My stomach hurt from laughing so much.  Photographing this gorgeous Kiwi was an absolute blast.  Like her smile and her contagious laugh, her bright bubbly personality leaves a mark in your soul.  Her LUXE Photoshoot started with her hair and makeup done by Artistry by Shell followed by her portrait and boudoir photoshoot with me.  I’m so fortunate to have photographed such a beautiful person.  Here are some of my favourite images from her shoot.

A few weeks after her photoshoot, I met up with her again to reveal to her her images and I’m happy to say that she came home with a whole bunch of these photographs to admire and fall in love with many times over for years to come!

Have you ever seen pictures from a cover of a magazine and wished that you can be photographed like that?  Miss J was pregnant with her third child when her hubby contacted me about my services.  It was his wife’s wish for their third (and perhaps last) pregnancy.  “How would you like to be photographed?” I then asked her.  In no time at all she immediately responded with several examples of what she wanted.  It was very obvious that she was wanting something very specific.  “I’ve wanted this style of maternity photos ever since I was pregnant with my first”.  Needless to say that I have never been more excited for a photoshoot as I knew that I was going to provide to this this remarkable woman the photographs of her dreams.  

Only a month or so left before the arrival of her baby, she arrived at the studio with a stroller full of outfits for herself and her family for the family portrait portion of her session.  She then sat in Auzsha’s makeup chair excited to get dolled up.  She opted for a dramatic look– she wanted her eyes to pop, she requested.  

After Auzsha finished with her, she was so amazed with what she saw in the mirror.  “My kids won’t even recognize me”.  We got down to business and began her dream shoot (Sorry folks, these images are for her eyes only, and the eyes of her husband’s).  We managed to bang it all out at a short span of time and managed to dedicate the other half of her shoot for some photographs with her husband and two kids.

After the shoot, her family surprised me with a birthday song sang by her whole family, hugs and kisses from her two adorable boys, and a delicious chocolate cake.  Such a sweet way to end a photoshoot!  A couple of weeks later (and many late nights) I then met with her again for her big photo reveal.  I laid in front of her 20 images from her photoshoot– beautifully printed and matted for her senses to feast on.  Her reaction to them was unforgettable.  They were better than she could ever imagine, she said.  The week after she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.  

This experience for me will forever be remembered as that time when I was able to make someone’s long-lived wish turn into reality.  It fills me up with so much joy knowing that as a hardworking wife and a mother of three boys, she will always have her gorgeous photographs of herself to admire for the rest of her life.

February is my favourite month of the year!  It’s short but sweet.  It is the time to not only celebrate love and friendship, it just so happens to be my birthday month!  In the spirit of receiving gifts and good wishes, I want to do the same in return.  To celebrate the relaunching of MJ Photography, throughout this month only, I would like to give away $250 gift vouchers to spend on portraits.  This voucher must be redeemed by August 31, 2016.

To receive your own voucher, just send me a message with the subject line ‘Gift Voucher’, leave your name and your e-mail address and I will e-mail your voucher.  To use it, just book a LUXE Portrait Photoshoot or an MJ Mini Session and you can spend the $250 voucher towards the portraits that you choose to buy afterwards.  But remember that I’m only giving these vouchers away during the month of February only, and only a limited amount so shoot me a message before it’s too late!

With lots of love,

Marissa (The Birthday Girl)