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Nine years ago, I arrived from Seattle with my partner Agnieszka, a little luggage, a camera and an open mind and heart to a new life in Poznan. Within the first week, I knew I was already falling in love with being here and the colorful autumn atmosphere was just beginning to whisper promises of so much more to come. I started out my adventure in Poznan by taking pictures of this new life abroad so I could show my family and friends back home how beautiful it was here and the discoveries I made along the way. Trams became a point of fixation and I loved sitting in the window seat watching my personal cinema unfold as it rolled through the city or glide past me from my pedestrian vantage point. The city streets that I walked everyday allowed me to feel the mood of the city and breathe its life with each passing season which inspired me to seek out stories of strangers that helped me understand my own walk in life. The atmospheric color of autumn and the chilling light of winter made me swoon with amazement and as each ended, I was already thinking about the next ones to come. Spring and summer brought longer days and a bounty of unexpected nostalgia as I was often reminded of my youth in Washington State and sometimes the light was so similar I felt like I had stepped back into my past and might be late for school. For almost seven years I lived in the heart of Jezyce, walking the streets, drinking coffee, buying my goods, and of course photographing daily life and simple moments that captured my attention and moved me. I opened a coffee shop in the Pasaz Apollo and for many wonderful years this gave me a reason to wake up at 5am and walk into the city chasing and photographing light every day of the year while getting lost in long shadows and the mysteries of sunrise and the early morning hours. For almost seven years I called Poznan my home and it is an honor to know that those seven years have shaped my life in extraordinary ways , inspired me to further pursue a life in photography and chasing light and that every moment of those years will remain firmly embedded in my soul along with a catalog of moments that make me smile at the memory of them. I arrived with an open heart and mind, but it was the people of Poznan who embraced me, made me feel welcome and that I belonged here, giving me new purpose in my new home. As always, thank you.
Upcoming week we'll get the keys of our new home, there is some painting and cleaning work to do, so it'll take some time before we can move in, but I'm very excited about it. Made these keychains for our new keys.
One of the objectives of our roadtrip was to visit the migrant schools in the town of Mae Sot on the border with Myanmar. My daughter had gathered together a heap of donated clothes, toys and bric a brac as well as raising money from within our own school community to help the Burmese teachers who work at the schools teaching migrant workers' children. The teachers and families live in often desperate conditions and their lives are incredibly difficult.
This man is the headmaster at one of the rural schools. Recently the entire school had to move because the original landlord didn't want them any more. Him and his wife have had to rebuild the school themselves as they are not allowed to use any of the teachers or parents to help out because of employment law (jobs like this must be done by Thais). Given that there is no electricity here the gift of a torch was greeted with the hugest of smiles.
In all the pictures from Maesot I have deliberately withheld names and locations to protect those depicted.
New homes that back on the Great Central Railway.
Note the twee alternate coloured roofing tiles. New home builders clearly have no imagination, where are the cutting edge hyper-efficient homes we all desperately need? Factors need addressing such as aligning the aspect so that it catches the maximum amount of sunshine for maximum solar gain at all times of the year.
Nice place to live if you like steam locomotives - this Great Central Railway "the UK's only double track, main line heritage railway".
We have not moved into our new home as yet - still finishing things off.
Thought you might like to see what's behind our garden fence though.
We can hardly wait to move in and chill out!
I think my expression is saying "I hope Charles is not making me look too huge in this photograph..."