The Best Of: The Oyster Box Hotel Weddings

The Best Of: The Oyster Box Hotel Weddings

A while back the marketing ladies from The Oyster Box Hotel asked me if I would be open to them using some of my imagery on their website. This beautiful Umhlanga hotel is one of my favourite places to photograph weddings in the whole of South Africa so I was more than happy to comply! I have shot A LOT of weddings at The Oyster Box during all my many years of being a wedding photographer and whilst gathering the images together I realised it would make a fabulous celebratory blog post!

This luxury five star hotel is a prime South African wedding destination for so many reasons! It overlooks a pristine beach housing the iconic Umhlanga lighthouse, the decor in the hotel is breathtaking which for an artist like me is so inspirational, the service is through the charts, the food is absolutely delicious and the staff are all so friendly. If you are a couple who are looking for a classy wedding by the beach without the beach sand, this may be the venue for you!

I got a bit teary looking through all of these pics as I realised how many beautiful moments and special people I have photographed over the years in this gorgeous hotel. Every couple different, every couple with their own story, every couple open and willing to allow me into a momentous milestone in their life to tell their narrative with my camera. I have also worked with some amazing suppliers whom I will mention at the end of this post!

The Oyster Box has as a list of highly qualified and reputable suppliers. Some of the preferred suppliers who are recommended by the The Oyster Box are:

Wedding Planning: Ginny Eslick weddingplanner@oysterbox.co.za www.oysterboxhotel.com 0824140265

Hair and Make up stylists:
Lindsay Nixon – 082 554 3006 nixonmakeup@gmail.com
Charelle McAllister – 079 888 8777 charelle.mcallister@gmail.com

Hair Stylist: Drew Christie – Drew – 082 335 4625 evolve@comit.co.za

Décor and Floral Specialist : Sue Baxter – Sues Flowers, 083 289 7782
Suesflowers@telkomsa.net
Website link : www.wedding-flowers-durban.com
Facebook : Facebook Sues Wedding Flowers Durban

DJ/Music specialist – Vivian Westergreen – 082 454 7223 info@djvivian.co.za

Wedding Stationery and Printing:
Janet Haw of Fuchsia Designs
www.weddingstationerydesign.co.za
0767068594 | info@weddingstationerydesign.co.za

Wedding Cake specialists:
Nicole’s Luxury Handmade Indulgences, Making Life Sweeter – 082 654 0749
nicoles@telkomsa.net

Lauren Lee Cake Couture
079 544 2388 www.laurenleecakes.co.za
laurenleecakecouture@gmail.com

MARRIAGE OFFICIATORS for the Ceremony:
Wessel Wessels – 079 898 0392 wessel@glenridge.org.za

Rev AJ Haasbroek – 082 921 6475 or ewo@telkomsa.net

Michael Alexander – 0609975408 alexander@clfc.co.za

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How to unboring your wedding pics?

How to unboring your wedding pics?

I recently gave a lecture to a group of 30 odd photographers on behalf of Nikon on “How to unboring your wedding Photography” and one of the questions I asked the audience was “What is it about wedding photography that makes you love it?”

I believe that in order to make authentic images we need to turn inward to discover what we really love and what we are drawn to instead of blindly copying trends or trying to do what everyone else is doing. If we know what we like and why, then we can apply these to our own work and use it as a map or a guide. If we keep coming back to this map we can create our own path instead of looking at everyone else and following the status quo which aside from being boring, can be an endless cycle.

I studied Fine Art and this has become a guide for me as it is important for me that I make images that have meaning behind them. I love to tell stories with my camera and also create new stories every time I shoot. It would kill me to keep making the same images over and over and have a repertoire of shots that I reproduce in every album. I also love to people watch and so I love taking unscripted documentary images of people doing all the weird and wonderful things that they do at weddings. I draw much of my inspiration from my clients. Weddings offer me the opportunity to take creative portraits, tell stories with my camera and also capture moments like a photo journalist. This is why I love photographing weddings and I use this as a map every time I shoot. This is also why my clients come to me!

Huge thanks to everyone who came along to my chat! So good to meet you all!!!

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Best of 2015 Weddings

Best of 2015 Weddings

Ever since I decided to become a wedding photographer I have ended the year by doing “a best of my wedding pics of that year” I get a bit emotional every time I get these images together! This year-end exercise reminds me of so many things. It reminds me of what my strengths and weakness are. It is also a way to say goodbye to the previous year and allow the space for improvement. But most importantly it reminds me of how incredibly lucky I am to do a job that I love and how lucky I am to have attracted clients who allow me to do what I do and make a living from this.

