Danie Nel Photography Blog

The Mighty Zambezi, Luxury and Food Part 1

2012-01-16T15:36:00.001+02:00

So, for the media launch of Jenny Morris’s book that I’ve been writing about, and will still blog lots about, we were fortunate enough to head out to the Zambezi River in Zambia, staying at the magnificent Royal Chundu Lodge, about 50km west of Livingstone. And that was an unusually long sentence. Even more impressive was that my wife was also with me on this trip, and what followed was a fantastic couple of days in a gem of a spot, and fun in the sun with all the other guests there.

I came to the conclusion in the week running up to our departure that it’s probably preferable to get yellow fever than have the after effects of a yellow fever shot. I’m very glad to know that I won’t have to have it again. 3 days of flu like symptoms was my experience. It seems like some others had the same fate, whereas some had no ill-effects at all.

Jenny and Alan Ford, TV producer, at the Cape Town International Airport. We’re ready to roll. Below is part of the Cape contingent. We picked up some more in Johannesburg. Others like John Maytham are seriously seasoned at checking in and did so on their iPads and was by this time sipping espresso’s at Vida e Caffe, departure lounge-side.

Left to right: my wife Nellie, Siba from Drum Magazine, Carmen from Huisgenoot, Juan-Pierre, writer, Ceri, Jenny’s publisher, Marga, Jenny’s assistant and sous chef and Clay Morar, writer, TV presenter and radio personality.

We were meant to fly Air Zambezi, but the airline got grounded the week we were to leave! Royal Chundu Lodge, get this, out of their own pocket, booked us all onto 1time and made sure we arrived! They were unwilling to let us miss out on this experience. Thank you!

We stayed over in Johannesburg at a hotel of which I can’t recall the name, but it was a typical and efficient business hotel. Fabulous breakfast, though.

From Johannesburg to Livingstone, the next morning, we pretty much owned the plane. Jenny went around dishing out eats, and also supplied each one of us with a goodie back on arrival at the airport, including the magnificent book.

I-pods, eating, catching up and also a few winks, were pretty much the way of the 1 hour flight.

First impression of Zambia? (I make a habit of taking note of the smell and atmosphere in a new place as I get off the plane). Hot. Humid. In Libya my first smell was seaweed. Here it was jet-fuel.

As is the case normally, my wife got to know some of the locals immediately, getting to know their family history, fears, dreams and medical history in the time it takes for me to wipe my nose and pick up my bags. Carmen and Ceri was taking some heat already. Note to self at this point: Zambians are friendly. Zambia is hot.

Transferring to a shuttle for the bumpiest ride ever.

Alan acted as our host for the duration of the stay, as he organised this fabulous time for us, and also have been here before. Thanks, Alan!

Arrival at Royal Chundu does not occur without a stretch of dirt road that can give any road on the Dakar Rally a run for its money, in terms of difficulty level at least. However, arriving at the lodge makes it all worth it. Nestled on the banks of the mighty Zambezi river is a gem we were all about to discover. We were greeted with a lunch, orientation and a brief massage while seated at the table. Needless to say the massage made everyone very very keen to stay here.

Here we also got assigned our rooms, made our final introductions, tried getting back to Tweeting, making notes, stretching our legs and generally just relaxing after the travel. To some the thought of possibly not getting on Facebook or Twitter was disastrous, while to some, like me, I was looking forward to some social – and general – media down-time. Ironic that I was to spend time with people working in media the whole week!

Bianca (who would end up being the only one to catch a tiger fish the whole week!) and Liezel having their pics taken with Jenny. As the week drew on, I needed to take loads of these to supply to social pages and the like.

To see what Clayton was Tweeting, better check out @claymorar. He is part of the local Twitterati, if ever there was such a thing.

After lunch, we were all dispatched to our different cabins. Jenny and her husband David, and Nellie and I, were to stay on Katombora Island, or the Island Lodge about 15 minutes up-river, while the others stayed at the River Lodge. This caters more for couples and honeymooners, and sports slightly bigger cabins.

To get to the Island Lodge we were transported using a flat-deck catamaran cruising at a leisurely pace, while with every trip the possibility of seeing hippo’s or crocodiles were imminent, and seeing many kinds of bird-life.

Arrival at The Island is the same every time. A huge smile from a impeccably dressed porter, your luggage being taken away on your behalf, and a steep climb to a piece of heaven.

