“My name is Mike Cooper. I was born in 1949 and 70 years old. I’m flat lined with a heart attack ten years ago and have two stents in my heart! I am wearing a Medical alert bracelet on left wrist. On my right I’m wearing recycled beads – cleaning waste plastic from the oceans.
I am self-employed and using bacteria to reduce grease in the drains as well as NZ made and designed wool used mainly inside air filters to eliminate grease in the atmosphere in commercial kitchens.
I’m committed both in my business and my private life to protecting our precious and fragile environment.
Kia Kaha NZ”
https://ilanwittenberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/DSC03547-Edit-1.jpg12801920Ilan Wittenberghttps://ilanwittenberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Ilan-Wittenberg-Logo-version-4.jpgIlan Wittenberg2019-11-22 21:44:512019-11-25 14:52:42Mike Cooper
“I am a father of three: 20, 9 & 8 who’s known to have a very busy schedule. In the past, I have shown people that everything in my life is fine on the surface, when in reality I have battled with depression, chronic alcoholism and gambling addictions which lead me down a path of self destruction. I have like many people tried and failed to combat the lifestyle of pain. There is a lot more to add, however I can say I am still here trying, haven’t given up on life, making better life decisions, wanting to live, not just exist. That is the bare truth.”
https://ilanwittenberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/DSC06377-Edit.jpg12801919Ilan Wittenberghttps://ilanwittenberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Ilan-Wittenberg-Logo-version-4.jpgIlan Wittenberg2019-11-05 22:57:312019-11-05 22:57:56Sophie on the Rocks
https://ilanwittenberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/DSC08692-Edit.jpg12801919Ilan Wittenberghttps://ilanwittenberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Ilan-Wittenberg-Logo-version-4.jpgIlan Wittenberg2019-11-02 21:21:232020-03-30 17:48:01Olivia on the Rocks
https://ilanwittenberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/DSC04286-Edit-1.jpg1280854Ilan Wittenberghttps://ilanwittenberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Ilan-Wittenberg-Logo-version-4.jpgIlan Wittenberg2019-10-31 09:55:482019-10-31 09:55:48Courtney in the Sun
I am a strong woman because I was raised by a strong woman. I am the woman that I am thanks to my mother who raised me on her own since she was 17 years old and taught me that women are the agents of change in our empowerment process and that we must take the reins to direct our own life. We must rebel and move from “Cannot be done” to “I can do it.” We are not born strong, it takes will and character to become strong. Strength is what drives us to live every day, overcoming challenges and obstacles. It is we who are responsible for deciding which path to take.
I am three years away from my fortieth birthday. Perhaps the dawning of this milestone, coupled with a sudden paradigm shift in my religious views just over a year ago, resulted in what others describe as a “midlife crisis”. I call it my “midlife rediscovery”. Perhaps the catalyst to my “existential crisis” was just my coming to the end of myself – who knows. What I do know however, is that I am no longer surviving this journey, but am now living an exceedingly abundant and passionate life.
Raised in Namibia, I was sexually molested as a child, raped twice as an adolescent, and eventually fell pregnant at age 16. My eldest son (of four) is one of only three people in the world with his specific congenital heart defect – resulting in him waiting for a heart transplant. I mention this only because many seek to understand my perceived recklessness through an “informed” lens centred on my prior, character-forming experiences. There may be some semblance of justification to this notion.
The father of my three subsequent children is perfect in every way – we had a wonderful – enviable marriage for nearly 17 years, until I burnt out as I sought to uphold perfection in the various constructs I found myself in. He, even today, says that I was indeed the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the perfect homesteader, the perfect student and the perfect religious devotee.
I left all of that behind in 2018 to find who I truly was again. To date I have lost 49kgs. I have resumed pursuing my passions and have enjoyed a plethora of social experiences that make my every single day pure delight.
I have changed: from a religious fundamentalist devotee, to an agnostic Pan-Romantic pleasure-seeker; from home-schooling, stay-at-home mother, to a transient woman who has daily telephone contact – and fortnightly physical contact with her children; from being mortgage-free after owning my own home since the age of 20, to house-sitting now, and as yet undecided as to which country I will call home next year.
I have changed so much so that countless friends tell me that they do not know this, new, changed Simone. I tell them that this is the True Simone.
“I hated school. I had a teacher named Mr Anaru. He didn’t understand me.. why I couldn’t stop moving why I was always “overly excited”.
