Kurt and Monique’s Couple Shoot at Neethlingshof
What a great shoot - the light was perfect, the mood was fantastic – Monique and Kurt, hope you love the pics as much as I do 
Monique looks just beautiful in that top pic!
Kurt and Monique’s bridal party shoot
We had so much fun shooting Kurt and Monique’s bridal party – you guys all rocked and had Clarien and I in stitches!
With their vintage theme and just the sheer elegance and exuberance of everyone there we got some great pics. I really love Clarien’s shots (the bottom two) of the boys smoking, gangster (we were thinking ‘Godfather’) style
Kurt and Monique, you’re really blessed with so many friends and family who can make you laugh. All I’m saying is . . . the safe word is pineapple.
Monique and Kurt’s Wedding Ceremony at Neethlingshof
Here are some pics from Kurt and Monique’s wedding ceremony at beautiful Neethlingshof. They had a vintage theme for their wedding and for me they really hit the nail on their head with their classy yet sassy take on ‘vintage’. Clarien and I had a ball shooting this and just got so many great shots. And the fact that Monique and Kurt both love being in front of the camera really helps
Enjoy the pics. The final two are Clarien’s.
Caroline’s Bridal Shoot in Franschhoek
After our whirlwind shoot of the boys, Clarien and I sped over to shoot Caroline and the girls . . . plus one boy. Breaking with tradition, Caroline had a bridesman as well as her bridesmaids. Nicol (pronounced a little like the nickle) is looking very suave in amongst the svelte girls (Caroline, Christina and Katherine). And then I’ve also included a shot of Caroline with her mom and dad, Christine and John. There’s a lot of hype about shooting natural, unposed photos, but if that’s all you shoot then you can’t guarantee that you’ll always get those all important family shots. And the family shots are the ones that you’re going to print and treasure for years to come. For Richard and Caroline the family shots were really important because they had family coming from overseas and it was a wonderful opportunity to get them all together in big family photos!
Richard’s Groom Shoot
It’s amazing the shots you can get in less than 20 minutes! Richard and his groomsmen were a wee bitty pushed for time, as is wont to happen on a wedding, so while they were getting showered and shampooed Clarien and I scouted the venue and found a host of awesome spots to shoot in – all in their lounge. I’m loath to admit that I can’t remember the name of the venue – so Rich please feel free to jog my memory on this – but they were really cool about us shooting wherever we wanted. When the guys were mostly dressed we popped up to shoot the finishing touches and then when everyone was ready we headed down to the lounge and it just ran like clockwork – the light was awesome, the boys were in fine form and having a great time, and we got some great ‘boy shots’. Love the one of Rich’s brothers and bestman (Anthony, Michael and Lawrence respectively) with the little round tables. And then had to sh
Being in the Zone
I was chatting to Clarien, a really good mate of mine who’s been assisting me with most of my weddings recently, about the difference it makes when you’re ‘In The Zone’ . It’s not that you take crap shots the rest of the times, it’s just that when you’re head’s in it then your pics just have that little extra something. And I think your clients feel it as well. How, if your head is completely with them instead of being all over the show or with your own worries, then you just click and make beautiful images.
I think it’s a bit like preparing for a sport’s match. If you walk on to the field and you’re thinking about the fight you had with your boyfriend/girlfriend the night before then chances are you’re not going to play your best game. But if you walk onto the field and your head is clear and focussed on how many goals you want to score and how you’re going to stop your opponents from scoring, th
Jan and Ronel’s wedding
When I met Jan and Ronel they were so excited and happy to be getting married and all of that excitement carried over into their big day!
It was quite hot out in Worcester/Robertson, but a perfect day for a wedding. Clarien and I drove out and took the scenic trip, over the mountain instead of through the pass, and I think the scenic drive just put us in the right frame of mind for finding beautiful images – not that it was hard for us, because Jan and Ronel were just awesome to shoot!
Enjoy the pics; I’ll be posting some more in a wee whiley.
Monique and Kurt’s E shoot
I’ll be doing Monique and Kurt’s wedding pretty soon, and I have to say that I think we’re going to get great shots – they were so relaxed and easy going in front of the camera and they’re so very clearly in love that we got some great pics! Enjoy
Chandan’s Birthday Suprise
What an awesome way to celebrate a birthday: Chandan’s husband, Mark, organised a suprise party for her which involved a limo picking up her and eleven of her friends, and whisking them away to the Spa at the Twelve Apostles where all the ladies were treated to a manicure, pedicure and back massage. As if that didn’t top the list of great ways to spend a birthday, Mark, with the help of Renate from Unforgettable Events, also organised a light lunch for their friends
Enjoy the pics.
Jeremy and Amanda’s Engagement Shoot
It’s suprising how often there’s been bad weather in summer these days, especially in October and November – so Jeremy, Amanda and myself were more than a little relieved when there was good weather for their engagement shoot on the beach!
Jeremy and Amanda are really down to earth, relaxed, funny people so this shoot was an absolute blast. We kept the pics simple and relatively un-posey – J & A are not the posey type – and the blue sky pitched in to play it’s part for some beautiful pics
Su-Anne and Ettienne’s Cape Town wedding
So while Clarien was busy shooting the boys at the church (see the previous post), I did a lot more posey stuff with Su-Anne at the guest house she was getting dressed at. She’s an absolute natural in front of the lens and we had a great time!
After a minor upset (the page boys had a wee wardrobe malfunction) we went off to the NG Kerk for the ceremony. And Su-Anne was serenity personified. I really admired her graceful poise – nothing was going to ruffle her on her big day!
