Hi. I’m Jackie, your photographer.
Despite how fancy that sounds, who I really am is a mother of 4, wife , a Christian, lover of wine and sushi, tattooed and piercing-loving social butterfly and enthusiastic (albeit unskilled) dancer. We live on a little urban homestead where we keep rabbits, quails, chickens, dogs and grow as much of our own fruits and veggies as we can.
Who I also am is the person who will dance, clap hands, sing and play peek-a-boo with your kids to connect with them (I do apologize for the singing) .
I am the one who will tuck in your underwear for your maternity shoot and tell you there’s something on your cheek so you look just perfect.
I am the one who will put on sexy music and feed you champagne at your boudoir shoot to calm your nerves.
I am the one your newborn will pee on while I rock her to sleep, or puke on just as I have him in the perfect sleepy position.
I am also the one who will put up with your reluctant husband and I’ll make the shoot quick and fuss-free for him.
I am your photographer and I will hopefully see all your babies grow up.
Just like everyone else, 2020 brought some introspection and a call to stop. Get off the hamster wheel and re-assess priorities. We as a family decided that estate living was just not for us anymore. We wanted our 4 kids to have trees to climb, grow our own food and end every day with a view and not the sound of the highway. We bought a small little plot right in the city that would still be convenient for driving our crazy-busy kids from one activity . And of course….to move my business to a home based business. With loads of prayers, I gave up my lovely, huge, rustic-french rented space and built my modern home studio. I had the vision of having this relaxed, private studio where shooting ‘outside’ would not mean a busy parking lot!
It suites my natural, easy, authentic and organic style of photography like a glove!
My philosophy on photography: When you look at your pictures 10 years from now you must remember the feeling, the emotion. Smell what your baby smelt like, feel the kicking in your belly all over again. When I create a picture of you, yes it is about what you look like, but more about helping you remember this part of your story.
Am I the right photographer for you?
If you are looking for simple, light, emotive images, then YES! If you want an easy and relaxed experience, then yes.
If you are looking for a very stylized, stiff, orchestrated, structured gallery with loads of props, flowers, several fake backdrops, a million colours and 4 hours of wardrobe and set changes, then I might not be the person for that specific shoot and you will find more joy working with a different photographer who loves that type of thing, and that is perfectly fine!
For those interested in titles and fancy badges and bragging rights – I have been published on several lifestyle and baby blogs as well as countless baby, toddler and entrepreneur magazines.
I launched the i adore mine calender campaign for cancer survivors and proceeds helped several children charities and homes.
I was a founding member of the Gauteng Association of Birth Photographers.
I was the Gauteng Area Coordinator for the SA branch of Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep for remembrance photography (now Halo and Goodbye) and am also one of the founding members of the annual Walk of Remembrance.
I also provided training and workshops for photographers, as co-founder of Fresh Workshops, and also did one-on-one mentoring in my personal capacity.
You won’t find any photography awards here, I have zero interest in entering competitions and getting awards or receiving accolades from other photographers or prizes from judging panels, my heart lies with my clients, the real people who trust me with their memories.