About Deon & Reni Documentary Wedding Photography Australia

I still haven’t been able to answer the question and I think I never will. But more and more do I understand why photographs are so important to me, for they are my most treasured belongings. I have had to evacuate my home twice during two different occasions, in two different countries, and in both cases photographs were on top of the list to throw in the get-out bag. Pictures of both our dads who are sadly not among us anymore are hanging on our fridge as I walk past there most often and so I get a glimpse of him every day, bringing back memories of all the good times we’ve had. The first photograph that was taken of our daughter Frances and myself - a second after she was born - with a grin on my face, reminds me of the pure bliss I was feeling. The waves of Hokkaido, a scene we were looking out onto when we were wild camping in Japan will give me that sense of freedom all over again.

I might be bias, but to me photographs are everything. They are funnels to transport you back in time.

Even the pictures from times past, like Deon’s grandfather wanting to fly on his motorbike, is part of Deon’s roots and it must be from him that he got his twinkle in his eye.

So no, we don’t take it lightly that you invite us into your life, even just for one day. As we know that these photographs will live on forever, taking on a life of their own.

And if we could ask you for one thing - is that you please print you photographs.

~Reni

January 2021

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”
— Aaron Siskind

I often marvel at the question why I love photography so much. As I not only love taking photographs, I also love looking at them. Being an avid photo book collector, I can spend hours paging through my favourite books of Stephen Shore, Joel Meyerowitz, Alex Webb and Robert Frank- they all belong to the group of ‘the first American street photographers.’ Absorbing all the photos, imagining the situations they were in and always thinking that those photographs are perfect in every way. They are exactly as they should be, standing on their own.

I grew up with a camera in my hand - my first camera was a Fisherprice with handles for both hands and held a tiny roll of film. Family, friends and holidays were all carefully documented. So it was to no surprise that I ended up studying documentary photography at an art school in The Netherlands. And it was within my course that I met Deon, during my internship in South Africa back in 2008.

It's the reason why we have a camera in our hand and how we perceive the world around us.

We photograph weddings because it is this most intimate event between two families and we are allowed to be a part of it.

The images that stay with us the most are the ones that surprise us, photos you never have seen before, moments you could never come up with.

We try to align our head and our heart and like for our photographs to feel like memories.

Thanks for being here,

Reni & Deon

Fast forward 6 months and after reading some material and doing some soul searching I remarkably am now able to answer the question.

-I like to be surprised.-

It's also why Deon and I are so compatible together, which might have to do with Deon being left handed and I right and so we use our brains differently.

It's why we love going to new places but never visit the tourist attractions, why we always try out new recipes and why we've started growing our own food.

Why we've emigrated to different countries and like to find interesting movies. Why we didn't want to find out if our baby was a boy or a girl and why we listen to music in foreign languages.

“We are always out to capture that piece of life, the rawness and realness of a moment. Never knowing what we’re going to capture next and never aiming to get a preconceived shot. Instead we are guided by our curiosity and interest in people and our environment."

Deon and Reni are a South African and Dutch couple and have photographed weddings all over the world including, Canada, USA, Brazil, Iceland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Greece, Namibia & South Africa.

They are now based in Australia - and Europe during the Summer months.

Email: hello@deonandreni.co

We love for our photographs to feel like memories.

We use our sensibility as people and photographers to capture all the different nuances of a wedding day.

Our aim is to make pictures that are emotional, which we accomplish by acting spontaneously and connecting our eye with our head and our heart - recognizing a rhythm in the world that is happening around us. Always on the lookout for remarkable moments, moments that have never happened before and will never happen again.

For us a successful picture is always a surprise.

Thanks so much for being here,

Reni & Deon

Handpicked photographer by The Lane &

Reni is the founder of the Counterpart Photos collective.

Australia based

Europe during the Summer months

Email: deonandreni@gmail.com