Gareth and Margaret’s Wedding Ceremony

I love the opening two shots of Gareth waiting with his best man Andrew. And though he’s trying very hard not to show it, you can see that he’s pretty nervous ; )

Something I thought was quite cool was that Gareth and Andrew took a road trip down to Cape Town from Gauteng in the week before the ceremony! How awesome is that.

Something else that I thought was really nice was that Gareth’s mom did the reading at the ceremony which I thought was a really nice way to get the groom’s family involved as well.

Margaret’s Bridal Shoot

Earlier this year  Sanet and I went along to the Southern Suburbs to shoot Margaret and Gareth’s wedding. Their ceremony was at the Stone Chapel in Tokai and then their reception was at the Steenberg Golf Estate.

When I met Margaret and her mom for the first time it was very plain that this was a no fuss no frills family and that they wanted their photography to be just the same ; )

We did Margarte’s bridal at her mom’s house where she was getting ready with Karishma, Kelly and Rene. After that Sanet and I popped down the road to catch a few shots of Gareth – the groom to be – before he left for the ceremony.

Shot of the Day: Working in a Daylight Studio

I don’t often get to work in studio, but when I do I absolutley love it. There’s a very different mind set to working in studio, particularly when working with lights. You think differently because instead of simply responding to your light, you are now creating your light, and your scene for that matter. One of the reasons why I love shooting in Photohire’s daylight studio is because you get to combine the best of both worlds. You get to set up and shape your light and you get to just see what the natural light is doing in that part of the studio.

The daylight studio at Photohire has a skylight that lets in the most magnificently soft light. Here, instead of shaping your light you can pretty much just respond to it: soft and easy and incredibly flattering! On this shot I turned Ali’s face into the light so that there is the softest tapering off of the light towards her hair and shoulders – that little bit of modelling goes along way to making t

Rene and Werner’s Engagement Shoot by Jenny Koornhof, Associate Wedding Photographer

A little while ago Jenny shot Rene and Werner’s e-shoot at Blouberg Beach. The wind was pumping but sometimes wind just makes for awesome shots!! I love how gorgeously blue all of Jen’s beach shots look!

If you’d like to see more pics from this shoot please click here to go through to Jenny’s blog.

Helen and Jon’s Langverwacht wedding reception

Langverwacht do this thing where half way through the couple shoot they come and call the bride and groom so that they can see the wedding venue with the candles lit and before the guests get to see it – I think this is an awesome idea and a really nice opportunity for the wedding photographer to get some decor shots at the same time ; )

After that it was back outside for some more shots with Helen and Jon, where it felt more like we were on holiday than shooting! I had a bit of fun with the processing on these shots – my absolute favourites: the close-up of Helen and Jon looking so lovingly at each other, and the shot of Helen on the little stone bench – I was completely taken with the shadow she was casting and the way the road that led off behind her looked like a perfect little fairy tale world.

The dance shot with the dragged shutter and the 2nd curtain release  is also a definite favourite! If you’re wondering who the DJ was that got the

Helen and Jon’s couple shoot at Langverwacht

I love shooting at Langverwacht! Not just because they follow the bride and groom and wedding photographers around with drinks and canapes (awesome when you’re a pregnant wedding photographer), but because there are so many awesome places to shoot and each time you shoot there itt’s different.

Mary-Jo Openshaw assisted me with this wedding and the first pic of Jon looking wistfully into the distance is hers ; )

If you’d like to see photographs from Helen and Jon’sceremony click here.

Helen and Jon’s wedding ceremony at Langverwacht

Helen and Jon got married in the beautiful, and somewhat wild, little garden in Langverwacht. Jon’s uncle from the UK did the ceremony for them, which was just gorgeous, the sun streaming through the trees and all their friends and family happily watching.

If you’d like to see pics from Helen’s bridal shoot, click here.

