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This week’s wedding photographer interview is with Allan and Wendy of Art Photo.

When Wendy asked me if they could be part of my interview series I went over to their website and I loved what I found! I spent simply aaaages browsing through their wedding blog posts and then checking out their couple shoots!

Be sure to find Art Photo on Facebook too!

Tell me a little bit about yourself. Allan and I  are like old souls in young shells. We’ve been married for 14 years already, we  had an early start in that department.  Personality traits, we are both generally confident, vibrant, easy going, fun loving, sometimes a little crazy. We are equally passionate individuals which keeps things in our household abundantly interesting.

Where are you based? Durbanville Cape Town

How did you get into photography? Allan has always been the one with the camera in hand, started with our first little point and shoot about 8 years ago and eventually he purchased a 350D about 3 years ago. The more he did it as a hobby the more he kept realising it was what he wanted for a career. I was a bit of a late bloomer to the trade, not really taking any interest at first, always leaving it to Allan but then last year as a gift he bought me a canon 500D at the same time as he was upgrading his equipment, a kind of way for us to do something together. I didn’t know it at the time but that was the beginning for me. Our first day out together we started with a 4.30am landscape shoot on the beach, followed by  a trip through hout bay and to the world of birds. By the end of that day I realised I had absolutely fallen in love not just with my husband all over again but with a new found passion for photography. Amazingly it just came pretty naturally and from there it’s all just escalated. I’d been in the creative industry for over 10 years and have always loved beautiful things and being creative but this just felt like a calling, I’ve never been so passionate over anything quite like it (well except for Allan of course ).

How do you describe your photographic style? I think what’s great about us as a team is that we both have very different styles so you end up with a mix of creative and natural reportage style all rolled into one.  We love pushing the boundaries and don’t want to put our style into a box, its constantly evolving and ever changing, even from one shoot to the next.

How long have you been photographing weddings? Not very long actually, we only started doing paid photography this year so Art Photo is still very new in terms of being a business, before that we just did it for fun.

What type of camera do you use? Allan uses a canon 7D and I have a Nikon D7000.

How do you market yourself? We’ve actually only started marketing recently, everything has been very much word of mouth until now but we are slowly starting to put ads up on some of the blogs like the Bride with a Blog and soon should have something up at Oh Darling Bride, Wedding Focus and also in the Little Pink Book.

What advice do you have for photographers who are just starting out? It will be tough, you will at times wonder if you are good enough or if it’s the right choice to turn your hobby into a career. Dig deep, man up and just believe in yourself even when it feels like perhaps no one else does. It will get easier as you start getting your work out there but most of all, just enjoy the ride, don’t rush it, everything comes together in its own time.

How do you put nervous or camera shy brides and couples at ease? Allan and I are both fairly boisterous and easy going individuals. We take our craft very seriously but always keep things fun and light hearted. We treat every client as if they were old friends and get along with almost everyone so it all  comes together naturally, if all else fails make them laugh even if we feel like idiots, it just breaks the ice and very quickly the couple eases up and realises there is really nothing to be stressing over.

What is your biggest challenge as a wedding photographer? The industry is a tough one, hardest thing is to set yourselves apart, to find a way where you can be creatively different. Apart from that it’s just plain tough in the beginning, you’re asking people to trust you with a very big day so until you have some solid work in your porty getting the work in can be a little challenging.

What has been the highlight of your career as a wedding photographer? Getting to meet interesting and fun couples.

Which of the wedding photographs you have taken are your favourite? Gosh this was tough, we have a lot of favourites.

Just love the angle of this.

Gosh we love our sunset shots, they’re almost becoming a bit of a signature shot for us.

Love the composition and the contrast between the harsh sun, rickety fence and couple.

Just such a sweet moment, love the colour and the way the brides eyes just pull you in.

So cute the way this looks like the couple are just having a moment, like they aren’t even aware anyone is watching.

Love shoe shots and the ankle bracelet on this shot for me is just too cute.

This is such an interesting landscape shot with the dried tree and soft colours.

