The benefit of meeting your clients beforehand at the venue has many positive spin offs. Which brings me to this blog entry. I met up with Natasha about 3 weeks prior to her wedding at Silver Star Casino where the reception was going to take place. After having a guided  tour as to where and where not we were allowed to take photographs I noticed that at the reception area which at the time was empty there was this amazing backdrop, hanging light, a couch and great ambient light filtering in. The time then was about 12 o’ clock noon. Wow ! this is amazing I thought to myself, we will be able to get some killer images under these conditions. I then logged the thought in my mind. Yea! Got to shoot here. On the wedding day, after doing the family shots, bridal party I confidently put my camera gear through the security scanners and headed of to the exact spot. Woa!!! Whats this, as I entered the reception area had been transformed into a hive of activity, waiters, serving dishes, tables where the food stations were going to be had been plotted out with military precision. The vision that I had suddenly went Pffff… like a deflated balloon party. No light , curtains were drawn, wrong time of day, what now?

No problem, shooting on the Nikon D3S use a higher ISO and wing it, was my initial reaction. Ok you have 5 minutes max at this spot so what are you going to do I thought to myself. I nonchantly set the couple up and asked sergio the videographer if he had brought his video light with him, of course he said. Well could you do this and this for me? No problem, p.s. thats why I enjoy working with the man, great friend, great videographer and very proud Daddy. So here is the breakdown of how it went down.

Just got back from a gala and then off to the pool taking the youngest for training when it dawned on me, that in a year including Galas he would have racked up over 1200km in a year in water.
That is some serious mileage.
So this post is for Keir with a few images to tell the story about never giving up.

One of my favourites from the day. What makes it is the water droplet dead center in his mouth.

Starlight Classics 2011

It’s that time of the year again, the evenings are getting warmer, blossoms are starting to show and I am pretty sure that those bathing suits that have been relegated to some dark and forgotten spot in the closet will soon be showing an appearance. On the subject of appearances the cast for this years 2011 Starlight Classics did not disappoint.

With the legendary Richard Cock conducting and performers such as Pretty Yende, Joseph Clark, Andrew Young, Given Nkosi, Ian von Memerty, James Grace and Jonathan Crossley, Nomfundo Xaluva, the SA Ballet Theatre Dancers, Mzanzi Youth Choir and the Limited Edition Drum Corp this was going to be a show that was going to Rock the House Down.

Chasing the Light!!!

What the heck is this?It’s almost 11 at night, my son is writing an important maths test in the morning and  I am listening to my kids discussing x, the line, zero, functions and it all sounds foreign to me. Which brings me to the topic of light. I recently had the opportunity of making some pictures highlighting the importance of showcasing some examples of chasing the light ” or rather following the light” to emphasize what I mean. Scenario 1:  During a recent E-Shoot I thought that it would be a great idea to discuss the thought process that was happening from the beginning to the final image.

Below is the image that I took, this was the 1st frame, I was basically setting up the shot. There was just to much space and not enough interest. Notice the blue sky above. By the way these are all straight out camera. Cool, I had an idea in mind. I then went upto to Tota, spot metered on him ( all in Manual mode f8 @1/160  ISO 200 ), then backed off to where I wanted to shoot from, recomposed, focused, locked in the focus and composed the shot and took it.

                            Above: The final image after the shot had been recomposed.

Chasing light, or another way of putting it into perspective is looking for good quality light, then determining what the background will be is one of those things that now just happens instinctively. But what happens when you don’t have any light ( in this case I am referring to sunlight ).  When I started out photographing weddings I used to dread that it would rain, and oh what was I to do in the case where the ceremony is running an hour behind schedule, and their goes the last bit of gorgeous glorious light behind the horizon. “Wisk” out my flash and blast away! Perhaps but there is another solution. Now days with various video lights at our disposal, LED’s and I have even used car headlights to create some interesting imagery.

My Butt has been saved on numerous occassions by using a video light. Winter months can be challenging when photographing a wedding due to the light fading so fast. One minute it’s there, the next gone. I recently photographed the wedding of Lardo & Melissa at Memoire and was faced with this exact predicament.

We managed to get some really cool images durring the course of the day, but I wanted more. With fading light we headed towards the fields at the entrance, with the bridesmaid  controlling the video light and a bit of direction we were on a roll.  It’s really exciting stuff and I prefer it to using flash, for one it’s easier to see where the light is and shape it. No rocket science to it, and it gives you that tiny edge to create something a little different and tell a unique story in the weddding album.

The shot above was actually photographed in the mens cloakroom, using candle light

with video light shone from behind the couple. In this image you can actually see the video light.

Identical setup, minus the video light.

Above: A slow shutter speed 1/30 sec, 1600 ISO and some candle light .

Above: Made use of the video light from the videographer in this set up. Inspired by a similar image from Alt-F

Above: The endless possibilities of using a video light. This time I got the couple to climb into the back seat of the car, and asked the driver to shine the light on them.

Above: Similar set up, but this time focused on the rear view mirror in the car.

Above: Just video light, rather tricky as I was holding the light in one hand and the camera in the other.

Above: One of my favourites. In this scene we had just arrived at the 2nd reception and it had started to rain. Those white poles you see in the image

is actually fluorescent tubes. Towards the end of the evening I asked the couple to huddle close to one of them, using an umbrella to cover their heads

from the pouring rain and took the shot. Managed to get only one shot and this was it. See below.