Capturing the Christmas Magic with Josie Photography

I know it always seems like I vanish from the earth during the #CarseatFullstop campaign; but now that I am going to be running it year-round (yay!! And so much exciting news on that later) I am going to have to learn to balance it with the rest of my life a bit better. But since I suck at balance, for now, I’m just going to bombard you with all things Christmas and give away all the cool things until you forget that I’ve been scarce this year! It seems only fitting to kick this all off by reviewing an awesome Cape Town photographer who has a magic touch with kids and cameras. The lovely Josie from Josie Photography, caught little Miss Charly’s excitement as she opened up some of the most gorgeous gifts around for this Christmas! (Christmas lists coming soon!!!) Aaaand we put together a little something-something for you, where one of you won a mini Christmas themed photoshoot AND a gorgeous Cotton Candyfloss Christmas chalkboard! Congratulations Rebecca Wolmarans!

Christmas Unicorns Pajamas by
Miniature Rocking chair by
Dear Santa chalkboard by
Large personalised wall-mounted easel by

Let’s start at the very beginning (a very good place to start, I hear). I met Josie for the first time at one of the #CTMeetup’s last year. She was absolutely lovely and was scouting for some mom bloggers to work with. I was not in the headspace to be in photographs, which made me somewhat sad when I saw her magical work with Tracey and Cindy. You see, Josie has a love (and an incredible talent) for capturing moments between moms and their children. I love that, as a mom, she gently reminds us of how important it is to be in front of the camera with our kids every now and then. If you are anything like me, the only photos you have of you and your children are silly selfies in your pjs using snapchat filters. Every time somebody asks me for a photo of Charly and I for a feature, I flinch a little, because I never have anything proper to send them.

Anyway, Josie and I have followed each other on our platforms and chatted on and off and became online friends. So, when she popped up in my mailbox wanting to work with Tums 2 Tots or Pregnant in Cape Town, I had this idea of Charly in gorgeous Christmas themed outfits opening gifts alongside a Christmas tree. With how distracted I have been this year, I wanted to make it all up to all of you AND to Charly. So, here we go!

Red Aliceband & Dress by

I went onto the local Facebook mommy groups and Instagram and did some investigating; looking for mommies who were doing gorgeous things to feature alongside our firm big brand favourites and I am SO happy I did. Christmas this year has a wide range of awesome to be shared! The special items that reached us in time for our photoshoot with Josie Photography were featured – the below are just sneaks, not the full images – although there were some that Charly got into long before and then it became impossible to rewrap them for the shoot – she just wouldn’t let me. I will be featuring everybody over the coming weeks though, both here and on Tums 2 Tots, because they have made Charly and I so very happy.

Red Flower Hairband by
Tis the Season to Sparkle Vest by
Red Chiffon Sequinned Handkerchief Skirt by  
Little Sprouts Cabbage Academy Playset by

So, the beautiful Josie of Josie Photography!

Josie grew up on an apple farm in Elgin, got married and moved to the one-and-only BIG APPLE where exploring the city introduced her to her love of photography. (New York has that effect on people, you just want to capture it’s magic any way you can!) When they moved back to South Africa 2 years later, Josie moved into wedding photography. She only moved away from wedding photography when she became a mom and didn’t want to be away from her little humans for very long full days over weekends.

It was a natural progression to shift her focus to maternity, newborn and baby photography. Her joy for catching special moments with kids is contagious and even though Charly was insanely excited by all the gifts, Josie managed to keep her calm and get these great shots of her. I love the way Josie puts her focus in her own words, “Now that I’ve got my own kids, I’m realising just how quickly the time goes by and creating these images is a way of stopping the clock a little and creating memories that can be cherished forever.”

That right there? That is why most of my family members get various forms of photos of Charly every year (I’m not “that” relative, they ask for regular photos throughout the year, so I try do something special around the holidays – you can see the kind of thing I mean here or here.) Which is where I got this idea from and luckily Josie loved it too!

Christmas Themed Bow Hairbands and Hairclips by
Teksta micro-pets playset by
Red Flower Hairband by
Tis the Season to Sparkle Vest by
Red Chiffon Sequinned Handkerchief Skirt by  
Red Chiffon Tutu by
Red & White Shorts by

Book 1 of only 5 Christmas themed mini-shoot for ONE-DAY-ONLY with Josie on Saturday 1 December for only R850!

The shoots will be held in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town and will include Christmas props and set. You bring your cutie in a gorgeous Christmas outfit and wrap a special gift for them to open (you miss some of the magic with prop gifts). Josie will snap away and produce the perfect pics for you to use for cards or to print and frame or have put on a canvas. And JUST for you, she is offering all of the following for only R850!!!

– A 30 minute photo session (includes Christmas props, clients to provide outfits)
– 10 high res professionally edited images (including 1 very special custom image)
– 2 X prints: 1 custom, 1 portrait (width:15.2cm; height:20.3cm)

Bookings will be on a first paid, first served basis. Send Josie an email on josievanzyl@gmail.com with the subject line: #ChristmasInCapeTown and she will send you what you need to secure 1 of the 5 spots available!

And now! Prepare yourself for allll the cuteness! THIS is what you could be gifting someone special with this Christmas!!! Under each photograph, you can find the links to the very special brands who provided the items in the photos 🙂

Christmas Unicorns Pajamas by
Large Personalised Wall-mounted Easel by
Miniature Rocking chair by
Hand Painted Wooden Rainbow by
Christmas Themed Building Blocks by

Red Aliceband & Dress by
Miniature Rocking chair by
Disney Elena of Avalor Doll by

Red Chiffon Sequinned Handkerchief Skirt by
Christmas Themed Goodie Bucket by @babalooli

Silver Chiffon Sequinned Handkerchief Skirt & Silver Pumps by

Two-Tone Velvet and Chiffon Handkerchief Fairy Dress & Silver Pumps by
My Little pony Movie Canterlot and Seaquestria Castle Playset by @hasbro
Biltong & Droewors Cake by @babalooli

Please show your love and support for the beautiful work Josie does by following her on Facebook and Instagram and be sure to tag @pregnantincapetown and @josiephotographysa if you share 🙂

Go order all the gorgeous things from the amazing humans who created them, please go show them some love by giving them a like on Facebook!! All the names are hyperlinked back to their Facebook pages to make it nice and easy for you all!

Two-Tone Velvet and Chiffon Handkerchief Fairy Dresses by

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