Photographing Murielle and Arturo reignited the spark in why I love being a photographer so much. Watching the two of them interact in our short and impromptu photoshoot gave me butterflies. They are in a long distance engagement with the entire Atlantic between them with no end in sight. They are working very hard figure out how to ultimately be in the same place. I have only known Arturo for a short while but I can tell you that I have only seen passion from him. Passion for his music, wine and his woman. He is also one of the fanciest people I have ever met! I met Murielle just moments before these photos were taking over a glass of Mesta and I could immediately understand why her charm swept him away. She has a pretty cute accent too :)

Before posting this, I asked Arturo to email me a little about their love story. Reading it made me both giddy and sat heavy in my heart. Love is rooting for you guys and if you can accomplish this, nothing can stand in your way. Love doesn't know what distance is.

From Arturo:

Murielle and I met near the end of my year in Switzerland. She was working in the ticket office at the Opera House (Grand Théâtre de Genève) where I would perform with my orchestra. I was going to get tickets for a friend to attend an opera and there she was! I asked her to have a glass of wine and four glasses later we had decided to see each other again that weekend. After failing to win my auditions, I was forced to leave just over a month later. We talked about what to do and despite the ridiculous odds against us, neither of us were willing to give up on what we had.

When I moved back to the US in November things were definitely going to be hard. The plan at the time was for me to try to win a job in europe somewhere and she said she would move there with me. She visited me in Michigan for a week in December, then I went back to Sweden and Switzerland at the end of January for auditions. We got to spend some time together, but it was only 1.5 weeks and both of us were working the majority of the time. It was then almost 5 months before we saw each other again when she came to stay with me for 9 weeks this summer. We've spent about two thirds of our time "together" apart and are very ready to be together in reality! Our joke used to be "as long as we're on the same continent, we'll be ok"...

The spirit of our whole relationship has been thus: Who cares what the world says/thinks/orders, we are worth the risk and in it for the adventure. When I asked her to marry me officially, we went outside, looked up at the stars, silently enjoyed the universe and it's sights and sounds and I asked her if she'd keep adventuring with me all our lives. Our one year anniversary was yesterday and the new goal is, despite all odds (again) to continue our adventure together asap, but certainly before this time next year.