Mr & Mrs De Bruin

When fellow photographer and friend Michel asked me to do them the honors of photographing their wedding I could have jumped out of my skin with excitement. 

I've met this wonderful lady many years ago and shared in the joy when she found this wonderful bloke - Nico. Little did I know that one day I'd have the privilege to witness (and photograph) their wedding.

Michel and Nico May you have many happy years together and may you always treasure one another. 

To all the friends and family - here are a little more photos from this gorgeous
couple's wedding.

Destiny Loge - thank you for the extra mile you went for us!

Annelie a HUGE thank you to you as well for opening up your stables in order for us to do some amazing couple photos!
xxxxx 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Emma

I've been looking forward to this shoot for such a long time! After a few unforeseen circumstances it finally happened on the 10th of January. 

I finally got to meet the "voice" on the other side of the phone, a lovely lady named Erika. 

I've finally got a chance to use my new prop (some wooden birds and hearts) in combination with my pink, rusted old bathtub, exactly as I've envisioned it  when I first saw the birds. The plus, Emma LOVES birds!

So with smiles and giggles on Emma's side and lots of excitement on this photographers side we started with our shoot. How lovely when what you envision for a concept works out exactly as you thought it would!  

Though we did some family photos as well, I loved Emma's photos so much that I've decided that these would be the ones that I would share with you.

Some colour sepia photos combined with my soft focus filter made for some stunning baby photos.

My new love - selenium toned photographs worked stunning with the pearls and old hat, but they looked just as nice as colour photographs. Luckily for me, I had enough photos to play around with both edit options!

 

And then, for the long awaited "birdies" and bath photos!

 

Chock chip cookies

I love to bake, a fact well known among my friends. Another fact well known among them is that I'm a sweet tooth. The result being one of my friends treated me to a jar of cookie mix for my birthday. What she didn't know is that it also made one very good subject to photograph.

I highjacked my mom's double door oven and the "photograpy-mixing-photography-baking-photography-eating" process began. She also has the most amazing mugs and a variety of plates and bowels to choose from making her home the perfect place to photograph delightful things to eat.

Enjoy! Hope you will have a coffee-cookie filled weekend ;-)

Canon EOS 600 D - F 8 - 1/4 sec - ISO 100 - Lens 18-55mm

I've made use of my tripod with all the photographs that I did. Since I've made use of window light coming in from the right I had to make use of a reflector from the left hand side (and self timer and tripod allowed me to do all of this myself without the need of an assistant) of the photograph to help even out the shadows. I also had the back door open, allowing some light on the front of the object.

Canon EOS 600D - F 8 - 1/2 sec - ISO 100 - Lens 18-55mm

Canon EOS 600D - F 8 - 1/2 sec - 100 ISO - Lens 18 - 55 mm

For those of you a bit more familiar with the more technical side of photography, shallow depth of field etc. The reason why I got this extremely shallow depth of field on a F 8 is due to the fact that I've made use of my macro filters. If not mistaken it was a combination of the nr 2 and 3.

Canon EOS 600 D - F 8 - 1/2 sec - 100 IS - Lens 18 - 55 mm

Canon EOS 600 D - F 8 - 1/2 sec - ISO 100 - Lens 15 - 55 mm - macro filters

I came in extremely low with this photograph, nearly touching the lens to the side of the counter. I took a few photos of the label. If not mistaken this was the one without the reflector, only with window light coming in from the right and the door behind me. Once again the macro filters* gave me this extremely shallow depth of field.

Canon EOS 600D - F 8 - 1/2 sec - ISO 100 - Lens 18 - 55 mm

On this photograph I've bent the reflector into a curve so the light was better scattered to the front and left side of the butter. ... I've washed my hands at least a half dozen times to get it butter free for this photographs as well as working with the dough and cookies!

Canon EOS 600D - F 8 - 1/3 sec - 100 ISO - lens 18 - 55 mm

This is actually a series of 3 photographs taken. I've made use of my 10second delay, multiple exposure self timer setting on the camera. I've had my reflector in my left hand, with a slight angle to get the maximum light and a bowl with the beaten egg and vanilla in my right hand, ready to start pouring  once I've heard the first click. ... Multitasking made easier with a tripod and a self timer and a bit of luck :-)

Canon EOS 600D - F 8 - 1/3 sec - ISO 100 - 18 - 55 mm lens

The final result after lots and lots of messing... (my mom was also baking so all the big mixing bowels was used and they were not so nice for the clean-cut look that i wanted. The reflector was slightly adjust to reflect from a angle to the left down so that shadow to the left of the dough was less harsh.

Canon EOS 600 D - F 8 - 1/3 sec - 100 ISO - lens 18 - 55 mm

Canon EOS 600D - F 8 - 1/2 Sec - 100 ISO - Lens 18 - 55 mm

I've decided to make use of the photograph where I've only made use from the window light from the left, slightly from behind and the light seeping in at the backdoor.

Canon EOS 600D - F 11 - 1/10 sec - 100 ISO - Lens 18 - 55 mm

This was one of the more difficult photographs to do since I wanted the steam with the coffee.

The light came in from a window towards the right top corner of the photograph. My mother helped me, holding the kettle just below the table opening the lid so we could get extra steam. Once again the 10 second delay self timer with the multiple exposures was my best friend since I had to get the reflector JUST right as to get enough light on the mug and cookies, but not over light it so that I loose the steam (one has to have a dark background with back light to achieve this). I also had to cup my had over the lens as to avoid the lens-flair due to where the sun was at that point. ... Guess who's getting a lens hood!

* If you are not into macro photography but would like to try it the filters is a cheaper alternative to buying an actual lens. You can also rent lenses from places like outdoor photo should you want to try out the lens before you buy it.

Some Black and White photographs

I'm a sucker for a black and white photograph, so I decided to share a few of my humble black and white attempts with you.

Ohhhhh an my middle of the year resolution... do more black and white photography!

A kind jesture and a warm fuzzy heart

I recently did a photo shoot for two of the ladies working at the lab where I do all my photo & product printing. When I delivered their photos yesterday I got surprised with one HUGE AWESOME gift to say thanks.

Doreen, Michelle it was not necessary, but it is much appreciated.. Like they say in Afrikaans... "Ek kry sommer 'n knop in my keel" (being close to tears). Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!

My mug, well... it might become my dedicated "edit mug" and YES, I made sure that I had a cup of COFFEE in it for my first drink (since that is what this photographer lives on while editing! Especially at night ;-) )

(It will also become my "travel" mug when I meet with new clients at my studio ;-) )

Dearest Doreen

Doreen is one of the stunning ladies that works at the lab where I do all my printing work. Always friendly and always smiling she ensures that you leave with a smile, no matter how bleak the day was before you went into the lab!

Doreen, it was lovely to meet Neo and Isac and I absolutely enjoyed spending the morning with you guys! Wish your mother lived closer so she could have joined in the fun.