Sesame Ellis

Since Aaron passed away I've had contact with a lot of different people.  So many people have been so kind to us, and every comment or message that we get means so much to us.  It reminds us that we aren't alone. 

One of my favourite photographers is Rachel Devine who has a website called Sesame Ellis.   She has an amazing list of clients including Target, Nikon, People Magazine, Betty Crocker and Ford Models.   She has also published books and had one of her photos on the cover of a magazine.    I have always oohed and aah ed over her beautiful photos of her gorgeous kids, and have admired her photos on her blog.

I don't actually remember how Rachel and I first made contact, but I think it may have been through Instagram.  I felt honoured that she would take the time to comment on my photos, because I looked up to her so much as a photographer. 

A few months ago Rachel let me know that she was coming on a holiday, touring Tasmania with her family.  Rachel is American, but lives in Melbourne with her family and they had never been to Tasmania before.  They had a jam packed week of driving from one end of the state to the other, and back again.

We only had one afternoon where we could meet up while she was in town, and unfortunately it was a night when I was running around with lots of jobs after school.  Even though we knew we would only have a short time together, we were still excited to be able to meet up.  They were touring around in a camper van, so we met them at the park that they were staying at for the night.

I hadn't told my boys about it until just before we went to meet them, as I knew there was a possibility that we wouldn't have time to meet.  On the way there I was telling the boys about how I knew Rachel and that she has a blog that I read. 

It was so strange but cool meeting them in real life.  I had seen literally hundreds of beautiful photos of them, so I felt like I was meeting someone famous! Rachel said it was the same when she saw my boys.   She had also been telling her kids that she knew me through my blog.  Unfortunately Harri was at a friend's house so couldn't come with us. 

Rachel and Alec's kids were just as cute in real life as in her photos.  Clover and Kieran are twins and are so different in looks and personality.

I told them that I could imagine just jumping in a camper van with the boys and touring around Australia.  It was always a dream of Aaron and mine to do that.  He wasn't into camping at all (we have never actually been camping as a family) but he said he could handle a camper van, as long as it had a TV :)

Rachel's oldest daughter Gemma is following in her Mum's footsteps and is already a talented photographer.  I joked with her that she and Harri would make a nice couple in the future as they are the same age, and that I should go and pick him up so she could meet him. I don't think she was very keen.  Kobe is the same age as the twins so we also joked that Clover and Kobe should get married, but I think she'll have to line up as he tells me that he now has four girlfriends! :)

 

It's crazy how events in my life has allowed me to have contact with people that I wouldn't have otherwise, and to meet people such as Rachel. Thank you Rachel for taking some time out of your holiday to meet up.  It meant a lot to me and hopefully you'll be back to Tasmania again sometime so we can spend longer together next time.