To my Hero to Esther Bunnings

Esther is one of my Heros.  She reminds me, in her attention to her beauty, of the finely quoiffed women of the Deep South I grew up with...but a bit more daring and cheek in her style.  So on first meeting this lady your first thoughts are about how beautiful she is....then you get to know her and realize that not only is she beautiful but that she has this gorgeous Kiwiness about her that is a bit shy and reserved, and would never initially let on that she is freeking brilliant.  We are opposites in so many ways.  I am a loud American who doesn't mind chatting about the awesome things that are happening.  Esther as any good Kiwi would, struggles with telling people how awesome she is.  She drips talent, I mean it.  I bow deeply to her years in the field, her brilliance and attention to detail, and the gentle humour she used to capture the spirit of a person. I have so much to learn from this woman.  This year she won not one but two bars to her fellow, got several golds,  and took out the highest scoring print in New Zealand, and was robbed in my humble opinion of winning a category as well.  
But she did win Wellington Photographer of the Year and deserved it one hundred percent!!!!!
So being the loud American that I am I am going to shout from the roof tops for my beautiful Kiwi friend and tell the World that Esther Bunnings is amazing and if you are not following her work you should.  She is about to launch a book called Children of the Wairarapa.  And if you are a fan of beautiful photography you should buy one of the books.  And send loving thoughts to the gods of International Shipping because the poor incredibly organized woman has planned a book launch ordered the books with plenty of time to spare and the books seem to be lost somewhere in the land of international shipping.  Send your book finding energy her way and wish her the best possible launch ever!  I can't wait to get my hands on one of the copies...And get her to sign it because she is my hero!

We learned something at the NZIPP conference about practising the highly refined American art of Shameless Self Promotion.  Well, being born and raised there it is something as simple as breathing for type A, Extroverted, types like myself....but instead today I would like to practice Shameless Esther Promotion because she is simply the shiz and I thought more people should know about her.

I adore you to bits Esther and I plan on trying to give you a run for your money next year. :).  You have set the bar incredibly high so I best start training in getting my big jumps on. :) Thank you for your generosity, encouragement to us young (in photography) whipper snappers, and I am pleased to have  you and Terry educating and cheering on our efforts in Wellington.  You are our little royal family and we are lucky to have you.