why the poppies....
the story...
I have never really been any good at living my own life... running away and being someone else has always worked much better for me. I've been a student, a lover, a singer, dancer, writer, always an actress...playing a part. The only thing I have ever been any good at was first when I became a mother and second when I picked up an old dusty camera off my mom's bookshelf. There is a sense of confidence I got the minute I went behind the lens that I hadn't felt with anything else. All of a sudden the camera became an extension of me and I became the person who talks in cliches (such as, 'the camera became an extension of me'). I realized that I could be someone great. I can be someone that my daughter can look up to, I can capture peoples most special moments and be apart of their families lives long after I am gone. That's honestly been the most beautiful part of this journey, Recognizing that one day we'll be gone, and the photographs will have worn edges, but they'll still be here. Cherished. I am incredibly lucky to have found a version of myself that gets to be a part of something so magical... and honored to be a small part of someone's history.
why the poppies...
The most peaceful moment of my life was on a train from Italy to Switzerland. My mom and I traveled Europe for 2 weeks, checking things off our bucket list, going from Venice, to Austria, to the Cotswolds. On a 3 hour express train ride, we talked of our hopes and dreams, all the places we still wanted to see.... and in a moment of silence, we looked out our window to the biggest field of flowers I’d ever seen. Rows and rows of beautiful red poppies... spanning what looked to be miles. Pristine, untouched, dancing in the wind... Looking out that window as if we were in an art gallery and they were the masterpiece. In between Italy and Switzerland... I have never felt more free. Like in between was exactly where I was always meant to be... Dancing with the poppies.
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That moment passed and time went by. More and more versions of myself have lived... then I picked up a camera and it was like all of sudden I had found that peace again, The sense of belonging. Capturing peoples stories and wrapping them up in a perfect memory. There is something so exciting about being the one to capture that moment, Like you're let in on a secret... That no one else will ever fully understand except the people in front of the camera and me behind... Soaking it all in. The stories I see behind the lens are precious, and real... I started 'with the poppies' as a way to capture everything from the big moments to a Tuesday afternoon eating pizza on a rooftop. Every single photograph has a story worth telling, It's there...and I'm here to tell it.
Fairytale, drama, love story, comedy... Come see the world through my lens.
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xoxo,
mackenzie
