AXIOO

I realize that relationships are messy. It requires lots of patience, hard work, sacrifice. The games take a step up when two people from two different backgrounds come together and decide to build the rest of their lives together. The stakes are higher, the challenges are bigger and it’s an entirely different ballgame. But in the midst of all that, there is underlying beauty to be uncovered, because the reward is so much greater.

I had the chance to learn about this firsthand when I shot for Harry and Yerim. Harry is an Indonesian who has won the heart of Yerim, the Korean beauty. They speak different languages and come from entirely different backgrounds. In a glance, you can see they are worlds apart. Yerim communicates with Harry’s parents in Mandarin, but Harry needs her to translate when he speaks to her parents. And as much as hard as Harry tries to learn Korean, Yerim knows that it would be much easier for her to learn Indonesian. You’d think that they have a problem, but they actually don’t. They communicate with each other just as couples in love should be, they sort out issues accordingly and they make the necessary sacrifices. Here is where I learned that commitment beats all the odds. When you’re committed to loving someone for the rest of your lives, no matter how apart your worlds are, you will go that distance.

Harry knows just how beautiful his bride is. But what he doesn’t know that it’s his presence that made Yerim so comfortable to capture. He’s always paying attention to her and he treats her like his porcelain doll. It’s no wonder how Yerim can be so head-over-heels with this man who loves her so selflessly.

 I think we can all learn a thing or two from this couple. And here are just a few of my favorite shots of them.

Enjoy,

Paulus