Stu and I moved into a new place in February this year. We went from the little Umdloti cottage shared with my sister Lisa, her husband Tyrone and the two main coons Ruby and Darwin, to complex living. This scared the hell out of me at first. I was horrified about going from old wooden floors to white tiles and electric fences but I can honestly say after some home TLC I am loving living where we are now.

My tastes in decor are rather polar opposite  from Stu’s to put it mildly. I am convinced that if I let  Stu have his way we would be living in an apartment with white walls, black leather couches, a beer fridge, a braai, a flat screen and a fishtank! I on the other hand could think of nothing better than living in an old Jaipur palace!!!! In order to create a space which we both feel happy and at home in, I have kept things quite simple. (well simple for me anyway) My main emphasis has been to make tranquil bedroom space and a home with soul that displays all of our travel trinkets. We still have loads more to do but here are a few pics for now.

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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!!!!

2011 has come and nearly gone and instead of going through a bunch of new years resolutions I thought I would share a few random things I learnt this year along with some non matrimonial fun photos!

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I like to do engagement shoots which are themed around the couples in them. Nicola is a horsey girl and both her and Pete are super stylish and love to dress up. It seemed obvious from the start that we would have to involve her beautiful chestnut thoroughbred, Demi. Then she mentioned something about a little miniature horse called Wonderboy, and I was sold. The shoot just had to be at the stables and the miniature horse just had to make an appearance!

Nicola is a big fan of arty photos and themed fashion shoots so I called on the ridiculously talented Drew Christie of Evolve salon and brilliant make up artist Lyndsay Nixon and we put our heads together to come up with a Vintage Farmyard Themed shoot with an artsy twist. I just love working with Drew and Lindsay, if you are looking for a hairdresser or make up artist … these two are  so bloody brilliant! I also want to mention that Grant Davidson of Herr clothing designed and made the neck piece, scarf, pants and amazing jacket Pete is wearing. Oh I am too lucky to have some talented people in my world!!

Now I want a miniature horse more than ever!!!!!!!!!

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Stu and I got engaged in Madagascar on the 23rd of July this year which most definitely  one of the best things to have ever happened to me! He is my balance, my rock and sometimes my head!!!!

When we sat down to plan our engagement party we realised we had to do it sooner rather than later as I have one heck of a crazy schedule with very few weekends off these days. Stu also works abroad which made things even more tricky. When we decided on a date Stu’s Mom and her husband booked tickets to come visit us from the UK and it was all systems go.

The week leading up to the engagement party was ridiculously stressful trying to juggle work, admin coming out of my ears, my personal shoots, organising the party, Stu’s folks being out here from the UK and friends and family visiting from other parts of the country. I remember feeling quite freaked out and overwhelmed and started dreading the actual wedding. (not getting married just the wedding bit)

Then the Party day came and all of that was blown straight out of the window. It was honestly one of the happiest days of my whole entire life. To have so many people whom I love, admire, respect and adore all around us celebrating our love and commitment was just so damn awesome.

I am now so excited for our wedding. Yes I know it will be stressful to organise but I know I will be marrying the man of my dreams surrounded by the people who mean the world to me and that is what is important!!!!

Here are some pics!

PS Huge thanks to Drew for doing my hair and Charelle for doing my make up. To Mom and Dad for having all of us. To Wilma for baking up a storm and to Keith for flying out here! Thanks to Carissa for lending us all the cutlery and crockery. Thanks also to everyone for coming and celebrating with us and also for the amazing prezzies. Last but not least huge thanks to my brilliant assistant Tash for taking all of these photos. She is the bomb and I think she has done such a marvelous job!!! Welldone Tash. Round of applause!!!!

PPS Stu says he needs a special mention for his lamb and pork spit cooking expertise. I am vegetarian and he loves meat but it works!

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I have been wanting to do some highly styled creative bridal fashion work for a while now as I believe it’s important to push ones own boundaries in order to grow creatively. Sometimes shooting weddings can be a titch lonely as you don’t get to conceptualize and collaborate with other creatives which is something I miss.

Krystle and Jacques got married at the Oyster Box at the beginning of this year and she decided to do a Trash the Dress shoot instead of an engagement shoot. I wasn’t too keen on doing the usual ol’ submerge bride in water, throw paint on her etc so I asked her if she wanted to be a guinae pig and get involved with some of my personal work. She jumped at the chance and I distinctly remember her saying the words … “make me into art”.

There were alot of people involved in this shoot. First off the highly talented Candice McNicol who’s shaking Durbs with her brilliant make up, styling and so on. Candice just seemed to “get” what I wanted to do which is always such a pleasure. Next mention is Drew Cristie of Evolve Salon (who is in my opinion Durban’s top hairdresser). I had no idea what location to use and my wonderful friend Tamlyn Martin came to the rescue and suggested that I shoot at the Center for Fine Art Animation and Design on Cowey Road where she lectures. This beautiful old building was absolutely perfect and we all feel so thankful to the principal Nanda Sobbenn for giving us permission. Every one was just so helpful and friendly at the school. My sister Lee-Ann gave us some feathers to use for Krystle’s hair which look just gorgeous. In case you haven’t seen this new craze which is all over the US check out their FB page here Last but not least my amazing assistant Tash and also Tracy Steyn.

This shoot was inspired by the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland but we put our own twist on it all and styled up a super hot sexy white queen.

Our aim for the day was to do a fashion spread of 6 or 8 images as one would see in a magazine rather then 100 images of the same thing which seems to happen alot these days with digital photography and blogging. Krystle is not a model but damn she looks like one!!!!!!!!!!! You look so damn hot!

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A while ago I felt like I was beginning to stagnate in my work so I decided to dedicate a month to making images for myself. I believe that if you keep doing the same thing all the time you are going to get bored and probably become boring. It’s vital for creative people to give themselves the space and time to grow. I wanted to push my own boundaries and spend time learning new techniques, I wanted to work with new people and shoot in new ways. So i turned down a whole load of work, specifically weddings, cleared the diary (bar one wedding which was already booked) and set out to organise a bunch of shoots. And then ……..

And then ……….. life happened!!!

Stu and I got engaged, his family came out from the UK and we organised a big engagement party, I went down to CT to give a speech at the South African Wedding Photographers Association, I realised that I actually had PILES  of admin and other work to do and a hundred other little time consuming things. I didn’t get to do even half of the shoots I planned … but here is some of the work I did do this month. I will do more dedicated blog posts when I get a gap.

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I took ALOT of pics while we were in Madagascar!!!! It will be a while till I complete all the editing as I have other more important things to concentrate on right now but I just couldn’t resist blogging these few favorites.

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The number 23 has always been an auspicious number for me ……. lots of big things have happened in my life on the 23rd!

On the 23rd of July this year I was traveling in Madagascar with my boyfriend Stu and my folks . My sister Lisa and her husband Tyrone were also part of our crew but they had left a few days earlier. Madagascar is a truly amazing place with many extremes, there is just so much beauty and diversity there. Being a fourth world country, the travel can be at times challenging and we were warned to bring a sense of humor! I will post a full write up about our 3 week holiday along with LOADS of pics but today I would like to tell you about 1 particular day on our journey.

To be specific we were on day 1 of a 3 day Dow trip we did around the islands of Nosey Be on the 23rd of July. Our first port of call was Tane Kele island, a small island in the most beautiful marine reserve I have ever seen. The colour of the water was just dazzling….. chrystal clear slippery aqua. We went there to snorkel and swim which are 2 of my most favorite things to do! The skipper of the yacht told us that we could possibly see turtles …. and I was in the water like a flash.

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