The Portraits – Susannah

Susannah, beautiful friend, gentile spirit, talented writer, founder of Mexico Retold. When Susannah wrote me about making her head-shots, I said yes of course … all the while quite aware that I don’t know how to make a classic head-shot, but that we would make some beautiful photos together. When I was looking through the images after the shoot, I was captivated, her innate strength surfaced and shone in each photo. I was staring at this strikingly present, fiercely determined and genuinely kind woman for hours and I had moments of feeling like I was seeing my dear friend with new eyes, with the same understanding of brilliant human being that she is, but something was new to me; an incredible feeling and also slightly mind-boggling. For me, these portraits are Susannah, truly transmitting so much of the remarkable woman that she is. She shared a glimpse of her story, for which I am extremely grateful, enjoy, and thank you, Susannah.

Moving to Mexico gave me a chance to pursue my writing and my surroundings bring me inspiration everyday. Mexican doors are especially inspiring to me with their layered histories and I am sure that there is a book about them waiting to be written. I almost have it but it isn’t yet fully formed. I like to let stories play around in my subconscious for a while until they pop to the forefront of my mind and demand to be told.

When I became a permanent resident of Mexico I had a moment of reflection about my life. I realized that if you had told me ten years ago that right now I would be a permanent resident of the country I always dreamed about, that I would be writing for a living and that I would be in the most inspiring, loving and incredible relationship with a man who makes me laugh everyday, I would have said, ‘Sign me up for that’. Now I am working hard on pursuing my writing goals so that in another ten years I can look back and say the same thing. I guess I believe that everyday our actions are creating our future reality.

I believe it was Gloria Steinhem who said, “writing is the only thing…that when I am doing it I don’t feel that I should be doing something else” and that sums up writing for me. Writing can bring me absolute joy, when I compose the perfect sentence and utter anguish, when something just isn’t coming together. But whichever emotion it is stirring, I always have the underlying certainty that I am right where I am supposed to be.