Last week Saturday V and I were in action at St Martins down in the south (hence last week’s trip to miniland) where Ruth’s dad is the principal. Amazing chapel with an incredible history, designed by H Baker & F Fleming, and built by unskilled labourers … well, you have to see it. It was quite a trip down memory lane being back in a high school, amazing how they still have the same feeling so many years later.

Ruth, David and their families were total rockstars. Thank you all for your generosity and warmth. As they say in the classics, it ain’t a party until the nuns start dancing.

I’m slowly getting better and getting my voice back, should be back to full email duty next week. BTW if you’re a fan of Chuck Palahniuk, I watched Choke the other day and its actually pretty good, not as great as Fight Club, but pretty good, especially if you happen to be very feverish (NSFW or home actually). Kind of like speed reading a year’s worth of YOU magazines in three hours.

If for some bizarre reason you’re following my camera collecting exploits – I have just bought my dream camera, expect to see me carrying it about on my next vacation.

Our first bride in black, our first couple from Singapore and a rocking wedding. Expect a whole bunch of images in the next day or so – I picked up a bit of a cold and I’m going to take a day or two to get over it. Just wanted to post this one that caught my eye while I was downloading the cards, because Ruth and David are in Cape Town on their honeymoon and I’m pretty sure they have an internet connection.

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

westcliff weddings, 

It kind of started with this idea of doing an edgy wedding shoot by Carfax, you know down there by Newtown in downtown Joburg. Throw in a couple of big panoramics by the Nelson Mandela Bridge and I thought we could get a couple of killer bee shots. So we packed into the big black car, made sure that the doors were locked – inner city Joburg and all that – and headed down. First stop, the Nelson Mandela Bridge – being used for a commercial shoot, can’t get on. Second stop just under the M1 where all the cool graffiti is, a crew is shooting a hiphop video. So much for edgy, you couldn’t throw a point and shoot in any direction without hitting a television crew.

So we parked the car and did a couple of big panoramics with the underpass while I was trying to think of plan D. Then I spotted him … dressed in a what can only be described as a pet body suit (you know those flesh colored unitards that people who want to streak but are too embarrassed wear?). I smiled, he waved, he turned to Angie and Brandon and asked if he could have a photo with the bridal couple. Angie and Brandon obliged and he, kind of, almost, invited us up to the rooftop where they were having a 40th birthday party. How could we resist that invite. A rocking downtown rooftop with the sun setting over Fordsburg and a view over the M1, pretty cool and it wasn’t even raining.

Angie and Brandon, total rockstars. Brandon cool and smooth, smoking a cigarette like a villain in a James Bond movie, Angie, the Bond girl (obviously), dressed in a rockstar white dress. The rest of the evening kind of blurred into rounds of straight faced gin, friends, family, in jokes, and raising the roof at the Westcliff.

Thank you for taking us downtown, traipsing up dilapidated building because your photographer told you there will be an amazing view (got to admit it was a good guess), making V and I feel so welcome and comfortable with your friends and family, and of course looking so photogenic.

dror eyal westcliff, 

Some might say that we crashed a 40th birthday party in downtown Joburg with our bridal couple, invited ourselves up and took advantage of their amazing view and the incredible sunset over Fordsburg and the Oriental Plaza. More later when I’ve had a bit more sleep and everything has been backed up.

Its been a while since I’ve put up a blog post. I think the next month or two while we roll on to Christmas are going to be tough ones out here in the studio. Still a couple of weddings left to shoot, quite a few to finish up and well, what can I say its one of the wettest, darkest summers we’ve ever had out here in Johannesburg. So expect sporadic postings from me, occasional images of dark sky weddings, and some late night ruminations. I apologize in advance, its the lack of caffeine.

Yep, I’m still off caffeine, although at around 11pm when my eyes are ready for bed and I still have a couple of hours work left its always touch and go. I was reading a paper recently, yes I do still read, and it turns out that the act of remembering a memory changes that memory, sleep deprivation makes it worse, actually causing us to make up memories. The cheap and easy cure for false memories, a cup of coffee!

But I’m still off caffeine, its hard to explain why, I just feel I need to. Other than that not much to report, I’ve stocked up on series 4 of LOST and Grey’s Anatomy (which V loves and I pretend to hate) and we’re working our way through them while editing.

And just before I end off, I often get asked what advice I have for people starting off in photography and I know a lot of people who read this blog are photographers. Abbas, who shoots beautiful black and white images exploring various religions, was recently asked what advice he had for young photographers. He replied “Get a good pair of walking shoes and…fall in love”. I still can’t find a decent pair in Joburg.