Cat contacted me a while ago and booked this session.  It was just for herself and to have photos of herself to use in Social Media and other media.

Such a cool idea!! We had a ball traipsing around Newtown in her different outfits making the most of the graffiti and grungy buildings.

Adam’s bar mitzvah is in February, and in anticipation of the event, I met the family today to take his portrait photos and the family photos.  After chatting to his mom a few days ago, we decided to use the graffiti wall in Waverley as a backdrop for the photos.

Joining us for his portrait photos, were his brother and sister… and their cousins from Australia.  I hope they all enjoyed it… as they ended up having some photos too

Stay tuned for his ceremony photos and celebration photos that will follow in a few weeks time

NaQiyah contacted me a while ago to book this morning’s shoot.  It was a family shoot with a difference.  It’s really not often that a family with young children want an urban look for their portraits with graffiti.  I, of course, LOVE requests like that!! You know how much I love Newtown and other urban places.

It was also different in that NaQiyah didn’t want the photoshoot to focus on her pregnancy, but rather on the family.    NaQiyah is actually a food blogger… and no slouch with the camera from the looks of her Flickr page!

Anyhoo, we met really early this morning outside the Market Theatre for their photoshoot, and spent an hour wandering around my favourite haunts in Newtown.  I just love how they turned out actually.

Sa’eed (who is 19 months old) wasn’t really happy this morning, and by the time he warmed up to the idea of the photoshoot (it was a little early for his liking), it started raining!!   I do like the moodiness that I captured though, I think it lends to the location of the shoot.

Next time, I would love to take their photos close to Mohammed’s business in Mayfair though… I don’t think they realise how awesome it is there for photos!

One of my colleagues took us on a little tour of a few blocks around the office building we’re working from.  We walked around quite a bit of the financial district in Johannesburg, and it was fascinating walking with Jason because he knows quite a bit about the history of the buildings.

This is the first time that I’ve really noticed how much gorgeous Art Deco architecture actually exists in the CBD.  And I just love the way that some of the old beauties exist next to glass towers.

One of the first place we went was to the Guildhall Pub. It’s the oldest pub in Johannesburg and opened in 1888. Such character in there!


This is the building, the National Bank Building, that we’re working in for the next few days. It’s one of the oldest buildings in Johannesburg and was opened around 1902-ish. I really really wish I had a wider angle lens to take a better photo of it. The greenish dome is on top of the corner of the building, and is copper (hence the green). I took that photo from the balcony at the top. What fascinated me was in the inside of parts of the building… we went around the bottom floor of the one part, and it’s more than impressive with the art deco mixed with older styles and all the marble and gilt etc… it’s such a pity they didn’t let me take any photos of it.
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The best part of the walk was when we stopped outside the Rand Club to admire the stunning building, and as we were commenting on the columns and the detail at the top, we were stopped by a guy watching us and he asked us what we were doing. We told him, and we had a discussion about the architecture of the building. He told us that the building there now was built in 1904 (it’s the third building that has been on that site), and it’s all art deco in styling. That surprised me, because I thought it was a mixture with the art deco styles columns, yet for some reason I thought the top of the building was pre-art deco (but then again I’m no architect). He also told us that it was designed by the same architect that designed the National Bank Building which we are working in!! How cool!

Just before he got in his car, I asked him how he knew… turns out he’s the Chairman of the Rand Club!! LOL!

I would love to have seen the inside of the building, but we were completely inappropriately dressed for the place

It was an awesome experience being a tourist in my own city.  Loved it!! Made me realise what a special place it is, and it made me hope that this revitalisation of the CBD just goes from strength to strength… because those old beauties deserve to be restored to their former glory.

I just love the contrasts in this city… old Johannesburg has got so much soul… with this beautiful district and the mining district and the more funky Newtown… compared to the almost heartless Sandton.

See the full set of 2010 photo-a-day photos on my Project 365 Flickr Set.

It was actually great having two people for our Newtown Trash the Dress photoshoot with 2 very different styles of dresses, as it allowed me to take very different photos in the same setting.  Here are my favourite photos of Fiona from the afternoon.

This was the closest that we got to having a “groom”

And that’s now the last of the Trash the Dress photos that I’m going to post.  I LOVE doing shoots like this, and hope to do another one really soon!