It’s been long overdue, but I finally sat down for a couple of days and created a new website. This one will remain for now, but all new activity will happen at www.benviljoen.co
See you there!
Elsabé & Thysie | Red Ivory Lodge
It’s a public holiday and I’m smelling a really good aroma coming from the direction of the kitchen, so I won’t be long. I have posted some extra images to make up for the lack of words 
. I just wanted to post some of these as they are too good not to share. Hope you like them. Wedding and reception at the magnificent Red Ivory Lodge, in the Hartebeespoort area.
Megan & Sean | Shepstone Gardens
I recently moved back from the kitchen into my usual office space (much to Cindy’s delight), and I have a little tip for you, you CAN actually sit too far away from your monitor. I didn’t know this and thought it’s only bad when you sit too close. I figured that with my new clean desk (thanks to Cindy again) I can set everything up far and “healthy”, with the result being that I now have blurry vision and a pounding headache. That’s my excuse for keeping it short (again).
The sun was piping hot and merciless at this wedding, and as is often the case at Shepstone Gardens, there was a fuller than full house, so they moved the spot for the ceremony a little at the last minute to accommodate everyone and to try and offer some relief from the sun for Megan, Sean and the guests. The end result was a killer cramp in my right hamstring that nagged me for quite a few days after the wedding, as the only spot I could find to photograph the ceremony was right between two bridesmaids, crouching low down and shooting past their hips. I saw Sean looking at me funny every now and again, probably wondering how the heck these photos are going to come out. They came out fine, and I have attached a few here for your perusal
(turns out I have too many images for one blog post, so I’ll just throw the rest up on Facebook. Here is the link http://on.fb.me/VkGBDP - remember to tag and have fun)
…and other things portfolio related
I got instructions from the marketing department that it’s that time of the year to start thinking about updating my portfolio again (it is way overdue actually). I think of all the things that needs to be done as a photographer, choosing images for your portfolio is the most daunting task of all. I mean how do you choose, really?
This one is a no brainer for me though (but then again, there are also the ones that I posted on my Facebook page recently…)
Lebo & Precious (aka Prebo) | Johannesburg
I’ve known Lebo from back in the day as a student in Polokwane, where she was part of the local youth group at the church where I conducted my studies. She is one of those people that EVERYONE seems to know and loves. Extrovert is more like her first rather than her middle name. Precious seems to have had a calming effect on her and she has matured into a beautiful young woman, albeit still with her outgoing personality intact. I think everyone agrees that they are a perfect match and compliments each other beautifully.
There seems to be a cycle at the moment with regards to the weather, where every Saturday sees dark gloomy skies with the occasional shower, which always makes for interesting photographs. This wedding day was no exception and open umbrellas and hunched back runners (left hand shielding the eyes) were at the order of the day. Thankfully, as it goes in Jozi, the weather held up at the right times and a great day was had by all.
It was an absolute honour to have photographed this wedding alongside our mutual friend Tim, who is usually my assistant, but on this day we decided to swop the roles. At the end of the day I’m not sure who had which role, but regardless we had a great time and got some great images, some of which are ranking as my all time favourites yet (hint: it’s the ones no-one says anything about on the Facebook album).
Lebo & Precious, I hope you enjoy these few photographs, but I cannot wait to see what Tim has come up with. The guy is a genius photographer!
God bless your marriage guys.
Lotsa love, Ben & Cindy
Kirstein & Wy-Marie | Forum Homini
I just came back from delivering Kirstein and Wy-Marie’s wedding DVD, and what a nice surprise. Kirstein is what I wanted to become before I became a photographer. As a young man (cough cough) I really wanted to be a golf instructor. That was back in the day when Tiger was still un-arguably the best player in the world and Butch Harmon was the second coolest guy in sports. I have fond memories of hitting the driving range almost every day during my lunch break, and tee-ing off alone at 05:00 in the mornings for a quick 9 before work. I could just never get my handicap to drop below 80 though, which was the minimum requirement at the time for qualifying for teaching school, so I dropped the idea after a while and concentrated on my theological studies again. At some point I became a photographer, but the exact path I took to where I am now as a photo guy is kind of vague to be honest.
What wasn’t so vague was that we needed to get out of there (I’m talking about the wedding day now). We were surrounded by what I think were granite rock formations and you could just feel the lightning in the air. I hated the idea of photographing an electrocuted bride, so I had us leave to continue the couple shoot elsewhere. I think the rest of the party thought I was a little nuts, but the story of the bride who recently drowned in Canada during a TTD shoot was still fresh in my mind and I didn’t want a similar experience to add to my CV. Ok so the tall trees and the open veld was probably not the best choice either, but at least it didn’t feel like I’m standing on a giant lightning magnet waiting for the power switch to turn on.
Wy-Marie laughs when you look at her so they were super easy to photograph, the venue fantastic as usual, a happy crowd rounded the food off nicely, and I have a new favourite wine after this wedding. Cederberg Baukettraube (2011 vintage, if you are picky like that). I’m not sure if I fully trust guys who work at liquor stores, but the local one by us says that you wont get it again ’til April next year, so if anyone has a spare bottle, please contact me
All these photos will be on my Facebook page as well if you would like to share n’ tag.
Pauline & Kobus | Secret Place, Parys
I’m busy waiting on Lightroom to do it’s thing, so while that’s happening I thought I’ll just let you know that there is a collection of photographs from Kobus and Pauline’s wedding up on my Facebook page. Here is the direct link to their album, http://on.fb.me/RGscUa. Feel free to do the Facebook thing (like, share, throw…whatever), or to tag yourself if you were a guest at the wedding.
The wedding was celebrated at (the secret place) in Parys, a really lovely venue which is not done justice by their website IMO, but I guess some things just has to remain hidden in order for this venue to live up to it’s name 
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As I said, loads more on FB…
