Do you have a special place?

A place that gives you peace. A place that in years to come you’ll think of before any house you lived in.

Michelle has a place like that. Michelle has a busy life. She has a husband, children and she’s a night duty nurse.

Michelle rides to her special place once a week before sunrise. She goes to a yoga class on the beach and before the class she sits at a lookout and watches the sky, the beach, even the small group of guys that are training every time she’s there. That’s her special place.

A few months ago Michelle came to my photography exhibition and it gave her an idea. She wanted a canvas print like the ones I’d been showing at my exhibition but she wanted her special place captured. One print was a triptych and that’s what Michelle wanted on her wall, 3 canvas prints displaying one image.

After we spoke on the phone we met at her special place at the beach. We talked more about what she wanted. She had a phone photo of her idea. It was a good photo but wasn’t going to translate into a one and half metre print. We were able to nut out exactly what was to feature on her print. She wanted her bike in the shot, the city skyline, even the guys she would see training on the beach. Being together we worked out I needed to take the photo at her height, not mine. All these little things needed to be clear before the big morning.

The day of the shoot I arrived. Although you can’t plan the sky it was one of those May mornings that the colours filled the sky.

People were stopping along the beach taking photos of the beautiful morning and I would have been too but I had a specific special place to capture. All my settings needed to be perfect but I wasn’t finished yet. When I went home I needed to edit and stitch photos together. I needed to give a small collection for Michelle to chose from.

When Michelle arrives at her special place the sun hasn’t yet risen but I wanted to show her place full of light and colour and joy. With lightroom and photoshop editing I was able to do this.

To help you remember the details and share it with friends & family think of Your Special Place Captured because that’s the webpage. www.yourspecialplacecaptured.com It will give you my contact details and redirect you to www.jona.com.au for more information.

This was Michelle’s response: “Thankyou so much for the time and care that you took to capture the moment that will forevermore be up on my wall. This is my special place and you were kind enough to meet me before dawn to capture the moment. Thankyou for your professionalism and sensitivity to take a truly amazing photo that is so heartwarming to me.”