Shepstone is fast becoming our regular wedding venue it seems, either that or we just get a lot of cool, funky clients. Last weekend, no rain, no scorcher of a day, wedding running late – bonus, extra time, which means we get to do some killer bee bridal portraits. Add to that a very smooth, and calm bridal couple and you have the making of a serious party – hang on, it did rain, in fact it came bucketing down, seconds after I had finished the last group photo, I remember now, I spent a good 20 minutes in the rain looking for a lens cap I’d dropped.

Anyway, this week I wanted to post a couple more posed, classical kind of portraits. For me, they were that kind of couple – although the speeches did leave me in stitches.

Rob and Santi from Digital Video Images, always helpful, always getting their lighting just right. Always keeping us entertained

Late on Sunday evening, just wrapping up the weekend, almost Christmas, almost another year has passed.

yes, that copyright notice is annoying me too.

mpopi lenake, 

You can’t beat the light at The Cradle, its one of those places that just always seems to produce amazing light no matter what time of day or year you happen to be there. OK, midday is a bit of a challenge, but the light at the bottom by the old trees, gets this amazing quality as its filtered through the branches no matter what time of day it is and …

… and it didn’t rain for once. I couldn’t believe it either. Everyone was relaxed, the kids went ballistic, and there seemed to be kids everywhere one turned. Things can’t be too serious when there are so many kids around. Plus the couple specifically asked for photos that weren’t cheesy, which naturally really tempted me to try something cheesy (*), but I can’t do cheesy on my finest day – I’ve had clients and I’ve tried, it just isn’t me.

So a great time was had by Andrea and I, as we had a relaxed shoot in the knee deep veld. The Cradle always seems to be such a relaxed venue, I don’t think I’ve ever been there with a stressed wedding party. Admiral & Appleseed rocked some tunes, the weather cooled down and we watched as infants did the Jahstep to some funky reggae. I also had some caffeine – welcome back old friend.

(*)

“The game only has one rule, and it’s a simple one: Don’t think about white bears. You can think about anything else, but you can’t think about that. Ready? Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and banish the animals from your head. You just lost the game. Everyone loses the game.” – Ironic Thoughts by Jonah Lehrer

The mamba has apparently blown its head gasket and as a result the radiator has cracked. Hopefully we will be mobile again early next week.

Saturday, and I was shooting with the inimitable Andrea Carlyle at The Hertford. This time we were photographing Gill and Shaun, who flew in from Australia, with a whole lot of friends and family. In typical Joburg summer fashion it started pouring during the ceremony, the skies were turning black and the older folk looked wisely at the sky and muttered under their breath that it will pass.

I quickly posed the formals on the balcony of The Hertford’s reception hall, while standing in the rain under an umbrella. Beautiful light and some of the nicest formal group shots. Then the rain mysteriously and suddenly stopped, the sun came out and the clouds turned that fiery shade of red that they sometimes get just after an African rain storm. At this point I had given up hope that Gill would be up for going through the wet and muddy veld to the area we wanted to photograph in, and was suspiciously eyeing the gazebo and the stained glass windows as possible dry alternatives. Fortunately she proved that she was up for some serious bundu bashing and we made our muddy and slippery way to a spectacular view of the sun setting over wet grass and reeds. I think the pics are worth it, dramatic and classic. Gill is one of those people who can look effortlessly glamorous and natural in front of the camera – and yes, she is also one of those people that says she hates being photographed.

Anyway, I’m exhausted, those caffeine headaches are not going away and last night’s wedding was the last one for at least a month as we start slowing things down and start working on albums, albums, albums and you got … albums. I’m also grateful the rand is recovering a bit. Its been a bit of a roller coaster as we pay for all our albums in dollars.

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No clouds were harmed in the making of these photos.

the hertford, 

Yep, it got dark earlier than we expected and Andrea and I made an executive decision to switch the group photos and portrait shoot around. The clouds we did expect and they rolled in on cue, welcome to Dramatic Skies South Africa. Its difficult to shoot something unique at the moon and sixpence but awesome clouds make it a lot easier.

So Xen and Andrea are probably the youngest couple I’ve ever photographed and it was just cool hanging out with them. Total naturals in front of the camera – yes, they also gave us the we-hate-being-photographed-and-are-self-conscious-in-front-of-the-camera speech – but once we had them out in the field, dodging barbed wire, telegraph poles and cars, they had a blast, kisses, west rand signs, hey, I don’t know about them but I had fun.

Before I head into some pics from their wedding, I just wanted to show off what is probably my favorite bridal portrait in a long time.

I was recently asked if I shoot the cheesy wedding photographs. I actually have no answer for that. I do shoot some images that may be considered some of the standard stuff that you would see on a wedding photographer’s site – like head and shoulders portraits and stuff. I’d love to shoot some reinterpretations of the cheesier wedding photographs, like the suitcase shot or the bathtub shot. Speak to me.

Ok – onto some pics from the wedding.

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If you’re reading this via rss – we have a new flash based front page on the site.

Moon Bridal, 

If you were out and about in Joburg this Saturday, you may have noticed that it bucketed down. Andrea and I were at The Hertford out by Lanseria, it stormed through most of the ceremony, there was lightning and thunder and buckets of water turned the dirt road into a mud adventure during the reception. In between the rain and the storm, there was an hour of beautiful golden light. I’m still backing up and sorting things … there will be more images from both weekend weddings as soon as I’m done – this machine seems to be getting slower every day.