St Johns held their annual father and sons camp-out at the Vaal a few weeks ago and the boys had an absolute blast!! The entire weekend was rained out and their tents were practically flooded but that didn’t perturb them one bit…..

Ryan was clever enough to camp next to some of his friends that were really organised – they had a huge gazebo (so they at least had a dry place to sit while it was raining) gas braai’s, lamps and even a vacuum cleaner???!!! Ryan hardly cooked as they were fed by many of the dads who love to cook and apparently their glasses were never empty either….

The boys had so much fun and came home filthy!!! Everything was covered in mud, but it was worth it according to them – what a wonderful weekend of bonding with their dad…. They played paintball and Mikey won; they went fishing and swimming in the river, in the rain!!! Unfortunately, they had to miss stalk the lantern and white water rafting due to the rain, but fun was had by all nevertheless.

Ryan did admit that he considered coming home when the rain never let up, but he thought he would never live it down so he decided to stick it out and prove his manhood….. (I am so glad that I am a woman….) I had a lovely weekend with Demi-Leigh, just the girls, but we did miss our boys tons!!! The best was when they got home and Jamie gave me a huge hug and said: “I missed you so much mommy!!!” Aaaah – just fills my heart with love……

Let’s hope that it is warm and dry for their next campout in 2010!!!

Louise and I had the privilege to photograph Shaun and Carey-Ann’s wedding on Saturday at Sha-Mani country lodge and SPA.  CA is Louise’s cousin which just made this wedding so special to photograph.

 CA, Stacey & Mary was late coming from the make-up and hairdresser (but it’s no secret that hairdressers take a while to make your hair look magnificent) but I couldn’t believe how beautifully done her hair and make-up was.  The world is such a small place, Janine the make-up artist was asking CA who is doing her wedding photos and Janine remembered me as we have actually worked together on a afew weddings. 

 Ca and I play soccer together at the Alberton Football club and you don’t dress up for soccer so it was quite different seeing her looking so stunning!! 

Being typical photographers and worried about where we could get the best light for our photos we asked (ok, ok more like insisted) that CA got dresses in her mom’s room which has a big window.  (Window light makes your photos just so natural looking and enhances the bride’s natural glow.

On our way to the venue the flowergirl, little Maddison’s (cousin) nose started bleeding again as she comes from Ireland and it’s much too warm for them here.  But we handled this mini crisis and off we went

It was such a beautiful ceremony with Louise reading a scripture from the Bible and them promising to love each other forever…  (Just the thought makes me go all mushy :-)   )

Their wedding was really unique, almost everyone is really serious about some football team or another  (fittingly Shaun and CA play fooball at the same club), so we took a few photos with them together with their golf clubs and soccer boots   They even walked into the reception with man united outfits! As I know some of the family members visit our site regularly  I thought I’d give you a sneak preview of their photos and share it with everyone.  Carey-Ann you looked absolutely gorgeous in your stunning wedding dress!  Shaun you looked dashing in your suit (you clean up pretty good)  

Shaun and CA, I wish you all the best in your life together and I know you’ll be very happy in years to come!!

Riani

You want your wedding day to be perfect. One of the things that is going to help you remember how perfect it was are the wedding photos. For this reason, it’s worth it to invest your time in choosing the best Wedding Photographer you can find for your wedding. It is important to take the time and trouble to discover the best fit for both of you .
There are several different things that you will want to take into account when you are looking at hiring a photographer for your big day.

Make sure the photographer you hire is a professional. It is a big day and you do not want to trust your memories in the hands of an amateur. You want to be sure that whoever you trust to document the special day is equipped with the skills to be able to do it adequately.

Secondly, you will want to take some time to determine what type of Wedding Photography style you like, and what type the specific photographer specializes in. If you are thinking about a regular wedding album then you should not look at photographers who mostly do photojournalistic images. That will only lead you to disappointing photos. Before choosing the right photographer for taking wedding images it is important to find the right fit for the photographic style.
If you examine a photographer’s portfolio, you will have a good idea of their art. All photographers should have samples of their previous work available for clients to see. When choosing a photographer it is important to see their portfolio. It will give you not only an idea of how they work and their style of photography, but more importantly you will know if you do or do not like the photos they take.

Perhaps the most important thing to take into account is whether you like the photographer. A great deal of your wedding day will be spent in the company of your photographer. It is important that you feel at ease in their company, since they will be sharing some of your most special moments and memories. Can you be yourself around the photographer and be comfortable? When making your final choice of photographer you should go with your gut feeling .

Deciding who will shoot your wedding photos is very important. It is possible to find the perfect match for your exceptional day, by being careful and making sure that you are acting according to your instincts and conducting your part of research. After doing this you will looks at the photos for years to come with enjoyment.

