Last year, on a whim, I bought a GoPro “wearable” camera for a job done in conjunction with fellow Safrean Michal Wozniak in Johannesburg. We needed to get some in-cab shots of a truck driver, and the GoPro’s 170-degree view was just the thing. But that was it – how do you justify buying such [...]
Archive for the ‘Shoots in short’ Category
The stock photography industry depends on new content, created and added to stock libraries all the time. Which is part of the reason Istockphoto hosts content creation events worldwide called Istockalypses, and allows contributors to host smaller-scale events along the same format called minilypses. The latter are run as private events but with full Istockphoto [...]
One of the most rare privileges of this world is meeting living legends. In January, I had such a pleasure, working with !Khomani San tribal leader Dawid Kruiper. But it was an experience I came away from elated and at the same time saddened at what is probably soon to be a lost treasure. Living [...]
So there I was, being tested by an 80km/h wind on top of a Transnet building in Cape Town’s container terminal. The wind was so strong I could not walk around the corner of the building without holding on to the air conditioning units bolted onto the roof. The parapet wall was only hip high, [...]
Powered paragliding is one of the most convenient photography platforms. And when someone else can do the driving, it’s even better. Such was the case this week when I hooked up, quite literally, with PPG instructor Keith Pickersgill, one of the doyens of the sport in SA. He needed a passenger, I needed some footage, [...]
Winemasters at work
Posted: October 10, 2011 in Shoots in shortTags: cameraman, Jaco Wolmarans, Michal Wozniak, Nederburg Auction, Paarl, wine auction
Two days, non-stop shooting, not a moment off our feet. That’s the Nederburg Auction for you. The icon of SA wine auctions, held at Nederburg in Paarl, is an unmissable event – if you can get an invite. It is that tight. But then again, you rub shoulders with the who’s who of the wine [...]
Story of my life. You get the call the night before – can you please do an editorial shoot tomorrow at nine, here are the contact details, this is what we want – loads of power, energy, make the people the heroes, and by the way, did we mention this is for a cover shot? [...]
Talk about being photogenic. Some faces are just easier to photograph, and then, some pieces of furniture just turn out more gorgeous than the next. Such a case was these items from Bloc Outdoor in Cape Town – chunky, solid balau wood furniture that just look great on camera and were so sweet to shoot. [...]
What a talent – he’s a schoolboy, almost dwarfed by his models, but Hugo Amos, a Worcester grade 10 pupil, is running his own business designing and making Matric dance dresses. This last weekend, we did a shoot to showcase some of his designs. The models were classmates, the make-up done by one of his [...]
Until recently, I had this thing about landscapes. Yes, I could see a nice picture, yes, I could set it up, but damn if I could capture the clarity, the nuances of light that made the scene so special. It was just too frustrating. To be honest, I was a little afraid of shooting these [...]
What do you do if you have to re-enact a potentially dangerous traffic situation for a video production in which a pedestrian is (almost) run over by a delivery truck? Well, first of all you make sure that you don’t play the role of the pedestrian. You ask a family member. Or someone else. Secondly, [...]
A brush-up course with a previous student, two models in one day, and this time we really cooked. The student had the benefit of our previous shoot and lighting setups, so we picked up where we left. The only difference this time was that we simplified our lighting setup, using two 50cm softboxes on either [...]
Smoke and mirrors – sometimes literally. In the modern era of Photoshop, a lot of the old-school photo techniques have been replaced by plain digital art. Or what masquerades for art, sometimes. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the world of high-reflectives. In this case, a number of very heavy chrome taps that arrived [...]
Don’t let anyone tell you this is fun. Well, it is, kinda. But it’s a load of hard work too, if you’re really serious about getting the lighting right and not just perving the babe. So there we were, my student and I, and in front of us, Violet from Vladivostok. No really, she’s Russian. [...]
So there we were, 5000 ft above the Atlantic Seaboard, the door of the aircraft open, a fresh breeze cooling us down. And right next to us, a mere 10 ft away, was another aircraft. Upside down. Something’s wrong with this picture. To make matters worse, the photographer and pilot, Anthony Allen, is not steering [...]
An empty chutney bottle at my home just begged to be put to a new use. And since I had been experimenting with high speed flash all week, it wasn’t long before the bottle got washed, the studio set up and ready for a stock shoot featuring myself as the unfortunate idiot. I say idiot, [...]
This must rank as one of my toughest shoots ever. Small budget, no assistant, no time. And the shotlist was huge – golf landscapes early morning, lifestyle shots with models thereafter, interior design shots by midday, more lifestyle in the afternoon, then golf atmospherics at dusk, closing the day with indoor lifestyle shots with the [...]
Sometimes an idea for an image creeps into your subconscious and won’t let go. I dreamt about this one for ages. There is no such lighthouse, and there is no such coastline. Well, not both in the same place, anyway. With that in mind, I went scouting. Planned. Dreamt some more. Finally found the spots, [...]
I suppose life could be worse – having a delicious rack of lamb to photograph … I mean, compared to shooting industrial machinery or construction sites, this is positively stomach-rumbling. I had these chops prepared at Excellent Meat Market in Milnerton. The butcher very kindly trimmed and spiced the meat for my shoot, and they [...]
A recce weekend at the newly-revamped Gary Player course. Misty morning. Me bored. Took my camera and wandered off onto the damp course. The light was flat and uninteresting, but at some point, literally for a few seconds at a time, the sun broke through gaps between the low-lying mist and the higher clouds, creating [...]
