I am so thrilled I did that ......

Pictures are one of the best investments you can make! Those special memories caught for ever. I like the idea of a once a year shoot. Someone suggested I do a photoshoot for Stefan instead of a big 1 year party as he won't remember the party anyway. I think it's exactly what I'm going to do!

RM - your pics are stunning. My favourite pic is still your profile pic - just LOVE that pic.

I also really regret not having pics taken with my girls .

I also used to think photographers are expensive, cause you think like - R1000 for a shoot - no ways - too much. But once I started photography, I started to realize that there's much more to it. Take a newborn shoot for example. You set up before the shoot for an hour, you put heaters on etc. etc. and get everything ready. Then you shoot for about 2 - 3 hours, then you need to clean up and everything needs to be washed. Then another hour or so to download the pics and to convert them to jpeg. From there you need to edit each pic (10 min to an hour or more for each pic). Then you still need to do admin, back ups, service equipment etc. It's a lot of hard work.

Anyways, if ever God bless me with another baby, I will get a maternity shoot, I will try have the birth captured by another photographer as well as newborn pics.

Oh how I wish I'd done this. What a clever idea paying it off. The photos are lovely!

Your pic's are stunning!!!

It's an investment that no money can buy one day , the value will be priceless.

You mentioned canvas , I would love to do that with my photo's where and how? I don't mind if it is in Cape Town my sister is studing at AFDA so can always arrange with her to get it , but best would be someone in JHB.

RM I am also going to do one every year as it is worth the investment like you said. Photos last forever and it will be awesome for you and your children to look back on!

Hey capi. Nice to see you. xxx

To keep the price down, I did shop around for a photographer, until I found one I liked, who was also accommodating regarding pricing.

I opted for a package with 4 shoots included, and then requested only the digital images - I cover the cost of the printing, not the photogrpher.

So I request all the raw images, and the final retouched images she has done. She burns it all on to a DVD and I take it away and then do prints and canvases and what ever else.

So I keep the photographers costs as low as possible, and hopefully she also gets something out of it as she gets repeat business from me.