The week before my 35^th birthday I picked up the book Annie Leibovitz at work and a wave of “Oh my word I am 35 years old and just haven’t achieved enough washed over me”. I am hugely inspired by Annie’s work particularly her early portraits. She has a way of capturing personality rather than just taking a photograph of a person. Her portrait work blows me away.

I began to beat myself up a bit. I looked at all her amazing pictures and suddenly became racked with self-doubt.  I was comparing myself to her!

I recently wrote a Facebook status update saying that I would be taking on an intern in July (which I will elaborate on further in another post) And I got an email that said:

“I would love more than anything to work for you. If I could be anywhere near as good as you I would be happy. In fact looking at your blog makes me sad as I feel like my work is so nowhere. Please pick me.”

It was then that I realized how silly I was being. Just as ‘anonymous’ was comparing herself to little ol me, so I was comparing myself to Annie.

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My business card may say Jacki Bruniquel Art and Photography but there is a little lady with a huge heart, lots of talent and a massive spirit who works alongside me. If you follow my blog or if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you will know her as Natasha AKA Tash, Tish or more recently (her Indian nicknames) Peacock, Kingfisher or Parrot.

Tash started doing work experience with me on part time basis whilst she was finishing off her BTech Degree in Photography. She then joined me full time and it’s been amazing for me to see just how much she has grown over the past two years. Tash assists me on all shoots, she second shoots at weddings and also assists with editing and album design. Her editing and photographic work improves daily.  She is very very talented and works so bloody hard. We have a wonderful symbiotic relationship and I am indebted to her. Not only has she been a fab technical assistant Tash has kept me calm during periods of crazy stress and has been my head when I’ve lost mine.

We recently went to India to shoot Shane and Laurie’s amazing wedding. India was Tash’s first trip abroad and seeing her eyes wide in amazement and her spirit jumping for joy made me so happy. If things couldn’t get any better for Tash her long time boyfriend Neil came over to India and proposed to her at sunset on a Goan beach.

Engagement shoot to feature on this blog in a few weeks!!!

Thanks Parrot. You mean the world to me!!!!

The other day I opened one of those wedding magazines that only feature the suppliers advertising in them (you know the ones). I turned a few pages and noticed an image by a well- known local photographer; only the name on the image didn’t correlate. The name on the image was advertising a photographer that I had never heard of. A few pages later and BAAAAM there it was again. Once again I recognized an image belonging to an established photographer. Except this image had in fact been replicated by someone else and used in an advertisement.

This really irked me.

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If you aren’t a photographer then this blog post really isn’t for you and you should probably just hop out of here. If you are a photographer and a lighting guru the same applies.  If however, you are a photographer who needs to brush up on his or her technical ability to produce and mould light to create awesome pics and up your game, then this blog post is especially for you!

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I have recently had a number of people call, mail and Facebook me to ask my advice about getting into the wedding industry and to find out what it is like to be a wedding photographer.

These people have ranged from photography students to people who enjoy photography as a hobby.

My answer is always the same. Wedding Photography is an insane amount of work and to do well you need to be creative, adaptable, technically sound, good with people and skilled at running your own business. It also helps to be a little obsessive! People seem to think it is an easy job or a way to make a quick buck and unfortunately it is this attitude, along with the digital revolution, that has resulted in a lot of fly-by-nights and wedding photography disasters.

I have therefore decided to write this post on what it is really like to be a full time professional wedding photographer. Please note that this is written from my own personal perspective, and I tend to be a workaholic who is constantly pushing myself to be better, do better and create more ….. Sometimes to the detriment of everything else!

I know there are wedding photographers out there who have it all figured out and have successful businesses, take amazing images and have a balanced personal life. I bow down to those photographers and wish I could be more like them. (By the way … I don’t really know any personally! Except for, maybe, one!)

I also know there are those photographers out there who are happy to deliver sub-standard work. I am not one of those.

So here we go.

