This is the first time I’ve done a behind the scenes video, when I first started I scoured the internet for videos like this, the type that give you an idea of what has gone on in the background without cutting away too quickly so you could observe and learn.

I’ll be doing more of these in the future and hope that if you are just starting there is something in this for you

Recently Peter contacted me for a few family photos, he told me that it was his dad’s 70’th birthday and they wanted to give him portrait photo of his 4 sons, what a great gift (something that would melt any father!)

I carted my gear off to Peters place in Wynberg on a Friday morning was setup within 15 minutes, the guys were quite blown by all my equipment; some men like it when there cars are admired, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, admire my gear next to my photography of course and I’m in heaven, I am a self confessed photographer nerd!!

For the photos I decided to do a black background so the boy’s faces would stand out for their dad, afterward we had a few minutes so I got whoever had kids to jump in for a few photos since I was setup anyway.

Recently I did a maternity shoot with Samantha, she wanted pictures that were not the norm (music to my ears!) Don’t get me wrong, you have to be careful with how way out you go when it comes to being different, being different for the sake of it often falls flat!

For this shoot I used lighting that was a little more dramatic than we are used to seeing in the average maternity photo

A little earlier… okay a LOT earlier I got this shot at Carl and Bonnie’s new years eve wedding, it was a long day that went by really quickly!

I recently shot Riekert Cloete and Iza Loubser’s wedding, Riekert is one of the best wedding photographers in Cape Town and Iza is a makeup artist, as you can imagine it really was an honour to be asked to do their wedding photography!

I had a lot of fun on this wedding, both Riekert and Iza were so easy, leaving all the creativity up to me, in fact I think Riekert preferred being in front of camera, Iza was simply born for it

Any photographer relishes the opportunity to do something new and different! On Saturday I did Victoria and Jonathan’s wedding at Morgensvlei

Jonathan is a professional soldier with the Royal Scottish Regiment and he decided to get married in full dress uniform, sabre’s and all, oh and a few of the men from his regiment were there in full dress uniform too!! Awesome photo op!!!

I’m still working on the photos and they are fantastic what a cool wedding! When Jonathan and Vitoria exited the church as Mr & Mrs Kelmanson they had their own guard of honour, I’ll be putting the images up in the next few weeks.

Last week I did Braam and Nadine’s wedding at Roodezand, I’d seen a spot where I could do quite a cool shot so I asked Nadine if she and her bridesmaids would be interested….

Have a great weekend!

A few weeks ago I was approached by Stephan from Frontline Consulting, a company that specializes in safety procedures and management. Stephan told me they produce a calendar every year and this year they wanted to use one of my photos, given the scale of Frontline’s clients and projects including the FIFA 2010 World cup Stadium this was quite a compliment! We covered all the necessary red tape and I delivered the high res image.

Last week I found out they decided to put it on the cover and by golly if I say so myself it does not look half bad!!

Tanith and Russel had booked me online from Australia, I’d spoken to them on Skype but did not meet them till they arrived in South Africa (shortly before their wedding). They had chosen an amazing venue I’d not heard of before called Buitenzorg in Constantia, a perfect “small” wedding venue, and frankly amazing for photos,  it had everything from great interior to great exteriors.

Tanith and Russel are both passionate about photography, their knowledge is definitely above average which is always a great compliment to me.

The wedding was unconventional in a few ways, I’ve never taken a shot of the groom putting on the garter before! They also did the photos before the ceremony which is quite normal in other parts of the world but not usually here in South Africa. I must say I quite like it because it allows for a little more time and it means less of a rush after the ceremony, it also means that the guests are not kept waiting… the downside of course is that the groom sees the bride before she walks down the isle.

The couple had specifically hired me because of my unconventional and “unposed” style, Tanith had told me she loved my “night shots” and they had taken me up on doing the formal photos on a couch instead of everyone standing in a boring line!

For the shot above I’d seen a beautiful bath when visiting the venue and asked Tanith if she would be open to doing a shot in it “YES!” she said! Excellent!!

For some of the bridal photos we took a drive through to Bo Kaap, one of Cape Towns most popular tourist attractions, all the houses are painted in bright colours and the area is rich with history.

The entire day was an absolute pleasure, both Tanith and Russel looked like models on camera and they were so relaxed and easy to work with!

If  you would like to see more pictures click the link below, be warned there are a LOT! nearly 70!

Enjoy!!

This was an image I got on assignment for “Real” magazine in Khayaletsha a few years ago, it’s always been one of my favs.