I recently placed a photograph of my own mother on Facebook ( now that took convincing J).

And I would like to ask all the mothers, all the grandmothers and even all the mothers-to-be out there to EXIST IN PHOTOGRAPHS. If not for yourself then for your children and your grandchildren (and maybe even for your own parents) because one day it will become their most treasured possession, their truest memory.

As a photographer we have the ability to briefly stop time for you and even if you don’t come to us, find someone and step in front of that camera lens. Not only do YOU deserve it but your family deserves to have that tangible reminder of you every day.

Do not wait until you think you are “ready” , until you have bought that new dress or tried that new miracle diet… your family loves you NOW, they treasure having you with them now!

I cannot possibly explain how amazingly privileged I felt to be able to photography my own mother (soon I will be stalking my grandmother, aunts, in-laws and godmother too… they just don’t know it!)

dust and dreams PHOTOGRAPHY presents…

“ Love and heart shaped lollies”

featuring the lovely Lize-mari Hare & Werner de Preez

Have a look at our little video on Animoto showing all their fun at the FAMOUS blue door… with some heart shaped lollies of course.

Creative directing & Styling: Dust & Dreams Photography

 

For years I have been inspired and mesmerized by Mirella Ricciardi, a female photographer who captured the true essence of Africa for more than forty odd years and published some amazing work, the first of which was Vanishing Africa in the early 1970’s. This was however not what caught my eye…

I was in my early twenties living in London and desperately dreaming of home when I saw her book, African Visions, in a quaint little bookstore in Covent Garden and not being able to afford it at the time, I went back several times during the next few months to page through it.I loved the grain of the film, the rawness of her images, the sincerity and the way you could smell the dust when looking at her photographs. I especially loved the front cover showing her gently posing a woman. She brought “portraiture” to Africa before many others did and she found a connection like no other.

One of the very first things I bought years later when arriving back in Africa was a copy of this book!

PS: All images courtesy of good old Google!

 

 

 

I am no makeup maven, not by a long shot but I have learned some tricks along the way. Especially ways to show the best possible version of me { or you…} without using Photoshop.

In the “Give MORE Campaign” I showed a before and after portrait of me and I wanted to share some secrets on the after shot… NO Photoshop was used {I do not even own it} only some clever makeup tricks { I have a lazy eye, broken nose and and… you all know what us women can be like}, some good lighting, the right camera angle, some detailed thought given to the wardrobe and pose and viola!… the after shot is just another version of me without having to nip and tuck in Photoshop! But I do think a more polished and a prettier version of me.

When it came to the makeup I had some special tricks up my sleeve; a “how to” tear page from a local SARIE magazine showing how Christine Mcignano, a makeup artist from Chanel used her magic wand on the cover girl.

I love the tip she gave for making eyes look less tired and pop a bit more – just a dab of dove grey shadow in the middle of the lid to reflect some light, and it really worked.

So what is in my makeup bag?? A little bit of everything… from Mac’s creamy blush, Elisabeth Arden { love her!} primer, Maybelline mascara, Revlon’s yummy colour burst lip balms, to Yardley and essence {a very inexpensive brand but one of the only eye pencils that does not irritate my eyes and I could not live without the 02 Hot Chocolate!} and a super SPF30 sunblock for every day.

So yes, with some clever makeup tricks we can all be the prettiest version of ourselves without any radical steps!

PS: The tearsheet below shows them only using Chanel products which are quite expensive but there are many fabulous products out there for a fraction of the price and many amazing upcoming brands. Which brands do you love??







 

 

I recently saw this on a blog that I like to read and it really made me smile to think how different we all are…

This is what she wrote: “…but lucky for you, I don’t have a cat, or a dog, so no animal blog posts coming your way anytime soon”  

But there are some of us who find solace in these little furry friends. Those of us who knows that the statistics are true when they say that stroking your dog reduces your stress levels greatly and that having furry friends in your home makes you less prone to illness and therefore we just couldn’t resist these ad signs in the city centre of Port Louis, Mauritius.

So yes, we are FOR dogs but you don’t have to be { not that I know how you resist those melting chocolate eyes!}

 

PS: We are also for trees and for whales!

The last ten days have been a wonderful “chaos” of sequins, ribbon and bundles and bundles of tulle! We stitched, we sewed, we laughed { felt like crying sometimes too…}.

And if it wasn’t for our “wardrobe WONDERWOMAN”, Rickie I would never have been able to create these beauties. She is a brilliant seamstress {where I am a bit of a hack} and it was only with her collaboration that a lot of my crazy ideas had any chance of coming to life.

Not only did we have more fun than I could possibly explain but we conjured up five skirts for “The Closet”, some dainty headpieces and belts {as you can see I could not resist wearing one} and a gorgeous midnight blue dress with lots and lots of flowing fabric and ribbon {which was first designed as a top and later turned into this beauty}…

I don’t think we can say thank you enough to Rickie who tempered my somewhat mad ideas and helped me turn them into some beautiful frocks. We are very very excited to use each of them in some of our future shoots.