Addis Ababa Wedding Portraits in Ethiopia with the Legendary Tiemert and Nebiyou
Following on from Tiemert and Nebiyou’s Ethiopian Wedding Celebrations we hit the town for their Addis Ababa Wedding Portraits shoot. Originally we had planned to shoot their portraits on their wedding day but with all the festivities on the day (check the post to see what I mean) we realised that it would put too much stress on the timeline. So we opted to do it a couple of days later. After all, portraits are far from the most important part of a wedding. A wedding day’s all about the people and celebration.
Warming Up with Some Local Ethiopian Cuisine
As we waited for Tiemert to get ready for the shoot, myself and Nebiyou popped into a local restaurant for some grub. In true Ethiopian style we enjoyed a range of dishes on a injera (remember those sour pancakes?) which included raw steak (a local delicacy) and Johnny Walker Black.
Since my time living in Nairobi I’d forgotten how popular that specific brand of whisky was in East Africa. It was served in early every bar and the brand’s ‘Keep on Walking’ could be seen all over the place. Famous runner Haile Gebrselassie was even sponsored by Johnny Walker at one point as this video shows. Although Johnny Walker Black wouldn’t be my first choice back in London, out in Addis it felt right.
Our Portrait Adventure Around Addis Ababa
Soon Tiemert joined us and we set off on our adventure! Our goal was to capture a collection of fun photos that offered a taste of Addis Ababa. The capital of Ethiopia is an interesting place. It’s almost tripled in size over the past decade and everywhere you looked there was construction. If sometime felt like you were walking through a construction site. For this reason it didn’t lend itself naturally to a wedding portrait shoot.
Being rush hour and raining (not like that weak stuff we like to complain about back in the UK) didn’t really help either. Although, on the plus side the storm lead to some pretty dramatic shots on the roof tops of Addis. So I thought about some of the elements that made Addis Ababa cool and special in my view. For me it was the energy, the street vendors, the busyness, the blue cold war Russian Lada taxis and the colours at the local bus stop.
If you’d like a creative portrait shoot in Addis Ababa then get in touch.
