Picturesque woodlands

Viv invited me to come along to Genevieve's birthday party to photograph it - no pressure, as Viv is a professional photographer.  It's not always ideal to be behind the camera though at such an event - you really do want to look like you were present at key moments in your children's lives!  She knew I would have fun though as she had such a lot of prettiness going on, and I definitely did. The Lord mercifully blessed us with another glorious day in Timaru...the plans for a Botanical Garden woodlandsy party would have been severely dampened if rain had been pouring down.

The sun does a really small arc in the sky at this time of year, so shadows are long and highly contrasted.  You just have to work with the light and effects instead of working around it...opportunities for contre-jour photography abound.

Viv's creative genius at work - what a great cake!

Hmm, Marc is ever the stirrer - this time with a knife.  Graham thought the cake was pretty good too.

The golden piñata...I left before the girls managed to smash it open, which apparently took a mammoth effort - that's one tough pinecone!

The one above is called "Graham and the Big Tree"...

Thanks for a great afternoon, Viv and co!  (A note about the photos - Viv uploaded an album to her facebook page with pics of the girls; I have chosen to use less 'face' pictures on this post.)