I’ve had the privilege and honour to meet and get to know Sharon of Sharon Senior Photography. First as a twitter buddy who then won me over with her fantastic work (without even trying) and then becoming a friend in person who I treasure dearly. For someone like me, who lives thousands of kilometres away from family you put value in every little thing that makes you feel closer to those far away.

When Sharon announced that she was going to Cape Town for a week of shooting and still had slots available, I immediately booked her to photograph my precious Angel and my parents. For one, it meant alot to my folks to have gorgeous photos of them together but to also have photos with Angel and also for me to have photos of them all that bring them into my daily life.

Not long after that, I booked Sharon again, this time for a shoot with my sister, T and her beautiful family. I never got to be there for when my youngest nephew, Z, was born and unfortunately I’m just not satisfied with the occasional camera pic that gets sent to me. For my sis, I wanted to give her this special gift because I know how sentimental she is. (She has quite a few photos from the shoot framed and hanging in the lounge!)

Of course, I don’t just book shoots of my family for my own enjoyment (as pleasing as it is!), recently I asked Sharon to photograph MrTwist’s daughter and her mum so that we could have photos of them too – they’re as much a part of my own family and my daily life as Angel or anyone else. She took the most gorgeous photos of them!, so much so that as soon as I got my copies of some of the photos I had a calendar made for MrTwist with photos of his precious Angel as a Christmas gift. He was overjoyed when I gave it to him!

I, myself, have been ‘lucky' enough to be on the other side of Sharon’s lens. On a recent holiday in South Africa I invited Sharon and her lovely son to join T, her son and myself for a day at the Elephant Sanctuary in Haartebeespoort, asking her to just take a few photos of T and I as we haven’t had any in years.

Much as I don’t like looking at myself, especially in photographs, I was so pleased with the photos when they arrived just before Christmas – I was so excited, I documented the opening of the package!! Such beautiful presentation!

This blog post is my way of saying thank you to Sharon for the invaluable gifts she has given me and my family. These memories and captures of special moments will always be precious to all of us and for me, far away, it makes me feel like I was there and part of it all.

If you’re in SA or planning a trip there, give Sharon a call and come back home with treasures like I have.