We always love to find out from our clients when they come for their maternity shoots, how exactly the moment played out when they told their husbands they are now pregnant, and we love to hear the different stories. Many people were together, many phoned their husband with the exciting news – and we always enjoy the proud father’s tale of how this new ear, is so special for them, and how they can’t wait for little baby to arrive.

We can’t stress enough how quickly time flies, we have all experienced it when a new year starts, suddenly Easter comes along, winter feels like it suddenly dawned on all of us overnight, and then the end of the year looms again. Therefore we encourage all future parents, or mommies and daddies thinking about having a shoot done with mommy’s pregnant tummy, and then later when little one has arrived, to go ahead and make that booking, it isn’t something you’ll regret.

It’s a time where you literally see your life changed in instants, and know that things will never be the same for your family ever again. You receive this amazing opportunity to build and shape the life of a little human being and however daunting it may seem, it’s one day at a time, and trying as best you can. Make sure to spend one of those days with us here at the studio, where we will give you a very rewarding and amazing product, one to treasure forever.

Yolandi Jacobsz & Riani Labuschagne

Pregnancy and newborn photoshoots

Sharing my very dear friend KC’s photos from her special shoot, is quite extraordinary, mostly because doing these types of shoots, are always challenges in various ways. Portfolio shoots are always done with people who are trained, professional model, many times we get to do them with people who would like great shots done of themselves, but aren’t always aware of what to expect or exactly what to do.

I’ve know KC for years when we spent some time overseas, and I have always seen her trough my artistic eyes, knowing she would make for great photos with her light complexion, an icy eyes. She stunned me out of my boots. To have been able to do this for her, not only made me feel proud to be her friend, it made me humble in this position, knowing how we get to have such a great opportunity to transform people, and literally dragging their inner magic out of them like a piece of rope.

KC is an amazing woman, full of life with such full personality, always laughing from ear to ear, and being true to who she is. I love her whole-heartedly, and I feel very inspired and lifted in a way after her shoot. She was amazing, and our shoot was such quality time spent together. Knowing how tentative she was before her shoot, and how became this vixen who suddenly just made for amazing photos, makes me confident enough in saying – through the skill of our photographers here at LDP, and our love for what we do and our clients, we shall always strive to bring out the very best in each and every one.

Yolandi Jacobsz

Funky modeling photos

Riani has an amazing way with little little babies. By being in a symbiotic, working relationship with someone else, you get to see many of their ways of working, and you get the opportunity to grow and learn so much. Every person has their strengths and developmental areas, and if you work together, the one feeds off of each other. Here by us, we are a well-oiled machine who does everything we can to make our studio successful, and through how we get to deal with our amazing client-base, we grow every day.

It’s always interesting to sit in and watch how she assures parents, and handles little baby to get good shots. Babies, just like grown people, have their own unique personalities and traits from day one, and some are more sensitive, and much less fazed by things that others. Each baby, and each family, is treated individually, and all babies are treated in such a way that suits them. We get to see intuitively which of them likes handling less and who cares very little if you change them or feed them. We wouldn’t want the shooting experience to be negative for them, so we always make sure to get them settled, and do whatever we can do accommodate parents, and little one.

Yolandi Jacobsz & Riani Labuschagne

Amazing newborn baby photography

The job that we have involves so many wonderful things, and it’s always exciting, as things always happen, progresses, and we get to meet new clients all the time. We find all of our clients so unique and interested, as we see how about everyone wants their shoot a certain way, or have different things in mind, or the family itself is differently put together. Some people are much les inhibited and laugh and joke with each, wrestling and teasing each other endlessly. Others find themselves a bit more only a while into the shoot, and relax as they see how we interact with them, their children, and pose and direct them in such ways, to only get the best out of their family, which could consists out of absolutely anybody, young, small etc.

Service is something we constantly discuss, to have systems and certain rules in place, to always make the experience for everyone as enjoyable as possible, and to have you realize that our studio always strives for the best, and is proud to provide you with an excellent product.

Having had over 400 shoots last year, we mixed, mingled, interacted and liaised with quite a big variety of people, getting to know them a little, forming a bond, and having the wonderful pleasure of return clients, who used our studio specifically because they know what a decent, high-quality product they will receive here at Louise Diesel Photography

Yolandi Jacobsz & Riani Labuschagne

Fun family photoshoots

Shooting with any person, who come and have their shoot done under the label of “portfolio/modeling”, is such a thrill of mine. It’s a shoot I really enjoy, mostly because of the very extraordinary moments of the subject, or model amaze themselves, seeing the results and not even thinking that they would have been able to achieve such amazing results. We all have our own mannerisms, many people are more in touch and in tuned with their bodies, and know how to use their features for appealing images, some are quite shy, and only wanted good photos of themselves, but haven’t had any sort of training whatsoever so they need good guidance from the photographer – and even then, we manage to make magic happen here at the studio.

As photographers we take on the responsibility of your image, which to about everyone on earth is a precious thing, and we would all like to look our best. Photos are forever, so it’s important for me, to push those shoots, to get the very best out of all of our clients who are interested and come for such a shoot. The transformation that happens, sometimes literally right in front of my eyes, amazes sometimes even me, and I get to see people feeling liberated through it, and feeling much more free and secure within themselves.

We can all do this, and make for great images, so I encourage anyone interested to come and enjoy and LDP modeling shoot – this girl, was a first-timer, and she blew my breath away.

Yolandi Jacobsz

Photographic Modeling portfolio

Our Maternity/Newborn packages offer you something very special in that treasured time when you are still pregnant, and when baby have been born, to capture those moments that pass al too soon. Just like little puppies, who are very cute and cuddly when small, but get to grow way to fast into energetic dogs, even more so do babies grow, and suddenly they get to learn these significant skills, such as smiling, using their little arms to make all sorts of gestures and that flap wildly when they get excited. And all sorts of sounds are learnt – and then they actually start communicating with you.

Having a baby, is a miracle, all things are forgotten and forgiven very fast, and you get to focus on this small person but already with a significant role to play, and it such a huge part of your life, instantaneously. Making sure that all of this does not go unseen and forgotten to quickly because of time that jut seems to fly past, we find it necessary to have a shoot to remember all of your special moments by.

Being a Mommy for the first time, or even having to get the privilege of more than once, makes a woman realize how another little human being’s life is in their own hands now, and before birth, literally within themselves. That is a proud moment, and we would encourage all parents, either first-time, or having had been through it before, to celebrate this new life by enjoying a shoot at our LDP studio, and being amazed at the results.

Yolandi Jacobsz & Riani Labuschagne

Pregnancy photographer

It starts with a boy and a girl coincidentally getting to know each other…

Two years down the line, next thing you know you are blissfully engaged and planning your special wedding day J  You might ask me how to choose the right wedding photographer.  Truth is that it’s different for every couple getting married.  My advice would be to have a look at a few photographer’s portfolios and meet up with your favourites. 

It’s important to take note of “how the photographer makes you feel”.  Do you feel right at home and at ease?  Did the photographer manage to comfortably start up a conversation which just grew from strength to strength?  Secondly you need to ask to view their  wedding portfolios, how many brides do you see? If there are only a few chances are good that they haven’t photographed many weddings.  Which in turn might mean that they don’t have enough experience to handle any situation which comes their way.  You can even go as far as asking them for a few references (previous brides and grooms) you could phone and chat to.

Lastly, never be hesitant to voice your opinions and queries.

Hope this gives you some insight on how to better “interview” your wedding photographer to ensure that they are the right one for you!

Riani Labuschagne & Yolandi Jacobsz

Wedding photography