Whether we know it, or not, we are all remarkable souls. Individuals with stories, tapestries of individual beauty.
Over the years I've realised that each individual carries so many stories inside.
I started moving house when I was 21 and newly married. Over the years of the first marriage we moved at least 12 times. And I remember watching and wondering, as we drove by old homes on the road between wherever we were living and 'home', about the people who might have been forever inhabitants in those houses ... wondering what their stories felt like.
I see people as beautiful stories, like books with their own individual covers, and I enjoy the privilege of 'reading' a little when we work on a portrait shoot or simply spend time together. Some try to tell me that their lives are so ordinary but lives are never ordinary. It's as fascinating to listen to someone who has lived their entire life in one place as it is to listen to a person who has traveled.
Like wine, we all have our own flavour, our own ageing-process ... depth, maturity, character are all words that can be applied as much to humans as to wine.
Back in Genova, I spent two days with Diny and it was an incredible pleasure. The tapestry of her life was beautifully woven. I can imagine her laughing as she reads this but it's less about perfection and more about the deep beauty of being real and present. Of being honest. Of embracing life in a way that left me admiring her intensely.
And she gave me permission to post one of the photographs I took of her while we worked.
