I went back to the Boreham Wood vineyard today for an update on how things are looking now.  Seems that the vines are all finished 'graping' for the year, and it's time to prune.  This really is a family vineyard!

I love this shot, captures my imagination somehow.

I know I've said it before, but this wine really is tremendous.  My suspicions of its awesomeness were confirmed when Sarah told me about some really fantastic developments on the worldwide market (I won't even try to quote her, maybe you can fill us in in the comments area Sarah?) .... anyway I'm so proud to be part of this in some small way :)

Then we went to the winery.... ahhh such cool big steel tanks!

Did I mention the tanks are BIG?

Making sure that the wine is doing what it's supposed to do.  It's all pretty complicated stuff these days!

So, that was the summary of today, can't wait to try the end result of all of the hard work you guys have put in this year!

So my sister's boy is all grown up - and getting married!!  I'm sooo excited about photographing their wedding later in the year :)  Although, I can't believe that I am the relative with a camera covering the day (shudder!) and Paul will actually be the uncle with the flash camera - there's one at every wedding, they are often referred to as 'Uncle Bob'.

Anywho, Dan and Bailey are just so gorgeous together.  Bailey is a really sweet girl, well chosen Dan! 

I had such fun this afternoon dragging them around the town.  The weather was supposed to be thunder storming, but a window opened for us.  So we ran with that!

I am loving this red wall....

Whenever it suits, I bring Emily or Kimberly to a photoshoot.  It was Emily's turn, and she's dead keen on becoming a photographer as well, so I usually let her loose with the camera that she's holding for me.

This was one of her shots - not bad ey!

I actually think Emily shot this one too!

Checkin' out the engagment ring...

Check out the expression :)  I'm trying to get them to pull a serious face.

I'm pretty sure he gets his good looks from his aunty...!

Thanks for today guys, it was great fun.  I can't wait for your wedding!! 

One of my photos has been chosen for a book cover!  Yay, that's put a smile on my face for the day :)

You'll find out more about it here:  http://penitpub.com/index.php

It's been a great week, tidying up loose ends and getting completely up to date with our photos and office work.  Yay! We actually had the full weekend off (mostly anyway) which has been a loooong time coming.  Back into things this week, no time to sit and twiddle our thumbs though, new projects have already been started and more stuff is booked in. 

Here's a place Paul did last week, I love how he captured this sign. 

In winter the sun is so low, it's a real challenge to light the south side of a house.  When the sun is shining right at you, it's also tricky to capture a blue sky.  Try it someday, just for a giggle. 

I want a water feature just like this.... it means I wouldn't have to clean my windows as often!

The ensuite with the hint of the bedroom in the mirror.

This next house was out at Havelock, on the waterfront.  What a view!

Paul's getting in touch with his arty side :)

Ok, so that's me for today.  I'll try and get some people shots up again soon, for those of you who would rather look at faces than property! 

Gosh, it's cold here tonight!  Winter has well and truly hit - I hear that there's snow all over the place down south.  I know that winter happens every year, but I don't think I'll ever be 100% fine with it.  The Dutch girl in me wants the snow here, and the Aussie girl wants to go back to Queensland. 

Oh well, summer will come eventually, and with it come lots and lots of weddings - yay!  I'm such a girl about weddings, you'd think I'd be over it by now, but I get so excited and nervous at every single one.  We've decided that where ever possible, we're going to keep the weddings down to one a week.  There is just soooo much behind-the-scenes work that goes into them, it's just not wise to take on too many, especially if we want to keep shooting other things as well.  So if you're thinking about booking us for next year, do drop us a note, as there are not that many weeks free in peak season (January-March).

So I had a squiz through Paul's property work this week, and pulled out a few that took my fancy.  He worked on a couple of top secret projects last week, which unfortunately I can't show you until the magazine comes out.... but I've said too much already :)

Love it....

And who doesn't love baby ducks?  I had no idea they were still around, I would have thought it was far too cold for babies.  However, obviously, I'm no duckling expert.

And Llamas!  I think I'd buy a Llama farm, just so I could go out and look at them - they crack me up, with their gorgeous faces and funny looking bodies!

Mummy has a watchful eye over her one day old baby - what do you call a baby Llama?  Hmmm... I'm no Llama expert either turns out!)

And it simply wouldn't be Marlborough without a parting vineyard shot!

I know I have been promising these photos for a while, well here they finally are!  Unfortunately they've been right down the priority list, but I've scrounged some time tonight to pull these out and blog them.  Things have been so busy here in the Jones household, which is good, but it does mean that some things just get left at the bottom of the pile. 

So usually, I'm behind the camera - and there's a very good reason for that.  I'm absolutely useless in front of it.  Pretty well everyone I photograph says the same thing, something about their ears or their nose or how they smile funny.  It's pretty well universal, people don't like to have their photo taken, but they do like having good photos of themselves.  So this mother's day just gone, definitely my favourite present was the time spent with my beautiful family, and the memories held in these photos!

And yes, they are all mine.  They're all so delicious - check out the really short one :)

I've actually got a photo of my mum and I, from 30 odd years ago - and it's so similar to this one.  Seems that Sophie has her thumb sucking style from her mummy :)

My men, doing their bit for the greater good of the family leaf pile.

Oh, you looking at me?

When Annabel called me to see if I could photograph her family while they had her in-laws staying from overseas, I had no idea how much I would enjoy meeting and shooting them!  Eduard is my Dentist (thankfully he's a very very gentle dentist, or he may have ended up with some extra warts and wrinkles :)) 

We first met at Rarangi Beach, and although I thought there would be oodles of light at 3pm, turns out our time was extreamly limited.  Gotta love winter....  we had fun though, and I think it was worth the rush for the pictures we got.

However, because the light ran out I was not truely satisfied that I captured this family as well as I know I could have.  They seemed all too happy to go to Pollard park, and have another play a couple of days later.... I must admit, it really wasn't much like work to me.  These guys are sooo nice, and even better they really really like eachother, which makes it so much easier to capture them together.

I can just keep looking and looking at this photo - the emotion in that split second.... ahhh.