Photographe Jo-Ann Stokes

—Êtes-vous photogénique ?

—Unfortunately not ....but probably best that I am not because it makes me try extra hard to make my couples feel comfortable in front of the lens and capture beautiful photographs that they will love of themselves.

—Comment avez-vous commencé à travailler dans la photographie ?

—Purely by accident to be honest! My trip into photography started by documenting my life, my kids and then into landscape photography. A friend saw my photos, told her friend who was getting married and they contacted me and asked me to do their wedding. I explained that I had never done a wedding but they were fine with that. I loved it ....and the rest ...is history! And my first clients are still one of my biggest fans!

—Selon vous, quels sont les éléments les plus importants d'une bonne photo ?

—A photograph that touches your soul ...no matter the composition, the editing etc ...that makes for a good photo ...no actually, that makes for a "great" photo ....but if all you want is good ..then good composition, good lighting and good posing would make a good photo .....I continuously strive to take a "great" photo.

—Aimez-vous voyager ?

—Do you seriously have to ask? I "love" to travel ...it feeds my soul, opens my eyes, enriches my life and makes me appreciate everything that God created for us.

—Quel aspect de votre profession préférez-vous ?

—The creativity ...if you can visualise it ....you can photograph it! The continious learning curve....there are new things to learn all the time! I am continiously challenged and excited by my profession.

—Quel aspect de votre profession aimez-vous le moins ?

—The admin!! Wish we were taking photographs 100% of the time ...unfortunately its only a small portion of our workload. And selling myself ...I find it so hard to do!

—Quel est le futur de la photographie ?

—There will alwasy be a future for wedding photography ...people will continously fall in love and want to get married and start families of that I have no doubt ....I think how we photograph weddings will stay fundamentally the same ..but the way we grab our image might change. I see change coming in the fact that we will film the wedding and grab our photographs from the video ...and I am excited about that because a hair breadth of a second can make all the difference to an image.

—Qu'est-ce que le style de photographie dans lequel vous travaillez a de spécial ?

—Wedding photography is special because it makes you forget all the bad things in the world for a few brief moments. It makes you believe that the world is all rosy, full of love and that there is bright future ahead and there is truth in fairytales and the "happy ever after"

—Comment gérez-vous les critiques ?

—Well I am a creative ...so lets just say ...it can hurt! But I am also open-minded so I can take a step back and look at it through that persons eyes and see if their criticism is valuable. Good criticism is worth its weight in gold!

—Y a-t-il des modes dans la photographie ?

—There are always trends in photography! The question needs to be asked ..how will your images look in 30 years ...will the trend stand the test of time. Quality, timeless photography will never date.

—Quels devraient être les critères pour qu'un client choisisse un photographe ?

—Initially the couple should love the photography ...it should speak to them. But the most important criteria is that you like your photographer and feel comfortable with them....you will spend a large part of your day with this person in your space ..its best that you like them.

—Quels sont les interdits lors des photographies ?

—Cheesy!

—Quels détails seul un photographe peut-il remarquer ?

—We can see moments that develop and are waiting for them to happen.

—Qu'est-ce qui influence la valeur d'une photo ? Quels en sont les éléments ?

—The emotion, the impact of the image!

—Quelle personne peut être le symbole du 21ème siècle selon vous ?

—The co-founders of google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. And our very own, Nelson Mandela!

—Qui aimeriez-vous prendre en photo ?

—My next bride!

—Avez-vous des tabous professionnels ?

—One or two ...nudity is not my thing!

—Avec qui aimeriez-vous faire une séance photo ?

—Thats a tough one ...Jose Villa, ..I love his pastel, airy, film look but I also love the dark, moody look from Susan Stripling.

—De quoi vous inquiétez-vous, et pourquoi ?

—I worry about my children ...I am first and foremost a Mom! From a wedding photographers perspective ..that I lose a wedding due to faulty cards, crashing computers & harddrives. I have made every provision to safeguard my clients weddings but it is natural to worry about their images.

—Quel a été le moment le plus impressionnant de votre vie ?

—The birth of my sons. Everything else pales into insignificance in comparison to those moments.

—Si vous étiez un personnage de dessin animé, de livre ou de film, qui seriez-vous et pourquoi ?

—I am enjoying the character, Elizabeth McCord from Madam Secretary at the moment. She handles problems with intelligence, respect and sensitivity in very fragile situations.

—Qui vous inspire dans votre vie et pourquoi ?

—My family inspire me ...they inspire me to be better...they inspire me to prove to them that life is for living and that you make your own destiny with the choices and decisions that you make. Every action has a reaction. Mistakes are not always bad as the experience it teaches you is sometimes more valuable that getting something 100% correct.

—Comment définissez-vous le succès ? Comment le mesurez-vous ?

—A successful person is a person who has balance in their life! A happy marriage, family life & career ..is my definition of success! Only having a successful career with money in the bank ...can make for a very lonely/empty life.

—Préférez-vous être aimé ou respecté ?

—Neither ....I would prefer to be loved!

—Quelle a été votre plus grande erreur professionnelle ?

—When I worked in banking ....I paid a rather large sum of money into the wrong persons account!

—Quand vous partez en voyage que prenez-vous avec vous et pourquoi ?

—My camera and a lens ...do I need anything more?

