Archive for September, 2008

As mentioned in a previous blog, Louise Diesel Photographers is growing rapidly so watch this space!!!! It is with great pleasure that I announce the arrival of our new photographer Riani Labuschagne to the team. Riani is a professional photographer who studied at the National College of Photography and the worked as a photographer in studio for two years. Riani is also an experienced wedding photographer and loves all kinds of photography. Riani is excited to be joining us and we welcome her to out team….

As professional photographers, designers and printers, we offer a range of services to our clients – from in studio photography, to corporate photography on location, to wedding photography, to kiddies birthday parties – you name it and we will make it happen. Our photography style is fun and natural though we will tailor the shoot to suit your needs. For design and printing services, we also have a full in-house design studio as well as several printing presses up to 7 colours plus UV Varnish.

I just love taking photos of newborns and bigger babies – they are just so special and so beautiful. These photographs were taken in studio of baby Demi-Leigh who is  just the most precious little girl in the whole world!!

Studio photography is really cool as it allows you to get creative with your lighting. In the one pic, we had a bunch of balloons for an upcoming 70th birthday party and Demi just loved the balloons. they made a really fun prop to use in the studio. Children and babies and all kids in general, love posing with props. It makes the whole photoshoot less formal and more fun, which allows you get fun, candid photographs. Once you know how to connect with the babies or children, taking the photos is a piece of cake. Now there’s an idea for a studio prop……. 

By mike Foster: New brides have an awful lot to prepare for prior to their big day. There’s a need to evaluate and select a good wedding photographer, rent the wedding location, and address a number of additional preparations.

As with many women getting married, cost is a constraint so you’re hunting around for inexpensive wedding favors. Have you considered creating them yourself?

For basically the cost of one day’s work, you will be able to put together wedding favors for scores of guests, and the cost will be under twenty dollars. Read on for a handful of recommendations that offer the needed insights.

Sugared Almonds

Sugared almonds are a very traditional wedding favor that’s also much more affordable than expensive votive candles or glass coasters which simply get thrown away. This classic wedding favor is typically given as five Jordan almonds wrapped in tulle and tied with ribbon.

When purchased in bulk or from a wholesaler, you can usually get sugared or Jordan almonds for anywhere from $5 to $10 per pound. Your tulle and ribbon shouldn’t cost more than $5 total, including tax, meaning you can easily make fantastic favors for less than 20 cents a favor.

Customized Cookies

For a day spent baking and about $20 worth of ingredients, you can make cookie favors that are customized and cute for all your wedding guests. Cookies are quickly becoming popular, inexpensive wedding favors item because they’re customizable and homemade.

To save yourself from having to bake over a hundred cookies on your wedding day, you can do so up to three months in advance and store them in your freezer. Take them out on the day of the wedding and you’re ready to go.

Bulk Spices

Go to a local bulk food store and pick up a popular spice in bulk. You can buy a pound of oregano for about $7.30 per pound or you can buy a sampling of various herbs and spices and mix them to create your very own “marital blend.”

Wrap the spices in fabric for as little as $1.00 per yard, plus the cost of ribbon.

Planting Seeds

You can buy many seeds in bulk and then repackage them in small, blank envelopes or your own small, fabric sacks. Include a small note with planting instructions that also thanks your guests for coming and you’ve got a fantastic favor that will be remembered for years to come.

Go Favor-Less

The most inexpensive wedding favors are no favors at all. Though contentious, many people are starting to think that wedding favors simply aren’t necessary – they’re little more than useless knick-knacks that are eventually thrown out, making them a wasteful and unnecessary enterprise.

Consider not having favors at all, or make a charitable donation in your guest’s name and leave a note on each place setting explaining that a donation has been made in lieu of wedding favors.

I recently did a corporate photoshoot for a company called CFT Labels – a wonderful company that specialises in manufacturing high-quality self-adhesive labels. They were recently feautured in a prominent magazine for the manufacturing industry called ‘Packaging Review’. 

I love doing corporate photoshoots or professional business photoshoots as some people call them because you get to learn. In this case, my photos were published in a magazine which is always nice. What I really love about CFT Labels is the people that work there. They are a fun, dedicated team of professionals who aim to give the best possible service to their clients (okay, I must confess, I own CFT Labels so I am biased!!!) Anyway, here is the article that was published in the September issue of Packaging Review.

A photographic and design service for labels
CFT Labels, Turfontein-based supplier of self-adhesive labels, is currently in the process of expanding its premises to provide new office space and additional capacity to its factory, and is also offering a newly-launched, full photographic and design service, not only for labels but for all print and marketing requirements.

