Heading for New Zealand ... and Home

I will be in New Zealand for the month of March (landing in Auckland Feb 22), running photography workshops for women. 

Photography workshops that take you on a hands-on journey through the basics of photography. 

I will be popping up all over the country, so check in and ask if I will be teaching near you.

The workshops run for 4-6 hours per day, and I'll leave it to you to decide whether you just need one day, or more. 

Also included in the fee is my pdf workbook. This takes you through everything I teach, and more, so don't worry that you need to retain everything on the day. You can go back over lessons in your own time, and I will be available, via social media, afterwards.

These workshops are also about encouraging you to understand how YOU see and capture the world. I believe each person has their own unique way of seeing, a way that needs to be understood and respected. 

I am happy to answer any questions you might have about my life lived abroad, these last 15 years, in cities as diverse as Istanbul, Antwerp, Berlin, London, and the city I love best in the world ... Genoa, Italy. I'm happy to share ideas on how you might do the same.

Contact me using the contact form on my website, via the link below.
If you don't hear from me, I didn't get your message. Don't hesitate to try again:-)

You can read more about my workshops here, and I'll be adding to the information here in the days ahead.

Island Life ...

The quiet roar of the waves breaking out on the reef may have woken me this morning.  Or the rooster that's still crowing as I write this, 6.40am Saturday, here in the Cook Islands.

The tide is in, I can see it through the trees at the bottom of the garden. 

The mosquitoes are awake.  Although I suspect the mosquitoes never sleep.

And slowly we're gathering on the terrace outside.  Paula came first, then Charlie - that gorgeous little 2 year we have visiting, with her Dad following when she reached the intended target of us.

So here we are,  just sitting around the big round table in the warm gentle tropical air, drinking coffee that isn't my beloved espresso but that does the job out here, on this beautiful island.

I received a small set of instructions when I arrived here and there was one that amused me.  It was about moving quickly when passing under a coconut tree.  Yesterday a coconut fell from one of the trees.  The thud was impressive. I see it is true.  Don't linger under a coconut tree ...  really.

We're off to the Market today.  To buy flowers and, perhaps, one more sarong for me.  I love the colours they come in, and some days, they're all that you can feasibly wear.  Humidity is high and the summer heat is strong.  My hair is a great big wild mess here.

This photo ... a scene from our first days here.  The dads and their kidlets were all hanging out on the lawn and I couldn't resist attempting this photograph.  

Light ...

I am fascinated by both the colours, and the light, I'm finding here in The Cook Islands.  It's beautiful, and runs from a bright lime green/yellow through into this golden tone.  

I suspect, as always, I could spend years attempting to capture all that I see on this light-drenched island.  

I wake, each morning, somewhere between 4.30 and 5.30am.  If not by 5.30, then the roosters wake me then as they crow  at sunrise, celebrating the arrival of the new day.

There are no exotic birds singing-in the day.  There are the roosters, with some squawks from the Mynah birds.  It makes me smile each morning.  How does the rooster dare and yet, why not. 

The chickens wander wild here.  They go from garden to garden, and can be seen everywhere.  But there are dogs too.  Simply wandering.  So friendly and quite attractive middle-sized healthy-looking hounds.  They  call in as they pass by,  they greet you as a friend, let you stroke them, then wander on ... tails and heads held high.  They have to be the happiest, most free dogs I have ever seen.

These are the ways I am getting to know this island.  Via its creatures, its plants and the light.

The mosquitoes, meanwhile, have made a battlefield of my lower legs.  Great big purple-through-pink welts cover me.  My arms and back too.  I finally woke to the carnage they were creating yesterday, making everyone laugh when I pulled on jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and socks with my jandals last night.  In the heat and humidity.

I need to heal.  They were remarkably painful last night but I hope that was the 'crisis' and healing has no commenced.

Based on my experiences in Istanbul and Piedmonte, I believe I have considered 'quite the fine wine' in mosquito circles.  They drank deep at the well of me.

There was a family photo-shoot on my first day here. I'm meeting some beautiful souls out here.

Ciao for now.

I Have Arrived ...