(Note: “The Housewives” was a term I fondly coined in 2006 after I started getting shoot requests from private, individual women who became my clients. Many of the women who contacted me were married and in their mid 30’s and were doing the shoots as gifts to their husbands. The folder in my archives is still called this and so I’ve stuck to it, in part just for the irony: most of these women are not “housewives” at all, but strong independent and forward thinking women who I have had the honour of documenting.
All are private commissions and the demographic has changed substantially over the years. Some I’m still in contact with, others I’ve totally lost contact with, some have become friends, some may wish not to have their real names used, others don’t mind, some may have their faces obscured for privacy reasons, others have generously shared their experiences of being photographed.)
This shoot with Helena took place on an overcast day in 2011 at Glen Beach in Camps Bay. She had got in touch with me and had done a casting for Playboy just prior to her shoot and had decided she really wanted to do this for herself no matter if it was for the brand or not. Helena dropped me a message with some memories from the shoot years later…
I’ve had to think way way back to this shoot & all it meant to me.
Gosh it feels like a lifetime away, but I do remember that just for one day I wanted to feel like one of those beautiful human beings, when you page through a magazine, I always thought they must have the perfect life, look how beautiful they are, never did I think that our images would actually look amazing & that it was actually me in the image!
To this day I am so very proud of this shoot, I was out of my comfort zone. I would do it in a heartbeat again.
My body has changed immensely, but I am more proud of it today than wat back when. I’ve beaten cancer, hardships I wish on no one, I’ve completed some of the toughest races out there, I am 40 years old now & by far the most comfortable & proud of the woman I am than ever.
I do not train as much, but I have learned that beauty shines from within (as corny as it may sound).