Helen’s Bridal Shoot

Helen and Jon, both from Cape Town, have been living and working in Jo’burg – it’s where all the best Capetonians go ; ) – so I only met with them once before their big day. They’re the kind of people though that you just instantly like and you know that they’re going to have a great wedding. I also met Helen’s mom, Jill, so when it came to shooting it was really nice to see not just two familiar faces, but three ; )

Love the shot of Helen’s mom and dad watching her – they look so very, very proud of their daughter!

Clive and Brigitte’s Couple Shoot

It’s not often that I get to  do a couple shoot with a raging fire int he background! We managed to dodge a lot of smoke and found some gorgeous spots to shoot and then we thought – well, what the hell, let’s have a look at the fire. The last shot of Brigitte is her atop a little hill with the smoke and haze in the background, and the insane winds whipping round her skirts.

My personal favourite from this shoot – the shot 2nd from last – absolutely love it! And Clive and Brigitte were so laid back and easy to photograph!!

Hope you like the pics guys – I’ll be posting some from your reception soon.

Clive and Brigitte’s Wedding Ceremony

There’s nothing quite like getting married in the hush of a secret garden surrounded by friends and family! Brigitte had all four of her sisters as bridesmaids (pretty in blue) and then had her dad lovingly walk her down the aisle. It really was a fairty tale setting.

Clive and Brigitte getting ready

In mid Jan Clive and Brigitte tied the knot at Fynbos Estate which is close to Malmesbury. I’d met them at the estate about a week before their wedding – almost all of their planning and organising had been done from the UK – and we’d gone for a walk around to see where we could shoot. There were so many awesome spots to choose from and I fell in love with how laid back it all was and the colours of the house – blue and red – which purely co-incidentally were the colours for Clive and Brigitte’s wedding ; )

The day before the wedding, however, Clive and Brigitte were told they might have to move their wedding . . . sometimes crazy things happen . . . and in this case it was a serious bush fire that was burning in the hills surrounding the estate. When you plan a wedding there’s only so much you can plan for and a roaring fire typically isn’t

Rene and Lloyd’s wedding by Jenny Koornhof, associate wedding photographer

Jenny Koornhof shot Rene and Lloyd’s wedding for BIG DAY BIG PICTURE at On the Rocks in Blaauberg – here are a few pics from the shoot – that second shot with Rene’s reflection is absolutely gorgeous!! I know Jen had a ball shooting these guys and there are more pics and text on her blog, so follow the link to have a look!

Ali’s model shoot

You know, because I mainly do weddings and lifestyle shoots, it’s not every day that I get to go back into the studio, but when I do it is soooo awesome. Ali’s dad wanted to give his daughter (who was here from Holland) something special for Christmas. The last time she was here he’d asked her what she wanted to be when she was older and she’d said a model – so he got her a model shoot ; ) How cool is that. Of course, in the way of children everywhere, when she came back to South Africa and the model shoot was all lined up she then said that she wanted to be a vet when she grows up. Still, I think that seeing the pics might just change her mind again. And if I’ve ever seen a natural in front of the camera it’s this little girl – at age 9 she’s more versatile and relaxed in front of the camera than most adults I know!

Mason’s new born shoot

Early this year I did a short new born shoot for wee Mason – such a cutie. Shame, he was a bit hot and bothered, as were we all  with the weather – if I’m not mistaken it was over 35 degrees? But we managed to get some real sweet shots never the less ; )

I have to say that it was really awesome seeing Natalie and Morne with their boy and getting to see just how chilled and laid back they are! I think they’re going to make awesome parents!

Kurt and Anthea’s couple photos

What an awesome shoot and what an awesome couple! Anthea and Kurt bought us all ice-cream while we were shooting!! How awesome is that. And because everything was so well planned and timed we had time to sit down and kuier with them while we all noshed the ice-cream. That’s my idea of a great wedding shoot.

The locations we shot in were also awesome, and I have to say, if I haven’t already said it, the colours Anthea chose for her bridesmaids dresses were fabulous! They just looked so good and added so much energy to the pics!