How important is a tool like Photoshop in your work, and do you retouch at all? Absolutely vital. We are passionate photoshop users and it really is a fantastic tool that can make or break a photo, you can turn an average shot into a truly great one if you just know how. We do retouch yes, we don’t do virtual cosmetic surgery but we do remove blemishes and soften skin for instance. We understand every bride wants to look her best so we try to make sure she will get photo’s she’ll want to show off and feel good about. Of course everything is still done to look very natural, we don’t want plastic looking brides.

Do you have an assistant, or invite second shooters to assist at your weddings? Not at the moment, haven’t needed anyone else yet as we are already a team and help each other out. We work really well together.

Which of your photographs would you use to show off your creative and artistic side? I think these photo’s reflect the versatility with which we try to approach all our photography. We love contrasts from simple to beautiful, harsh and honest, the opportunity to mould a little piece of art out of an ordinary situation.

Great example of taking a simple situation and using the environment to create something really beautiful.

Love this portrait, its soft and beautiful yet still edgy at the same time.

This pic looks like it could almost be an accident, but I love the way the sunlight has been used to create an interesting effect.

Love the honesty and lines in the face.

A factory in Mooreesburg, the reflection in the water adds an interesting contrast and the dark editing gives a very old world feel to the photo.

Cape Town from a totally different angle.

Creative use of sunset to create mood and show a different side to the sport of kitesurfing.

What would you love to add to your equipment? Faster glass (lenses), which I’m sure will be happening very soon.

Where would you love to do a wedding shoot? Thailand or anywhere really tropical and beautiful, and absolutely must have beautiful skies !

What is your work-flow after a wedding? As soon as we get back we download and make second copies to an external drive. Everything is sorted and selected in photoshop bridge and the photo’s to be edited are imported into lightroom for editing, with photoshop being used for selected pieces and finishing off of certain images.

How many images do you average for a wedding, and how many do you deliver to your clients? We probably shoot between 1500 – 2000 each so between 3000 – 4000 btw the 2 of us. depending on the package we edit and supply between 400 and 600 final images.

Is there a wedding photographer you admire? So many, would be very hard to choose a favourite but love the work of Christine Meintjies, Shanna Jones, Jean Pierre Uys, Jose Villa, Yvette Gilbert, Dror Eyal, other photographers we love are Monte Zucker, Josef Hoflehner, Lee Casalena, Marco Grob, Morgan Norman and Scott Kelby to name a few.

Whether its animals, landscapes, nature or portraits, most photographers seem have a penchant for a particular subject. What is yours? Allan loves landscape and macro flower and insect type photography. I’d have to say mine is kids. I really love photographing kids.

If you could be invisible- with your camera- for a day, you would… shoot the politicians sleeping at parliament and the monks at a temple in Tibet.

If you could photograph any musician, who would it be? We would shoot the Beatles or Elvis Presley, one of the old greats, maybe James Brown or Michael Jackson, someone with energy.

Is there anything you’re learning to do? We are learning balance between work and family. We have 2 kids so always a challenge to make sure everyone and everything is getting the attention  they deserve.

What will you be up to in 2011? Focusing on our creativity and improving our skills, photographing as much as we can and continuing with all the ground work that a new business requires in terms of establishing a killer new brand.

This week I got to interview Alana of Alana Meyer Photography. I have been lucky enough to meet her in real life and I like her a lot, and then I found her blog and you know how I love wedding photographers blogs! I am sure you will be as impressed with her work as I have been.

She has a blog, she’s on Facebook, and she’s on Twitter as @alanameyerphoto.

Tell me a little bit about yourself. I was born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe which some people don’t know and then went to Rhodes University and studied a Fine Arts degree majoring in photography, which was always a passion of mine. I decided to move to Johannesburg where my husband-to-be was working at the time. I worked for Gallo Images for several years, which again sparked my interest to pursue photography as a career. I am now a wedding and portrait photographer, following my dream of building a brand, growing a business and loving taking photos.

