On Sunday afternoon my friend James whipped out his point and shoot and showed me a few shots he managed to get of the crater of Mt Ruapehu, they were great, I was envious as hell… well actually I was childishly jealous, I so wished I’d manged to get those shots with a good camera!

The weather at Mt Ruapehu is eractic to say the least, in fact it’s known for it! The fact that James managed to get up there in the first place and was able to get a clear picture was unusual to start with. What were the chances the weather would be good the next day in spite of the positive forecast?

Low and behold the weather the next day was the best (I’m told by the locals) they had seen all season! Eureaka! After an exhausting hike up the mountain (1.5 hours) I was rewarded with the image below, I’m quite sure it’s one that very few photographers have ever had the pleasure of capturing in such perfect conditions!

a few more taken while skiing…

The first time I went skiing I loved it so much I vowed I would get up the slopes at least once a year… two years later I made it again, a little more than a year but not too bad… I’m on the slopes again… 6 Years Later!! So much for once a year, it’s amazing just how quick time passes!

This time I’m in New Zealand, Mount Ruapehu to be exact, it’s actually an active volcano as far as I know. My friend James said these words to me… “If you hear a loud siren it means there is danger of an eruption blah blah blah..” nothing went in after eruption… nah I’m not that much of a drama queen!

I got the following shots up the mountain yesterday…

When Vickie from Constellation Brands in the UK contacted me to do a shoot for one of their South African brands, Constellation Wines she emphasized the pictures were to be sophisticated but relaxed! My perfect brief! An opportunity to play with lighting while taking images that aren’t stuffy and stuck up!

Having a winery as a backdrop did not hurt either, when I arrived a quick scout revealed a store room full of wine barrels, perfect! Although the lighting was quite straightforward the trick was to not have my main light wash out the background, this is pretty simple when the background is far enough away, in this case it was less than a meter, my subjects were sitting on the wine barrels directly in front of the chosen backdrop, the other wine barrels I wanted the backdrop to be warmer than the foreground so I pointed a separate flash with a snoot and a full CTO warming gel at the barrels behind my subjects.

I really love using rim lights so I attached another flash just above their heads using a Manfrotto spring clamp (I love those things sooo much!)

In retrospect I should have had them put a temporary set of barrels about 2-3 meters from the intended backdrop, alas time was an issue and the barrels are mostly full and way to heavy to move!

What I did was get my main light as close as possible to my subjects, it did the trick. The next thing was to arrange my subjects in a relaxed but not posed fashion… nothing to it… they literally fell into place!

A few months ago while doing a wedding I noticed Lizaan, I was busy shooting candids during the speeches when I saw this absolute stunner of a girl. Realizing she was most likely under 18 I gave her parents my card and told them I’d love to do a test with her. A few weeks later they called.

After quite a few missed appointments one of which was because Lizaan had a black eye from playing field hockey we eventually did the shoot yesterday. Not having seen her for some time I hoped I was not imagining how well she would shoot, after all I’d been shooting a wedding the whole day and it was late at the time!

When she arrived, she looked exactly as I’d remembered her (pheeew!) she took to the camera after only a short while, people don’t realise that modeling is pretty difficult and this was the first shoot Lizaan had done like this.

I also got to use my Alien Bee Beauty dish freshly bought off Ebay as well as my portable lighting setup bought directly from Alien Bee in the US. Enough muttering… on to a few shots!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything so shooting with Caitlin a “smokin” electrical violinist is a great way to break the “silence” Caitlin is not only very talented (not measured by my ear but one of actual authority) but also very spunky and easy on the eye!

The brief was simple, take sophisticated and gorgeous photos for her site as her market is sophisticated and classy! We had managed to secure the fantastic Planet Bar, an upmarket bar at the Mount Nelson in Cape Town as the location for the shoot which was very cool!

if you would like to know more about Caitlin why not visit her site: www.caitlin.co.za

Last night Jamie my 6 year old little girl was playing with a sample pack of coloured gels. If you don’t know what that is it’s basically coloured pieces of plastic film used to add colour spotlights and studio lights. She kept on asking me what they were for so I decided to set up a rough “shoot” to show her how they worked

She caught on  to the concept of the gels quickly (Check out the purple wall) then asked if she could take a few photos of me… I put my 1.5 Kg Canon 1D strap over her head, showed her where to push and took my position…

Out of her little 6 year old mouth comes “Okay let’s get a few shots” zzzzzztt!! I was blown away! Half the time she seems to be paying no attention to me  and my camera at all! Then she starts directing me… not as in mimicking what I do but as in getting me to give her what she wants… what’s more I think she was better at it than me!

“Okay I want you to show me a surprised look, like a little boy that has just opened a treasure box and there is a big diamond in it” she held out her hands showing me the size of about a football! “BUT! I want you to imagine that the camera is where the box of treasure is Ok?” Who knows, one day I might be shooting in her shadow!

When I met with Dalila for the first time I wanted her and Carlos to get married “yesterday”! She had “spark” and any photographer will tell you that working with sparky people will always produce magical photos! The couple had chosen Zorgvliet, one of my favourite wine farms as their wedding venue.

The weather report for the day was not good but as luck would have it the sun triumphed and the rain lost but not without peppering the blue sky with clouds first! I love shooting in partially cloudy weather, if it’s just rained then the blue sky is not simply blue it’s a rich magical blue… fantastic for photos!

On the day my instincts proved spot on! Both Dalila and Carlos looked fantastic in front of the camera, they looked like models for an Italian clothing line! Being Portuguese meant the wedding was very family oriented and relaxed making my job all the more enjoyable!

I must have driven home like a mad man to get to my computer, when I had managed to download the shots I was not disappointed in the slightest! Damn I love being a wedding photographer!

www.bridesbuzzing.com recently featured me as a photographer, if you you are a potential bride I’d suggest you go and visit! Dimi Ingle who runs the site keeps it regularly updated with lots of useful titbits for the bride to be!

I took a few shots of Jamie my 6 year old daughter the other day. I’ve been reading Calvin and Hobbes for years. If you know the Cartoon then you will know that getting a portrait out of Calvin is impossible! He waits for the split second before the shot is about to be taken and invents a new face, one that is never what the photographer wants! I have such a 6 year old!

Prior to Esthea and Andre’s wedding I went through to Allée Bleue to check out the venue. I wondered around and noted a number of great spots to get photos. Esthea remarked “what happens if it rains on the day” I’d already thought of that and picked a few backup spots in case. It did rain… a lot! What’s more the backup spots were not available either because all the guests had occupied them, they said something about it being freezing and wet what a bunch of wussies!

I stood on a table pleading with them move outside pointing out it’s just water… what’s the worst that could happen? Someone shouted “bronchitis” and another retorted “laryngitis!” I argued “antibiotics!” Nothing, Nada, Niks!! It fell on deaf ears! (err only kidding for those with their jaws agape!)

After selecting new emergency spots and dodging the rain the pictures turned out well, the entire wedding had a great energy to it which always inspires me!

Esthea, Andre and in fact the entire bridal party were great fun, I managed to get some really great shots!