Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Busy busy weekend...

 The past weekend was a rather intense one, I had 3 gorgeous people to work with over the space of 2 days. 3 different concepts, between 3 to 5 costumes changes each, and 3 very different personalities and backgrounds. Not to mention I was short of 2 assistants, and had to ask my Lovely sister and amazing Boyfriend to help me out to get the lighting right. As I said… rather intense (Well, for me at least…).


the Model and my awesome sister :)
The first shoot I had lined up was a stunning friend of mine from high school. She used to be in my matric art class, and is still as sweet and as wonderful as she was back then. Her set was rather last minute, and we were lucky to have had the time to squeeze in a few shots before I had to dart off to my next client. But I must say, I really loved what we came up with. 
A sneak preview of her set... Too gorgeous for words...
She is an aspiring model and actress and needed to start up her portfolio for castings, etc. (Not to mention she’s planning on entering Miss South Africa!) So we put together 3 outfits and boom! A portfolio… Thankfully my lovely sister was around to help me out with lighting, else who knows how the shots would have turned out, so thank you “Larry”! ;)
Inga - aka. "Larry" ;)
The second shoot was a lovely, modest maternity set. Very out doorsy and glam (quite a mix, right?). She was a gorgeous diva, with a beautifully round belly - and from what I've seen so far (not that I've had much time to go through hem all) the images seemed to have come out stunning :) - I still have loads of editing to get through, but they're gonna be lovely. I also managed to sneak in a few shots of the surrounding animals on the plot we were shooting on...
awesome geese that were waddling around

Meet Rambo the Ram :)

And lastly, the shoot I did on Sunday. What a lovely girl, and SO easy to work with. I've always said, having beautiful models takes away 50% of my work, and make everything that much easier...
This shoot in particular was quite a special one. She had been struggling for a few months to get back into the modeling scene as she had recently lost the love of her life in a terrible bike accident. And had basically dedicated this shoot to him, and used him as her inspiration to carry on doing what she enjoys. Which I found incredibly moving. I had decided to not post this image in particular on the page, but rather on the blog (a more private place than facebook) because I didn't feel it was my place to share it so publicly, BUT I did want my involved followers to see what we came up with. She had sent me an image similar to this one about a week before the shoot and asked if I could perhaps do something similar. This is what I cooked up...

Any way - that pretty much sums up all my exciting adventures over the past weekend... Onward's and upwards from here.
Have a spectacular week everyone. 
-R

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Having to deal with animals...

Note: the ear and tail.... - courtesy of my cat, Lady.

From time to time I invite clients to my home for certain shoots - mostly for the make-shift "studio" set-ups that I occasionally get asked for. Sometimes we just gallivant in my garden and have fun there, and I edit a lot of the scenery. But the struggle with simple "at home" shoots is that my animals are rather friendly, and quite enjoy getting involved with my work and my clients, and sometimes make cameo appearances in some of my images... Which can be really funny, but annoying at the same time...

My darling cat - Tequila... photobombing..

I guess it mostly depends on the client - sometimes my ever-so-innocent animals are welcomed with open arms, and get far more attention than they deserve (the rascals) and other times my clients don't appreciate the extra company and ask for me to do something about it - which I can completely understand. Although I don't mind most of the time... 
Trying to set up for an "ANIMAL" (ironically) shoot - and my adorable pups just refused to be left out of the fun...
So when booking a shoot with me, and we organize an "at-home" set up, I hope you like cats and dogs... If not... maybe let me know ;)
Tequila seeking love and attention - and succeeding...

Featuring: 
Tequila - the Cat. 
Marlique Brown - My gorgeous model. 
Hayley and Lydia - the puppies
Inga von Bulow - my lovely assistant
And myself - The AmaChure Photographer :)

Thursday, July 18, 2013

An update

I've really been enjoying doing fantasy edits lately - I much prefer having all the creative freedom I need when goofing around on PS, it just means I get to go bonkers and make it look however I want it to. Which is really fun. It's quite difficult being a super arty and over eccentric person and having to dim it down for so many clients - if it were up to me, I'd just stick to fantasy and themed shoots. Not that I mind doing more timid, laid back photography - but we all have our preferences! Anyhoo... here are a few random edits I've done over the past month or so where I got to explore a bunch of elements and go a bit wild with editing...

DEMON

These images were based on the character "Emily" from  "Corpse Bride" - I am quite the Tim Burton Junkie. I must say, these are a favourite of mine...

REPTILE
Not too sure where I was going with this one - but I'm still rather pleased with how it came out. I guess I just like it because it's dark and creepy...


WOLF


SIREN
AND THEN, I decided to go in a different direction, and kidnap my little brother to take a few snaps. Apparently one of his many nicknames at school is "Clark Kent" because he reminds his friends of the Man of Steel, Superman. So I took that idea, and ran with it!

CLARK KENT / SUPERMAN

This one isn't quite finished yet, but I'm still quite happy with where it's going.
CLARK KENT / SUPERMAN

And then of course, I played around with some enthusiastic clients who didn't mind me going a bit wild with costume and editing... And I turned two gorgeous sisters into Ice Queens... Which was loads of fun.


THE ICE QUEEN

ICE QUEEN


 Oh yes, then I turned them into fairies... because, well... Fairies!

So as you can all see, I've had loads of fun - having my way with my models... wait that sounded wrong... oh well. I have quite a few plans in the near future, hopefully my next concept shoot will be Disney princesses, so the hunt begins to find the perfect model for each character... this should be fun.

Anyway, I must dash. There is work to be done!
Have a wonderful week everyone!

Mad Love
 -R


Tuesday, July 2, 2013

INTRODUCING MY NEW ASSISTANTS

The latest addition to the Ama-chure family! Ladies and gentlemen please meet Mister Byron Wolkers- who will now be in charge of all gear, lighting, heavy lifting, assistant photographer and editor - and Miss Aphiwe “Apples” Kedama - head make-up artist, stylist and on-set handy-gal. These two crazy kids are an insane duo that will guarantee you a good time in between shooting. They are really great at what they do - and I trust them with my life.

So be excited to meet and work with them :) I know I am.

INTRODUCING MY LATEST PIECE OF EQUIPMENT:

So… for a very long time I’ve had to beg borrow and steal equipment from fellow photographers to get a lot of my past shoots done - and I am finally proud to announce that I finally posses my own NIKON D5200 - RED (24 MP DX, 5 FPS, 3" Flip LCD, 1080p).
And let me just tell you, she is beautiful.

For a very long time I wasn’t able to afford a lot of my own gear - and my late Grandfather was kind enough to see how passionate I was about the work I did with my photography and editing - and helped me out with this amazing piece of equipment. I feel it necessary to mention how incredible my Grandfather was, and to pay tribute to his incredible memory - by dedicating this post to him. He had only recently passed away due to a long and terrible battle with Pancreatic cancer - an undeserved sentence in my opinion - but something he fought bravely and beautifully regardless. 

Thank you Granddad for believing in me and my work - I really hope I make you proud.

All sadness to one side, here are a few snaps I put together to showcase my new baby!







Monday, July 1, 2013

ULTIMATE PIT BABE - MOTOR RACING NEWS (ONLINE MAGAZINE)

Congratulations to  Miss Jessica Thiels for winning the “Ultimate Pit Babe” competition in the Motor Racing news Online Magazine. 

She entered her photograph (taken and sponsored by Ama-Chure Photography) a few months ago, and went on to win Miss October for 2013, and has recently been placed first overall. S o hi5 to team Ama-Chure for kicking some serious sexy butt!





Aaaaand the winning picture! Thank you Jess!