Justin & Wei Wei - Part 1

Justin & Wei Wei visited Cape Town from Singapore for their 10 year anniversary in August and I was lucky enough to be in their company and document a little piece of their story.

I think we talked more than anything else as I tend to ask a lot of questions. They were more than happy to tell me more about Singapore and I was astonished to find out that this country is only 50km from East to West. Believe it! (amazed emoticon)

We started off with a bit of a mountain view and moved on to a secret beach… more on that later… EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!

Alwyn & Marige

There are few things that bring a smile to my face...

Popcorn, the smell of a thunderstorm coming, my husband's weird dance moves and a couple in love..

Alwyn, Marige and myself headed off to the beach after a bookstore and ice cream date.

We chased the sun and were lucky enough to catch more than one shade of happiness before the big ball in the sky called it a day. Their playful banter and the fact that they don't mind getting a bit wet and dirty made for a good story. 

I hope the love that you share to all! You have such an innocent and open love for one another and I hope these frames bring justice to it. Thank you for sharing these moments with me and I hope you many more happy years to come. 

@blanchebphotography

@marigecarstens

@vanniekerkalwyn

Carel & Lindie - Mountain Adventure

Carel and Lindie are one of those couples that you just need in your life. Their positive outlook and their kind adventure filled souls is like water to a wilting flower. 

We went on a little adventure together and I tried to capture their 100% honest love for one another and for the world around them. I hope it does them justice. 

So here we go... starting off their mini adventure, of many more to come, with the lyrics from one of their favorite songs...and it suits them perfectly...

Follow, follow the sun
And which way the wind blows
When this day is done

Breathe, breathe in the air
Set your intentions
Dream with care
Tomorrow is a new day for everyone,
Brand new moon, brand new sun

So follow, follow the sun,
The direction of the bird,
The direction of love

Breathe, breathe in the air,
Cherish this moment,
Cherish this breath
Tomorrow is a new day for everyone,
Brand new moon, brand new sun

When you feel life coming down on you,
Like a heavy weight
When you feel this crazy society,
Adding to the strain
Take a stroll to the nearest waters
And remember your place
Many moons have risen and fallen long, long before you came

So which way is the wind blowin',
And what does your heart say?

So follow, follow the sun,
And which way the wind blows
When this day is done

- Xavier Rudd

JT & Gerda - Newcastle Farm Wedding

I’m pretty sure that the way I’m about to tell JT & Gerda's story with my words just won’t do it justice, so hang in there. 

I struggle to describe something on paper, but these guys deserve the most loving of adjectives. They show so much love and affection to each other constantly.

I always take something nice from weddings (NO NOT THE TABLE DECORATIONS OR PUPPIES) and this time I took a memory of one of the most beautiful moments of their wedding day. 

This is when JT struggled to get his bearings while saying a few words to his blushing bride. I can't remember all of it but he ended off with... "Gerda, you under estimate yourself my darling" which Gerda replied to with a teary eyed smile.

This struck me, not because it was the most beautiful words in the world, but because only they knew what he was referring to, that was their moment and their moment only.  

We met up the day before their wedding, to chat, hang in nature, and have a few drinks with the family down by the lake.  After spending the following 2 days together, we said goodbye with an absolute feast of a party and a very unexpected, lets pick Blanche up while we say goodbye and swing her around to say thank you moment. 

Their wedding day was that little more personal than your usual wedding as they were getting married on Gerda's family farm. They had to drive everything in from the big city, her father made the benches, her sister made her bouquet and every single one had their part to play.

Even the rain had her part on the day, but she was more than welcome. 

Clifton Beach

Celeste and I took a stroll down the beach for a very serious "meeting" and of course I had my camera with me... so we did a little something before the cold hits us. (The last warmish days in Cape Town this time of year) 

The nomad within her decided to go her own way and so I started clicking away. 

There is something about the beach that draws us into introspection, something that brings the child out in us. I get a melancholic feeling when looking at these... Take me back to that day, that wandering free into someone else's space but still on your own kind of day.

To you my wandering free spirited friend. 

I Love you 

All in a Morning - Black and White

When Liesl asked me to take a few pics of her kids I decided to capture moments that would normally take place on a Sunday morning.  No dress up, no special direction, just as is. 

We just sat down outside to have a cup of coffee when we realized Hannah was as quite as a mouse...