The first woman at work function was held at the Rietvlei Zoo Farm in the Butterfly hall and it was a roaring success!! We at Louise Diesel Photography had a lucky draw for a Family Photoshoot all you had to do was write your email address down on our list and you stood in line for the grand prize

Natashia Theron was our lucky winner and they had their photoshoot on Friday. They have two boys Keanu aged 1 and Juandre aged 4 with the most beautiful eyes.  They are definitely going to be at the top of every girl’s ‘date-able’ list in school

We had tons of fun in the studio and Natashia and JP are such open minded people which  just contributed to our shoot.  I don’t think I’ve ever had such young boys cooperate so well in the studio.   Juandre couldn’t wait to go and play with his best friend so he was as sweet as an angel all through the shoot because he knew what was coming after, great fun & games.

They really enjoyed their shoot and I’m sure we will work together a lot in the future!!

Riani

When planning your wedding there is always a few simple tips and pointers which can help you save a little bit of money.  I found a few wedding money saver tips from the Wedding Inspirations magazine who got a panel of experts to spill the beans on money saving tips when planning a wedding.

‘Save money by having ypur wedding on a Friday or Sunday as suppliers are often not as busy on those days.  NB- The right venue should not only be the perfect setting (photographers might tell you otherwise but anyway)it should be the venue that has a great co-ordination team, one which you can trust with your perfect day.’ -Amanda Cunningham, The Wedding Expo

‘Plan your wedding around the season, this will automatically drop costs cinsiderably as this is the most important factor when it comes to the flowers, food, venue and colour scheme.  If you want peace of mind remember to send a trusted friend/family member that went through all the planning with you to go and check the church and venue after everything is set up.  You will never have time to do this yourself’ -Karen Short, Word of Mouth

‘Choosing your wedding cake – Know how many guests you need to cater for, keeping in mind that only 75% of your guests will have a piece of cake.  If you want to go for an impressive multi-tiered cake, substitute some tiers for dummy cakes.  The look will be fantastic but you will not be left with uneaten cake’  Deon Swart, Cake Genie

‘To calm rushed guests and the bride groom as well as to capture the guests attention, play relaxing music 10-15min before the ceremony.  The wedding march signals the arrival of the bride.  If you are looking at a triumphant sound, choose Mendelssohn’s Wedding March or a trumpet fanfare.’  Chantie Minnaar, Stage Bright Musicians

‘Know your guest numbers and only visit the venues that can accomodate those numbers. Find out from the venue what is included in the venue hire and / menu prices.’ Naomi Nel, Hyatt Regency

How many times have you looked for one of your treasured photographs?
You think to yourself it must be somewhere in this shoebox or on that CD - SOMEWHERE being the operative word.
Louise Diesel Photography has the perfect SOLUTION for you!
Throw the shabby old shoe boxes and old cd’s away, you don’t have to start the computer up and crowd around the screen.
Create the ultimate coffee table storybook with all your memories and comments. Your imagination is the limit…..

We now also specialise in designing, printing and binding of storybook albums.  Each and every album is custom designed(you can do it yourself or we can do it) and hand crafted to guarantee that your memories will come to life in your personal one of a kind coffee table storybook.

We offer a unique value added service in printing two different types of storybook albums.  The first coffee table storybook that we offer is used locally as a personalised gift for mother’s day, holiday photos or just a family photo abum.  This album comes with magazine style pages and a personalised cover.

Our second album is used nationwide as a wedding album.  This album comes with 2mm thick pages an a bonded leather cover(cream or black)  It has metal corners in gold.

Both of these coffee table storybooks make unique gifts or table decorations.  It’s a quick nd easy method of making sure your photos will be around for your children and grandchildren.  Contact us for more info…

On Friday I had the pleasure of photographing a “crazy” family that i know in studio…  None other than my older brother – Frans, sister-in-law – Mary-Ann and their 3 boys (yip you heard right…)  The twins Frans & Gerhard are turning 6 this year and Wian is turning 2.  We had loads of fun but boy was it hard work.

Take a minute and imagine how much boundless energy one little boy has, now take that knowledge and mutilply that by three then you know what I’m talking about.  So I braved the storm and try to do a photograph with all three of the boys, as soon as Wian looks at the camera one of the twins will look at Wian. 

The twins just adore their little brother which leads to a lot of hugging which Wian doesn’t always enjoy.  At his age there is a whole world out there that needs to be explored and no-one is allowed to stop me.  He wants to do everything for himself and is always investigating things.  As soon as mister toddler starts getting excited the twins pick up on it and they all just go hyper

But you know what boys will be boys, that is what makes them unique.  Now, my brother is really shy and always does this funny smile when being photographed (hmm, sounds just like me…) but we have our ways to get him to smile   

Mary-Ann is an avid scrapbooker (more like an addict, but anyway) and I’m sure she is going to love to scrapbook all of these family pics.  I think they just capture my family’s personalities so accurately..

 I can’t believe the twins are going to “big school next year (Laerskool President Steyn), it feels like yesterday that I was always telling people about my broteher’s identical twin babies. Enjoy dudes…!

Riani