So you have just gotten engaged :) and are super excited to plan your wedding?  You have been looking at dresses for ages, and have a few cakes in mind, and don’t forget about who to invite, the perfect venue and of course a brilliantly talented photographer to capture it all…

But where is the best place to start you ask?  Firstly you need to work out approximately how many guests you are inviting (you should have an idea judging by the size and closeness of your families) Knowing this you can start looking for your dream venue.  As I find that sometimes you find a spot you adore but they simply cannot accommodate as many guests as you would like to invite. And thirdly (before deciding what time of day you want to get married or confirming your venue) have a look around and go and meet with a few photographers.  They can give you sound advice for good times to get married to ensure great lighting for your wedding photos (also saying that any photographer worth their salt can shoot in almost all conditions)

Keep in mind the wedding photographer will spend most of this important day with you capturing every detail and moments as we go along.  You need to be able to communicate your ideas and expectations effortlessly to this individual/s (before the actual day of the wedding. As well as feel comfortable with each other.

With all this info on hand you can start planning our very special wedding day!

Riani Labuschagne & Yolandi Jacobsz

Wedding photography in JHB

Location shoots, are always such a nice challenge for us, because you get to work with the elements, and your backdrop, isn’t the white studio set-up. When people are in their own element it just seems their personalities come out so much more, it seems easier for them to connect to the photographer, and it more comfortable between the two partners, they seems to pose less, and just be themselves more. The studio could be quite a daunting experience for many people, as you don’t know what to expect and what the results will be – you’re literally putting your image in someone else’s hands and have the need for them to make you look good. Being trained photographers, we definitely know that making people feel comfortable is one of the biggest jobs we have, and if you have a knack for it, it relaxes your clients, giving true, earnest smiles and laughs, natural and not so much posed.

When on a location the couple chose, they seem to be much more at ease with each other and the idea that their photos get taken. Especially in pre-wedding shoots, when the photo’s are to perhaps be used for save-the-dates, or the invitation itself, the excited couple’s happiness and joy comes through in photos, and those are moments, that you hold on to, knowing that your foundation was based loving moments, and your smile will show everything that goes on in your heart.

Yolandi Jacobsz & Riani Labuschagne

Outdoor couple photos

Light, is literally what makes photographers tick. We observe any sort of light very carefully; as that is the medium we use and need to shoot our images, and to do our job. Light is what creates your images, and depending on how it is used, it creates certain effect, and makes the viewer have different reactions to it. Sometimes we use the light to accentuate certain shapes or features, and it works especially well with maternity photo shoots, where you have a very evident round tummy and the light catches the shape of it so beautifully. With portfolio shoots, we usually try and accentuate the shape of the body, or the lines of the face, and we move the light to get certain shadows and highlights in all sorts of strategic places.

A studio that claims to be professional, should give their clients good quality products, taken with good quality gear, and professional lighting must be used, as it’s always our strive to provide all clients with amazing images.

As trained photographers, we understand light well, and know what will work to accentuate certain things, and to hide others. Light is such a great medium, it gets us excited and inspires us to always think of new ways to create more brilliant images.

Yolandi Jacobsz & Riani Labuschagn

Using light creatively 

The world is full of horrible things as it is, and whenever you might have the chance to have tremendous fun, rather you take that chance. A couple shoot with our studio, is one of the greatest times you’ll ever have, its bucket loads of joy.

We ultimately want each and every client to remember their shoot with a smile on their face, not matter how difficult their children were, or that Grandpa didn’t want to smile, there are special elements to every shoot, and every shoot consists out of delightful memories that you can look back on, shaking your head and remembering the madness. In a couple shoot we not only try and get the bond of the two people in the relationship present, we also try to get a bit of a humoristic view of them, something they’ll enjoy looking back at.

We us photographers become very closely linked to any subject we photograph, whether it be a piece of cake, or people, but people can respond and reciprocate and give you a piece of themselves as well. Come and enjoy a couple shoot with our studio, and remember the special attraction that had you come together with that person in the first place.

Yolandi Jacobsz & Riani Labuschagne

 Couple Photoshoots

We get to form a bond with families visiting us for the second or third time, and we have had the opportunity to photograph some families on even more than third occasions. We are very proud of the fact that we produce good products for clients, which is what makes them return and keep us in mind when they want another shoot done, whether it be in the studio with their families, or and event they are attending or organized and want some pictures of.

This family has been with us for their Maternity shoot and we fell in love with their personalities immediately. After their beautiful baby boy was born, they brought him back where we had the chance to give them the first professional photos of their little miracle, and Riani did such an amazing job with him.

Our Maternity/Newborn package is a favorite and quite a roaring success. It makes us as photographers form a bond with the new parents, and we will always have our clients back for more and more amazing shoots – more memories to be treasured.

Yolandi Jacobsz & Riani Labuschagne

Pregnancy and Newborn baby photos

It’s the summer months again, which means we don’t have to be too cooped up in our homes anymore, we can get to enjoy the outside a bit more, which just makes us all feel more alive. The moment summer arrives, we get to take more boudoir shoots, as it seems the winter want few women to feel so exposed. You have a bit of colour now, and you just feel so much more ready for it, when it’s not so icy cold.

Boudoir shoots is a shoot with under- or pretty nightwear, and these items always photograph so lovely. It’s usually made of lace or silk, and it has a way, of shimmering when the light falls on it, or it’s made of colourful cotton, and every woman looks great when she has beautiful underwear on.

Our shoots are of the highest quality, taken with good professional equipment and qualified photographers, but also because we understand how nerve-wrecking it must be for any women to get into their underwear for a shoot. We always do our very best to get you as comfortable as possible, and we always take our photos so strategically, that the light falls on all the right places, to give you a product that will truly amaze you.

Yolandi Jacobsz & Riani Labuschagne

Sexy lingerie photos

Sometimes, when we are in the studio, and we do what we do here in such huge masses of shoots – it’s just good to get back to a raw way of shooting, and shoot whatever it might be that catches your attention, or something you thought spoke to you in a way.

My colleague and I, spent some time in good old Johannesburg traffic the other day, and it just so happened to be my most favourite time of day, right before actual sunset when you have this glaring sun at about eyelevel right in front of you, and it makes for warm, rich colours and long shadows.

I am very much a city girl; I love the energy of a city, and feed of it, as it feeds of off me. One of photographers’ cheap thrills, is to take our camera’s, and literally getting the freedom to take photos of whatever we like, whatever we enjoy, and we all have different likes and appeals. Cityscapes have always been a fancy of mine, and it’s a wonderful feeling to get a great cityscape at the time of day when the colour in the sky, is beautiful. To all inspiring photographers, even professionals, hobbyists or those just trying the art out, go and have fun, this world is our playground.

Yolandi Jacobsz & Riani Labuschagne

Professional photography