As photographers we all find our grooves, we know what we like and what is more difficult for us to work with. As we develop our style and niche certain types of light, places and people will fit perfectly within the mould that we have carefully crafted. Our moulds and grooves are made as any well worn path would be, with consistent practice, and time, they form comforting and familiar spaces. New challenges, new lighting, pushing ourselves to continue to grow and try new things will all enable us to gradually embrace a wider variety of things that fit within our style. Pushing it to become something better.

Still, there is something incredibly comforting, liberating and nostalgic about walking down a path so familiar that you know every groove and turn instinctively. Occasionally, you'll have a session where everything falls perfectly into place as the ideal circumstances for your artistic style. That's exactly what happened for me creatively when I caught up with Vanessa, her two beautiful kids Amelia and Peter, and their two furry friends Holly and Dash.

I've worked with Vanessa twice before, so it was so lovely to catch up with her again! We met on a beautiful sunny evening at my favourite place in SA, at the best time of year for it. Tall, golden fields met long shadows and winds created crashing waves. Her two kids, Amelia & Peter and her furry dogs are all so adventurous and free spirited! Our shoot was spent twirling, running, getting wet feet and exploring everything there was to see and reach. Then pushing to try and explore and climb just a tad further.

The video below is something a little bit different. In a previous version of my life, I was a video maker and editor! So when I loaded the footage from my camera, including the little videos the kids asked me to shoot of them (for the first time ever, (ever!) I shot video on my 5D!) I felt a little itch to put together something a little more filmy for my photo slideshow, involving the wonky little videos.

Hope you enjoyed it. xx