My mother, my brother and my sister were physically and psychologically abused by my father until we were saved by my “Miru” family and my Apelu family.
Mr Anaru placed me in the corner with no learning material for the majority of my primary school years at Dominion Rd Primary school. No kids wanted to play with me. Not even my brother.
I fucking hated school.
1 father, 1 brother, 1 sister, 1 mom
“YOU WAIT TILL YOU GET HOME BOY!”
My father was sick. He looked me in the eyes and said to me: “You don’t even look like me! Your mom must have fucked your uncle Whipper! Look at you!.” but he would always contradict himself by saying “remember. I made you, I can destroy you!”
I remained still, quiet, and thought ‘why dad?.. Why did you say this?’
1 brother, 1 sister, 1 mom
Tears in my eyes, hands clasped together. My brother laughed at me as I begged god for the beatings to stop. (I haven’t prayed in front of anyone except my friend Sarah since.)
My mom came home and the beatings stopped.
Mom saved me.
I then sat in my room listening to my mom gasping for air as my father strangled her.
1 sister, 1 mother.
My sister laughed at me running away from her when my father gave her his belt to “teach me”.
1 mother.
At age 7, I would run in front of West Auckland traffic in hopes the cars would “save me”
I said to mom: “I feel like I wasn’t supposed to be born.”
She said to me.. “shut up and stop thinking like that.. you don’t ever say that!”
1 mother.
The scars have held power over me until I turned thirty this year.
I’ve burned so many bridges because I chose to ignore my “numbness” and accept my “weaknesses” and my instabilities in this life.. I’ve used people who have loved me. I’ve stolen money out of my moms wallet. I’ve cheated on women and used them for purely nothing but my own pleasure.
At the bottom of my well of darkness..
My mom sat there with me saying:“You don’t give up my boy.”“My boy” was all I needed to hear.
Only once I began to accept that I was weak and sick and unaccepting of others – did I start healing my scars.
Every action is measured by the sentiment from which it proceeds.. Yes. but, we need to acknowledge that an action or thought could be a taught pattern of toxicity… Accept yourself, and you reclaim yourself in complete wholeness.”
– Alexander “Zanda” Adlam
Frank had just returned a lost supermarket trolley when I introduced myself at the Milford mall carpark. I saw Frank many times before, always walking briskly from Takapuna to Milford, his back very badly hunched, carrying a large sack on his shoulder. Frank was delighted to strike a conversation and explained that he makes some money by collecting bits of scrap metal from the streets and recycling it. He is “on the benefit” and gets ten or fifteen dollars a week from his lawyer (???). He was on his way to the beach to collect shells which he then glues onto bottles. He also decorates vases with shells and wants me to visit his home as no other photographer agreed to take photos of his art. He likes making crosses out of wood and covering them with shells. He finds pieces of wood on the streets or when he helps out on building sites – ideally cedar wood!
He was kicked out from his foster home when the landlord died, the landlady died too. There used to be a way to transform bottles into lamps but that kit is hard to get now…
I dropped him back at the beach when we finished and he was delighted when I said that I will send him an A4 print by post.
“Life is fluid. Always moving, never stopping. Seconds to minutes to hours to days to weeks to months to years. From birth to death. Then a photo freezes me in time. Holding that moment for all to see, never again can that moment be captured. Time, after that second, has moved on. I can only look at that photo now and remember the experience. That, is who I was, then.”
“Before coming in New Zealand I worked as a special counterterrorism operator. I am from Macedonia, a small country that many people do not know exists even though it was considered a great world power before Christ, led by Alexander the Great. I spent 28 tough years of my life and I do not regret it, as Frank Roosevelt said “a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor”. I served my country for 5 years being part of the most elite “Special Task Unit”. Its main tasks are counterterrorism, resolving hostage situations and raid into facilities. I was also a part of the diving team, searching the underwater terrain, downers and objects of crime. In 2015 we had a terrorist attack that killed 8 of my colleagues and wounded 36. That was a wake-up call for me to start a family. I got married in 2015 and by 2016 my son was born. As the time was passing my private life started to get influenced by my work and that was the last thing I wanted. In 2017 my wife and I decided to leave the country to start a new life which will benefit us, and most of all our son – we purposely chose New Zealand. We have been living here for two years now, although we feel like whole lifetime. Here I have many opportunities and for me the mission is not over, because only the brave are followed by fortune…” Check out the Bare Truth series to see more.
