francinah

last post for tonight :)

yesterday i ventured into zandspruit with marisa from paradigm shift to photograph francinah, one of the organisation's entrepreneurs. francinah makes baby onesies, and they are beautiful. she lives in a small house in the township, that was recently ravaged by a fire. the wall that was damaged has just been rebuilt. i stood in her small kitchen, completely humbled. flip, how can i even complain about any problems i may have in life? we also met her neighbour, isabelle, who made us feel so welcome :)

francinah is a light, and was so gracious to let me photograph her. she admired my "teething beads" so to show my gratitude i gave them to her. she looked pretty stylin' ;)

hope these pics tell more of a story. please, please remember her in your prayers x

lawrence family shoot

i've never done a maternity shoot before, so this was a combination of an experiment / baby shower gift for my friends justin, christy and their son mark. christy is about 33ish weeks pregnant with a boy -- we've been waiting a long time for little evan :)

it helps having such a ridiculously good looking family to photograph {and a glowing mom-to-be}, but i think the fact that we had a lot of fun also comes through in the pics x

part of the solution

a couple weeks ago i was really honoured to take some "behind the scenes" shots of a video shoot for paradigm shift, an amazing microfinance organisation that mobilises and equips churches to run micro-credit, business training and discipleship programmes with the entrepreunerial poor. 


i am amazed and inspired by their work and love that i can be involved with what they're doing in south africa. do yourself a massive favour and check out their website. better yet, get involved in running a programme in your church, community or faith-based organisation.


here are some shots from the day...

i love parys in the fall...

i am so overdue with blogging. life is madness at the moment, but so wonderful. full of things that bring me joy and make me excited for the months to come :)

anyway...we roadtripped to parys a few weeks ago {if you can call an hour's drive a roadtrip} and it was really cool. i am a total sucker for vintage stores and art galleries so it was great for me to just take my time walking up and down the main road, exploring all the cool places. i have never seen so many proteas -- either made from wire, in prints, beaded or embroidered or painted. i haven't really been a fan of proteas until now, and i love how they're creeping into designs everywhere -- iconically south african.

i would recommend eating at feast -- your tastebuds can't keep up with the amazing flavour combinations. i had rocket and caramelised onions and camembert on a chicken burger. yum! and climbing the steep steps into hoi polloi is worth it for a late afternoon drink.

remembering

mother's day has a different kind of meaning for our family. my grandmother passed away when my mom was only seven years old, and every mother's day we visit west park cemetery to put flowers on her grave. we also visit my great-grandfather's gravesite too, they are buried not far from each other.

it's quite surreal honouring someone you never knew. i often wish my grandmother had lived into my lifetime so that i could have clear memories of her, instead of ones filtered through someone else's foggy recollections. i know her name was beryl davidson, and she was super sporty. she also was an incredible seamstress and made all my mother's dresses. i've seen photos of her, and she looked like a lot of fun, despite suffering with ill-health. she died at age 39 from heart disease, only ten years older than i am now. i wonder what her voice sounded like, what kind of jokes she would find funny. what her cooking would taste like. what her signature perfume would be. i can imagine, but it's not the same.

when my mom and i stand at her tombstone, i do mourn for her. it's the strangest feeling. it also makes me think about my legacy. and how incredibly grateful i am to have my mom with me, and such an integral part of my life. our relationship, while not without its challenges, is so fulfilling. 

it's quite redemptive in a way.

the significance of three-sixy-five

oh. my. word. it has been a year to the day since i realised my dream of visiting new york city. in homage, here's a snapshot of an amazing city.

what an amazing experience. and, of course, it's been a year since i got my first info-overload-mind-blowing experience with the microfinance phenomenon at the conference in manhattan. and, i also meet the awesome roxanna from colorado who is my microfinance partner in crime. 

sheesh. 

365 days, where have you gone?

diepsloot

so yesterday was one of the raddest days ever. i did another set of photos of microfinance clients in diepsloot, a squatter camp bordering dainefern in the north of joburg. there are loads of pics, but these two are my initial faves. i love to photograph kids -- they just have no inhibitions, and don't feel self-conscious in front of the camera.