—Est-ce que vous regrettez d'avoir acheté un de vos gadgets ? Lequel et pourquoi ?

—a few items ...too numerous to mention

—Quelle méthode utilisez-vous pour améliorer vos prises de photo ?

—I attend workshops, watch videos, practice, practice, practice!

—Qui vous a influencé le plus en tant que photographe ?

—Many of my photographer friends have in their own small way influenced me. Each one has at some stage dropped a pearl of wisdom on my eager ears.

—Quelle chose auriez-vous aimer connaître avant de vous lancer dans la photographie ?

—I initially started to play around with a camera when i was a teenager ...I wish I had figured out then, that this was the career that I loved.

—Qu'aimeriez-vous dire avec vos photos ?

—I am not big into props ....I prefer the people in my photographs to be the focal point. It is their essence, emotions that tell the story.

—Quelle est votre motivation pour continuer la photographie ?

—I dont think there is anything that motivates me to continue to take photos ....I think it is an extension of who I am ...even when I dont have my camera with me ...I am still framing photos in my eye and taking a mental photo of a scene.

—Pensez-vous que vos parents auraient dû être plus stricts ? Moins stricts ?

—They were perfect. I like the way I turned out ...lol!

—Si vous pouviez revenir dans le temps, que changeriez-vous ?

—Nothing ...if i went back in time to change anything ...then my outcome might be very different to where I am now ....and I kind of like where I am now. And if I had actually done photography from a teenager then my people skills would not have been developed. I believe there was a reason for only discovering my love for photography later on.

—Que pensez-vous de la vie sur d'autres planètes ?

—Possible ...but have no interest in finding out ...its bad enough controlling the human race that we have here ...we sure as heck dont need the headache of another race somewhere else.

—Qui sont vos héros ?

—There are no heroes ....everyone is only human ...we all err on this road we call life. There are people who I respect i.e Nelson Mandela, FW De Klerk, Mother Theresa, Pope Francis, Thuli Madonsela

—Pour quelle chose n'avez-vous aucun respect ?

—Dictators, bad politicians, criminals, children and animal abusers! Our president, Jacob Zuma, Stupidity, Robert Mugabe.

—Que faites-vous pendant votre temps libre ?

—My hubby has a Harley Davidson motorbike and we often will go on road trips around the Cape and needless to say ...I take photos. I enjoy socialising with fellow photographers. I walk in a farm close to my house with my dogs.

—Quel aspect de votre personnalité le public ne voit pas ?

—They dont see me stressed or worried. I show a calm face to the outside world and behind the scenes I make a plan. I also have a wicked sense of humour that I try to keep in check.

—Quand êtes-vous complètement satisfait de votre travail ?

—I wish I knew the answer ...then i would create a formula and stick to it ..but there again then I might end up being bored!

—Croyez-vous en le traditionalisme des rôles de l'homme et de la femme ?

—Yes and no ....I believe women can do anything they put their minds too ...but I also believe that men are traditionally the hunters and do not enjoy being the hunted. Let them enjoy the chase.

—Vous faites-vous facilement des amis ?

—Very easily. I can chat to complete strangers wherever I am.

—Où aimeriez-vous vivre ?

—If I couldnt live in Cape Town for whatever reason ...then I would go to the next extreme and live in London ...but only if I had a lot of money ;)

—Quelle est la chose la plus stupide que vous ayez accepté ?

—A nude shoot

—Existe-t-il une vie après le mariage ?

—lol ...yes, definitely! I have done more and had more fun with my husband than with any other human being. He is the one who has my back, who I rely on, who I can be real with, who accepts me for who I am ...who will look after me when I am sick or sad ....to lend a Greys Anatomy line ..."he is my person" ...but yes there were times when I could have lovingly strangled his neck..he definitely still knows how to push my buttons!

—Avez-vous une blague préférée ? Racontez-la.

—Yes ..I do ...but I think it might be a bit too dirty for a wedding blog ...especially for people considering getting married ...lol! Only old married couples would find it amusing!

—Préférez-vous les chats ou les chiens ?

—Dogs ...grew up with them all my life! My dad was allergic to cats ..so was never allowed to have one ....so not too sure if I would have loved cats more!

—Qui ou que détestez-vous ?

—People who are rigid and the world is black and white and do not see outside the box.

—La plus belle chose de la vie est :

—free!

—La chose la plus ennuyeuse de la vie est :

—People who do not listen

—Changeriez-vous quelque chose autour de vous ?

—Yes, our incompetent government!

—Que changeriez-vous chez vous ?

—I wish I had more time!

—Que changeriez-vous dans le monde ?

—Evil

—Auriez-vous quelques astuces pour des photographes débutants ?

—Be unique ...find your own style ....do not be like sheep and copy everyone else! Trust in the way you see the world ..you will develop!

—Des extraterrestres arrivent sur Terre et vous êtes le premier à les rencontrer. Que leur dites-vous ?

—If you know whats good for you ...turn around and run in the opposite direction

—Vous êtes appelé pour tourner un film. De quel genre serait-il ?

—A romance or a drama

—Demain, je vais aller faire...

—some food shopping, a maternity shoot, some editing ...watch our national rugby team , the Springboks play their first game at the Rugby World Cup 15 in England against Japan!