Meet Damian
Van Der Walt

Your friend and wedding photographer

Hi, I’m Damian! I love people. I am enamored by the things that make us human. Things like the way we make lives for ourselves, how we love, how we struggle, how we rise to these struggles, how we relate to each other and how we move through this world. It’s all beautiful to me.

Art, and specifically photography, has become a way for me to help others see this beauty. Seeing in this way, I believe, helps us to live with hope and to dream, and even more; to receive what is around us in joy. This is what I want to offer you.

I initially pursued this vocation through being a pastor. I studied and then worked in churches for six years — mostly with youth, leading creative teams and social justice advocacy groups. Then, four years ago, I started shooting weddings – and now here I am and loving it!

In a special way, weddings make beauty visible. They’re packed full of human stuff like connection, story and emotion. I remember sitting in a small stone chapel in Cape Town as a teenager, with my eyes and throat burning as I held back tears. I was too manly to cry back then (but I cry at almost every wedding now). An acquaintance of mine was seeing his wife-to-be for the first time. The weight of what I saw in his gaze caught me. Their history, their dreams, their vulnerability – it was all on display in that moment. But it was fleeting. When I think about why I choose to document weddings, this memory surfaces. It is glimpse at this fleeting and vulnerable moment of beauty that I want to gift people.

When I’m not shooting weddings, you’ll find me trying to live slowly at a local coffee shop or outside. I love all forms of art — painting, films, wine and everything in-between. I dream about travelling more (especially through Italy) or writing academically. Then lastly, faith, hope and love remain at the center of why I do anything.

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The Curator Manifesto

“Like a curator” has become the way I approach wedding photography. More than a specific style, making space for the vulnerability and fleeting immensity of your wedding day is the focus. You are the artist, making beautiful moments and memories — and I am here to capture it and curate a way for you to remember it. Below, I’ve written a manifesto to outline this way of documenting and to upfront the kind of artist I aspire to be.

It is your wedding day. You are the ones making art. I am there as a privileged witness, an invested friend and a discerning gatherer. My role is to steward the kind of space where you can be totally yourself and express your connection to each other. I curate from that. I do not take over or falsify.

Some of the ways I do this is by helping with planning where I can, by being available to you in the months, weeks and days leading up to your wedding, by being transparent and over-communicating. I make an effort to learn your family’s name and dynamics, and pull alongside your other vendors so that together we can work seamlessly on your big day.

Experience is a curator’s primary art form. From the first inquiry right through to gallery delivery I want you to feel safe and like I am invested in your wedding day. When you get your gallery, I want you to feel seen and confident that you are going to be remembered beautifully. I want you to feel like your hidden connection has somehow been made visible in a way that is both elevated and authentic.

To achieve this experience, I commit to responding as fast as I can, and being enthusiastically invested. Practically, I check in frequently before and after your wedding, communicate about the delivery process, hone in on both trends and timeless methods (like film photography) and source print options from the finest print labs in South Africa.

Vulnerability is the context of meaningful art curation. The most powerful wedding imagery comes from the moments when you feel safe enough to be authentic and fully present. I want to help you make this kind of art, so that I can capture it for you.

To get this right, I work hard to build trust with you before your wedding day. Of all your wedding vendors, I work with you the longest and most intimately. I do not take this lightly and I know what this day means to you. My hope is that you will feel as if you can let your guard down, enjoy yourselves and know that you are in good hands.

Everyone is a little nervous when it comes to having their photos taken. I understand, and know that it is vulnerable. I believe a defining trait of a professional photographer and s curator is knowing how to navigate this vulnerability.

For me, posed photos have their place just as much as candid photos do. They each have their own function in a wedding gallery. So my approach is to act as a guide. I refuse to use forced, unnatural poses or anything that is uncomfortable to you. But I also refuse to give you wedding imagery that is not elevated.

Practically this means I use prompts or guidance to draw out your connection in ways that are dignifying. This could be as simple as suggesting you use two hands instead of one, showing you where to stand based on the light or asking you to act out a scene.