Weddings are funny things as they turn grown men to tears, they send mothers into a frenzy and fathers into meek puppy dogs. Families come together and people journey from all over to celebrate and reunite. There is a always a joy and an energy present unlike any other human ritual I know. A bride often feels her most beautiful while she is fluffed and fancied for hours. The men feel sexy in their suits, shorts or veldskoen, and no matter what they are wearing they are all moved when they see their bride coming down the aisle. To be able to capture a photograph of someone where they look at the photo and see the beauty that I see, in that moment is a truly remarkable thing. I see beauty everywhere and in most people. I love taking pictures of brides hugging their grannies. I love taking pictures of kids doing silly things, I love creating narrative portraits of my clients but mostly I love taking pics of people having fun and being human. My personal quirk however is finding the humour in it all and telling stories with my camera.

This year has been a happy year for me and when I look through all of these photographs I feels so darned charmed that I have had so many wonderful inspiring people who have entrusted me with their dear memories. I have found more balance this year than in any other year and between that and having such incredible clients and a very special man in my life I have been reminded of how lucky we are to be alive.

I would like to thank Liz my assistant who has never moaned when we have stayed that extra hour or three because I didn’t feel like I had the shot. Liz, who has made me endless cups of tea and and has my diary organized like a ninja. You are so valued and so talented. Liz has a few pics in this best of 2015 which really says how great she is. Thank you … you rock!!! My world would suck without you.

Huge thanks also to KJ and team from Nanuja who make all my albums. I am such a perfectionist that every wedding album that I produce is like an artwork to me and KJ is so accommodating and goes the extra mile. Thanks also to all the folk at Fotomax who print all my work and also house us and also put up with all our crazy. I do have to mention Teez here. What a gem of a human!

And lastly but not leastly, thanks to all the service providers who have not only made my job easy but so much fun. I couldn’t do my job without all of your genius. Thanks also to all of you who have referred me and to those who have worked with my schedules to get the shots that I do. I can’t name you all but you know who are my specials. Thank you I love you!!!

Thank you to each and every single one of you. 2015 has been such a super year for me and you have all been a part of that!!!

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Africa Centre Architectural Shoot with East Coast Architects and Raw Studios

Africa Centre Architectural Shoot with East Coast Architects and Raw Studios

When Bartjan Hooft from East Coast Architects contacted me to ask if I would be interested in photographing The Africa Centre in Mtubatuba I initially thought to turn down the job. I mean what on earth do I know about photographing buildings? After meeting with him and hearing that they didn’t want to hire an architectural photographer because they wanted to use someone with an artistic eye and a fresh approach my mind was slightly put at ease. It was however only when I read that they practice social and green architecture and had a good look through their site that I was moved to rise to the challenge. It must be mentioned that my boyfriend Riaan Van Jaarsveldt also had a lot to do with the shift, as he works in architecture and has a keen interest in the architectural photography, so we decided to do the job together.

I was nervous as all hell about it all, but once we got to the space I realised that a good architectural shot isn’t too different from a good wedding photo as both require good light and composition. The Africa Centre is a health and population research centre and is a really interesting space to photograph. This award winning building has recently undergone a huge refurb and all the wooden office furniture was especially designed by the acclaimed Raw Studios. I loved all the interesting angles, the incredible gardens, the birds flying around and the bright colours, but most of all I loved the fact that the people who work in the building seemed so proud of the space and their work.

All in all it was an interesting experience as it really forced me to slow down and spend a lot more time crafting my images, looking at lines, light, shape, texture and composition. I don’t have a tilt shift lens so we spent a lot of time up ladders, on roofs and on a tripod to get the lines straight. I must mention that  I also loved working in a team and having someone to bounce ideas with was very different from shooting a wedding! In the end I was really glad that I took on the challenge as it’s only when we step out of our comfort zone that we grow.

Thanks to East Coast Architects for giving me the opportunity to push my creative boundaries and thanks to Riaan for everything.

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The value of photography today.

The value of photography today.

The other day I heard a photographer waxing lyrical about the doomed state of the photographic industry. He complained about how difficult things are due the huge increase in the number of photographers in the world since the advent of digital photography. Today whilst backing up old hard drives I made a folder of all the many shoots I have done for my brother and his wife and it got me thinking. There may be more photographers now than ever before, but human beings now place more value on photography than ever before. One only has to look at Facebook to see all the engagement shoots, wedding shoots, maternity shoots, newborn shoots, cake smash shoots, first birthday shoots, vow renewal shoots and anniversary shoots out there. My advice to those who are struggling is to be positive, think out of the box and open your eyes to different opportunities!

Here are some pics I have made over the past four years for just one little family!

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