Finding True Love on Fogo Island

What you don't see

Driving along the shoreline of this town we saw the most beautiful sunset and wanted to stop to capture it. But what we didn’t know was that stopping to capture this view was going to give us a perspective on life that we never could have dreamed of.

We saw all these boats lined up in a row, and couldn’t resist getting our drone up for an even better angle.

But we couldn’t help to notice this wooden boat full of character, and we could only imagine the countless stunning sunsets it had long been made part of over its years.

Meet Wendell & Geraldine

We walked up to the couple on the dock and introduced ourselves and began talking to this couple. They chatted with us while continuing on with bringing in their boat, which quickly unfolded to us seeing a side of them that captured our hearts.

The Little Things

We quickly noticed the little things about Wendell and Geraldine, like the way they always kept their arms around each other and cuddled in closer at every chance they had.

Their Laughter

The way they laughed and smiled at one another was our favourite part. Their love together was truly something we could have only dreamed of witnessing.

Dancing on the Dock

We played Frank Sinatra on a portable speaker that we always bring along with us on road trips and Wendell and Geraldine danced as the sun set on the most calming and peaceful view we had ever seen.

It Was Their Everyday

They sat back in their fishing boat for us to capture one last photo of them, and they began to tell us how this was their everyday. They loved seeing this view and knew how fortunate they were to live in such a calm and remote place.

Only The Beginning

We rolled up our film and slipped our cameras into our bag as the sunset and that was only the beginning. Wendell and Geraldine invited us into their home for tea and desserts and shared stories with us of their daughters and their house. Geraldine showed me her wedding dress which she had carefully tucked away in a closet upstairs and walked me around all the photos of their children and grandchildren they had on the walls of their home. Needless to say, we were overcome with joy and happiness once we left and knew we had met them for a reason.

I cried.

I packed my film camera for this trip, not certain when or where I would use it. When we pulled off to the side of the road to capture this sunset, I remember seeing Wendell and Geraldine at the end of their dock and saying to Amir how perfect it would be to capture them but how I couldn’t just go up to them and start snapping away. But all thanks to Amir, he said just go talk to them. I learned a lot in the hours that followed.

Capturing Geraldine and Wendell through the lense of my film camera was like reading the greatest love story. I was so aware of the way they interacted, the way they loved and cherished one another and the how happy they were with the life that they had built together. I soon found myself in tears, overwhelmed by so many emotions. I was thinking of all the untold stories that we pass by when we travel to new places, all the ways that couples love each other outside of the hustle and bustle of the city, and how effortless true love really is. This proved it wasn’t about the fanciest mansion, the crystal clear blue water, or the perfect boat from a catalogue, it was about the relationship they had together that made them the happiest of everything in their lives.