The Father of the Bride

I admire this man so much ...  and for so many reasons.

I admire him because, along with his delicious wife, he created one of the most beautiful souls that I am privileged to know.
I admire him because he had a terrible stroke last year and fought back so hard, with so much grace and humour, that he managed to fly over to England from Australia, and walk that beautiful daughter of his down the aisle. No one imagined it possible at one point.

I admire him because, even today, he retains this charisma that leaves you sure he will continue to fight his way along that road called recovery.

I feel so very lucky I was there to witness it all and capture this moment during the wedding of Clare and Chris.


Instead of a ‘quite a few’ wedding photographs, there are 100s of this truly exquisite Australian/Brit wedding.  Finishing up this week ...

 

Courage ...

‘I was told the Holocaust happened because the world was silent. So obviously I cannot stay silent when horrible things are being done in my name.’
Yonatan Shapira is the grandson of a woman who was killed in the Holocaust.  In the link above, he explains why he will be on the Gaza Flotilla.

I was moved to tears by Yonatan’s very simple quiet calm explanation.

Internationally acclaimed poet, Alice Walker, has written this essay on why she is sailing to Gaza on the Freedom Flotilla.

The world is finally watching, and I hope to God that no one is murdered this time.

Rumi

“Oh soul,
you worry too much.
You have seen your own strength.
You have seen your own beauty.
You have seen your golden wings.
Of anything less,
why do you worry?
You are in truth
the soul, of the soul, of the soul.”
~Rumi

I liked this too much not to note it somewhere.

Family ...

One of the things I loved about working to capture the weddings in both Suffolk and Madrid, was the time I was able to spend on the fringes of those families involved.  When you’re a long way from home time spent with families, anyones family, are pretty much never taken forgranted.

In Suffolk, a stunning manor house was rented over the weekend, as a place for the bride and groom’s families and friends to gather together.  The kitchen was the heartbeat, the hub of operations ... and there was almost always somebody there boiling a brew or simply gatheringto chat around the long kitchen island on those high stools. 

There were back stairs too, for the servants I imagine, as the main stairway was a little bit spectacular.  Anyway, I captured one of small stars of the weekend peering in at us all ...

I have a new laptop ... a Dell XPS Laptop

I have this new laptop and it has been a revelation in 21st century technology for me .... as I had no idea that photo-processing could be done at the speed of light. 

I have gone from my HP Pavilion dv2000, which started out life as a recall model that ran at boiling point, melted the second new battery invented to angle the base and allow extra air through, constantly required a cooling pad, and had a dodgy screen.  It was a laptop that had really just limped though this last year with multiple crashes and failing health.

Yesterday a fast and fabulous Dell XPS was delivered.  And no, they’re not paying me for this.

Frederika Flintstone is no longer pedalling the stone car ... Frederika is, in fact, flying a fighter jet at the speed of sound and is bemused by her wonder and awe.

Lorenzo Jovanotti is singing Bella as I write this ... it seems entirely bouncy and appropriate.