Katja was on holiday in Cape Town when I met her in 2012, she was 6.5 months pregnant with Tim. Our idea was to take some natural light portraits of her and her partner and a few images of her alone.
We shot at the reservoir near Rhodes Memorial. I had planned to have her in the water but there were two eco-officers lying on the far side wagging their fingers at me when we started to wade in to the water so instead I worked with her at the waters edge.
It improves a shoot when your subject is comfortable or at least feels she can say when she isn’t. I asked Katja if she was alright posing totally nude for a few shots at this location, knowing the two officers were likely watching from the far side in-between napping. She agreed, and this image below is by far my favourite from the day. It is feminine, magical and has a soft, dreamy vulnerability about it which reflects Katja’s shy beauty.
I used a light colour filter on the background of the image in post production to enhance it a bit bit otherwise the image remains natural.
