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Toronto Portrait Photographer || HEARTshots || Black + White Photography

Memoirs and musings of Darius Bashar. Toronto portrait photographer and writer, in pursuit of all things real, raw and intimate. 

Posts tagged Jennifer Mansell
Closer Than we Realize

The first time I saw Jenn I swear time stopped. 

My housemate at the time Andrew Peek was a founding member of Camp Reset and he had invited the whole leadership team to our place for their first ever team meeting. I was in my bedroom editing and I had to go to the washroom so I walked through the living room.

There were so many awesome humans there. But when I saw Jenn, time literally stopped.

It was as if we had met many times before. But I was in a committed relationship (and I also had to pee) so I quickly snapped back to reality and didn’t think twice about it. 

The second time I met Jenn was at Camp Reset. We didn’t speak at all. We barely acknowledged each other’s existence. Which made sense because we were total strangers, but also felt sad to the part of my heart that knew what we would one day become. 

The third time I met Jenn was in a photoshoot. She booked a black and white portrait session for her birthday. That day was the first time Jenn actually saw me. And everything changed.

On that day, our hearts met for the first time. We were both still in romantic relationships, so we decided to start a friendship. We texted about life, creativity and spirituality. It was heartwarming and totally platonic. 

Over the course of the next two years we became close friends. And then over time, our friendship slowly extended into a creative partnership. We did creative photoshoots together and even started a hilarious podcast were we talked about our dating lives. Our shared love for creativity and human expression brought us closer together.

Until one day we popped our heads up and realized with great surprise, “Holy shit… I think we both caught feelings.”

Now Jenn is the most important thing in my life. She’s brought more love, laughter and growth than I could’ve ever imagined. She’s taught me more about myself than anyone else. She’s my forever Valentine.

And to think she was sitting right under my nose for years!

Sometimes what we long for is closer than we realize. We just need to be willing to open our eyes and our hearts and let it in. 

I love you babe. 

Thanks for all of it. The ups, the downs and everything in between. I wouldn’t change a thing. 

Love, 

D