This was a first for me… I’ve never done a matric dance photoshoot before .

I met Xana and Devin and their families yesterday afternoon, at The Farmhouse guest house in Linden before their matric dance.  They were meeting up with friends for pre-dance drinks, and I did a lifestyle portrait shoot with them in the grounds of the guest house (and their families), while another photographer took photos of all the other friends and the main group photo. Thankfully the other photographer didn’t see what I saw in the grounds, and Xana and Devin’s photos look very different to the rest.

Xana and Devin’s matric dance was held in the school hall at the De La Salle Holy Cross school in Linden.  One of the traditions at the school is the red carpet event that welcomes the matrics to their dance.  Crowds start gathering an hour before the matrics arrive, and each couple gets to walk down the red carpet past the cheering crowds what fun!!  Jane (Xana’s mom) asked me to capture that part too, in a more photojournalistic style.

Hope they enjoyed the rest of their evening… I was pleased to get into my warm car after that icy cold wind that was whipping around the school!

Michelle works with me, and she’s been speaking about her horse Garland since I met her, so I was thrilled when she asked me to take photos of him with her family at their home north of Johannesburg.  She wanted a lifestyle shoot at home with a focus on Garland.  She wanted me to capture him as naturally as I could, and she wanted a few portraits as well as photos with Hayley and herself with Garland.

OMW he’s a beautiful horse! He’s only 4 years old, and he’s still learning… but oh so beautiful

Her daughter Hayley, is 19 months old, and loves feeding Garland carrots and giving him water in her little bucket.  It was amazing how quiet he became when she went on his back… so gentle!  Although he was quite spirited in the beginning of the shoot, and we did have to move Hayley out of the way a few times.

LOL and I love how dirty Hayley was by the end of the shoot typical toddler!

I must tell you, I struggled to cut down on the images for this blog post…

We then walked down the road to an arena so Michelle could ride him…

Hayley was so sweet, and brought Garland his ball to play with… and then decided she wanted it rather.  Garland was so sweet and gentle with her… and eventually she won…

I met Paul and Gina in Newtown this morning for their (belated) anniversary photoshoot.  I’ve done plenty of family photoshoots for them, and it was awesome to finally get to take photos of them without the kids running around… just the two of them

Well, Newtown was the plan until we got there and realised that although it was a public holiday, all the construction workers were hard at work and all the parking spots were taken and there was NO space for awesome photos… so plan B… Wits University, and in fact, it was absolutely perfect!

LOVED the ivy and stone walls we found today

This is my favourite shot from today…

And right at the end, I asked them to sit on a bench and tell each other a story, and I stood far enough away that I couldn’t hear but was comfortable for my long lens to capture their interaction…

Remember Byron and Monique’s photoshoot in the old station in Newtown a few weeks ago that was completely rained out?  Well, I met up with them again on Sunday… this time we started under the bridge where the best graffiti is.  Just love that the colours that Monique and Byron wore worked so well in this setting

And then of course, we had to use the Nelson Mandela bridge for a few photos too I LOVE that structure, and the view of the city from there, and we were really lucky that the bridge was quiet.

It was such a beautiful day in the city

I had so much fun on Tuesday… I got to take an hour out of work and take some gorgeous photos of Otto’s baby Princess Sarah.

This was the first stylised shoot I’d done just with a dog.  I’ve done pet photography before, but really only with families… this was the first shoot I’ve done just with a dog… and a cute dog to boot

By this stage of the photoshoot, Sarah was not happy with us at all, and just wanted to chew on her bone… she growled quite a bit