Shanelle & Reece's Wedding | 23 April 2011

This wedding came as a total suprize. Shanelle is my cousin (my mom's sisters daughter), we heard of the plans of getting married 2 weeks before the first date was set. She was to marry Reece in Durban, but plans changed and the 23rd April 2011 was set as the official date. I had told her that I will take her pictures and she must not worry about anything.

I spent a night with her and Reece in Durban and we discussed everything, and only then, I thought, it kicked in that my dear cousin will be walking down the aisle soon. I had promised her that I will be in Ugie a few days before the wedding to help with the deco and anything else that was needed.
 Saturday morning miss bride was still walking around looking very calm lol. Mr groom was also just taking it easy... Then the nerves kicked in a few hours before the big moments of declaring their love for each other.

 Below are a few pictures of the couple on their wedding day - Mr. & Mrs. Cockman :)

   

 

I always encourage my brides and grooms to just be themselves, perfect pictures dont always have to be posed. Laugh if you want to laugh, jump if you want to jump, dont just stand there and wait for instructions, yes we, photographers, love flexible couples but we also love those who are spontaneous   

Family Picture - Timothy & Charlene

I've known Tim & Charl for a good 2 years I think, but we only became close from last year. By far the coolest couple I've met in ages lol.

Charl called me up and said she wants some family pictures taken since they have added a cute little girl to their family on the 4th April 2011.

Below are a few pictures of the great time we had in studio :) 

 

 

  

Winner of Infant to Toddler Competition - Cazlia Richards

The competition took place last year before the December holidays where we had over 16 entries, parents got all their friends and family to vote for their kids and in the end Cazlia's mom and dad managed to get the most votes for their little cutie.

  

Please note this will be an annual competition for parents to enter their cuties in.

Infant to Toddler Competition 2010 

Couple Photoshoot - Elmica & Arno

Elmica contact me and just wanted a few photo's with her and her finance, Arno. With short notice we had a date set and this was the results :)

Friends - Tammenic & Jackie

Jackie & Tammy joined me in my studio for some girl fun! They brought some of their own props like you will see in the second picture. It was a hit, everyone has been wanting to use the same huge fan lol.

 

 

 

Family - Dalan, Regaya & Ralan De Kock

 

 

Amanda & Phumzile's Wedding | 9 April 2011

Amanda contacted me last year 10 December while I was on holiday in Port Alfred with my sister. She was referred to me by Adiel @ Umvini. Amanda wanted to secure her date 9 April and refused to have me lose the date to capture her and Prof's wedding day.

With all my couples, I prefer meeting them a while in advance before their wedding day so as to get all the details I need to know about their special day. I met Amanda 2 days before her wedding day! She had not seen my work until that day, but she paid her deposit and was confident that she didn't want anyone else. Amanda aka Amish was a vibrant bride who was calm until she saw Prof :) Oh and I only officially met Prof moments before Amish walked down the aisle. Below are a collection of pictures from their wedding day.

 

 

Family Pics with Natasha, Lorraine & Daniella

Its always a pleasure when a family calls me and says they want some family pictures.

Family is very important to me and I always ensure that I give them the best pictures I possibly can. The best feeling for a photographer is when you walk into someone's house and the picture you took of the family is up on the wall... little beats that.

Lorraine returned to have more pictures taken, this time with her mom and sister. As you will notice they are one photogenic family. As a photographer you generally go through the pictures and edit them before giving them to your client but with Lorraine and family I can honestly say I only edited about 4 pictures. Trust me that very few!

Maternity Photoshoot | Xoliswa

Xoliswa contacted me on Saturday and said she needs maternity pictures ASAP and we set a date. Baby Avuiyle is due around the 17th April 2011... Soon to be mom chose one of my packages where she will return next month for infant pictures then again in 6 months then again when the cutie is 1 year and hopefully he will celebrate his 1st birthday in my studio for a "trash the cake" photoshoot"

Pregnant woman have this glow on their faces that show how proud they are to become a mom. Xoliswa showed us how you can be pregnant and still look fabulous!

The Graham girls - Vanessa & Shadae

Theres actually quite an interesting story about these two. Nessa attended a work function on Saturday night and Shadae was determined to be one of the first 5 to make it to my studio on Sunday to get her freebies lol. Shadae is quite a character as you will notice in the pictures below.

So there I was thinking I'm going to open my studio at 11am on Sunday instead of 10am, they phoned me at 10:30 to say they there waiting already! lol. Below is the fun we had.

  

 

P.S - The freebie was that whoever came for the opening of my studio would receive a R100.00 discount voucher on any occasion or studio pictures taken after the opening.

Individual Pictures - Mariaan Erasmus

Mariaan was the first official person who got to test out my studio. It was actually really funny coz it was her first time having professional pictures taken and it was my first time officially taking professional studio pictures (but obviously she didnt know this and niether did everyone else until now hehe)

We got to have a ball! I finally got to put into play all that I had learnt from a man in photography who is now my mentor - Mark Young. I met Mark last month when I attended one of his courses for studio photography.

So there I was doing my thing and falling more and more inlove with what I do :)

Below are some pictures of Mariaans day in front of my cam & lights :)

AVS Studios

So this has been coming for a long time and I just didnt have space to open my studio until Ursula & Tony offered me space at their home in Myezo. They are really amazing people!

Ursh offered me the space in January and I kept delaying but I dont regret opening my studio now only coz over the past 3 months I have learnt a lot and it shows in my work now.

I was telling a friend of mine the other day that I fall inlove with photography and I become more and more passionate about my choice of becoming a photographer. There's nothing better than waking up in the morning and knowing that you going to do something that you love doing all day. There's very little that satisfies me more than that (its only malva that brings the same size smile onto my face hehe)

Below is one of the first pictures I took in my studio with my very willing friend :)