Where are you based? Johannesburg, South Africa

How did you get into photography? I was given a Kodak point and shoot camera when I was eight years old, and ever since then I loved being behind the camera. My Barbie dolls were my first models at that stage- they were quite stiff though! I now have real live people as my models!

How do you describe your photographic style? I would describe my style as very natural, modern and elegant. I love letting people be themselves with a little direction from myself and then we just have fun during the shoot.

How long have you been photographing weddings? I have been second shooting weddings since 2009 and I took the plunge to go on my own seven months ago.

What type of camera do you use? I shoot with a Canon 7D and my back up camera is a Canon 50D.

How do you market yourself? Through my website, social media, The Pretty Blog and word of mouth.

What advice do you have for photographers who are just starting out? Keep at it & practise, practise, practise. You will have busy times and you will have quiet times but you’ll get through it. Interact with other photographers as well, because it can be a lonely business.

How do you put nervous or camera shy brides and couples at ease? I tell them how beautiful they look and I physically show them how they look on camera. I get excited about how gorgeous they are and it gets them excited too.

What is your biggest challenge as a wedding photographer? I would say the biggest challenge is being the time keeper. If the bride is running late, it means I can’t get the bridal photos of her before the ceremony. Also if the sun is setting and everything is running late it puts pressure on me to rush them.

What has been the highlight of your career as a wedding photographer? There’s no real moment, but the highlights of being a wedding photographer is definitely the response I get from satisfied clients. I just love to see their faces or hear in their voices how happy they are with the photos. I also love it when they tell me how much fun they had during the shoot.

Which of the wedding photographs you have taken are your favourite?

I love this shot- it is so typical to be the last thing to do before leaving for the church- to spritz oneself with perfume.

I love the series of photos as the colouring and lighting was so beautiful and they were so natural.

I love catching people as they go through their day and catching their emotion and love.

This is quite a dramatic shot which I love. It has the gritty cityscape behind this beautiful couple.

This is such an intimate moment- I love the emotion.

This one is so classic of the men scrambling for the garter!

How important is a tool like Photoshop in your work, and do you retouch at all? I use Lightroom and I would say it is a vital tool. It streamlines my processing, enabling me to choose the top photographs and edit through them quickly. It has tools which let me retouch easily and quickly. If there are specific areas that I need to work on, I will then take the photo into Photoshop and work on it there.

Do you have an assistant, or invite second shooters to assist at your weddings? I usually use a second shooter if the wedding is large (over 100 people) It is also great to have second shooters to help with getting different angles & holding reflectors & bags.

Which of your photographs would you use to show off your creative and artistic side?

I love this sunflare on her bare tummy.

I shot this through a hole in the wall & just love how it turned out.

Totally love quirky shots like this especially if there are gorgeous shoes featured.

This shot turned out so awesome.

This shot was spontaneous and the word laugh really evoked the models character as she was smiling and laughing all through the shoot.

This shot – although posed- is quite a quiet & natural moment between the two of them.

What would you love to add to your equipment? I have a photographic wish list a mile long But the main ones would be Canon 70-200 L 2.8, Canon Macro 100mm L 2.8 and the Canon 85mm 1.2 lens.

Where would you love to do a wedding shoot? Oh my gosh. I would absolutely LOVE to do a shoot in New York City. The skyscrapers, the yellow taxies, the coffee shops on the side of the road, the billboards- there is SO much to work with!!

What is your work-flow after a wedding? I upload the images, back them up on an external hard drive and then import them into Lightroom. I select the best images and then start to edit & retouch them.

How many images do you average for a wedding, and how many do you deliver to your clients? I usually take about 2000 images at a full day wedding. It will depend on the package, but the average I deliver is 500 photos.

Is there a wedding photographer you admire? There are lots, but I would have to say Christine Meintjes. She inspires me with her photography and with her business mind. I also am totally in love with Simply Bloom Photography’s style!

