the 4 of them.

It felt like an extraordinary privilege, both to photograph the family, and to work up at Leah's place.

Grazie mille to all involved  :-)

Where To Begin ...

So much has happened since my previous post.  Then again, 'so much' is normal here.  The city is vibrantly alive, and offers up so many stories and secret places, that I could wander happily for a hundred years or more. 

I've been using my phone camera a lot.  Pushing it hard, to see what is possible. Applying the rules of photography to the little Samsung Galaxy.  I used it for this photograph, taken in Piazza De Ferrari. one dark and rainy night.

The view from my bedroom makes me so happy.  After months of having the shutters closed by the scaffolding around the building, they finally took it all down and left me with this.  

It's 13 celsius, on this winters day in Liguria, and my windows are open.  

And yes, I'm still loving it here.  Even more, if that is possible