We’d kind of gotten turned around in the one way streets that cluster around the Carlton Centre, in the inner city, turned the corner and a huge plume of yellow and purple smoke was erupting out of a car. Someone carrying some sort of implement of destruction rushed to the smoking car and started banging on the driver’s window. A film crew had closed off the road, they were shooting a scene. It’s tough trying to find a quiet location on a Saturday afternoon in the Johannesburg city centre.

That’s ok though, today our venue is none other than Turbine Hall. I remember it back from the old days when I went to watch Faithless play there – it was one of V and I’s first official dates. Today we get to shoot Angela and Patrick’s wedding in some of the nicest concrete chic structures in Jo’burg. Nice. I love industrial backdrops.

Two incredibly photogenic people, the nicest bridal party, ex-Rhodents galore and edgy chic decor. What a way to end an incredible year.

Reception: Turbine Hall – where Lance, the Ops Manager was just a rockstar.
Ceremony: St George’s Anglican Church ( Parktown )
Getting Ready: The Westcliff

More images from Angela and Patrick’s chic wedding can be found on our Facebook page. If you know them you’re welcome to leave them a message or tag yourself.

More images from Angela and Patrick’s chic wedding can be found on our Facebook page. If you know them you’re welcome to leave them a message or tag yourself.

I chuckle every time I think about the Checkers marketing department having to promote turducken, imagine having to punt a food where the first four letters spell …

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It’s monday, our daily dose of Joburg rain is coming down outside, driving the cats indoors. They aren’t looking impressed. I’ve been in front of this screen for the last ten hours or so, my eyes are starting to go a bit funny, and the white noise of the rain coming down is lulling me to sleep, so I’m going to make this one quick.

We were at The Westcliff this weekend, for Samantha and Sean’s wedding. The Westcliff, especially Jacaranda Hill, always makes think of the kind of weddings that they would have had in the roaring twenties, all dressed in slick white, hats and fascinators. Rolls Royces in the driveway and string quartets playing on the lawns. Add the whole Johannesburg in Spring aspect to it – I’m talking serious Jacaranda’s in bloom all over the place, the smell of approaching rain, and it’s one of those weddings that just seems in it’s own space in time.

Dress: Pronovias
Suits: Fabiani
Ceremony: Rosebank Catholic Church
Reception: The Westcliff
Rolls: Spirit of Ecstacy (Ferdi is a really nice guy)

You can view more from Samantha and Sean’s Westcliff wedding on our Facebook page, if you were a guest feel free to tag yourself in or leave them a message.

You can view more from Samantha and Sean’s Westcliff wedding on our Facebook page, if you were a guest feel free to tag yourself in or leave them a message.

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Even though it sometimes feels like we spend half of our lives there, The Westcliff is one of our favorite wedding venues in Johannesburg. Elegant and classic and for some reason we seem to photograph a lot of people from the East Rand here. Being a not quite reformed ex-Benoni boy myself, we tend to get along. Funny story here, not sure where I heard it, but someone’s cousin or friend (let’s go with cousin) came through from the States and the first place they wanted to go to was Benoni, because really gorgeous women come from there.

Anyway, we had a blast. Alroy and I spent a lot of time joking about until V pointed out that I should probably be taking more photos. Yeah, ok. I already had tons of killer bee images, you couldn’t really mess up with two very natural people who were massively in love. Let’s see what else, it’s been a couple of days and my memory isn’t that great. Dominique was just cool and fun to hang out with, completely unstressed and just being herself, Alroy gave one of the nicest groom speeches we’ve heard in a while, sincere and genuine and full of love for his wife. Just a really cool genuine bunch of people.

Oh, I almost forgot the cake, you had to be there to actually appreciate this cake. I took a lot of photos, but you really had to be there to see all the tiny exquisite details. Dom’s father is a Chef de Patisserie (I hope I got that right) and made the cake himself. There was some discussion in the Eyal household as to whether the cake should have its own blog post.

Check out Dom and Alroy’s super elegant wedding on our facebook page.

Check out Dom and Alroy’s super elegant wedding on our facebook page.

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Forgot how much I used to love reading fiction, until the last couple of weeks, overwhelmed with editing and needing to somehow stop images racing through my mind I’ve been plowing my way through pages and pages of text, falling into the textures of book paper. Coffee, late nights fading into morning light and a book a night/day.

This weekend’s wedding at The Westcliff featured decor by ODJ events, a killer bee dress by David Tlale, a veil that was part architecture and part optical illusion and a vintage Mercedes Benz. Let’s just say that it was pretty damn glamorous. The entire shoot took place after dark, and we got some bad ass images as Dunjsha and Alex brought serious swagger to their day.

More pics from Dunjsha and Alex’s bad ass Westcliff wedding are on our facebook page.

More pics from Dunjsha and Alex’s bad ass Westcliff wedding are on our facebook page.

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Around 3am on Monday mornings, half asleep, I always half hear the sounds of jazz coming in through the walls. This morning, determined to figure out where the sound is coming from I forced myself up. Checked the clock, 3am, and listened for the source. I think it’s our neighbors alarm clock, getting up for work before the sparrows.

So I’m awake and doing some blog reading ’cause it’s way too early to do any real work. Just checking out what everyone has been shooting, and maybe it’s the fact that it’s so early, or that the caffeine and my body clock are battling each other, but the blogs are starting to blur into each other and they seem to be showing the same things. Over-sharpened, bright colors, flashed editorial style images. Somewhere along the line we seem to have lost the textures and nuances and fragility and romance of photography.

Maybe I just need more coffee.

We haven’t featured an album in a while, and I just wanted to show off a couple of pages from Angie and Brandon’s wedding at the Westcliff. Its super clean, quite graphic and features a lot of moments and expressions, not just a fashion shoot using the bride and groom as props. The cover was made from the pattern that they designed for their wedding stationary. Its a killer bee Westcliff Album that is classical, emotional and whimsical. I love it, and I think it fits two very hip parents who also happen to be killer graphic designers.

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It started with Roger handing me an iced glass filled with a cloudy yellowish liquid. It was hot, I’d been walking up the one million stairs that connect the ballroom with room 433, I needed liquids. I took a huge gulp, and another, before somewhere in the back of my head the message slowly trickled, the drink had a serious amount of alcohol in it – somewhere north of rum.

Half an hour later, we were at the terrace, watching Roger and Greg get married in a traditional celtic ceremony. Rockstars? Yes. Loads of fun? Yep. People being themselves, ignoring V and I’s instructions, messing about, allowing us to capture the energy and adrenaline that only kicks that hard when you’ve just gotten married or someone has told you to jump out of the airplane? Check. Can’t wait for the couples session.

If Greg and Roger look familiar its because we did a lifestyle session with the Smythe family last year two years ago.