Love Is...

Angus and Sara
Grahamstown

I thought that I knew where the best view in Grahamstown was. I, like many before me, used to think that it was the view from the Monument, looking over the wall of Fort Selwyn and seeing the Cathedral laid out at my feet. But, on one beautiful afternoon, I was shown just how wrong I was.

I remember Angus saying the last time he was in my studio that cameras make him uncomfortable, but with Sara beside him, he just can't stop smiling. The grins refuse to fade from either of their faces, and as I ask them to look into each others' eyes, it's like they are acknowledging a shared secret - one that no one else knows and that they won't let on. They dance around each other as they position themselves, comfortable in each others spaces. There is nothing that these two don't share as they have made space for each other in their lives.

As we consider where to go for the second half of their photo shoot, I am going through the regular Grahamstown favourites – the Botanical gardens, the Monument, Grey Dam perhaps if they are looking for something a little different – but they have somewhere else in mind. We head onto the highway, and I wonder where they are taking me, especially when they tell me to turn off only a few k’s down the road. As I manoeuvre the little car between the potholes that line the road, I wonder what I've gotten myself in for, but as we pull up alongside a single house set on a hill and the view comes into sight, I understand completely why this is the location that they've chosen.

From here, we are on top of the world, looking down on it in all its glory. From here, you can see everything – Grahamstown as a whole – painted in sunset tones, and as they stand together looking over it all, I can see how at home Angus and Sara are. While I am tiptoeing, worried about potential snakes, they are in their element, surrounded by nature and the place that they call home. As they walk between the strands of long grass, their hands clasped together, supporting each other, I smile to myself.

This is their secret, this peacefulness and love, and a Love Is... comic comes to mind. Love is... Tranquility.