Hi & welcome to the journal section of my blog. This section is dedicated to both you and I. It’s for you to get to know your wedding photographer a bit better and for me to compile something a bit more personal. After many years of building my commercial photography business and recently transitioning into weddings, it is a refreshing change for me to dedicate this section of my blog to something a little closer to home.
A little background into my life…………….
I grew up in small isolated town in the very north of Canada. After 19 years of living there under the scrutiny of a tight knit family and community, I left, but didn’t get too far at first. It took me some time before I could find the courage to really shed the identity that was imposed upon me and set off to see what I could find. After several years of University, I began spending my summers planting trees for money. This job offered me the ideal life at that particular time. I would work extremely hard for three to four months, then spend the rest of the year exploring anything my heart desired. At first I didn’t venture too far off and just explored my surroundings. I drove up and down and back and forth across Canada & the US several times, discovering people, places and culture (it was at this time that I first started to get curious about photography). After my second season of tree planting, I finally made the leap of faith. Some dear friends were going to San Francisco and asked if I wanted to tag along. Why not I thought? So we drove for a week, making a short pit stop in Eugene Oregon and then onto San Fran. They decided to continue onto New York but winter was setting in and I didn’t feel like being cold so I headed south. Within a couple of days I found myself in the town of Ensenada, on the Baja Peninsula of Mexico. Here I met an ex-pat who suggested that if I really wanted to experience something different that I should head straight to Guatemala. I took his word for it and set off up the Pacific side of Mexico, taking breaks in great little beach towns. I finally arrived in Guatemala a month later and boy was he right.
What I saw of Mexico was great, some of the things I experienced there were truly unique, but the minute I set foot in Guatemala, I felt like my life was going to change forever and it did. Time has somewhat stood still in Guatemala, the people, the buildings, the land, everything just felt so ancient and absolutely beautiful. Also, because the majority of the population live off the land, the pace of general life was like none I had ever experience. mañana, mañana they use to say, so I would have to wait until the next day for what ever I needed. I spent the next two years of my life living there with one short tree planting stint somewhere in the middle.
It is because of Guatemala that I am here today in Australia, little did I know then, that it was only the beginning of my journey.
After an 8 year hiatus from Guate. I returned and brought my new family with me to experience all the colors, beauty & people that is Guatemala.
{Brisbane | Sunshine Coast | Wedding Photographer | Nikki Bezel}
29/01/2011
I’ll come back to that story a little later……………….
My wife and I, like sooooo many other people, made the move from a city (Sydney) to the country ( Sunshine Coast) to raise our kids. It wasn’t an easy decision and it took many heart-wrenching years to adjust. After 7 years of being here, the longing for city life has finally subsided (but we still miss it). Our kids are growing up and have begun school and we are finally finding some space to get a lot more done.
This is our Honey and Ezekiel at the beginning of the school year………….
04/02/2011
Portraits of some great friends.
Rajendra + Fern
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