As a travel writer, essayist and lecturer, and one of the growing number of people living in a country other than where they were born, Pico Iyer is in constant motion much of the time and for most of his life he had a hard time saying where he called home. The occasion of his family’s house being burned to the ground in the Painted Cave Fire followed by a restorative stay at a Monastery, led him to the discovery that though no fixed address filled the bill, his true home was within himself, a revelation made possible by “doing” nothing and taking the time to look within and without,, with none of the distractions of our electronics laden and dizzying lives. I had the occasion to meet and photograph Mr. Iyer in the house his parents rebuilt after the fire, perched on the spine of a ridge halfway up the mountains above Santa Barbara. There are 360 degree views of mountains above and ocean below, and an overwhelming sense of peace and tranquility. The house is beautifully designed and spacious, and the decor invitingly exotic. I was made to feel welcome and appreciated right away and any anxiety about my schedule which entailed leaving afterwards for 4 days to shoot the Ojai Music Festival, melted away. The encounter with such an obviously thoughtful, kind and at peace person was so refreshing and uplifting, and we got to work quickly at locations inside and out of the house. It all passed so quickly and with such little fuss that I felt energized and relaxed at the same time, and grateful for the opportunity to meet Pico and his wife Hiroko Takeuchi.