BannerText_Seraphinite Accelerator
Mike Cooper
“My name is Mike Cooper. I was born in 1949 and 70 years old. I’m flat lined with a heart attack ten years ago and have two stents in my heart! I am wearing a Medical alert bracelet on left wrist. On my right I’m wearing recycled beads – cleaning waste plastic from the oceans.
I am self-employed and using bacteria to reduce grease in the drains as well as NZ made and designed wool used mainly inside air filters to eliminate grease in the atmosphere in commercial kitchens.
I’m committed both in my business and my private life to protecting our precious and fragile environment.
Kia Kaha NZ”
John
“I am a father of three: 20, 9 & 8 who’s known to have a very busy schedule. In the past, I have shown people that everything in my life is fine on the surface, when in reality I have battled with depression, chronic alcoholism and gambling addictions which lead me down a path of self destruction. I have like many people tried and failed to combat the lifestyle of pain. There is a lot more to add, however I can say I am still here trying, haven’t given up on life, making better life decisions, wanting to live, not just exist. That is the bare truth.”
Chris Foaga
Sophie on the Rocks
Tranquility Base
War of the Worlds © Ilan Wittenberg 2018 Limited Edition of 9 + 2AP Buy Now
The Rock
The Cliff © Ilan Wittenberg 2018 Limited Edition of 9 + 2AP Buy Now
The Rock © Ilan Wittenberg 2018 Limited Edition of 9 + 2AP Buy Now
Alicia
Portrait Photographer Auckland
Olivia on the Rocks
Olivia
Courtney in the Sun
Mila
Mila
I am a strong woman because I was raised by a strong woman. I am the woman that I am thanks to my mother who raised me on her own since she was 17 years old and taught me that women are the agents of change in our empowerment process and that we must take the reins to direct our own life. We must rebel and move from “Cannot be done” to “I can do it.” We are not born strong, it takes will and character to become strong. Strength is what drives us to live every day, overcoming challenges and obstacles. It is we who are responsible for deciding which path to take.
Olivia
Woman holding a baby Rhino © Ilan Wittenberg 2019 Limited Edition of 9 + 2AP Buy Now
Simone!
Simone
I embrace change.
I am three years away from my fortieth birthday. Perhaps the dawning of this milestone, coupled with a sudden paradigm shift in my religious views just over a year ago, resulted in what others describe as a “midlife crisis”. I call it my “midlife rediscovery”. Perhaps the catalyst to my “existential crisis” was just my coming to the end of myself – who knows. What I do know however, is that I am no longer surviving this journey, but am now living an exceedingly abundant and passionate life.
Raised in Namibia, I was sexually molested as a child, raped twice as an adolescent, and eventually fell pregnant at age 16. My eldest son (of four) is one of only three people in the world with his specific congenital heart defect – resulting in him waiting for a heart transplant. I mention this only because many seek to understand my perceived recklessness through an “informed” lens centred on my prior, character-forming experiences. There may be some semblance of justification to this notion.
The father of my three subsequent children is perfect in every way – we had a wonderful – enviable marriage for nearly 17 years, until I burnt out as I sought to uphold perfection in the various constructs I found myself in. He, even today, says that I was indeed the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the perfect homesteader, the perfect student and the perfect religious devotee.
I left all of that behind in 2018 to find who I truly was again. To date I have lost 49kgs. I have resumed pursuing my passions and have enjoyed a plethora of social experiences that make my every single day pure delight.
I have changed: from a religious fundamentalist devotee, to an agnostic Pan-Romantic pleasure-seeker; from home-schooling, stay-at-home mother, to a transient woman who has daily telephone contact – and fortnightly physical contact with her children; from being mortgage-free after owning my own home since the age of 20, to house-sitting now, and as yet undecided as to which country I will call home next year.
I have changed so much so that countless friends tell me that they do not know this, new, changed Simone. I tell them that this is the True Simone.
I.Embrace.Change.
Beautiful Rachel
Julia Ruth
Alex
Alex
“I hated school. I had a teacher named Mr Anaru. He didn’t understand me.. why I couldn’t stop moving why I was always “overly excited”.
My mother, my brother and my sister were physically and psychologically abused by my father until we were saved by my “Miru” family and my Apelu family.