And then we had fun. xxx

Ryan & Justine - Surprise engagement

So Ryan contacted me with not only butterflies in his stomach but a whole flock of exotic birds causing havoc! He was to propose to Justine on the 5th of May and had a whole lot of sneaky planning to do (as he shares everything, including his phone and data, with Justine and this was going to be a difficult day to plan).

I was on board from the get go! How exciting! So when the big day arrived and nerves of not only Ryan but the whole family was all over the place as the surprise engagement of the decade was about to unfold...

I had a run through with the family as they were all waiting at the venue ready with boards in hand and in dire need of a glass of wine.  Ryan and his girlfriend at that time Justine arrived on a tractor from the main gate and we had to keep our cool while walking around the venue for their photo shoot. 

Ordering them around like I had no clue was no easy feat but all Ryan's effort and planning for this special occasion ended on a high note as Justine had the surprise of her life! SHE SAID YES!

What an amazing couple, and to top it all off, what an amazing and supportive bunch of squirrel loving (inside joke) family members and friends. I kinda developed a crush.

Ryan and Justine spent the afternoon and the rest of the day celebrating this life changing occasion with their loved ones.This is exactly what Justine wanted, family, friends and a fresh manicure. :-)  

I am so blessed to have spent this day with you and look forward to sharing, if only a tiny piece, of your adventure together!  

Here's to you Ryan and Justine!!! 

Andrew & Judith - I then I found you

These two have that amazing love that fairy-tales are written from.... they might just write their own...   Ode to Judith - xxx Andrew

YOU AMONGST THE PINES

As tall as the trees,

as lush as the breeze.

You fil lthe space between.

The undergrowth,

the vines that bind

amongst the bark i will always find.

Your warmth.

Your glow.

Through the river it flows.

A heart in th dark.

But forever,

my never ending lark.

                                                                                                  - DREW S

Maarten & Mari - E Shoot - Paarl, Western Cape

So we headed for a destination unknown. And at the end of the day, these two made it their own.

Maarten and Mari have this “dirty dancing, pick me up and squeeze me” kind of love.

They share that secretive but ‘Oh so obvious’ besotted over one another smile with the world. And I was lucky enough to be a part of this.

As we headed up an unfamiliar dirt road, me bolting ahead trying to avoid numerous species of thorns while chasing light and looking over my shoulder to see if these two were keeping up with my antics, I quickly came to a complete halt when I realised Maarten and Mari were enjoying one another’s presence in my absence.

PERFECT!! This was the moment to start clicking away… with the end result as follows;

Thank you guys, thank you for letting me be a part of this special time in your lives. May you be blessed with all the giggles, squeezes and inside jokes possibly imagined! And may Maarten kiss with his eyes open all he wants. (Yes Mari and I gave him grief about this, it is kind of funny)

Looking forward to your wedding day!!

xBx

“The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more. That plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.”—The Notebook

Photography: @blanchebphotography

Dress: @flock_it

Shoes: @blu_betty_sa

Ring: @eljoliejewels

Ghost Town - Kolmanskop - Namibie

On one of our recent tours to Namibia (Voetspore Safaris) we decided to visit the abandoned “Ghost Town” of Kolmanskop.

 A little history on this forsaken and quite eerie town….

Kolmanskop is a ghost town in the Namib Desert in southern Namibia, 10 kilometres inland from the port town of Lüderitz.

It was named after a transport driver named Johnny Coleman who, during a sand storm, abandoned his ox wagon on a small incline opposite the settlement.

In 1908, the worker Zacharias Lewala found a diamond while working in this area and showed it to his supervisor, the German railway inspector August Stauch. Clearly this area was rich in diamonds so the German miners began settlement, and soon after the German government declared a large area as a "Prohibited Area" starting to exploit the diamond field.[2]

Driven by the enormous wealth of the first diamond miners, the residents built the village in the architectural style of a German town, with amenities and institutions including, (images attached by Blanche B Photography) a hospital, power station, school, theatre, casino, ice factory and the first x-ray-station in the southern hemisphere.

The town started to decline after World War I when the diamond-field slowly started to deplete. By the early-’30s, the area was in decline. Hastening the town’s demise was the discovery in 1928 of the richest diamond-bearing deposits ever known. These were on the beach terraces 270km south of Kolmanskop, near the Orange River.

