Amazing what life has in stock for us sometimes. I went to photograph a pregnant colleague of my husband, a doctor/scientist from Turkey. Her mum, who arrived for the birth from a small village outside of Istanbul, came along to the shoot. At the end, just as the sun was setting behind a small patch of moss, this amazing lady graciously allowed me to take a portrait of her. She looked at me and a miracle happened. The sky opened, the earth cracked, the moss became a fire and through her eyes I walked into her soul. It felt cozy being there, her soul reminding me of a grand kitchen full of people talking over each other, with a grandmother knitting small woollen animal toys in the corner and one of the dogs secretly steeling a piece of sausage from the table. Nobody got angry at him, even when they noticed. I didn’t want to come back to the real world, but someone had to press a shutter.

You have marked my heart and I will never forget you. You are beautiful.