We had a long drive to return my Nans ashes to NSW, after she passed away last year. The kids coped well and I was expecting a lot of “are we there yet” thankfully there were only a few “how many kms” or “how many hours left”. However they did require more toilet stops along the way then I would allow myself when travelling to Sydney for our Enchanted Forest Portraits. After a sleepless night in a Wagga Wagga motel we booked into an Airbnb in Black Head, although only a few hours from Sydney the drive felt a fair bit longer. The kids promptly discovered the beach only 100m down the road, and went for a swim as the sun dropped below the horizon.
My Nan had lived most of her life in Taree, NSW so we didn’t see much of her except the odd road trip as kids or at special life events. Nan hated to have her photograph taken, but I’m glad that on one of her trips a few years ago Mum bought her up to the studio in Gawler and I convinced her to have a portrait with Mum and myself. While she probably only gave me a couple of frames we captured something we can never create again, 3 generations. I wish I had of gotten around to updating this portrait before she passed to include my daughters. I guess we think there is always time, until there’s not.
At least I am lucky to have a portrait with two of the strongest women I know. I often get requests from clients to have backgrounds changed or photographs copied to use for funerals and the photos they say are the best they can find are so poor quality that all the Photoshop in the world can’t make miracles happen.
I am hoping to get back to the pool soon and capture some more underwater sessions this summer. Underwater portraits have me captivated with the ethereal quality; time to start storyboarding.
We will be back on the road to Sydney in April for the next Sydney Enchanted Forest Portraits so it’s shaping up to be a busy year indeed.