LUX* South Ari Atoll, Maldives

You know that giddy, electrifying feeling when you're aware you're about to have a life-defining moment? This was one of those times.

Let's backtrack a little: in the year before I left Australia, I pursued my love of teaching and my love of photography, running photography workshops in South Brisbane with Workshop Brisbane/Workshop Australia. Although I've always been naturally drawn to any form of teaching, I'm often shy to start—perhaps because, like many creatives, I suffer from a severe case of impostor syndrome, and that I can't possibly be good enough in anything to be teaching it to somebody else. I doubt there's ever going to be a piece of paper, milestone or accolade that will make me feel as if I am, but strangely, that seems to keep me going.

In December—in the car on the way to dinner with my fellow yoga teachers, frustrated with an ankle still healing from surgery, and on crutches, no less—I got the call about this: the opportunity to run my photography workshops at LUX* Resorts in the Maldives, Mauritius and Reunion Island.

I had a hard time believing it was real. I only told people outside my family after the flights were actually booked (which wouldn't be until April the following year). This would not only be my first time travelling to the Indian Ocean, it would be my first time travelling completely solo, and there were many other firsts I ticked off along the way (e.g., this was my first time catching 5 flights in a row just to get to one destination, one of which was in a seaplane).

So here's a long, long post from my first time in the Maldives, capturing the beauty at LUX* South Ari Atoll. Despite it being “winter”, the air was warm (above 30ºC most days) and the water was inviting. Now that I live in the mountains, it had been some time since I had been near the ocean, and oh, how I forgot what that felt like. As for the workshops—the Maldives certainly made for a photogenic backdrop. I doubt I'd say no if I was asked to teach photography here again...