Its been a hot couple of days, nights hot enough for us to have to leave the windows open, and that’s saying something in Joburg. Karen and Nic’s day was a scorcher, not the best day for the photographer to be wearing black, by the time we arrived at the venue I was ready to stand in front of a fan for the next couple of hours and cool off. So we started off gently with a couple of rock the bridal bed shots, which aren’t as bad as they sound , got some killer bee bridal portraits and rubbed in some sunscreen for the ceremony which was held outside. A couple of hours later, the sun set softly over the Magalies mountains, perfect backdrop for some nicely lit couple portraits. Nice. Thank you.

A lot of the weddings we’ve been to recently seem to be starting later and its been giving us a great opportunity to shoot some cool portraits of the bride, but this week I also wanted to post some cool portraits of the groom, who doesn’t often get to feature on this blog. Lastly, almost done, I can hear My Name is Earl starting on the telly so I’m just going to wrap and say that we were sitting chatting with another supplier, the usual industry gossip about venues etc and they said “you guys get to go to really different weddings”, not really, we shoot at the same venues that every one else shoots at. We do try to make every shoot very different though, which I think makes all the difference and keeps us inspired week after week. Ok, some portraits.

You may have noticed that we have added a copyright notice to each image. I hate having to do that, but the weekly arguments with people who feel that it is within their rights to use the images without attribution are no longer worth it. Sorry.

Almost forgot, the videographer for the day was the inimitable Emily from Lighthouse Films.

couples photography promo flyers, 

If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I’m kind of obsessed with natural moments, interactions between people, the moments in between. Its not a very well kept secret that the portrait session, or creative session, of the bride and groom is the easy part of the day. Its the capturing of the reception, that interplay between people, showing the couple something that they didn’t see on the day that is the hard part.

Sunday, and we are inching our way through traffic, the 94.7 cycle race is on, and the organizers seem to have decided to isolate north western johannesburg from the rest of the world. A maze of side streets, hooting cars and very very irate drivers. We turn back and try make it to the N1, its the only way to get to the Longmeadow Piano Lounge, the N1 has only one functioning lane and a 10 minute journey turns into a two hour bumper to bumper stress fest.

Hours later, everyone has relaxed and is having a good time, all the guests have finally arrived, the reception has started and V and I are capturing people having fun. In our consultation Claire asked us to concentrate on documenting the day. This is the fun part for us, no-one is posing, the moments are real, people are laughing, drinking, children have passed out exhausted, friends are having a good time. Its a group of happy people hanging out together in the sunshine, a coming together of two families, friends and families who came from all over the world. We try to capture those moments.

I’m not really too sure what to say about this one, whenever we shoot a wedding it feels like we catch a glimpse into a couple’s lives, just for a day, and the endorphines and adrenaline are infectious and we smile a lot and laugh and mess about, and we try to take images that capture something about the couple. These two were real sweethearts, very much in love, with killer bee smiles …

… and then there was the fact that they decided to prioritize their portraits and gave us an hour at Monte Casino to shoot the bridal portraits and an hour at the venue … add to that the fact that they love all things baroque … and that I had enough adrenaline in my veins to hotwire a pony after that helicopter ride …

V’s exams are finishing tomorrow, so we should be back to the usual superfast turnaround time on emails by Thursday.

bridal portrait helicopter, 

We descended on Sandton last weekend to shoot Taryn and Grant’s second wedding, their first was in Cape Town the week before. So no ceremony shots this week. I was originally going to do the entire shoot at The Radisson – what an amazing space to shoot in, but one look at the sunset and we grabbed a shuttle and headed off to the fire station where the fire crew indulged us and allowed us to climb all over their trucks, smoke cigars (in the fire station!) and turn on the flashing lights.

On our way to the airport, super nervous flyer and all, been backing everything up from last night, trying to pack, make sure I have everything for the workshop, tickets, reservations, you name it, I’m sure I’m going to forget something.

I know, I know, I keep starting my blog posts with … the rain, but it is wedding season in Joburg, which happens to nicely coincide with the rainy season. By the time we arrived at Shepstone Gardens to set up and plan our shoot, the sky was already black and the rain had just started coming down. All of this despite the fact that the BBC site had predicted that it would only rain later that evening.

Nicole and Milton were calm as beans about the whole rain thing actually, I was a bit stressed (I had somehow managed to miss my extra large cappucino at the Wild Bean before I left home). It seemed like just minutes before the bedeken (the veiling of the bride in a Jewish wedding), the sun came out and one particularly picturesque shaft of light kept landing on Nicole’s veil as she circled Milton under the chuppah. Killer bee. I love the wedding season and its storm clouds, the moodier the better.

all the images were processed using our actions (which are free for download).

Anyone want to loan me some money to buy the old Johannesburg Post Office? and if you’re not reading the Daily Maverick yet …

October is the busiest month of the year for us, besides the usual workload we’re trying to organise a couple of destination weddings that include New Zealand, Zanzibar, Mauritius, and even some in Europe (amazing/nerve wracking for someone who is terrified of flying). We’re also trying to work out the logistics of heading out to Kiev next year to do some workshops out that way, and we also have our Untitled (a workshop) series of workshops currently on the go. V is writing exams. Its busy, so busy that we haven’t had a chance to post our own promo video.

Which neatly brings me to Tamzin and Emile who graciously starred in our promo. These two rocked out at their wedding, from singing along during the service to a rock track whose name is on the tip of my tongue – but doesn’t seem to get further than that – to Emile getting down on one knee in the chapel and playing a song on his guitar, add to that; Tamzin’s killer bee smile, the loudest music we’d ever heard at a wedding and a very cool circle of friends. Nice.

I know it’s been a while since your wedding day, so this isn’t so much a sneak peek as a thank you. I still smile when I think of that kid Aidan walking around blocking his ears while everyone danced around him.

I was recently asked “do you really like all your couples? cause you’re always complimentary on the blog”. I kind of stammered some sort of smart ass reply, but I’ve been thinking about it and we do actually really like all of our couples. I think it has to do with the nature of our photography, we bring a lot of our personality into what we do, and the kind of people who are attracted to it, the kind that retain our services, are the kind of people who share our aesthetic and to some extent our worldview. Which is really a long way of saying, we tend to get along with our clients and often stay in contact with them years after their weddings are over.

PS: Tamzin has finally put me out of my misery, the song is “There is no one like You” by the David Crowder Band.

dror eyal tamzin,