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!