Whether its animals, landscapes, nature or portraits, most photographers seem have a penchant for a particular subject. What is yours? I do love couple portraits, although if I am somewhere beautiful with no models, then it has got to be landscapes or animals.

If you could be invisible- with your camera- for a day, you would… go all around Johannesburg and take photos of landscapes, cityscapes, streetscenes, &just take photos of people going about their everyday activities & not being aware of the camera.

If you could photograph any musician, who would it be? Adele – she has some striking features and her 1920s style is pretty awesome

Is there anything you’re learning to do? I find I am learning something new about business and photography every day.

What will you be up to in 2011? I will be doing my first international wedding this year. One in July and one in December, both in Zimbabwe. I can’t wait. I am nearly completely booked up for the end of the year so you’d better book soon if you’d like me as your wedding photographer. 

This week I am interviewing Stefan Steenkamp of ZaraZoo Exclusive Wedding Photography fame.

I’m sure once you read the interview and spend some time on their galleries you’ll see why I nagged for so long to be able to interview him! You can find ZaraZoo on Facebook and you can follow them on Twitter too.

Tell me a little bit about yourself. I am an idea man. Even as a kid I came up with the most wonderful business ideas and schemes. It started at 6 when I made paper South African flags and then flaunting them on the street corner to passers-by. Since then, my ventures have become a lot more refined though.  At Stellenbosch University I ended up all but studying art or photography and walked away with a degree in financial accounting in 1997.  From there I endeavoured on a 10 year stint in London.  In 2000, after doing about 3 years of boring banking, I made a life switch to videography and outlet to my creative side.  Creativity runs deeply through my veins.  Our family, especially on my mother’s side is riddled with artists and that includes both my sisters; a painter and a creative writer respectively.  In 2006, after starting a wedding photography and video business in London in 2003, we moved back to South Africa.  The mix of being back on home turf and experience helped our business to flourish, to a point where ZaraZoo Photography is now regarded as one of the premier photography outfits in South Africa.

Where are you based? We are based in Durbanville.  This is the perfect base – it takes us about 30 minutes to get to most of the wedding venues we often shoot at.

How did you get into photography? I was a relative late starter.  I dabbled with video since childhood but only got my first stills camera at University.  It was my mom’s old Kodak Instamatik she had used at college… I bought my first proper film camera in 1997 and in 1999 bought my first digital, semi-professional body.  At that stage, the 2.5 megapixel sensor was the best you could get!  In 2005, after doing professional video for 5 years, I made the move over to stills photography and have not looked back since.

How do you describe your photographic style? In short, reportage with a very small posed element. The less you interfere with the run of the wedding, the better you will capture the raw emotions and the natural stuff.  It might sound corny, but I can’t get enough of happy smiley faces and blue skies!

How long have you been photographing weddings? I shot my first wedding in September 2005, so that makes it nearly 6 years now.

What type of camera do you use? We shoot Canon and have the whole range:  1D mk4, 1D mk3, 5D mk2, 7D 5D mk1.  I shoot with the 1D mk4 most of the time but still love the crisp images that comes out of the 5D mk1.  The two full frame 5D’s in our arsenal is great for a predicted and static environment, but for moving objects and fast situations the two 1D’s with their superior focusing systems are essential

How do you market yourself? For print media, we advertise in the Little Pink Book as well as Engaged Magazine.  Apart from that, we are blog & social media junkies! We find that by loyally doing a few blog posts a week, we have now achieved an amazing web presence in Google and other search engines.  By staying active on Facebook, we have built up the Wedding Photography Page with the biggest fan base in South Africa!  We made a late entry to Twitter, but even here, out follower base is growing at a phenomenal speed.  Another crucial aspect of our marketing strategy is to do physical networking with people in the wedding industry – not just photographers.  Al lot of our work come from these relationships that we have built up over the years.

What advice do you have for photographers who are just starting out? Get out there and network with people in the industry.  Do freebies to build up your portfolio.   Work your butt off for the first year and you will reap the rewards for the rest of your career.

