Johannesburg Wedding Photographer – Ben Viljoen – Pretoria Weddings, Potchefstroom Weddings, Freestate Weddings, Limpopo Weddings, Johannesburg Weddings » Wedding Photography in Johannesburg, South Africa

Contrary to the prevailing thinking of the day, (some?) wedding photographers actually enjoy other genres of photography as well…and once in a while they get it right.
I will be posting a photograph every now and then that will be up for sale. The images will be delivered matted, and will be printed on the highest quality fine art paper by the masters.

This one from the warm heart of Africa (die hard Madonna fans might be interested) taken with my Yashica in 2007.

Add to Technorati Favorites

Apparently I misplaced my phone charger and my phone is dead, so I’m not really connected to the tele-world at the moment. Please rather e-mail me regarding pricelists, availability and queries.

Add to Technorati Favorites

Just a few snippets today (may contain traces of nuts):

@ I absolutely love cooking, and in our house I have clinched the title of Main Chef, but I have come to realise that lately my dishes have only one “look”…and it involves lotsa curry and turmeric. Example: a recent attempt at spaghetti bolognaise turned out boboti on a bed of yellow rice. To any Indian brides out there, how do you get your poppadums flat, light and crispy, and not burned? To any non-Indian brides out there, any recipes that can be assembled within an hour and that does not involve curry will be greatly appreciated.

@ How awesome has Will Smith been lately? Cindy and I decided spur of the moment on Friday to cuddle in behind the big screen and watch Seven Pounds…I cannot remember the last time I cried at a good film.

@ Got the new Ray LaMontagne (Gossip in the grain), also on Friday (for valentines).

@ If your fiancé isn’t that concerned about your wedding photos (it happens), let them know what kind of photographer you are hiring anyway. It’s not an ideal situation when you try and get the natural looking, free flowing images you hired your photographer for, while your new spouse keeps posing as for a more traditional photographer, just because he/she is ignorant.

@ Cindy and I finally made the trip to Pretoria to pick up our wedding photos. The fact that it’s 5 months later makes it a bit more special, we were laughing together at little moments on our wedding day that we have forgotten about. I don’t really get why anyone would want their photos a week after the wedding.

@ “Photojournalism” means the photographer keeps his mouth shut, and photograph what is already happening. Think of your photojournalistic wedding photographer as a fly on the wall with a big camera. Weddings are fun, happy times, and a day which you meticulously planned for months to be perfect. Use the day for what you planned it, to have the most awesome day of your life with friends and family. I wouldn’t recommend using the day as one expensive photo shoot and be concerned about the photographer the whole day. I.e. when you cut the cake, do it for the crowd, not for the photographer, he will get better pictures for it anyway.

@ Another one from Dew and Roberts wedding

Add to Technorati Favorites

Dew and Robert must have changed their wedding date about ten times and somehow managed everytime to choose a date on which I was available, but I did breathe a sigh of relief when they finally decided on the 7th of Feb, and another deep sigh of relief when I pitched up and all seemed to be happening…and did it happen! An awesome wedding guys.

The Country Club Johannesburg in Auckland park turned out to be quite a lovely setting for the intimate and personal wedding that Dew and Robert had in mind. “Lovely” might be sort of an understatement, but I think it goes well with the old school British feel of the venue…over 100 years old, lots of oaks, croquet greens, and a cricket ground with two huge trees in the middle of the outfield…classic.

yes absolutely, she did look gorgeous

Add to Technorati Favorites

UPDATE: My gallery has just been down for the whole weekend as well…sorry , I threw in a few new photographs to make up for it…enjoy.

This morning it came to my knowledge that my blog cannot be accessed…(obviously it is up and running again if you are reading this). Apologies to those who were eager to see how stunning Manny and Juan-Marie looked on their wedding day.

Up until recently I’ve been relying solely on other people to manage my online presence, but lately I’ve been making a bit of an effort to learn a bit about HTML and coding and to try and do things myself. Unfortunately though, I’m now at that stage where I know just enough to make a big mess of things, and therefore I’m grateful for friends who are always willing to help me OUT of the ditch again (not gonna mention names here, but you know who you are, thank you a million times).

Hopefully all will be well for a while.

Add to Technorati Favorites

When Cindy and I just started dating I once bought some flowers at Lost Treasure on my way to pick her up, but I didn’t realise that I will one day shoot a wedding there as well, in fact, I didn’t even know it was a venue. So needless to say it came as quite a pleasant surprise when Manny contacted me to shoot their wedding just there.
They are both from Gauteng but they both grew up in the Stilfontein area, so they wanted to have their wedding in the area, and according to Cindy, Lost Treasure would be the larniest place in Stilfontein to get married at…so thumbs up guys!

Thumbs up also to Mariska (082 421 7120), JMs make-up artist with whom I have had the pleasure to work with two weeks in a row now. She did an amazing job both with JM and Franciska and I would heartily recommend her.

Last but certainly not least, a big thumbs up to Manny and Juan-Marie for being one of the nicest couples we have met, and for the amazing wedding they hosted. JM boasted one absolutely stunning dress, loved the vintage touch to it, and Manny was quite the handsome gentleman to match.

enough from me though, here are some stand-outs…

Add to Technorati Favorites

I was totally ignorant, but the locals insisted we are now officially at the cheesiest location in the area, not only for taking wedding pictures, but even to be seen at (I don’t want to name the place for fear of getting in trouble, but it rhymes with “illusions”). Anyhow, I just had to take one…and Manny and Juan-Marie hesitantly but very kindly agreed to a quick smooch .

Add to Technorati Favorites