Ettienne was waiting patiently for his beautiful bride and then the ceremony kicked off, with smiles all round!
The reception was held at On The Rocks – great food btw – and then after the reception we did family pics in the shade of the restaurant – I’ll put some of them up on FB soon – and a quick co
Su-Anne and Ettienne’s On The Rocks wedding
Shots by Clarien Luttig
It was awesome getting back in the saddle again, and great having Clarien accompany me for my first wedding AG (after Gabe – who is currently sleepily happily in his crib).
One of the great things about having Clarien with me on a shoot is that I can simply hand her one of my cameras (I tend to give her the long lens and let her play sniper – so she gets to do all the natural / unaware shots which she just rocks at) and know that she’s going to come back with great pics. So when Su-Anne’s hair and make-up artist went over time I could happily ask Clairen to go and shoot Ettienne and his bestman and brother, Johan.
I love her shots. And I really love the high key shot of Su-Anne at the bottom.
One of the students on the Get Smarter photography course that I put together recently asked me what my thoughts on high key images are – he asked specifically about post processing to create a high key effect
Robynne and Stefan’s Backsberg Wedding
A guest post by Joanne Markland
I photographed this wedding for Big Day Big Picture and I was so glad for the opportunity because Stefan and Robynne are one of the sweetest couples, eerrr I mean Robynne is the sweet one!( just kidding Stefan you are okay too)
I have been on maternity leave for 2 months and was super excited to shoot my first wedding of the season. I met Stefan and Robynne at the beginning of the year and was so glad when Roberta from Big Day Big Picture phoned me to say they had booked me, because they truly are down to earth people. I met up with them again 2 weeks before the wedding at the venue to get an idea of where everything was going to be held.
Robynne had a bit of a stressful time on the day because the electricity went off in the morning and didnt come back for most of the day. She had to find somewhere to do her hair but when I arrived she was pretty relaxed, calm and ready! I was really impressed because most brides are alway
Aperture made easy
Aperture is the opening in your camera lens that lets in light. Together with the shutter speed, it allows you to control how much light you let into your camera. The bigger the aperture / opening in the lens the more light is let in; the smaller the opening, the less light is let in.
One of the main reasons that people struggle with aperture is the fact that the numbering system is backwards! So an f22, for example, is a hell of a lot smaller than an f5.6 or an f1.2.
It took me ages to learn why this numbering system was backwards – initially I just thought it was some strange quirk of history that had been handed down to us to make our lives difficult. This isn’t quite the case though. And while it isn’t even vaguely crucial that you remember why the numbering system is the way it is, it is quite interesting (yep, I’m a fan of QI):
The aperture
Shot of the Day: Fairy Princess
There’s something very fairy tale about this shot for me. It was taken quite a while ago (BG – that is: before Gabe, our beautiful little boy, made his way into the world) so I can’t remember exactly what I was thinking when I took the shot. And I have to admit there’s something nice in that not remembering, it becomes a bit like looking at the work of someone else, which means I get to enjoy the image all over again and not go through all my usual hang ups about the shot not actually being any good (as my mom-in-law would say: aren’t people silly!).
So here’s Helen during her and Jon’s couple shoot. This was shot at Langverwacht - in their only partially tamed garden. When I took the shot I remember being absolutely in love with the shadow that Helen was casting. And at the time I was also interested in creating a
Lauren’s Bridal Shoot
It’s a small world after all
It took me a while to realise this: but I went to school with Lauren’s brother, Roy. And, for a period of time, lived in the same area as them – Woodbridge Island. So doing Lauren’s bridal shoot at her mom’s house on the island was a little nostalgic for me
When Sanet and I got there I couldn’t believe how calm Lauren was – especially given that the water had been turned off half way through the morning and she and her bridesmaids were all running late because they hadn’t had a chance to wash hair etc. I must admit though, that they
Shot of the Day: Working with hard(er) light
I’ve been so looking forward to finally posting some pics from this shoot! I haven’t finished processing them all, but I couldn’t wait – so I thought I’d look at a couple of the pics for the Shot of the Day. When I’m finished processing the full shoot I’ll be sure and put up another post with more pics.
These pics come from a shoot I did for good friends of mine: Hannes and Clarien. Hannes, amongst a myriad of other things, is a sculptor and the pieces I shot for him are all the most incredible totems made from collected animal bones and wood. When I do the full post I’ll be sure and add some contact details for Hannes.
We decided to head down to the beach to do the shoot – the particular part of the beach that I suggested was Lagoon Beach in Milnerton, which has fantastic light, almost irrespective of what time of day it is. We
A very quick post to brag about my man
So Dan’s standing right next to me saying, “Oh, you don’t have to do that!” But, as is clear, I do: a little brag about my man who wrote such a gorgeous story! You can find it in the latest edition of Itch magazine:
Margaret and Gareth’s Reception
Margaret and Gareth are both hockey players and I loved the gift’s they got for their guests: engraved coasters, with crossed hockey sticks on them!
Margaret and Gareth’s Couple Shoot
For their couple shoot Margaret and Gareth let me know that they wanted to get back to their guests as quickly as possible – after all, a wedding is about the experience and the celebtation! So we did a very quick shoot and then headed back to join their guests for canapes on the lawn at the Steenberg Golf Estate. Towards the end of the night I managed to convince Gareth and Margarte to pop out for a few more pics – and I’m so glad I did – we got some beauts.
Thanks again to Sanet for assisting!
