These two! You can tell from their photos that they are crazy about each other. Both from opposite sides of the world, they met here in New Zealand while living as flatmates. Kristie from Peru and Andrey from Russia, both fitting into a new Kiwi life with a different language and culture.
Despite coming from entirely different continents, they discovered they were struggling with similar aspects of living in New Zealand as immigrants and their relationship became stronger as they supported each other through their journey. They had big differences too, coming from different worlds where love and affection is expressed in such different ways and social norms are almost as opposite as you can get. Although challenging at times, having these differences helped them to learn new and better ways and together they have become an inseperable duo.
Kristie and Andrey have chosen not to marry. They liken their relationship to birds who are free to fly. They stay together because they choose to be with each other, not bound by anything but their love. So when Kristie told me about her idea to have a photoshoot I wanted to make sure I captured images to really celebrate their love and relationship, because whilst they may not share the same surname, wear matching rings or have a piece of paper to unite them legally, their love for each other is powerful and beautiful and real!
