A portrait series about the delicate changes of the soul that happen when one begins on a journey of reconnecting with nature.
My story is not a dramatic one. It is one of lyricism and subtle change, of contemplation and joy.
I met Florentina working in an office in Copenhagen, both of us foreigners in that city. We were colleagues and became friends. It didn’t happen overnight — we took our time learning about each other. Mutual respect blossomed.
I’d just started a new project focusing on people’s stories of their sense of home and belonging. Nature featured greatly in all of my endeavors, as it is among the wild grasses and tall trees that I source my identity. I was curious as to how others felt about it. I approached Florentina with the idea of interviewing and photographing her, and she gladly agreed. We picked a natural spot and set out to explore one cold November day.
A couple weeks later, we had a free-flow conversation, and I was surprised to discover that she never really thought about nature much. She told me that she appreciated it at a distance and was glad that it was there, but that she barely ever sought any connection with it. She didn’t know how to connect with it or why.
Over the course of the next 8 month we returned to that spot several times. Sometimes we felt like taking a few photographs; other times all we wanted to do was walk through the tall grass or sit under a blooming elderberry tree and just talk. We’d share childhood memories, laugh and drink home-brewed herbal tea from a thermos. Often, we’d just enjoy the quietness.
One day, Florentina suddenly told me that something had been stirring in her. Something she couldn’t yet put a finger on. It was the birth of a timid interest in seeking connectedness with the natural world, in wanting to understand it more and, ultimately, to understand herself better. I was moved deeply because that was precisely what I had hoped would happen! I helped this fellow human being trigger a process I call the rewilding of the soul. One shy step at a time.
These portraits document some of the moments along that path.