Many of the town’s inhabitants joined the rush to the south, leaving their homes and possessions behind. The town was ultimately abandoned in 1954. The geological forces of the desert mean that tourists now walk through houses knee-deep in sand.

References:

1.     "Kolmanskop". Namibia Travel Companion 2013. Namibia Travel Companion. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

2.    Jump up^ Schneider, G. (2008). Treasures of the Diamond Coast. Windhoek: MacMillan Education. ISBN 978-99916-0-968-3.

3.    Jump up^ The King Is Alive, IMDB

Nina and the wind

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair” 
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

So we got dressed (with mostly everything we had on hand) and set out on an adventure, an adventure that went literally as the wind blew. We did not try to fight the fact that mother nature had to have it her way, we embraced her in all her glory! 

What a wet, windy, sandy cold and wondrous undertaking. 

Lets do it again sometime... 

JT & Gerda - Engaged, Lets celebrate!

A love story is not about those who lose their heart but about those who find that sullen inhabitant who, when it is stumbled upon, means the body can fool no one, can fool nothing— not the wisdom of sleep or the habit of social graces. It is a consuming of oneself and the past. —Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

So these two wonderful souls got engaged and we had a blast doing their shoot together, not only did we completely go overboard but we ended of the day with a well deserved glass of vino and I got to make two new amazing friends. Thank you guys, I'm looking forward to share your wedding day with you. xoxo

How Malawi Saved My Life - True Story - Part 1

It did not all begin here, of course not, but it made what came afterward so much easier to Love...

This is not a Eat Pray Love Tale, or wait, perhaps it is...

Eat what you can find that looks respectable and has no more than four legs. 

Pray that where you think the bus is going and where the bus is really going will be one in the same place.

Love every single moment, every single hour and every single second of where you are, supposedly on a bus,  you might be there for a while...

We started our Journey to Monkey Bay from Lilongwe on a bus. A local bus, definitely not the first choice of transport that most tourist would choose, but I suggest you do.

At first I was reluctant, even after traveling all over Africa for 5 years.  I haven't done this before, so lets go!! I had good conversations, strange but very convenient one stop shops, got my hair done, shared smiles and learnt more than just a bit, all in one bus trip. 

Below Part I of my trip in Malawi, my experience, and my tears of absolute 'ambedo.

Thank you to the people on the bus that allowed me to include them in my shots with a friendly nod of their heads or a smile. 

'Ambedo

n. a kind of melancholic trance in which you become completely absorbed in vivid sensory details—raindrops skittering down a window, tall trees leaning in the wind, clouds of cream swirling in your coffee—briefly soaking in the experience of being alive, an act that is done purely for its own sake. - thoughtcatalog

Paul and Jocor - Oh so Elegant Farm Wedding

There wasn't a more perfect setting for Paul and Jocor's wedding day. On the banks of a river where two countries meet. This is where they came together to start their happily ever after. 

Their day was filled with laughter, friends, family and enough love to give anyone goosebumps. With the setting on the farm where Jocor grew up it took a lot of hard work, effort and love to put this spectacular day together. 

You guys are so close to my heart and we wish you all the best for your future, thank you for making us a part of the beginning of the rest of your lives together.

Oh and thank you for not making a fuss when we had to leave our car behind and catch a lift with you on the back of your cruiser. (In Africa people tend to get stuck in the sand or mud, more often than not in our case) 

Leaving you with a piece from Paul and Jocor's favourite song... " I can sing it if you sing it with me, and I can dance if you teach me, so take my hand, lets go dancing...."  - Sunset Sweatshop

Venue: Plaas York   Decor/ Tables: Corli Van der Linde   Catering: BGorgeous  Make-up: Lizelle Lombard Make-up  Hair: Lizelle Lombard  Bride Gown: Bride & Co  Bridesmaids Dresses: The Space  Second Shooter: Maryke Albertyn  Brides Ring: Deonne le Roux  Grooms Ring: American Swiss

Brent & Chanee - "Come on Charlie lets climb a hill and drink some wine"

For Brent and Chanee's engagement shoot we headed up the hill chasing the light. Packed with enough wine for all we started our little adventure with Charlie tagging along. What an amazing fun loving and adventurous couple, I loved doing this shoot with you guys. May you be blessed with love, friendship, endless laughter and happiness till the end of days. 

 “Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness: the truth more first than sun, more last than star.” e.e. Cummings