Ok, so I’ve been trying to catch up on weddings before we close down for the year, which is why we’ve only been having a couple of images per wedding. A couple of weekends ago, Kim and I went up to Bela Bela (I love saying Bela Bela, try it in a deep Elvis voice) to photograph Bern and Guy at the Shangri-La hotel. A place which evokes a million memories of going on holidays in the 80′s with my parents. My dad would have loved that place, or maybe he would have hated it, but we definitely would have stopped over on the way to somewhere us kids definitely didn’t want to go to.

The burnt out forest where we did our portrait shoot had a very fairy tale quality to it. I loved it, and Bern and Guy insisted that we wait for the sun to hit that crucial golden hour before we finished the shoot. My kind of couple. So we waited just on the side of the forest, the grass was an amazing green color on the other side of the fence, the sun hit it just right and suddenly we were looking at a postcard. Sometimes the moment is just too perfect you know, too saccharine, like the cover of a chocolate box, or a hallmark greeting, you need to find something to add a bit of an edge. Like a bunch of blackjacks or thorns, or a worn out building. Our edge was a bit of rusted barbed wire fence, which for me, lifted the photo out of the kitsch category and into something I’m happy to show on the blog.

Anyway, Bern, Guy, thanks for treating us like old friends, traipsing through a black, burnt out forest, avoiding beetles the size of my fist, and not looking at me like I fell on my head as a child when I insisted that the moment was too perfect. Beautiful wedding, an amazing bunch of friends and family, killer images – pretty much what you’d expect from a couple living in a place called Christchurch.

Just a quick reminder that we will be closing for our annual Dec leave as of Friday

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Grand weekend! A road trip, totally rockstar couple and a burnt out forest.

btw Kabluey … big thumbs especially if you’re into flicks about alienation and mascots, I laughed till tears came out my eyes. Stunning images, especially as he crosses the fields and from inside the head. The Happening on the other hand … boring as beans, badly shot, cheesy overdone concept, and all of this from the master of the dark and lovely, M. Night himself. We expected better, and we’ve waited a long time since Lady in the Water.