Possibilities...

There is this point in my morning where the apartment is empty of people and I relax into it for as long as it lasts in these days of madness.

I was a woman who used to take long walks on lake edges and beaches back home in New Zealand, always with my much-loved labrador. Alone time was something I needed and rarely took forgranted. It has always been a deep-seated need in me, much as I love people.

Last night I wandered into the exhibition to talk further with the owner who wants me to continue taking photographs of the cliental - public self/private self and he will print them much bigger than the 30x45cm framed images I have been hanging.

We'll talk on Saturday and begin on the new path.

The Berlin assignment at the end of the year is delicious and will see my work hanging in one of the big Berlin Museums. Although not one of the 60 artists exhibiting, my work will be there during the 2 month exhibition but more on that when the time comes.

I am quietly spine-shiveringly excited about the prospect of long days and intense photography sessions...

I also put up my hand to photograph a wedding next year. I don't usually pursue weddings as my style doesn't lend itself to the needs of many couples however if they want something different and trust me, then I adore weddings.

The Berlin wedding, shot last year, was one of the high points of my life. A 3-day affair, a Jewish/Muslim wedding with both traditions being honoured in an intensely personalised way. There were rooms that overflowed with people from all over the world, with hugely talented musicians from the Berlin music academy ... a jazz band, a folk band, classical musicians and well ... who knew what was around the corner in that next room.

It was exquisite.

A daughter arrived just as the bride arrived at the wedding hall and I captured the immense love between the bride and that daughter, then the tumbling delighted love of brothers and sisters who worried she might not make it in time.

There was the Polish feast created by the housekeeper, the Jewish ceremony in the Moroccan restaurant, the formal German ceremony in the marriage hall, the dancing ... the wild crazy beautiful celebratory dancing to the passionate Eastern European band.

And so you see, I have a particular idea about the type of wedding I can do.

The bride had tears in her eyes when she viewed the first of 100s of images but there was so much love between people that that was the dominant emotion we captured.

This year seems full of possibilities which is good because as I write this, my 2008 tax return is being done and I had warned the accountant not to pity me ...

I did a lot for free in 2008 - rarely able to resist the impulse to offer photographs to those who allow me to capture them impulsively - those people you see fishing or with their owls or that beautiful young woman starting out as a singer.

And then there's the networking, the need to get my work known and out there. The exhibition was touch and go in the end, costing much more than I had expected ... actually long time readers will probably know that I didn't think through 'the cost' when I said yes to exhibiting.

And so it goes, a year full of possibilities seems to be there right in front of me, inshallah. Let's see how it plays out although I had to laugh as I read Laura's latest post ...