Living Lens Journal » Life Style

10 YEARS IN THE MAKING // Our Story

Emily — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 01:56:23 +0000

As some of you may know, or seen hinted at in earlier post, in the past month Peter and I have been going through some medical issues. The background story is this – I have had a kidney disease for the past 25 years and unfortunately for me the disease I have has gradually deteriorated my kidney function until I was in end stage renal failure. So for the past three years I have been attached to a dialysis machine each night to help filter fluids and toxins from my body – effectively replacing my kidneys with a machine to keep me alive.

Right now those of you who have met me, or had me at your wedding are probably thinking – Whoa, WHAT NOW?!? It does come to a bit of a shock to people because I haven’t really made a big deal out of it. I have been lucky enough to have had fantastic medical care (Medicare you ROCK!), a wonderful support base and a lifestyle that has made the transitions in each stage of my disease easier to deal with. And to be honest, while having this disease is does suck, I happen to think I have a pretty freakin’ awesome life!!

So, on the most auspicious of days – February 29th 2012 – I got THE call. They had a kidney match and I was to fly to Brisbane that day and have the transplant asap – HOLY CRAPOLA! I was sooooo not prepared for this moment but ready not, I was on the plane and at 7am on March 1st they wheeled me into theatre and gave me a new kidney! The transplant so far has been very successful, although I have had some side complications as a result of the new immunosuppresent medications I am taking, but I am so excited about all the possibilities for the future!

In months prior to the call, Peter and I had been dreaming up ways we can celebrate our upcoming TEN YEAR wedding anniversary on March 23rd. We had grand plans of holidaying on a luxury tropical island, getting frocked up for an expensive restaurant dinner or perhaps having the full day spa pampering experience as a way of celebrating our decade of marriage. Instead I was only a few days out of hospital and still in recovery mode, when my darling husband presented me with this wonderful surprise anniversary gift – beautiful memories of our wedding day and a wonderful reminder that we really have had an awesome life so far. Such a beautiful keepsake that he has worked so hard on (in secret!), it bought me to tears. THANK YOU my wonderful husband Peter, for all your love and support. You are truly my best friend, my partner in crime, my other half. Thank you for collecting our memories so we can look back at what an amazing first ten years we have had together, and my new kidney and I know the next ten, twenty, FIFTY will be EVEN BETTER!! LOVE XOXOXO!!

~ Emily

YEPPOON SHOW TIME // It’s Show Time!

Peter — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:55:21 +0000

As we have finally settled in to our new home I decided to go along to the annual Show in Yeppoon with M, Sarah, Marcus and Paris (who’s story you are about to watch). There is plenty of fun to be had so couldn’t resist and took the camera along. I thought it would be wonderful to tell the story from the child’s perspective and something I would have experienced when I was younger. There was so many things I filmed but I wanted this to cover things that would capture childhood experiences and the song was too cute not to use!

- Pete

FRIENDS AND FOOD // An English Feast

Peter — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:42:10 +0000

Over the past year we have been gathering friends for dinner for a “Food from Around the World” night where each of us picks a country and hosts a dinner party with food from that region. So last weekend was Kristie and Mark’s turn, and we all treked out to Emerald to tasted the culinary delights of England and try a variety of Ciders and Ales. Luckily for me (maybe not for my friends!) I took my new Canon 5DII camera along to capture the fun. I gotta say I was very full by the end of the night but man it tasted great.

- Pete

Veldhoven Family // Fusion Life Style

Peter — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:27:12 +0000

We are super excited to present a new product we are offering in conjunction with j-[studios]. The Life Style shoots are all about family – capturing the moments and creating memories. We spend part of their day capturing the activities the family enjoy doing together to create a fun and funky photo/video fusion style highlight, and with the addition of interviews with each member of the family, we can tell their story.

The Veldhoven family was so welcoming and the kids were very excited and not shy of being in front of the cameras at all! I really enjoyed capturing the interactions in the family and crafting it into a memory they can hold on to forever. And the fantastic stills taken by Jess really help highlight those special moments – its going to be exciting to work together with Jess on future Life Style shoots. Click here to check out some more stills from the shoot.

Check back soon as we have more Life Style videos to come!