Bex at the cliffs - Sumner, NZ 2004

Recently, Sumner, a small town outside of Christchurch, New Zealand was hit with yet another earthquake – one of many aftershocks the region has encountered since a large quake in February. Fortunately this quake doesn’t seem to have taken any lives, but it’s still a tragedy and has caused  good bit of damage, disrupting the quiet lives of what I think is possibly one of the best places one could live. I used to live in Sumner (for a too brief 5-6 months) and had always planned on returning, hoping to share this place with some new people. Many days I would wake up and start the day with a run, where I’d stop at the top of an exhausting climb before I ran on a trail that was sort of embedded on the cliffsides. The spot at the top of the climb was just majestic – one of my favorite places. (Pictured above)

It sounds crazy but that spot fell into the ocean. Just fell in. The running trail is gone. Can’t take anyone there anymore. I brought my crappy little digital camera up there once, I think, and the sun performed that morning so that I can remember it this way – and it wasn’t always this way. I’m happy I did made the effort to bring that camera now, since I won’t get the chance to go back. I know this isn’t the same sort of loss that many people struggle with that is on a much bigger scale, but I still feel like this is a bit of a personal loss, and this might be the first thing that I’ve really lost and will never get back that I’ve preserved in a picture, which makes it take on new level of importance. Nothing is forever and I’m thankful that I got to experience this place while it was there, and I know that the people and the town will recover and it’s still a beautiful place to be, but it’s going to be a bit different now. Strangely enough this is also one of the few early pictures I made that made me think about becoming a photographer, because at that point I had no idea I would be.