Your Eyes Will Adjust

It’s June, I just got back to Durban, and it’s cooking at Wedge!

Ntando smoking; riots and looting in KwaZuluNatal; the beloved (and very ghetto) China Mall behind my house. Musa hard at work on a new board; road trip with Tiaan; a fancy hotel layover in Jozi.

In Zureich photographing swans and the lake—“Cucumbers!” my former photo professor would exclaim—but a vegetable here and there is fine with me; meeting adorable baby Lou, and hanging with Lea; a day with Johannes in the wild wild West; Elizabeth Peyton’s beautiful paintings in Basel; editing assignments in the early morning; light testing with Lea in my old studio; and a Sunday stroll with Sabina in Winterthur. It’s good to be around fellow photographers …

Then walking the streets in Paris, always on the look-out for punk wall shizzle, and a solid Annie Leibovitz exhibit. It’s warm here and people lounge in the sun—it all makes me feel light and happy. But still I am riddled by insomnia, getting up at 2 a.m. every night, drinking strong coffee. Claudia and Julia Müller’s installation, some old-school graves in Père Lachaise. The metro at Jaurès, and Place des Fêtes. And off to Africa again, yessir … can I get an Amen to that!

In this third year on the road, and the second with Covid, if things get tough, I force myself to remember: I have a roof over my head. A full fridge, a nice phone and kicks, a fresh haircut. An ocean at my fingertips; three brothers. A plane ticket out of this mess … A Swiss passport, two suitcases, a Spartan attitude, determination, experience. Someone to talk to in the dark who smells like home; a patient and wise friend. A laptop to write on, a 6′ 4” board, and my cameras—always.

“One day you will know how long the storm raged, and how well you did.”