Mr Anaru placed me in the corner with no learning material for the majority of my primary school years at Dominion Rd Primary school. No kids wanted to play with me. Not even my brother.
I fucking hated school.
1 father, 1 brother, 1 sister, 1 mom
“YOU WAIT TILL YOU GET HOME BOY!”
My father was sick. He looked me in the eyes and said to me: “You don’t even look like me! Your mom must have fucked your uncle Whipper! Look at you!.” but he would always contradict himself by saying “remember. I made you, I can destroy you!”
I remained still, quiet, and thought ‘why dad?.. Why did you say this?’
1 brother, 1 sister, 1 mom
Tears in my eyes, hands clasped together. My brother laughed at me as I begged god for the beatings to stop. (I haven’t prayed in front of anyone except my friend Sarah since.)
My mom came home and the beatings stopped.
Mom saved me.
I then sat in my room listening to my mom gasping for air as my father strangled her.
1 sister, 1 mother.
My sister laughed at me running away from her when my father gave her his belt to “teach me”.
1 mother.
At age 7, I would run in front of West Auckland traffic in hopes the cars would “save me”
I said to mom: “I feel like I wasn’t supposed to be born.”
She said to me.. “shut up and stop thinking like that.. you don’t ever say that!”
1 mother.
The scars have held power over me until I turned thirty this year.
I’ve burned so many bridges because I chose to ignore my “numbness” and accept my “weaknesses” and my instabilities in this life.. I’ve used people who have loved me. I’ve stolen money out of my moms wallet. I’ve cheated on women and used them for purely nothing but my own pleasure.
At the bottom of my well of darkness..
My mom sat there with me saying:“You don’t give up my boy.”“My boy” was all I needed to hear.
Only once I began to accept that I was weak and sick and unaccepting of others – did I start healing my scars.
Every action is measured by the sentiment from which it proceeds.. Yes. but, we need to acknowledge that an action or thought could be a taught pattern of toxicity… Accept yourself, and you reclaim yourself in complete wholeness.”
– Alexander “Zanda” Adlam
Frank
Frank
Frank had just returned a lost supermarket trolley when I introduced myself at the Milford mall carpark. I saw Frank many times before, always walking briskly from Takapuna to Milford, his back very badly hunched, carrying a large sack on his shoulder. Frank was delighted to strike a conversation and explained that he makes some money by collecting bits of scrap metal from the streets and recycling it. He is “on the benefit” and gets ten or fifteen dollars a week from his lawyer (???). He was on his way to the beach to collect shells which he then glues onto bottles. He also decorates vases with shells and wants me to visit his home as no other photographer agreed to take photos of his art. He likes making crosses out of wood and covering them with shells. He finds pieces of wood on the streets or when he helps out on building sites – ideally cedar wood!
He was kicked out from his foster home when the landlord died, the landlady died too. There used to be a way to transform bottles into lamps but that kit is hard to get now…
I dropped him back at the beach when we finished and he was delighted when I said that I will send him an A4 print by post.
Ken
Ken
“Life is fluid. Always moving, never stopping. Seconds to minutes to hours to days to weeks to months to years. From birth to death. Then a photo freezes me in time. Holding that moment for all to see, never again can that moment be captured. Time, after that second, has moved on. I can only look at that photo now and remember the experience. That, is who I was, then.”
Edgy Meg
Mandala
Borche
“Before coming in New Zealand I worked as a special counterterrorism operator. I am from Macedonia, a small country that many people do not know exists even though it was considered a great world power before Christ, led by Alexander the Great. I spent 28 tough years of my life and I do not regret it, as Frank Roosevelt said “a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor”. I served my country for 5 years being part of the most elite “Special Task Unit”. Its main tasks are counterterrorism, resolving hostage situations and raid into facilities. I was also a part of the diving team, searching the underwater terrain, downers and objects of crime. In 2015 we had a terrorist attack that killed 8 of my colleagues and wounded 36. That was a wake-up call for me to start a family. I got married in 2015 and by 2016 my son was born. As the time was passing my private life started to get influenced by my work and that was the last thing I wanted. In 2017 my wife and I decided to leave the country to start a new life which will benefit us, and most of all our son – we purposely chose New Zealand. We have been living here for two years now, although we feel like whole lifetime. Here I have many opportunities and for me the mission is not over, because only the brave are followed by fortune…” Check out the Bare Truth series to see more.