To Photograph: #41

Two nights ago I took my camera and my tripod to the city to shoot exactly what you see below. It's a famous shot and was one of the first photos I ever saw of my new city, mid-January this year.

I met a man, in his mid 20's, who was doing exactly as I was doing. He was really friendly and we got talking. He loved to travel, had seen a lot of the world, and his job as a chef had even landed him a place on a boat heading to Antarctica, which made me jealous. As it turns out, he also spent a year living in not only New Zealand, but Nelson, in the South Island, where I also used to live. He described it as his "favourite place in the world," which was special having come from a guy who had already seen so much of the world.

It made me proud and I smiled, but it also made me think; I really didn't appreciate the beauty of what was in my backyard until I'd left it all behind, and I've found that's like a lot of things - you don't seem to appreciate things like your friends, your car, the sea or the boat, the fashion sense or the beach house in the Coromandel as much as you should until they are no longer at your fingertips. I remember thinking "I can't wait to get out of this place" but realise now I should've 'stopped to smell the flowers' as the age-old saying goes.

But I'll be back.

To everyone at home: Living in New Zealand isn't as bad as you think it is, appreciate it.

The photos:

To Photograph: #41. The Köln Dom from across the River Rhein

The 'Alt Stadt' (Old City)

-again. Old German buildings

Front of the Dom

the finest detail






Craving a cold V right now




Night night x