And in case you’re wondering – the graffitti art that we shot against was done by Mak1 ; )

Enjoy the pics

Shot of the day: backlighting and off board flash

I was originally going to post on somewhat different lighting – high contrast light and posing your subject within it – but that shot hasn’t been seen by the bride yet, so I figured I’d do this one in the meantime as it still looks at how to deal with lighting that isn’t 100% easy.

When Dan and I were doing a quick venue check while waiting for golden hour and our appointed shoot time with John and Tara we wondered around the venue and found the spot below which I loved because of it’s seclusion and the hint of a pond. You’ll see that I took a test shot (bottom right) of the scene and that I metered for the background. I keep my cameras on partial or spot metering mode (you can check your manual as to how to set these modes). What this means is that when I meter a scene I can point my camera towards a specific part of it and get a reliable reading for that part of the scene.This is really helpful when your lighting isn’t smooth

Shot of the Day: Looking for Easy Light

This week’s post picks up on the last SoTD post about looking for locations. Locations are not just about space – they’re about light! You can have the most amazing space in the world, if the light is bad, it’s no good to you as a photogrpaher. Good light will make all the difference to your shots. And easy light will be an absolute treat!

Easy light is just that, sweet and easy to work with. It’s characterised by being smooth and soft – it wraps around your subjects gently and evenly and doesn’t create harsh shadows or glaring highlights. It is a doddle to meter for, precisely because there are no huge shifts between light and dark. Generally you’ll find easy light in the shade – seems a bit of a contradiction I know, but if you’re outdoors on a bright sunny day (the place where most beginner or amateur photographers seem to want their subjects to pose ) then you’re going to be faced with har

Anthea and Kurt’s St George’s Catherdral Wedding Ceremony

I always love shootign weddings where the family are really involved in the process! In the case of Anthea and Kurt, Anthea’s dad, Ronald did the wedding ceremony for them and her mom Gloria gave Anthea away. I love the pic of Ronald watching his daughter walking towards him while he’s standing waiting for her at the bottom of the church. And then of course St George’s is such a dramatic space that it really does make for some awesome pics. I loved the spot light! And the stainded glass windows. And how happy Anthea and Kurt look at every moment!

Anthea’s Bridal Shoot at 15 on Orange

I have to admit that when I first met with Andrea and Kurt and they told me that they would be getting married at St George’s Catherdarl and that they wanted to do their wedding shoot in town, I was really, really stoked. I’ve literally wanted to do a couple shoot in town for years (really, years!). So having Anthea and Kurt choose me as their wedding photographer was a real blessing. Add to that that Anthea and Kurt are two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet and, well, I had a shoot made in heaven.

We shot Anthea’s bridal shoot at 15 on Orange – more happy photographer smiles from me – and then popped down the road for their wedding ceremony. I had a lot of favourites from her bridal shoot and it was hard picking them. I really loved the way the colour scheme of the hotel so perfectly matched Antheas’s colour scheme of off white, green and charcoal/silver. I loved the shot of her flapping her hands because she was nervous an

Mada and Jannie’s Wedding Reception Photographs

Receptions are great ; ) and Mada and Jannie’s was no exception. Their tent and decor were gorgeous and everyone was just so happy and in such a great party mood that I got great shots of them all! I particularly love the shots of Mada’s mom, Lucille, and her brother, Tian, watching Mada giving her speech. And the look on Mada’s face as she’s watching Jannie singing the song he wrote for her is just priceless!

Mada and Jannie – thanks for choosing me to shoot your wedding – you guys went out of your way to make sure that I was comfortable and that everything was sorted for me and I really appreciate that! I would’ve loved to have stayed and partied with you guys, but as you know, Sprog and I needed our beauty sleep and we had an early flight to catch back to Cape Town.

Enjoy the pics! And if you’d like to see more from Mad

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