My aunt, Kathy, is a breast cancer survivor.

I went to Cape Town this weekend with my mom, to take photos of Kathy and Ian.  You may recall that I went to Cape Town a few months ago and took photos for a similar reason.  That photoshoot was to document the start of her journey, and she went to have her mastectomy a few days after that shoot.  A while after the shoot, Kathy and I had a discussion on Facebook, and I booked tickets to Cape Town again.  This time it was to take photos of her with her bald head, and it was to carry on with the story.

Amazingly, the timing was just perfect… not only is it Breast Cancer awareness month (which didn’t come into the planning at all… it was organised around her treatment plans because her last chemo treatment was 3 weeks ago)… but she got the most amazing, amazing news during last week… she’s CLEAR!!

She’s still undergoing radiation, and you’ll see the marks on the scar photos that I’ll post tomorrow, and she’s still got a long, long process with another “designer” drug.. but she’s CLEAR!! How awesome is that!!

The photoshoot started at their home in Somerset West, and I’ll put those photos up tomorrow.  We then drove half way up the mountains close to Stellenbosch to the Idiom vineyards on the Da Capo Wine Farm.  My mom’s cousin is the farm manager at the vineyard, so the trip out there started with a photoshoot and ended in family reunion and an extreme picnic (in the most freezing wet weather)… and we ended the afternoon on top of the hill eating the most delicious cheeses and strawberries washed down with magnificent wines! What an amazing day!

You can see how miserable the weather was here… and in fact it was raining.

We stopped after that, because it was getting too cold and wet.  And then this morning, after a gorgeous breakfast at Tokara, Ian and Kathy took us to Uva Mira, which is a family owned boutique wine farm in the hills around Stellenbosch.  As we parked I noticed this gorgeous door, so after a wine tasting upstairs, she whipped off her wig again for a few more photos.

And then the most rad thing happened! A woman got out of a car, and as she passed us to get into the winery, she said to Kathy “I’m a survivor too”.

WOW!!

She then told Kathy that she had had stage 3 breast cancer 3 years earlier, and told her that her hair will grow back, just like hers had.  In fact, this woman was so proud of how thick and curly her hair had become, and it was so awesome to see and to hear her story.  And that is why Kathy is emotional in the next image…

Isn’t she gorgeous?!!

I’m very very proud of my aunt, and I’m so thankful that I could document her journey like this.  There will be more photos posted tomorrow… of her scar… they deserved a post on their own.

I met Marcia and Dion and their twins in Newtown this morning.  We were supposed to do a couple shoot in Newtown, and then hook on a few family photos in a park on the way home… but once we started we decided to stay in Newtown for the whole shoot.  The kids were in their element in the city, and loved the bright coloured doors and graffiti painted walls.

Kendra and Connor made a beeline for pieces of wood and small leaves, and by the end they had quite a collection of things that they were carrying with their teddy bears, named Thursday and Friday.  Kendra started as soon as we got there, when she picked the ONLY flower for miles around!

Connor was so cute… he waited for his daddy, and he was so pleased when he could stand in the next doorway to his daddy

See the hand that Connor is holding up… we realised just after this that he was signing “I love you”

and then Kendra joined in with the sign language

I only saw the writing on the building while edited this image… and I think it’s so apt for the photo!

And so very funny that the next lot of photos with the writing on the stairs was what I’d planned for them

It was an awesome morning… and I just love Newtown so very much!! I know that most families choose to have their family photos in a park because they think it’s prettier… and it is… but somehow the city and the buildings bring out “more” in the portraits that you take there.  Because the backgrounds are not as busy as bright leafy parks, people tend to stand out more and become more of a focus in the photo.

I met up with Jean-Pierre, his girlfriend Mary-Ann and his 14 year old son Jean-Carl at the Walter Sisulu gardens early this morning for a very special photoshoot.  It was to capture memories… to get a few photos of JP for a website that’s being used to raise funds for his surgery .  That was the plan, and the only plan.

JP has got cancer in his jaw, and is currently 5 weeks into an intensive daily radiation treatment programme.  He doesn’t have any medical aid, so his friends have all rallied together to raise funds for the reconstructive surgery that he’s going to require after the radiation has been completed.

I heard about JP and his story on Twitter, when Mary-Ann‘s friend Melissa Attree was trying to set up the donation pages.  And this shoot is my way of contributing… because memories are so very important and I believe that difficult journeys like this need to be documented.  When I suggested the shoot, Melissa said that it would be for Mary-Ann and JP, but then I heard that he had a son, and then Mary-Ann let me know that JC was in Johannesburg for the weekend… and that thrilled me… so he was included too

Anyhoo, before I get on with the photos, I must tell you that we were freezing this morning.  There was an icy wind blowing through the park… and none of us had really dressed appropriately but I’m glad it didn’t seem to bother everyone too much.

Then it was time for a picnic breakfast.  They’re all watching the bird on the left of the image who was determined to join in the feast it make such a noise!!

And lastly… the little bird who decided to join the party

I really hope that they enjoyed their morning of creating memories, and that they love the photos  I wish them all the very best on their journey, and that the reconstruction is successful and that JP can again enjoy the small things in life… like drinking coffee and eating toasted chicken mayonnaise sandwiches.

If you can help in any way, go to the Team JP site and make a donation

Beatrice is almost 38 weeks pregnant, and will be having baby Martin (the 6th generation of Martin in the family) this week!! Yes, we cut it a bit fine with this maternity photoshoot but I’m so glad we managed to meet up at Walter Sisulu Gardens in the end to do this shoot this afternoon.  Although, silly me forgot to check whether there were any concerts, so we had to avoid the Zebra & Giraffe concert to get our shots.  Thankfully though, the gardens are huge, and my favourite little spots were just waiting for us.  We were also incredibly lucky with the weather, and although it was overcast when we started, the sun shone at it’s best when we got to the veld area.

I tell you, Beatrice and Martin (new dad) were amazing.  You’d never say that Beatrice was 37 weeks pregnant if you’d watched her speed walking around the gardens!!  And I loved that they were willing to navigate through the thorns in the veld until I was happy with where they were placed

We’ve just come home from a very short flying visit to Cape Town, Somerset West and Hermanus, and we spent a lot of time with our family.  You’ll see more of those photos tomorrow, but first, I have to show you Kathy and Ian’s photoshoot.

It was a very special shoot, because Kathy is about to start a long treatment process. Kathy is a beautiful and an amazingly strong woman, and she has the complete support of her whole family… and she’ll pull through this… we all know she will.

Kathy and Ian, you see, are my aunt and uncle.  We’d organised this trip a while ago, and had planned on staying with them for a night.  I had also planned on doing this photoshoot with them, but hadn’t actually told them about my plans until last week.  But when we heard her news, I decided that this shoot just had to happen… and I’m glad she liked the idea.

They’re about to start a long journey, and I think they enjoyed this special time on the beach just concentrating on themselves.  I didn’t want to do many posed photos, I wanted to show the special bond between the 2 of them, and I think it worked (OK, there are posed photos too but I couldn’t resist when I spotted the reflections and shadows).

They had originally wanted to do their photoshoot in the mountains behind Somerset West, but because of the massive veld fire raging in the area, we decided that the Strand beach would be a better idea.  And the weather was perfect for it!! There was hardly any wind, and it was beautifully warm.

 
Good luck for tomorrow Kathy, we’re all rooting for you, and thinking about you constantly!