SUNSET AT RUAPUKE WITH AIDA AND NIMA
Ada and Nima came out to Ruapuke with me for sunset.
We started with the fun stuff, walking, spinning, and a bit of chasing along the sand while the light was still high. That’s usually where couples loosen up, and these two didn’t need long. They were easy with each other from the start, the way you are when nobody’s watching, except this time I was, and the camera was, and it didn’t change anything. Hands finding each other, leaning in, that kind of thing.
I’m guessing that a beach photoshoot is Nima’s idea of a good time. But he was all in, the whole way through, because it mattered to her. And the thing I kept catching through the lens was the way he looked at her. You can’t direct that. It’s either there or it isn’t.
As the light dropped we moved to the rocks for the quieter ones, foreheads together, slow and close, the sea going gold behind them.
It was Ada’s birthday the week before, so we finished with some photos of just her. She’d worn a red dress, and when I offered to take her into the water she didn’t hesitate. The last of the light, the dress in the waves, her not holding anything back. A good way to mark a birthday.
— Tony
