A picture of a picture frame

I've had this frame for ages, you may have seen it before. I love it, and find that people when they are behind it, they are much more natural and relaxed - I guess it's a barrier of sorts between me and them.

Recently I photographed a beautiful family. Mum is Canadian, Dad is English, their home is Australia. They had some extended family visiting, so I went to photograph them before they departed back to their corner of the globe.

These are some of their beautiful children - with the fun and games of the frame.

Love the wee boy - so cute. The little Miss moved to the side of the frame in the bottom pic, so I could get her AND the flowers :)



X Rhonda

Back again!

Opps - as you can see, it's been a very long time between blog posts. Interestingly my lack of posting coincides with my wee boy leaving daycare. However, 2011 is a new year!

I thought I'd do a bit of a me post, since it's been so long. I wanted to talk a bit about me, and Ranzau Photography. Who I am, and who the heck Ranzau is - how do you say that name anyway????

Ok firstly, Ranzau Photography is me - obviously! Ranzau is pronounced ran-zow The name comes from two things. The first is the letters make up a few important things to me RA - my initials, NZ - my homeland, and AU - my adopted homeland. This isn't why I picked the name however.

Way back in my family history there was a Count Rantzau (there used to be a t in the name too) in Germany who funded two brothers Carl & Fedor Kelling to travel to NZ to set up a new life there. There were many others who travelled with them, and they set up a community in Nelson NZ in the late 1800s. Fedor is my great great great grandfather. The area around where they settled in Nelson still bears the name, Ranzau Road, Ranzau School & the old original homestead, still known as Ranzau. So that to me is the main reason for using the name. The idea of two brothers in those times packing up their lives and moving with their families to the other side of the world to search for something more, is something I can relate to today. Matt & I just jumped the ditch, looking for something more, and I think we've found it!

I also wanted to talk a bit about my photography. I'd like to hope that anyone who takes up a hobby or sport or something that they love, understands when I talk about passion. I don't think I've felt it before, but through my photography, I feel more alive. It's like a switch that I didn't know existed has been turned on, and now I just have so much more passion for things. My family, my boys (including my hubby), and my life. Something has also changed as I near the next decade - only 365 more days to go - eek! I want to enjoy life more, embrace it more, take more risks, and have more fun. It might be a mid life crisis, it doesn't feel like a crisis though, it feels great!

Now you are probably thinking, OK great - she has passion and german descendants - whopee! But wait, there's more. A couple of other things you should know about me is that I LOVE gadgets - technology doesn't scare me one. single. bit. I also have some spiritual views and believe what a fabulous spiritual healer once told me about one of my spirit guides being an assistant to Galileo - back in the day, apparently he also loves technology & gadgets & cars, as do I.

Late last year we went looking for a new car. We have one main family car, which is getting a bit tired, and needed to go into semi- retirement. The plan was that I would have the new one, as I do the bulk of the running round, and Matt would have the old family one as a work car - it was a step up for him, trust me! So the search began. Even before we started looking officially, I found the car of my dreams. I wee mini - convertible! I showed Matt, he wasn't convinced - not even a little bit. Anyway, we went off and looked at some other cars - new toyotas etc, but they didn't make my heart sing - not even a little bit. Finally after a few months, the mini was still for sale, and Matt agreed to go and look at it. He took it for a drive and he was hooked (as I knew he would be). Anyway, with one thing or another it took a long time to actually buy her, two long months. But finally at the start of this month, she became mine - meet Mimi the mini.



I don't know if you know, but the great british motoring icon of mini, is now actually made by the German auto powerhouse of BMW - wow, what a combination! My Mimi, is the most fun you can have on four wheels - honestly, she's a blast. And yes, we do fit, and yes, there is room for car seats :) Did I mention too that my grandfather (the Fedor descendant) was part German, and my grandmother - English. So as I am a combination of the two, so are my beautiful wheels. Really - it was fate that we got together, wasn't it.

You may have also noticed a whole new look on this blog. Late last year I had all my branding re-done, and again as fate would have it, my branding and Mimi are a colour match made in green motoring heaven - ahhhh. So watch this space, there will be new pics of a sign written mini very soon :)

Thank you for reading! I promise to not leave it six months or more, before I return.

X Rhonda

Beautiful beach session

This afternoon I met the most beautiful family.  The rain stayed away - far far away actually, and we had a lovely time.

They are all just gorgeous, and wanted some photos for their parents birthdays this year.  I told them I'd put up one or two before they head off home in the morning, but I really couldn't choose just two.

So anyway, thank you so much guys for all the effort you put in, you all looked fantastic, I loved photographing you!

It really was lovely to meet you.  Travel safe home.

X Rhonda

Boys & flowers

There are many things I hope for my boys to become when they are men.   High up on that list, is for them is to really appreciate the women in their lives, and find little ways to show them.  

This may seem tacky or old fashioned even, but one of the ways I hope to teach my boys about growing into lovely men, is through flowers.  I get flowers from their dad, not all the time, and never at an expected time, but rather for no reason at all.  I love it.

So every little weed they find, and bring home to me, I treasure as if it's  a designer bunch of long stemmed roses or whatever.

As a result - I get a lot of 'flowers' from my boys :)  May they never stop giving them to me, or any other significant women they have in their lives.

This was from today, with my wee boy (while my big boy was at kindy).

As you can see, each flower, no matter what, comes home and is added to the evolving collection in one of Grandma's old sherry glasses, on the kitchen bench.  

Have a nice weekend everyone.

X Rhonda

Mud, men & mangroves

We headed out to the mangroves near our place last week to snap some pics while we had a visiting granddad here from NZ.

On our previous visit we were unprepared for the amount of slippery mud, and as a result came away a bit worse for wear.  This time, I took bottles of warm water, lots of towels and changes of clothes - as you can see though, we needed none of those.

Here I was - all ready for muddy shots, and they didn't eventuate!

Then we headed to the proper mangroves.  Oh how I'd love to do a proper shoot there - maybe a trash the dress with a 'bride' and wedding dress - any volunteers?

My lovely father in law is a dab hand at B&W photography, so he showed me some of his tricks with these mangrove photos.  I might try some more black and whites now I have a little bit of an idea of what to do!






X Rhonda

A boy and his Mum's brolly

After a recent downpour I found myself standing at the shops, ready to make an umbrella purchase.  I'd selected two which I thought would be OK, but really - who needs two brolly's?  A choice had to be made.  Do I go with Mumsy blend-in pastel florals, or the funky stripes?   Which would look better in photos...?  

The stripes for sure - decision made.

OK so it didn't rain today, but we pretended when we went out for a walk this morning.  Since my other favourite location has been mowed *sob* I've been visiting my second best possie recently to snap a few snaps.

This is also my first edit on my mac.  I'm not totally happy with my settings yet, but the potential is definitely there, so please bear with me!

X Rhonda

My lovely friend and her beautiful belly

My friend is pregnant with her fourth baby, and wow - if I had pregnancies like hers, I might have a couple more too.  She is well, and healthy and mobile and looking great!  We took some pics recently over the space of a couple of days.  The first session we had big brothers and sister, also waiting for their new baby.

These are from the second session, minus the children, and nearly minus the sun!

 

Good luck Helen - can't wait to meet your wee one.

X Rhonda