I’m busy editing Ricky’s barmitzvah portraits from last week, and just had to show you these.  When I do portrait sessions for bar mitzvah’s I try to do just a few individual portraits of the siblings… so that mom has updated family photos for everyone.

This is Ricky’s older sister… I just love her eyes!!

I met Ricky and his family at the graffiti wall in Waverley late this afternoon for his portrait shoot ahead of his barmitzvah.  We did a few photos at the newly painted wall, before heading to a park for a few more photos… and then onto the Pine Street Shul for more formal family photos and some re-enactment photos ahead of the simcha.

I love this part of every barmitzvah portrait shoot I do… when the dad helps his son with the tallis for the first time

Oh and then my next favourite part is the look on dad’s face when his son reads the hebrew scripture in front of him for the first time.  This is what being a photographer is all about… being witness to family history

Ricky’s shoot this afternoon was extra special, because both his grandfathers took part  it’s such a special time for a family.

If you’re a regular blog reader, you may be interested in the camera I used today… I got my new replacement 5D mkII ) so I’m  a happy bunny right now…it arrived just in the nick of time!  Although, saying that, the older camera would have coped with today, but this one is so much nicer with low light!

Sean contacted me a few months ago to organise his family photoshoot.  He’d seen the photos that I’d taken of his friend JP, and decided that I needed to take his family photos too… what an honour!  It was the first time that I’d been flown to another part of the country for a lifestyle photoshoot!!

And oh my, what an amazing weekend it’s been.  I flew to George yesterday morning, and was met at the airport by Sean and his family, who drove me to Mossel Bay where they live.  I stayed in a gorgeous self catering place in Point Village, and was completely spoilt all weekend… but more about that in tomorrow’s blog post.

I met up with the family in the late afternoon yesterday to take advantage of the end of day light, and we drove to Little Brak beach for their photoshoot.  We chose that beach because of the expanse of sand, and because they have had very many special family days on that beach so it means a lot to them.  It was very very windy, but other than that the weather was absolutely perfect for the shoot! After the beach, they took me to the Vaaljapie restaurant in Little Brak which is in a disused railway station… and I couldn’t resist taking more photos there.

It was such an amazing weekend, and I cannot thank them enough for asking me to take these special photos.  I think they did enjoy the shoot, because on the way back to Mossel Bay after dinner, the kids, Lara and Haley were both quite sad that they weren’t going to see me on the Sunday… that’s a good sign

I’m taking the photos at Amit’s barmitzvah in a few weeks time, and in preparation, I met him and his family at the Johannesburg Zoo this afternoon for his portrait photoshoot.  These portrait shoots are done quite a while in advance of the actual mitzvah so that the photobook can be designed and printed.

I’ve been a bad daily photographer, and I’ve been far too busy to pick up my camera much this week, so I have to cheat and show you a photo from a few weeks ago.  You haven’t seen this particular image yet, but I just love it! I took it during Gerda’s family shoot, and I love the light through the grass and the angle of her body and… just everything about this photo.

In other news, I’ve hopefully got some exciting news to tell you all in a few days about my photography workshop, and in addition, I’ve decided that my blog needs a revamp so I’m getting a new logo designed and I’ve been hunting for a new blog layout… busy busy busy!!