Roodezandt, Tulbagh Wedding Photography | 4 September 2010

It’s always hard to shoot another photographer’s wedding.  It is even harder when you respect his work and sometimes peak to be refreshed.  But the hardest is when you have walked a photography road mentoring a raw talent that surpasses all expectation on a personal and photographic level .. and then get to do his wedding!

I met Stephan in front of Helshoogte in Stellenbosch when I came to pick him up to assist at a wedding (also in Tulbagh back in September 2008).  I saw him saying goodbye to his girlfriend and briefly met her.  The two of them as a couple impressed me from the start!  What a road it has been since then.

I felt so privilege to do their wedding after spending so many hours talking shop (and lots of nonsense) or just enjoying one another’s company after a hard day of work.   Thank you for your friendship, trust and kind words.  Also for giving Elih a chance to steal the limelight for a bit – I’m so proud of my son!

I can only hope that these will meet your standard as you browse them from the heart of Europe.  Blessings and enjoy!

Yip, we are back and ready for the season after a great 3 week holiday!  The Canadian Rockies and Scottish Highlands were a real treat with my family and we had great adventures together.  So many of you have been bugging us for pics, that I’ve put together 50 in the lightbox gallery below.  Enjoy!  And feel free to comment us if something catches your eye.

We are starting our 2010-2011 Wedding Season with a highlight … photographing the wedding of Stephan (one of the photographers I have been mentoring the past two years) on 4 September (tomorrow!).  Come have a look on Monday what we have managed with some great new equipment invested to continually improve our product to you.  It is good to be back!

Some people prefer not to have a wedding cake at their wedding.  Some choose to have no videographer.  Luckily not many choose to have no photographer.  But choosing the wedding flowers, are an essential part of even the smallest wedding (even if they are plastic ones as at a traditional Las Vegas wedding!).   When I met Hendri & Imke to chat about their dream wedding, I learned that Hendri is an owner of a flower warehouse in Cape Town.  Next thing I knew we started talking about a Wedding Flower Shoot to update their website.  I met the team at On the Rocks in Blouberg and had a brilliant creative afternoon between lovely people and beautiful flowers.  All the flowers, bouquets, vases and accessories that you see below (and much much more) can be ordered from them.

Feel free to contact Moon Drops on their website or by phoning 021-939 4672.

It is just after 11pm on 30 June 2010.  It is the last hour of the 2009-2010 Wedding Season according to the way we look at a it at Peartree Photography.  And I am overjoyed to share that by the grace of God …

• it has been a record year for both Peartree & Germinate Photography (our sister company)
• we’ve had a 100% happy Wedding Client rate (unless we missed something somewhere that we’re not currently aware of!)
• I have just finished the last bit of editing on my final wedding for the season … it’s all done!
• we managed to stick to ALL our deadlines during the whole season
• we haven’t had one double booking to date
• I still absolutely  L O V E every aspect of what I do, &
• (most importantly) I’m still happily married, fitter than ever and my boy loves his daddy to bits

From tomorrow onwards, we will be operating in the 2010-2011 Wedding Season.  All I can say is … BRING IT ON!

I motivated myself to first finish all my editing, before I post the photos below.  Welcome to change at Peartree … a bit of family, relaxing, friends, experiences and emotions from the last couple of weeks.  Speed up the Internet & Turn up the Volume!  heeehaaa!

Are you passionate about the beauty of life and capturing it naturally through photography?  Any good at it?  So you think you’ve got what it takes?

Most of you will not know this, but Peartree has successfully been running an Assistant Learning Program (ALP) for the past 2.5 years.  We are happy to mention that it has thus far produced 5 brilliant photographers who are making a decent living whilst living out their passion.  Developing others to their full potential in partnership is what it is all about!

We are currently finalizing our group for the 10-11 Wedding Season and thought we’ll give you a chance to come in contention for this specifically chosen group.  Please make sure that you can tick all the boxes before applying – we are seriously (with reasons) looking for a specific type of people who already share our uniquely fresh approach, first in life and then also in photography.

We are looking for people who

• are willing to serve selflessly and learn well through observation
• have a passion for nature, people and anything that is real
• are extremely energetic, athletic & hardworking
• have a general knowledge of shutter speed, aperture, ISO settings, depth of field & DSLR cameras (you do not have to own one, just know how it works)
• have a valid driving license and are residing in the Stellenbosch area or close vicinity (for practical reasons)
• are solely relying on another source of income and have weekends available
• and I suppose you need to like Peartree Photography’s style of photography, otherwise you will get really bored, uninspired and ultimately unhappy!  :(

(Only) If you can tick all the boxes, sent us a short CV or paragraph on yourself by email.  Also include 10 pictures (that you have taken!) that shows your style and interest in photography.  Please make sure these pictures do not exceed 200kb / picture.

We will get in touch with you for an interview if we feel you are a possible candidate for the group.  We are looking forward to hearing from you soon.  Applications close at 1200 on Wednesday, 30 June 2010.

Just arrived in my inbox!!  Yeah baby!!

Mmmm, 12 August … I’m shooting the Rockies in BC, Canada then.  Problemo …

Unfortunately, because of work commitments,  I couldn’t take time off to scale the mountains today.  There is much more snow!  But I managed to play around with a pano shot from yesterday and loved the feeling as I edited.   Imagine this shot on canvas 3m wide on the office wall!  The detail on my screen is incredible!  Any one interested?  A 1/1 artwork.  (Also available in HDR colour).

This low res screenshot just doesn’t do it justice.  The limitations of the internet …

The early explorers didn’t think it was possible to find snow on the African continent.  When a report made its way back to Europe in the 1800’s about the discovery of a mountain on the Serengeti plains topped with a thick layer of snow, it was received with much disbelieve and chuckles.  Little did they know …

Yes, I know it is not a lot, but hey, when it snows in Africa, we get excited!  Here is some snow shots of the Jonkershoek Valley from earlier this afternoon. (I wish you could see this pano shot 10x bigger!  I love it!)

We are super excited about the start of the World Cup here in South Africa today!

In case you didn’t know, we are currently running a Really Ridiculous World Cup Special on any 2010 Wedding where you will save R2010!  News to you?  See our Peartree Specials page for all the details!  Pass it on!  You don’t want to miss it! (All soccer terms … punn intended of course!)

Enjoy this special time in ZA’s history!  Go Bafana!  The rest … be prePEARed!