Penny & Michael’s wedding took place in Hilton in Kwa-Zulu Natal, on a bright sunny day. The weather had been awful a few days prior to their special day. Nonetheless, everyone worked hard at transforming her parent’s home into a beautiful reception venue with yellow bunting, hand made birds hanging from the trees and a few patches a squelching mud. Everthing looked beautiful.
There was some rain as Penny arrived at the church, but nothing to be to concerned about. During the ceremony however, the priest was competing against almighty claps of thunder, and pelting rain. The rain died down just after they were pronounced as husband and wife. Penny and Michael exited the church with white streamers, laughter, smiles, a few drops of rain, love from their family and friends and most of all their love for each other. Here are a few of my favourite images from their wedding day. I especially love the ones with champagne served with light drizzle…
                              
Thank you to Casey for assisting me.
I went to school with Mitchell’s mom, Donna so I was rather excited to see her and spend some time with her family during their long awaited family shoot. The last time I saw her was probably back in 1998. Thankfully, through Face Book, we had kept in contact and I knew a little bit about how life had treated her since 1998. I knew she had had two children, and that her oldest son Mitchell had since developed epilepsy but I did not know the extent of how he suffered. Mitchell is a few months younger than my own daughter so I thought I’d be chatting to a cheerful 3 and a half year old little boy during our shoot. The week before the shoot Donna emailed me to tell me about Mitchell’s condition and she informed me that he could not speak and was disabled. Mitchell has Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, a severe form of childhood epileptic encephalopathy.
Colourful helium filled balloons are sure to bring a smile to anyone’s face so on my way to the shoot I bought a big bunch. When Mitchell saw the balloons he laughed, smiled and rubbed his face on the balloons in sheer delight. It was beautiful watching him interact in his own way with the colourful balloons. It was wonderful following him around and chatting to his mom and dad and enjoying the tranquility of the surroundings. It was however heart breaking to hear their story and how they deal with various challenges on a day to day basis, emotional and financial and many others. Mitchell has been born to the best parents. Donna and Murray are truly amazing! Both working full time jobs but both on a mission to enrich Mitchell’s life. They have started the Mitchell Centre, offering a stimulating environment for epileptic and severely disabled children and support for their families.
If you are in any way able to help their cause, either by giving of your time, talents or you’d like to make a monetary donation you can contact the centre through their website, here.
Donna I hope you are enjoying your photos. Mitchell and Joel are such happy boys and loved so much by you and Murray…
       
Claudine emailed me to enquire about having some photos of herself taken. The only request she had was to do the shoot with a full head of hair, looking healthy. You see she was scheduled to undergo surgery, the day after the shoot, to have a tumour removed. The outcome of which would determine if she needed to have chemo again.
I arrived at Claudine’s home, not knowing what to expect, wondering if she’d look ill, or if she would even in fact feel well enough to have photos taken by someone she had never met before. I was amazed by how she looked. She looked healthy, with no signs of the cancerous tumour in her body. She was easy going, confident and so beautiful, even though she had mentioned she was “camera-shy”. We sat in her lounge and she told me about her life, what she had been through and what was going to happen the next day, and about the cancer. We then began shooting. I took so many photos of her while we laughed, and spoke.
Claudine, thank you for contacting me to photograph you the day before your surgery. Here are a few photos to bring a smile to your face this evening and to help with “moving forward”.
   
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