SEASONS GREETINGS

Here we are at beginning of 2013 – not only the start of a new year but, if the interpreters of the Mayan culture can be believed, we have also embarked on a new and creative cycle of life.

Yet the everyday rhythm of life continues unaltered - night still follows day and already autumn is beginning to show in the yellowing of vine leaves telling us that this glorious Cape summer will also come to an end.

Last year stylist, Elmarie Bredell of Elle Fleur and I came up with the idea to visually portray this seasonal cycle combining her exceptional ability to create floral fantasies and my photographic skills.

Summer:
Victoria Herring and Lau-Sanne Pepler

Autumn: 
Mother and daughter Lorette and Donne Moller

Winter:
Teresa Pepler with Madri and little Kateline Swanepoel

Spring: 
Shani Jouber and Lize-Mari Bredell

The project immediately grabbed the attention of other talented professionals and soon we had MUA Candice Harker and hair stylist Rene Erwee of Salon Elan and photography student Dominique Van Wyk on board.

Hair stylist Rene Erwee of Salon Elan in Somerset West and MUA Candice Harker of Strand preparing the two models for the 'autumn' shoot.

Teresa Pepler of In the Vine, kindly made their wedding venue and coffee shop outside Somerset West available for the shoot and the task of finding suitable models started.

I wouldn't mind using the reception room at In the Vine outside Somerset West as a studio permanently.  

We specifically did not want professional models.  Also we wanted to pair women and children to depict the colours and mood of each of the four seasons. It is amazing how many beautiful people you can identify among friends and colleagues once you start looking. Soon we had identified the exact person for each look we needed. Everyone we approached were keen to participate and we were ready to shoot.

Thanks to the team, not only did we achieve what we wanted but the group of women (I was the only male on set!) made the shoot feel more like a friends’ get-together complete with quiche and In the Vine’s red velvet cake for lunch!

The team! At the back f.l.t.r: Erika Kruger (MVNP studio manager), Dominique Van Wyk (photographic assistant), Teresa Pepler, Martin Van Niekerk (photographer), Rene Erwee (hair stylist), Elmarie Bredell (stylist), Lorette Moller and Candice Harker (MAU). Middle row: Victoria Herring, Lau-Sanne Pepler and Elmarie's mother. Front: Lize-Marie Bredell and Donne Moller. 

POST SCRIPT: September 2013

UK-based magazine The Green Parent, used an image from this project as its cover image for the Oct / Nov 2013 issue. See Monday, September 16 blogpost