Monterey Bay Wedding Photographer

Hi, I'm Danieka Erasmus... 


I'm the owner and photographer of Picturist Photography, a wedding photography company based in Santa Cruz, California. Here is a bit of why I do what I do:


Growing up in Apartheid South Africa, I remember the photographs that made the world see what was really happening in the country. The photo by Sam Nzima of Hector Pieterson, a schoolboy, shot and killed by police during the Soweto uprising, changed my life. It showed just how powerful a tool photography could be.


After spending a year in the Netherlands touring excellent Museums and hidden Art Galleries in Amsterdam and meeting the love of my life and now husband, I decided to study Fine Arts. This, in turn, led me back to photography.


For a while there, I wanted to become a photojournalist. But after meeting and listening to an actual photojournalist speak in Cape Town about his adventures up in Northern Africa, I realized that this was no longer for me, now married with a sweet baby boy.


On the other hand, I still loved art in all its many forms. In particular, I loved the Art Nouveau movement. Works like Gustav Klimt's the kiss are timelessly beautiful and joyous. I wanted to create work like that! "To give people pleasure in the things they must use, [and] to give people pleasure in the things they must make" This is how William Morris, one of the founders of Art Nouveau, described the movement's goal.


Wedding photography is where I found this. It is the perfect blend of photojournalism & Fine Art! I have been Capturing genuine, raw emotions while making creative, unique works of art since 2014 and could not imagine doing anything else!

Young women in white holding a camera laughing in the forest.

Special thank you to my husband for taking this picture of me. No one makes me smile like you do Mr. Erasmus.


If you would like to know a little bit more about me, you can read an interview I did recently for Shoutout LA.

It's a more personal interview where I talk about my background growing up in South Africa and its influence on me and my business. I also spoke about my journey of restarting my business in the US. Read the whole Article here.

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