Monique – “The 40 over 40 Women’s Portrait Campaign”

Monique, 40

Welcome to  ‘The 40 over 40 Women’s Portrait Campaign”!

At the beginning of July 2021, I put out a call for incredible women between the ages of 40 and 100, to apply to this empowering, fun, and transformational magazine-style photoshoot experience. In less than 2 days, I had 22 women book and sign up for this exciting campaign, which will culminate in a gallery exhibition in Cape Town in July 2022.  A month into the campaign, I am nearly fully booked!  The 40 shoots will be spread out and photographed over 12 months.  I could not be doing this without my team.  Hair and Makeup artists, Delaney Siebert and Donna Hay will be glamming up all the women, and enhancing their features!  My virtual assistants, from WAHM Workspace, with Bianca handling all the admin, newsletters, etc, and my retouching team, behind the scenes.

The 40 photoshoots will conclude with a special finale of a limited edition printed magazine  AND gallery exhibition in Cape Town, with YOU showcased in both!

Monique was the first incredible woman to be photographed, and what made the shoot even more special, was that it was on the day of her 40th birthday! She hired a gorgeous, floaty, whimsical dress from “Silver Swallow Design” in Johannesburg and it was an absolute dream to photograph her in it.

This was my 2nd shoot with Monique. The first was when I opened my portrait studio in my apartment about 2 years ago. So it seemed like a real blessing, that Monique was the first woman to kick off the campaign! Monique is a very strong, kind, independent woman, with a warm openness.  She is a mom of 3 and somehow manages to run a home and a business with ‘Young Living” essential oils.

Delaney Siebert did Monique’s hair and makeup, which worked so beautifully with the dress options.

Each woman is given a PDF of questions to answer for the campaign, sharing their favourite poems or quotes, and some life lessons. Here are some special words shared by Monique.

My favourite poem…

“I fell in love with him
Not because he silenced
all of my fears
or made me feel so safe;
I fell in love with him
because he awoke a
sleeping lioness within me –
A wild woman who knows
only passion and freedom
and laughs away her fears.”
– Beth Belleisle

My thoughts on aging… 

I feel that it is so important to show our daughters and granddaughters that there is such beauty in aging gracefully.

That with age comes wisdom and that those lines etched by life experiences make us even more beautiful.

We should lead by example and teach our daughters to change their mindset about aging, instead of trying to reverse it, embrace seeing the beauty in the new.

With age comes an inner strength and stepping into and standing in our power, makes us appear almost ageless.