I’ve known Edde my whole life. Our Mum’s played tennis together and we were sat, in prams, side by side looking on. We’ve been mates for as long as I can remember, and knowing what his heart for people is like, I wasn’t the least bit surprised when a few years back he told me he was quitting is job here in Australia and heading over to Bali to volunteer for a not for profit, helping kids living in villages spread throughout the country. Neither did it surprise me, when after coming back for a while, he headed back to Bali, this time indefinitely, with the intention of proposing to his Balinese love, Sudi.
Sudi and her wonderful family are from the beautiful village of Desa Kedisan, in Kintamani, a spectacular village in the north eastern mountains of Bali set on the edge of a Crystal Lake, with it’s backdrop, an active volcano, Mt Batur. Edde was completely respectful to Sudi’s family and their steeped heritage, taking the time to plan a traditional proposal that included meeting Sudi’s entire family, and village elders, discussing their planned wedding arrangements and the required dowry of two baby pigs and 1000 Balinese coins…
Sudi’s family priest set the date of their wedding and, though Edde & Sudi are Christian, they wanted to honour Sudi’s family and their Hindu traditions, so decided to hold a three day ceremony in Kintamani, to release Sudi respectfully from the family, prior to having a Christian ceremony against the ocean, in the equally beautiful Ketewel, north of Sanur.
The time I spent in Kintamani was incredible. Sudi and her family welcomed us into their village in the lead up to their three day ceremony, and showed a kindness and hospitality rarely seen anymore. The richness of culture and history in their village and family has to be experienced to be fully appreciated. Incredible food, wonderful company, moving temple ceremonies and a tangible sense of what an important time this was for both Sudi & Edde as well as their families.
I spent almost my entire time over there wondering how I could accurately capture what I was seeing and experiencing in images and at times found myself stopping just to experience what was going on and take it in, favouring the real experience over capturing a frame or two. I’m better for knowing these guys and the experience I had sharing in their time in both Kintamani and Ketewel, I’ll never ever forget. I’m not going to try and describe these experiences, so here’s some frames that I love, images that captured and can hopefully tell some of Sudi & Edde’s story…
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