How do you put nervous or camera shy brides and couples at ease? Take a good photo of her and show it on the Camera LCD.  Most brides are worried that they do not look good.  If it is a good photo she will be at ease automatically.  If this does not work, make her laugh by making a fool of yourself.  Good spontaneous laughter is the key!

What is your biggest challenge as a wedding photographer? I like to play out the day and plan my shots before it happens.  This enables me to focus on the creative side of the photo – because I have planned the framing and know the lighting conditions.  I get thrown out when the bride or coordinator change things at the last moment.   By doing an E-session before the wedding, I get to know the bride and groom and rarely have difficulty on the day with brides being stroppy.

What has been the highlight of your career as a wedding photographer? I cannot single out one, but shooting weddings in New York, London, Paris and Thailand is definitely right up there.

Which of the wedding photographs you have taken are your favourite?

The light, white tone of the image together with the shallow depth of field and beautiful bride is I think they way every bride wants to see herself on her wedding day.

Nothing beats the emotion you get from a bride on her way to the church.  the image below was taken in London and got a bronze award at the Sony ProFoto awards.

Again, the focus, and deep thought of this bride just before she enters the church is a classic moment.  She seems totally unaware of everything else around her – just deep thought of what is about to happen.

The deep intimacy and concentration in this photo makes it one of my all time favourites.  It is blown up on a huge canvas in our studio.  It won a silver award at the ProFoto awards of 2009.

The intimacy and shy infatuation of each other, a real romantic moment.  This photo won a bronze award at the 2010 ProFoto awards.

The total jubilation as this couple enters the reception venue was amazing.  Photos like these is a window into an experience.  It is more than just a moment.

The 3 images below reflect our aim to push the boundaries of “normal” wedding photography, to explore and provoke reaction.  Even though our style is normally very photo-journalistic and unobtrusive, we still love to produce images that make people ask WHY?

How important is a tool like Photoshop in your work, and do you retouch at all? Adobe Lightroom is used for RAW conversion and 75% of the editing.  Then Photoshop is used for retouching and correction of blemishes.

Do you have an assistant, or invite second shooters to assist at your weddings? We always work with assistants/ second shooters.  Apart from helping with the kit, these guys get the most interesting, unobtrusive shots.

Which of your photographs would you use to show off your creative and artistic side?

An effective silhouette is very powerful.  Knowing when to underexpose to get this type of shot as opposed to flashing the subject comes with experience.

By altering the level of the lens, you will achieve different results.  This photo would not have been good at all if it was taken from a standing-up position.

Framing makes all the difference.  Even though it appears that the girl in the shot was cut off, it creates an exaggerated effect of the height of the girl swinging.

In the photo below we went “alternative”.  This shows that we can think out of the box when it is required.

A slower shutter speed at the right time – See how the blurred waiter with plates creates movement in the image.

Juxtaposition. Put a bride or any subject in an environment that you will not normally see it and you have created something different that will get attention.

Symmetry and sex appeal – this picture is a bit of both… ooh-la-la!

Effective use of depth of field created an interesting photo of the elephant. Quite scary as well.

What would you love to add to your equipment? What I want to add, I am afraid Canon has not developed yet!  I want a trusty low f-stop 50mm prime & a 24-70mm with an image stabiliser!

Where would you love to do a wedding shoot? Italy, the Colosseum!  Have you seen the Lavazza calendars shot by Annie Liebovitz?  I love dramatic architectural backdrops…  the Inca Temple in Peru also comes to mind!

What is your work-flow after a wedding? Download – choose 1000 best shots – edit in Lightroom and cull off weaker shots. Output 400-500 in JPEG and these shots are then retouched in Photoshop – blog the best 50-80 shots.

How many images do you average for a wedding, and how many do you deliver to your clients? I would say about 1000 unique images – you know there is sometimes a lot of the same thing.  My clients get between 300 and 500 photos in high res on disk.

Is there a wedding photographer you admire? I admire elements of the work of certain big name photographers but have made the decision 2 years ago to find my own inspiration, rather than idolising a photographer and inadvertently ending up as a copycat of his or her style.

