7h30 photo call, its early, way too early, but in an hour or so the soft light will turn into harsh contrast and way too much African sun, and in four hours Claudio and Ivana will be on a plane to Mauritius and we’ll be trying to catch up on sleep. Got to work quickly, we have an hour and a bit to create some killer bee pics.

So sunglasses on, take out coffee clutched in my hand, a couple of memory cards shoved into my jeans pocket. We’re outside the Market Theatre, caffeinated to the gills, its been a long weekend of very little sleep and V and I are feeling it. I’d torn my rotator cuff two weeks ago and my physio had recommended I rest my arm. Yeah, right, rest the arm that holds up the camera during our busiest season. That’s likely. I’m slightly gratified when Claudio rolls down the car window and him and Ivana both look slightly shattered.

We take it slowly, a couple of images under the highway, super chilled, swapping tips about Mauritius, Claudio and Ivana are the most calm relaxed couple, just unfussed about anything,letting us do our thing. Catching some killer bee images before the sun turns the day into a washed out mess. Its not a trash the dress session, there’s no water anywhere, but Newtown is pretty dirty, and some of the images I’m wanting to make require a bit of bravery. Ivana’s answer is … its a dress.

Three quarters of an hour later and its a quick trip to the center of town, historical buildings, authentic backgrounds, just around the corner from the ANC building. A bit more of a Joburg scene. A million miles away from yesterday’s shoot at Summerplace, I silently wish I’d brought a couch.

Hang on to your bellbottoms I’m going to post the previous couple of shoots in random order.

Hey, a preview for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland just came on the telly. I can hardly wait, and its in 3D. I may have to break my no-cinemas-not-ever-again rule and head out into popcorn land.

We were on our way to shoot Diane and Jason’s downtown couples session this evening, driving past that Steers in Auckland Park on our way to Newtown – the area around the Market Theatre makes for some amazing down town images – when I spotted it. It was a bottle store called Sans Souci, which my barely there french (verified by V whose french is a lot better than mine, mine mostly consists of changing the th sound into z) translates to “Without Care”. I kind of idly wondered what kind of person would call their bottle store Sans Souci in an area of town where I doubt many people speak french. Remembering a million mornings waking up with a hangover, swearing blind never to touch the demon drink again, I decide that it had to be someone with a rather cool sense of humour.

A couple of minutes later and we’re watching the sun set near the Bassline, golden African glow that only comes with a serious amount of pollutants, or a heavy hand in photoshop. Sipping coffee at the Market Theatre, dodging some odd characters on the streets of Newtown, skaters outside the Africa Museum, pigeons, old world architecture, advertisements for faith healers, hundreds of taxis adding their own soundtrack to the afternoon, a cobalt blue wall and some inner city graffiti. Throw in a super photogenic couple, late afternoon light and Joburg just being Joburg. Too easy. Diane and Jason, definitely a cool sense of humour (and some serious heels).

Ben and Cindy are both wedding photographers who got married a couple of months ago and approached us to do an urban couple’s session. We’re always game for anything urban, and I had a few ideas I wanted to try out. Saturday afternoon they arrived all kitted out in their wedding gear, we got into the big black car and headed into Joburg. First stop, the train yards, I’ve always wanted to do a big shoot there, big bonus points if we could get a couple of trains moving in the background. Alas, us and security could not agree so we headed towards old faithful, the war memorial behind the zoo. We were just settling down to do some portraits of Cindy when security showed up and demanded that we pay “the photography fee”. I snapped a couple of pics while speaking to the guard and we headed back to the car. Seems you can’t just go anywhere and take a pic these days.

Our last stop was an amazing wall I’d spotted while driving through Randburg on my way back from a lunch. The light was perfect, the cars driving by hooted, people stopped and congratulated the couple, and we got some killer bee pics.

If you’re interested in a couple’s session, they’re available on any day when we aren’t already booked. You’re welcome to use them as an engagement session, bridal session, or day after shoot.

Just a couple more that struck my eye while I was backing up.