April 25th 2023: The finishline

I try not to fall in love with the projects I work on, but that is not always easy. The one project currently occupying every single shred of my grey matter has cast its spell on me. That means all commonsense goes out the window. There is no timeline that matches any budget, or any scrap of balance in the workload. Just a bucket of passion and a deadline that looms with incredible intensity. It's a finishline of sorts, but it also feels like a starting point.

And so that has been the rabbithole I have been immersed in for the past few weeks and the one that will dominate this coming week.

My children, who are on school holiday, cheerfully remind me each evening over dinner what I have missed out on in terms of surf. Or what has gone down at the Margaret River Pro (like John John Florence and Ethan Ewing ending up in the same quarterfinal, or Carissa Moore sneaking a buzzer beater without priority to beat Lakey Peterson). I can't even think about the large swell that's forecast to turn the Catlins into something special over the start of this week ...

I still have a few straggler sequences to film for this project and so I managed to escape the edit suite long enough to enjoy a sunrise from the top of Kapukataumahaka (Mt Cargill) with my eldest daughter Taya and friends Ann and Bo Bateman. And the kids made me photograph a playful session in the channel, too.

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS Mother's Day is looming on Sunday May 14 and we all know how much she wants, and deserves, a nice piece of art from Box of Light. Orders need to be in by May 2 to give us enough time to make them for you. Our Perpetuity Series is the perfect place to start ... Or consider one of these limited editions. Some of these are hanging in our gallery, so you can even come and check them out in person.