Heaven on Earth: Brouwer's Family Shooting

One of the greatest joys of motherhood is the way it makes a person see the world with fresh eyes; so many things that we adults have gotten used to, even taken for granted, are to children the stuff of wonderment, prompting wide innocent smiles and peals of laughter.

In the presence of children, we witness so many “firsts” - first steps, first words, first trips to the park, and we truly begin to see every day as the new beginning it is. Each of these moments is so precious to a mother that it becomes her ultimate goal to capture them all, to make those jewels permanent in the form of photographs, videos, and other keepsakes.

Such was the situation with the beautiful Dutch family shown in the images below. The mother, Manja, had spent some of her happiest years in Cyprus, watching her two children grow up under the benevolent Mediterranean sunshine. The time had come, however, for a change and the family is soon moving back to their home in the Netherlands, where little Vico and Beau Jolie will continue growing up surrounded by their relatives.
While the children are, of course, bundles of excitement about being nearer to the rest of their family, for Manja, saying goodbye to Cyprus also meant closing the door on a blissful chapter in her family's life. As such, she decided it was the perfect time to cross something she had always dreamed of off her “bucket list”: a family photoshoot that would form the perfect lifelong memento of the wonderful years they had spent here.

 While I have worked with many lovely people over my career as a destination photographer, I can truly say that Manja's devotion to her shoot was a rare delight for me: she enthusiastically worked with me, spending days planning the shoot, preparing props and accessories, and sending me inspiration until I knew exactly how to pull this shoot together. 
When the big day came, there was only one thing left to take care of, something that could not be planned or predicted: striking up enough of a rapport with the children that I could get the shots I wanted. Thankfully, by the end of the shoot, the children and I were giggling away like old friends as I learned ballet jumps from Beau Jolie and football techniques from Vico. 

The result was an amazing experience, a blissful day spent among the champagne-hued fields and beside the rippling blue waters of the sea, the brilliant colours of nature perfectly mirroring the blonde hair and blue eyes of the Brouwers. The white clothing and décor added the perfect note of purity, creating the sense of something heavenly as the loving family all clustered together for one of their last days out together on this magical island where time so often seems to stand still.

In the end, thanks to the efforts of all involved, I am proud to say that I managed to capture a treasured epoch in the Brouwer family's life, giving it expression through my images so that it may linger on like a golden dream, radiating soft innocence and a sense of eternal summer...