Whether its animals, landscapes, nature or portraits, most photographers seem have a penchant for a particular subject. What is yours? I have a love of taking portraits of people- interesting people that the average Joe might not encounter in his life.  The portraits of the people in the images below give the viewer a risk free peek into other worlds!

If you could be invisible- with your camera- for a day, you would… Go into a township and document the poor conditions some of the people have to live in.  Cooking on a paraffin stove; the mulling around the communal tap; bathtime in a zinc bath and just general everyday living in the shacks.

If you could photograph any musician, who would it be? Flamboyant, self-loving, over the top, Liberace – he’s dead now, but I think this guy would have been so interesting to shoot!

Is there anything you’re learning to do? All the time! The moment you think you know it all is the moment you will start stagnating!  In the information age one cannot afford to stop learning or life will pass you by!

What will you be up to in 2011? Apart from having shoots lined up in Paris and Greece, Zarazoo is opening an academy for photography.  We are also involved in the launch of a new Magazine for the wedding industry, Engaged Magazine.

This week I am very pleased to showcase Shireen Louw, who is based in one of Cape Town’s Northern suburbs, Brackenfell.

You must go to her website and check out the galleries, and she has a blog- and I believe I have mentioned how I love to browse photographer’s blogs. You can also find Shireen on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

Read on!

Tell me a little bit about yourself. I am an opinionated and passionate photographer. I am proud of who I am, and what I have accomplished so far in life. I love to travel, I love people and I am absolutely addicted to silly reality shows.

How did you get into photography? I have always had an interest in photography but my father was the one that helped me get into it professionally about five years ago. I started by assisting him when he photographed weddings, and later started Shireen Louw Photography.

How do you describe your photographic style? I think I offer a combination of styles. I have a mixture of journalistic, candid and portrait photography. My favourite style or kind of photography will definitely be the moments when I capture true emotion, unscripted, unedited, just raw, fantastic, and gripping emotion.

How long have you been photographing weddings? I have been professionally photographing weddings since 2007.

What type of camera do you use? I use the Nikon D700.

How do you market yourself? Nowadays I don’t really market myself, except on social media sites like Facebook & Twitter.

What advice do you have for photographers who are just starting out? Keep true to your own style! Don’t try to copy someone else’s work, since you will never be successful that way. To be successful you need to be unique, take risks and stay true to your own style.

How do you put nervous or camera shy brides and couples at ease? I honestly don’t have a set remedy, but I have found that when you approach a bride with an energetic, upbeat personality and never seem bothered about small things, and act professional, yet playful and always complimenting them on how good you think they look, they will soon forget to be nervous. I tend to talk to them while shooting, not always about how to pose etcetera, but literally about anything that is relevant at that moment. I joke and have fun with them. I honestly think it totally is about the person behind the camera and how you approach your clients on the day that sets them at ease.

What is your biggest challenge as a wedding photographer? When the couple do not allow enough time for the couple photo’s (aka RUSHED photography), bad weather conditions, and when the couple have friends and family with camera’s that keeps intervening with your poses, are in your way or just basically just makes your job so much harder with their constant flashing of point and shoot camera’s.

What has been the highlight of your career as a wedding photographer? I must be honest and say that to be part of so many wedding days is a big highlight in my life… but some of the highlights I would say are when I have been booked for destination weddings where I need to fly to the location.

Which of the wedding photographs you have taken are your favourite? I don’t have specific favourites, but I think my favourite photographs have happened when myself and the couple are having the time of our lives while their photographs were being taken.

How important is a tool like Photoshop in your work, and do you retouch at all? I absolutely love post production, where you can retouch, and tweak your photo’s to look exactly like you want them to look. When I open my images after a wedding in post-production, I feel like an artist putting my own stamp/feel/look on my photographs.

Do you have an assistant, or invite second shooters to assist at your weddings? I do have a permanent 2^nd shooter, but if she is not available, I most definitely invite outside second shooters to assist me with my weddings.

