Hello
Thank you for visiting my website.
My name is Gerry, and am a photographer.
I do headshots, product and packshots, model shots, and write books & blogs.
I've worked for several international and local clients.
Please feel free to look around.
Headshots
The importance of a headshot cannot be underestimated. It gives your prospective clients an immediate idea of who you are, and what you are about. From formal poses for those in the business world, to fun ones for those in the creative industries, getting the perfect headshot for your website, annual report or business card, is essential for the image you portray to prospective customers.
Do not underestimate the value of a professional corporate headshot. The headshot is the face behind the company, the person behind the brand, the woman behind the initiative, the man behind the systems. Your outward image, from Face book to LinkedIn to the Annual report, is not one that should be left to the amateurs. Click here to see more headshot images, and find out more about the importance of the corporate headshot.
Product Shots
People go online now before they go anywhere else. Your products need to entice the clients you do not yet have to open up their wallets to you. The only way you can do that, is with great product and pack shots: people shop with their eyes first. No matter how good your products may be: if it ain’t lookin’ good, you ain’t converting the clients.
The above shows a selection of product shots, showcasing a diversity of techniques: from clean, crisp white cut-out images, to dark and moody photos, from elaborate staged productions, to small featured product details. Product photography does not have to be boring.
Model Shots
This is where I love to play. My heart lies in shooting people, in doing creative things with interesting faces and interesting light. I’ve been shooting models for over a decade, and helped more than one aspiring model to springboard her career, and shot many an editorial.
If you are not prudish, underaged, and have some... discerning tastes, please feel free to visit my nudes and other taboos gallery.
Writing
Chronicles of a Reluctant Widower?
Discovering Leigh & Defining Giulia?
Yes, I'm that Gerry.
I’m not just a photographer, I’ve got a few writing credits behind my name as well.
In 2015 I published my fist book, a non-fiction work called ‘From Snapshot to Hotshot’ – a photographic manual on how to become a better photographer. It is now out of print since it is out of date.
In 2018 I published my first novel, the highly acclaimed ‘Discovering Leigh’, and in 2021 the sequel, ‘Defining Giulia’, subtitled ‘Dark Love Stories’, and I would classify as “50 Shades for Grown-ups”.
Tragedy struck my life in December 2020 when my wife died of breast cancer, the single sliver of a silver lining was the publication of my memoir ‘Chronicles of a Reluctant Widower’
For more info on these books, head on over to my writing page at www.gerrypelser.com
About Me
Hi, my name is Gerry, and I am a photographer.
This is the obligatory biography bit.
Well, I’ve been clicking shutters since I was 18 years old back in 1993, when I studied graphic design and photography. My student camera was a second-hand Ricoh that was busted in such a way that it only worked when you held it upside down. I fell in love with photography in those heady darkroom-driven student days, and here I am, more than two decades later, still doing the same thing.
Since then I have refined a bit, discovered that I’m a creative photographer rather than a documentary one, so I do the bulk of my work in studio. I’ve been called “The Light Whisperer” and that is kinda nice. But I do admit to being obsessed with photographic lighting. And I love working with people, the combination of which is why my portfolios are those of corporate & industrial headshots, product and pack shots, and where my heart lies: model photography.
Taking photos is not just what I do, it is what I am.
Away from the camera I teach and I write. I’ve published two books, a photography tech manual and a novel (admittedly my female lead is a photographer), I blog (about anything from photography to cricket), and I talk prodigiously on Facebook. I run lighting workshops and teach the newbies how to operate cameras.
When I don’t work, I enjoy cooking (the cleaning… not so much), reading, watching sport – Rugby will do, but Cricket is life – and just hanging with my family. I live in the north-western suburbs of Jo’burg with my two Puli dogs, Laszlo and Laika. (That cute ball of hair on the right is Laika). I also have a stuffed petite baby hippo named Felicity who loves cricket more than I do. Don’t ask.
Join a band and they ask you “who are your influences”. My photography career is influenced by Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, Peter Lindbergh and the genius that is Rankin. However, while the guys there are the influencers, I admire the ladies. Ellen von Unwerth, Lillith Leda and Annie Leibovitz moves my soul. These are the people who inspire me to do better.
Contact Me
Have Camera, Will Travel.
Have Studio, Come To Me.
+27(0) 83 527 4766
gerry@gerry.co.za
https://facebook.com/gerry.pelser
https://twitter.com/GerryPelserTog
https://gerrypelser.deviantart.com