‘We had reached our full capacity – running permanent double shifts and at weekends,’ says Louise Diesel, the company’s director. ‘In order to meet customer demand, we are also investing in new technologies that will position us to provide a strong focus on high-quality labels.’
To this end, the company is considering the purchase of a new eight-colour ELS Servo Aquaflex printing press, with full UV flexo capabilities as well as complete multi-substrate versatility. The other alternative is a new Mark Andy 2200 press which offers similar printing capabilities. CFT Labels is celebrating its 10th anniversary in February next year, having originally been established by husband-and-wife team, Louise and Ryan, and remains a family-run business. Current equipment includes two Aquaflexes (one six and one seven colour) and three-colour flexo die cutters and a foiling machine.

A complete design solution
Louise Diesel recently launched her own photographic studio, following successful completion of several photography courses at the National College of Photography in Bedfordview. ‘I started taking pictures for family and friends, but it grew so phenomenally that it was a natural progression for me to explore ways of incorporating this skill into our business,’ she says.
‘Obviously, many clients need photographs to be taken for their labels or product shots, as well as corporate photos for financial reports. I have just employed a qualified photographer so that we are able to offer clients a complete design service for their labels, as well as for packaging and printed materials such as cartons, brochures and containers as well as online marketing material’

CFT Labels also supplies peel-and-read labels which list the ingredients of a given product on the reverse side. ‘We were originally approached by Revlon to find such a solution and we had to get approval from the Cosmetic, Toiletry & Fragrance Association (CTFA). The smallest peel-and-read label that we offer is only 36 x 13mm in size!’ This unique type of printing offers many other applications such as competitions, double-sided labels, etc.

On completion of every job, CFT Labels supplies the client with a barcode verification certificate to GSI specifications, and an overall rating. ‘This is becoming increasingly important as many retailers are now fining suppliers for barcodes that are not up to specification,’ says Louise Diesel. ‘It’s no longer sufficient that the barcode can simply scan. It also needs to be verified.’

Diesel owes the company’s success to several factors, not least of which include lead times of just a week and a no-minimum-quantity requirement for any label.
Its customers include huge multinationals, national listed companies as well as small privately-owned entities with primary markets being food and beverage and pharmaceutical and cosmetic; and secondary ones being agricultural and chemical.
CFT Labels: T +2711 683 1155 www.cft.co.za

There comes a time in everyone’s life when the need become an independent organ of society is our top priority, this is the case of weddings. This sacred ritual in which to people are united before friends, loved ones and God, is in fact the product of love, which is the cornerstone of every home. Since weddings represent such crucial and decisive times in our lives it is important to keep as many momentous which would remind us in the future about those precious occasions we lived in the past.

Most of the time, families are brought together by doing something they all enjoy; sometimes it may be going to the beach, going to a park, spending some quality time talking about the common interests or watching a family photo album, these activities are sure to bring everyone together. Regarding the last activity mentioned, we often hear from mature people that “By recalling special memories they feel like they have lived that very same moment all over again”, actually that is true for most of us, that is the power of a good picture.

Through professional photography, family members have the joy of having a good time re-living all of fun moments they spent together at the very moment the core of their family was born. It is also true that if an amateur took an important picture and the results were less than perfect, he/she will be remembered by failing to capture a special occasion; this is something that shouldn’t happen. A wedding is a special occasion which happens only once (involving the same couple at least!) as such all of the moments should be captured by a professional which is going to provide high quality pictures to be enjoyed by the family in the near future.

A picture is worth a thousand words, it can make us laugh at all of the little things that might have gone wrong but luckily no one noticed! Pictures capture a quick moment in time which is precious to us. Weddings, graduations, birthdays are all special occasions which need to be remembered because at the end, the few things that we leave behind as proof of our existence are the great memories we make with our loved ones and the great pictures taken during each special moment.

Spending quality time with your family, that’s what good parenting is all about and what better way to do so than by flipping through a professional-made family photo album.

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DmitriMarkine.com is one of the best destination wedding photographers which provide quality services for special occasions. Visit us today and see why http://www.dmitimarkine.com is among the best Toronto photographers

I just love maternity photography!!! It doesn’t matter how many times I photograph a pregnant woman, I get all sentimental and feel a connection to the unborn baby!! Maybe it’s because I love babies so much because I thought I would never have any of my own – who knows?? But I feel honoured every time I get to do a pregnancy photoshoot…..

I was lucky enough to do a maternity photoshoot for a lovely couple from Malawi the other day. They had come up to Johannesburg for a check-up and a major scan and their cousin organised for them to come for a maternity photoshoot while they were in town. As a result, Sonia was not as far as she would have liked to have been for the photos but her tummy was showing enough to capture the miracle of pregnancy (and the love between her and Miguel)

Hopefully, they will be back soon with their precious bundle so we can do a newborn photoshoot as well (and I can get to mmet another newborn baby in person….) 

We have just completed our wedding photography video – you can view it on Revver or Youtube.

or you could search in youtube or google for louise diesel wedding photographer johannesburg….

Enjoy – we certainly love photographing weddings!!