Which of your photographs would you use to show off your creative and artistic side? I think I am most creative with bridal portraits during the pre-wedding ceremony and during the couple’s photo session. This is where you have to take initiative and tell the couple what to do and how to stand.

What would you love to add to your equipment? Oh I do have my eye on a few lenses

Where would you love to do a wedding shoot? I would love to do a shoot in the Black Forest in South Western Germany just after it snowed. I would also like to shoot in the mid of Upper East Side New York at night.

What is your work-flow after a wedding? Downloading the images, backing them up and then I start editing.

How many images do you average for a wedding, and how many do you deliver to your clients? I take between 1000 and 1500 images at each wedding and I give the client the amount of photo’s stipulated in the package they have chosen.

Is there a wedding photographer you admire? There are quite a few that I like, but I recently started to follow a guy called Sam Hassas! He is brilliant!

Whether its animals, landscapes, nature or portraits, most photographers seem have a penchant for a particular subject. What is yours? I love people, I love expressions, candid moments!

If you could be invisible- with your camera- for a day, you would… walk around photographing people up-close when they think nobody is looking.

If you could photograph any musician, who would it be? BONO!

Is there anything you’re learning to do? I am learning to be patient

What will you be up to in 2011? Shireen Louw will be going from strength to strength in 2011!

This week, I am pleased to be interviewing Susan Nel. I found Susan’s website via Wedding Photojournalist Association and I was simply gob smacked by her gallery! You have got to visit her blog and see even more details on the shoots she does, you can find her on Facebook too.

She was kind enough to say yes to an interview, and you can read it- exclusively- right here!

Tell me a little bit about yourself. I started exploring photography when I was about 11 years old.  I got hooked on film photography and to this day I still think there is something magical and authentic about film photography and a dark room. I went on to digital but out of nostalgia I try doing a film shoot every now and again.  I am an absolute chocoholic and I love people, any people and all people and all the little moments that marks their lives.  I am also an active member of the WPJA and did the Namibian shoot for the Bridal Guide Magazine in 2008.

Where are you based? I am based in Windhoek, Namibia and I am very privileged to do a lot of destination weddings in the Dunes of the Namib Desert. I have done shoots all across Namibia & South Africa.

How did you get into photography? I’ve always had a special way of seeing images & emotion everywhere I go. I received my grandfather’s camera after he passed away when I was a little girl and from thereon I started to explore with photography.  From the first time I heard a shutter go off, I was hooked!

How do you describe your photographic style? I definitely have a photojournalistic style.  I love capturing moments that no one even knew happened or remember happening.

How long have you been photographing weddings? I have been photographing weddings since 2006.  My sister in law had enough faith in me to let me capture her big day.  I loved it and decided to go for it!

What type of camera do you use? Mostly my Canon EOS 50D.  Some of the images on my website were taken with Canon Mark 1D and 5D as well.

How do you market yourself? I would have to say that word-of-mouth is getting me very far… but I also have a website, a blog and Facebook page that does the job.

What advice do you have for photographers who are just starting out? Find your style and be true to it… when you have a gift, explore it, develop it and mostly, enjoy it!

How do you put nervous or camera shy brides and couples at ease? As my style is mainly documentary, I do not prep the couple too much as this will make them nervous.  When I see they need some guidance I try to remind them to focus on each other. Mostly I ask them to try and ignore me as far as possible – and then I disappear!

What is your biggest challenge as a wedding photographer? In Namibia my biggest challenge is harsh light.  Trying not to interfere with the natural happenings of the event by interfering with the location that the photos are taken I sometimes have to be VERY creative to avoid the harshness of light…

What has been the highlight of your career as a wedding photographer? I love sharing big moments with people even when they do not know I am sharing them.  The highlight for me is meeting new and exciting people and getting to understand a little piece of their life’s story… It’s boring I know, but it is exhilarating when a bride and groom love their images It’s always nice when your work is appreciated.  If I have to choose a specific moment during my career I would have to say it was when I got admitted as a member of the WPJA.

