The information overload that has swept over us from the Internet has created a secondary effect—being good at any skill has become an ongoing process of learning, practising and perfecting more than ever before. There are new techniques to be learned all the time, they’re described out there and there’s no excuse for not learning and progressing!
Strobist, my favourite lighting blog, recently published this article on lighting corporate headshots. An hour of fun in the studio later and we’d managed this shot of Greg. It’s not quite there but I like!
But what does this have to do with a wedding photographer and his clients?
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There aren’t many editing environments where there really aren’t any distractions. While I’m editing a document I play a continuous game of checking the spelling, checking grammar, fiddling with heading styles. The list goes on and on. I don’t know how many times I’ve ended up in Microsoft’s utterly useless online ‘help’ searching for something I don’t really need right now. Or ever probably.
Well, now there’s this fantastic little editor. (but wait, there is more…)
Tarryn and Marco tied the knot at Zebra Country Lodge on Saturday—and what a day it was! The wedding day was full of laughs, love and some serious partying. The venue is idyllic even if the chapel is a bit of a photographic nightmare—it’s pitch dark in there! The photos we got out on the game drive are fantastic!
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A while ago we photographed Hayley and Riaan’s engagement shoot out at the farm. Time has flown by—2009 is dead and gone, it seems—and now they’re married! The wedding was at Shelanti in Centurion, just outside Pretoria, in their wonderful little gothic-style chapel. First, though we were at Hayley’s parents’ house for the preparations.
Having a new camera, a Canon 7D, that has high ISO and therefore very good low light ability opened new opportunities. We ended up with some awesome photos that would previously have been impossible.
The first set of bride’s formals were taken in the lounge at a window at between ISO 1000 and ISO3200. This one’s at 1000 and the next at 1600. Neither of these was possible on my old Canon 400D!
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Canon 7D, 200mm, ISO 3200
Generally I am a strong supporter of the philosophy that better equipment doesn’t make you a better photographer. But there are times when good kit makes all the difference…
When Canon announced the new 7D camera recently, I immediately decided that it was time for an upgrade from my (very) old and trusty Canon 400Ds that I have been shooting with for ages. (but wait, there is more…)
As a matter of principle we always scout wedding venues before weddings so that we have a feel for the place and photo opportunities that are available there. I believe it’s an absolute requirement if you want to be professional not to arrive at a venue ‘cold’ but forwarned and hopefully forearmed about the venue’s challenges and opportunities. Tarryn and Marco are to be married in December at Zebra Lodge, about 40km Northeast of Montana in Pretoria, so we grabbed the chance to do their e-session there on Saturday. That way we could kill both birds with one trip into the bush.
Zebra Lodge is one of those typical bushveld game lodges that abound in that part of the world. The countryside is hilly with dense thorn bush and dusty gravel roads. (That’s ‘dirt roads’ for some of the English-speaking world.) We arrived there at around 11 in the harshest possible sunlight so we did most of our photography under the massive, shady bluegum trees. (Thank you, Australia, for exporting those thirsty, beautiful monsters to every corner of the planet!)
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The Grade 8s at Max Stibbe Waldorf School put on a performance of ‘The Little Prince’ recently. I was fortunate enough to be able to be there to take some photographs of the evening and what fun it was! As usual at Max Stibbe, there was energy aplenty from the childrenand the performance was great.
The Prince Watering the Rose
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We went out to the farm at Boschkop to do Hayley and Riaan’s engagement session. Couples like these make a photographer’s job really easy! They just relaxed and had a whole lot of fun while we took photographs. Apart from the fun, we got some really different and fun shots in the barn and around the field where the Nguni cattle graze.
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We had a recent fun shoot with Kai, a model and artist from Pretoria. It’s unusual and challenging to get a guy in for a fashion/model shoot and so we had some fun with lighting and poses to keep his masculinity while letting his bubbling personality come through! A large number of the shots ended up using one light or at most two. I am particularly pleased with the high key white backdrop stuff we did.
On Saturday we met Bjorn and Karien at the Botanical Gardens in Pretoria for their e-session. The weather was typical for Pretoria at ths time of year – hot and bright with extremely harsh light even at 4 p.m.! We kept to the shade for the most part and got some wonderful pictures for them before ending up at our favourite little grassed platform and water feature for the last photos of the day.
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