What it is really like to be a wedding photographer?

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Now that I am back in Durbs and sitting at my computer while listening to the sound of the ocean, I find it quite ironic that the speech I chose to do at the SAWPA party in Cape Town was about finding ones own unique photographic voice. It’s ironic because I nearly lost my voice due to nerves on the actual night! It took everything in me to get up there and speak, but once I was up on the stage in front of the mic it was all ok.

In case you didn’t know I was invited to give a speech at the South African Wedding Photographers Association Party in Cape Town last week. I have done my fair share of lecturing and have been quite Ok with public speaking, but this was really one of the most daunting things I have ever done (more scary than injections, my first exhibition opening, being profiled on Top Billing, surfing huge waves in Indo and bungy jumping) Getting up to speak in front of so many people and some of the cream of South Africa’s wedding photography talent was a true test of my new quest to “throw myself out there”. It’s amazing what you can do when you let go of fear and trust yourself to be yourself.

This is my speech.

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I know I made quite a few brides unhappy when I decided to take this September off weddings to push my boundaries and work on personal projects. I was beginning to  feel like my work was stagnating so instead of sitting around talking about all the things I would like to do, I made the time to do them. It’s not that I don’t enjoy shooting weddings, they are just so time consuming that they seem to take over every free second of my life and it’s therefore easy to become a bit lazy and fall into ruts. If you are really busy and working all the time  its often easier to take the safe route rather than being a bit fearless and going for gold! I think it is vital to take time out to throw yourself out of your comfort zone and to learn, study and grow. I had originally planned to work on some fine art projects but I decided to do something different and push myself technically which is always scary as I am not naturally a technical person. So I am going balls to the wall and playing with lighting, working on conceptual shoots and collaborating with stylists.

Do you feel like you are stuck in a rut, do you spend time talking about doing things rather then doing them, is your work starting to bore you, do you feel a bit lost????? Well then I encourage you to take the first step and JUST DO IT!!! No excuses. Once you start shooting for yourself its bloody amazing how your internal energy shifts. I know not everyone has the luxury of taking a month off to do this sort of thing. I have worked hard for this and sacrificed alot to do this but I know that this time will bring great things for me and my little business. If you cannot take time off … what about just doing that project that you keep talking about? It feels good , I promise!

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So with Google Analytics I can see what keywords people use when arriving at my site. It seems ALOT of you have typed in Jacki Bruniquel Equipment, Jacki Bruniquel Lenses, Jacki Bruniquel Wide Angle lens. So I decided to do this quick blog post on my equipment. I am a Nikon girl and I have shot Nikon since moving over to digital. Here goes …..

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Photographers seem to spend more time in front of a computer than behind the lens since the advent of digital photography (unless you have a team of retouchers behind you of course). This is particularly the case with wedding photographers. Being stuck in front of a computer, generally alone, isn’t much fun and can be quite lonely. I am lucky as I share a space with my wonderful assistant Tash and my brother in law Tyrone Bradley and we bounce ideas around all the time. Still … its so great to connect with other photographers. Hanging out with other creatives is inspiring and sharing allows one to grow. I have always been in awe of Christine Meintjes business savy and loved the Kiki concept. Christine and her husband Iaan have the developed the Kiki website which they call a “playground for photographers”. They have a live internet streaming once a week where they share their business and photography ideas which they call Kiki TV.One of their aims is to bring photographers together around South Africa and they have set up networks for photographers on Facebook as well as organising meetups. I rounded up the troops in Durbs and we had a wonderful high tea at the St James on Venice. It was great to see friends and meet new people too. The aim is to meet up every 2 months and I have some exciting things up my sleeve for the next couple of meet ups.

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At at a time when I was really low I picked up a random book sitting on the shelf at a friend’s house. It was one of those self-help jobs with a hideous cover (you know the ones)

It said something to the effect of “if you carry on doing things the way you always have, expect to receive the same as you always have”

This moved me.

A lot.

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