Which of the wedding photographs you have taken are your favourite?

I love capturing those small moments – especially the humorous ones. This one was a classic example of the stressful moment where the bride was not sure she will still fit in her dress… It makes me smile every time!

This is a shot where I conquered the harsh Namibian light – and it actually highlights the subjects and therefore the moment.

This couple crawled deep into my heart.  They share a deep love, intimate friendship and that something amazingly special that not all couples can bring to life.  This moment captured in this image speaks louder than words!

I love children at weddings! This little girl was in absolute AWE of the bride… so sweet. An absolute brilliant example of all girls dreaming about their own wedding day – even at such a young age!

The lines of the Namibian Desert – priceless!

To me this is such a romantic picture.  The wind was blowing sand EVERYWHERE, but these two managed to find that perfect moment in between all craziness!

So much fun reflected in everyone’s faces. This image makes me giggle every time!

How important is a tool like Photoshop in your work, and do you retouch at all? Photoshop is a smaller part of my work, as I mainly work with Adobe Lightroom to process a higher volume of images and use Photoshop only as an extra when necessary. Although Photoshop compliments Lightroom very well, retouching is not really my thing.  I try to retouch and edit as little as possible, as this could change a genuine moment into one that feels a little fake.

Do you have an assistant, or invite second shooters to assist at your weddings? I have two assistants, yes- one of whom I am happy to announce, is my husband!!

Which of your photographs would you use to show off your creative and artistic side?

I always loved to paint – but I could never get it as real as I wanted it.  This image gave me the creativity to “paint”. When you look closer it seems that there is a frame on the wall and the sand is pouring right out of it.

I can’t explain it, but I love the light in this image.

I see images in strange subjects. The black & white compliments the “old feeling” of the subject.

I took this image in the Cinque Terre Villages in Italy, 2009.  I just love the colour and contrast of the ocean and the little houses sitting on a cliff.

Again, I just loved the colour of the inside of this house in Kolmanskop, Luderitz.

This image was taken on a junkyard on my parents’ farm … maybe a bit sentimental, rather than a brilliant image, I know, but I love it.

Again, Kolmanskop. What can I say – I spent 7.5 hours there and loved every minute of it!

What would you love to add to your equipment? I am upgrading my Camera to Canon EOS 5D MarkII soon.. and would love to add a 100mm F1.2!

Where would you love to do a wedding shoot? I have been very fortunate to do weddings in a range of different venues, but I would LOVE to shoot one in India, Malaysia or Indonesia.  The colour in their weddings always amazes me!

What is your work-flow after a wedding? Downloading the images straight away and making a back-up.  Then sorting through the images to find the ones that best tells the story of the day.  Then I do start on the hands-on post production work.

How many images do you average for a wedding, and how many do you deliver to your clients? The average images I take per wedding = 2000 images.  I try to give nothing less than 600 images to the client, as I want to make sure we cover the entire story of the day!

Is there a wedding photographer you admire? I worked with Christian Keenan, a UK based photographer, in 2009 for a short while.  His work is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.

Whether its animals, landscapes, nature or portraits, most photographers seem have a penchant for a particular subject. What is yours? It’s definitely people.  No doubt about it. People in their truest sense while life is happening around them.

If you could be invisible- with your camera- for a day, you would… walk into the squatter camps, aids orphanages etcetera, and capture the real need people experience every day.  I will then take those images to the separate associations and charities to inspire them to help those in need.

If you could photograph any musician, who would it be? I would love to follow a band or a group and capture the story of their entire tour.  For instance, I would love to join the Passion Conference group that takes place in USA with Louie Giglio & Chris Tomlin and take images for a part of the tour. That would be amazing!

Is there anything you’re learning to do? Yes, I am sharpening up on my knowledge on how to crack Sudokus…they are addictive!

What will you be up to in 2011? Hopefully I will be traveling to Switzerland in May, presenting a series of photography courses in June, July & August and carry on doing what I love doing!