We are so lucky to live in a time where time travel is possible… and I say time because I have been away for a week but it feels more like three months. I’ve returned with 100 Polaroids, hundreds of iPhone snaps, copious amounts of jewellery, pottery and silverware from the souks and a deepened dusty love for Morocco. I’ve got some serious processing to do — both photographic and emotional — so for now here’s a little peek at some of the sights I saw last week…
Thank you for all your comments and emails about Blogging from the Heart — I am so fired up and ready to start weaving this tapestry for you! Today, however, i will be resting on the sofa, as I just got back from a few days with my nephew and now have another cold — a lot of bugs and viruses get passed around the nursery, huh? Poor Noah is always poorly, as are his mummy & daddy, his nana, and now his auntie! But it was worth it — it’s always worth it when it comes to that tiny ray of sunshine. I have some new Polaroids of him I can’t wait to share with you :) In the meantime, here are some Polas from my trip to Marrakesh last year. I had to keep so my shots for the book I wasn’t able to share them here, but now the books are ostensibly done, I can share the rejects at last…. more soon!
December 3. Memory
Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors). (Author: Ali Edwards)
It was my first afternoon in New York City. On my own, in the sunshine, a Polaroid camera in my hands — just the way I like it. After meeting my agent and editor for breakfast — our first meeting, and an auspicious moment in itself — I wandered through Madison Square Park and made my way towards Greenwich Village; considering it was my very first time in the city I didn’t for a moment feel out of place or lost. Perhaps it’s because so many of the films, artists and music I love were born in New York, but whatever it was, I felt completely and perfectly at home. Sauntering along Bleeker Street, turning a corner then another, letting my feet lead the way with no agenda, no worries, just me and the city. It was my afternoon of bliss… excitement… discovery… freedom.
When I snapped the photo above with my iPhone I was feeling as present and alive as I’d been watching my nephew be born five months earlier. Euphorically alive. How the streets glowed in the afternoon light! The pavement hot and dirty, the scent of food impossible to distinguish — Mexican? Hot dogs? Coffee & sickly doughnuts were in there for sure. The people enchanted me: the lady who gave me the address of her favourite book shop in London; the guy who invited me to an art party; the gent who admired my Polaroid and let me shoot his portrait. It was all so seductive. I fell in love with a city, and every time i see photos of New York my heart aches like it would for a long-lost lover. Ridiculous, really, but I am smitten. 
For #Reverb10
