There is almost always laughter involved, in attempting to capture the soul of a person ... that photograph that gifts you a glimpse of who they might be when they relax.
We wandered around the Botanical Gardens, finding spaces where they could just be who they are.
A huge thank you for trusting me.
I rediscovered the joy I experience when trying to capture the heart & soul of those I'm photographing.
I was incredibly tired this day, and had no idea how to pull it together for this photography shoot.
I had forgotten. There is always this up-welling of joy when I work with people, trying to find who they are and gift it back to them in their photographs.
It has been wild ride, this homecoming. A time of old friends, family, dental work and trying to work out where I belong in the world.
I rode in on a wave of joy. A few tears slid down my face when I landed in that old familiar airport, and then again when I saw my sister and nieces.
I crashed here, when I compared my life to others I knew, seeing how vastly different mine was. I lost my way for a while. Lost my nerve.
Slowly I've picked myself up again, by understanding that I regretted very little of it.
It's been a wild ride ...
I returned to New Zealand on February 22, and it was grand.
I landed in Auckland, stayed with Barbara & John, with Paula, Paolo, and Mr One - who has since become Mr Two.
I learned how to tie my hair back with a headscarf ... thank you, Barbara. And I wandered city streets, as we were living in the CBD, and set myself up for this New Zealand life.
One of my dearest old friends came to the city for a Hui, and Pippa picked me up for a road trip to her home ... way up North. A place I had read about but never explored. It was a 5 hour talk-fest, filled with laughter and 'do you remembers'.
The next morning we went out to look at a property Pippa was interested in, met Nan and had the privilege of hearing some of her stories, then explored the land around the house ... exclaiming over the old-fashioned fruit trees and childhood delights, all growing there in the far north garden.
Then she took me north ... to the end of New Zealand. To Cape Regina, with its special history (but that's another entire post, if I even want to begin to do the myths and legends justice).
Returning to Auckland was a 7-hour bus journey but I was fine, thinking I would get to really see the far-north landscape. Instead, I had the extraordinary pleasure of having a lovely French man sit next to me and chat. The 7-hours passed quickly, with laughter and much conversation.
There was Mark, and a 5 minute security check-in at the airport, the flight home, and quiet tears as I landed here in Dunedin. And since then, family, old friends, familiar roads, beaches and the smile you smile when you return home after a long time away.
There is so much more but for now, this can do.
I'm home, and it's nice.
It's an interesting life, here on the island ...
I'm always searching for beauty, no matter where I am but here, it simply hits you square in the face. I had stopped for one last pina colada, as I leave early next week and voila, this unfolded in front of me ... between torrential downpours.
It's clear my senses have been quite overwhelmed at times. It's been a return to a more natural life, of bare feet, minimal clothing, fresh fruits and lagoon-swimming. Torrential tropical downpours and humidity above 80%. But more than that, the island has impacted me at a psychological level too. There is nowhere to wander, and I have always wandered ... out of 'situations' and into the world.
I understand that I couldn't stay here forever. I have loved my time here. It has been the most extraordinary privilege to find a job that would bring me here but ... I'm ready to leave now.
But first ... the Saturday Market, with the Czaria.
“La solitudine può portare a forme straordinarie di libertà.”
Loneliness can lead to extraordinary forms of freedom.