Although I set foot on the island, I don’t think it ever touched the ground, as the island’s cabins are all connected with a deck system leading from the jetty to a central lounge.

In the next instalment I’ll start showing you the amazing facilities, the gin and tonic sunset cruise, dinners and the like. Also I am editing a video of our stay, so watch this space closely.

I’ll also be talking a bit more about the other guests, anecdotes and the food, the people and my thoughts on travel and the like.

Wedding: A&D, Solms-Delta

2012-01-12T15:49:00.000+02:00

It’s a real big kick for me if I get to shoot one of my commercial clients’ weddings, every time such an opportunity comes up. It has happened a number of times now, which I’m grateful for. Not only does it allow you into a very special and personal part of a client’s life, but also allows you to reward their loyalty and trust in you.

In this case, the client and I have been doing work together for 8 years, shooting PR and ad campaigns, and having a good relationship always. However, as much as I need to impress him, it is of no use if his bride-to-be does not approve. I’m very grateful that she did, and what an easy subject she turned out to be to boot!

Horses make up a big part of her life, so it was decided that she would enter the ceremony on a horse, so prior to the ceremony starting, I had a short while to familiarise myself with equestrian photography! As it was not her own horse either, she just needed a couple of minutes to whisper to it or whatever it is that horse-people do. At this point in time it is maybe necessary to point out that I’ve had a rather “grounded” relationship with horses (ok, 1 horse). I remember being dragged through grass and also not being able to sit on a wooden chair for a couple of days after the ride.

Horses are decidedly beautiful creatures, and this one is no exception, and allowed me a couple of touching moments. Literally, it allowed me to touch it. I also took some nice pics of it and the bride.

Different photographers might point at different situations or conditions or even people to be a wedding photographers biggest enemy, including bad light, overbearing family members, over-zealous point-and-shoot-guest-photographers, difficult customers or such things. I have to put up there the problem of heat.

The gorgeous Solms-Delta Estate in Franschhoek decidedly was the recipient of a sun-flare that day. Why is this a problem? Try holding a 40 deg C camera body to your face, keep your eyes sweat-free, your hands dry, your face dry, your spectacles dry and your smile steady, while the noon-day (yup, noon wedding) sun batters you. The heat eventually made for a great picnic reception next to a river, as most (male) guests stripped down to board shorts and spent the afternoon bathing in the cool mountain stream.

Meet Spence, the best…man? Anyways, Spence has been on the staff roll of companies where his boss worked, even with profile and pic on the company website, so the lad was chosen to be the ring bearer. Awesome dog.

Something deserves to be said about these two pictures. The only way I could cool dow….. get this shot, was wading into the pond to hip height. Whether the the image merits such effort, I leave up to the observer, but it certainly was worth it in sun-stroke prevention. Also it made me look really and utterly committed to my art to those observing. And a rather unpleasant experience of putting my boots back on.

The wedding happened at a great leisurely pace, befitting a summer picnic, and so were the sessions I had with the couple. They would wine, dine and socialise a bit, before embarking on a foray into the forest for some photos, then frolicking about in the river, then some more pics and so the afternoon passed. Hence, what might seem to the average event organiser, a rather strange chronological arrangement to the images.

A hit on the day was a photo booth to one side of the reception, where guests could entertain themselves with silly costumes and photos. This was not managed by myself, but is a great idea for weddings in this setting. Naturally I could not let the two of them go without getting them in their own booth.

After much dancing, and especially some ethnic moves from the groom on Johnny Clegg’s “Impi”, the dusk started falling and it was time for the couple to disappear into the future.

Food Network UK & Jenny Morris

2011-12-19T14:49:00.001+02:00

View the BTS interviews, thoughts and all that, from the shoot with Jenny for Food Network UK.

So earlier this year Jenny Morris got signed on by Food Network UK, the pay channel focusing on food. This is a huge scoop, as Jenny will now be seen in homes and kitchens all over Europe and Asia, and possible in time, the US. Filming of the first series starts in January in none other than Morocco, one of Jenny’s haunts in world travel.

It couldn’t happen at a better time, as this year Jenny also released her long awaited “Cooking with Jenny Morris” recipe book, that I had the privilege to shoot, and we’ll still discuss in this blog in coming weeks.

However, in the interim, Food Network commissioned me to shoot Jenny’s international PR and publicity material. What a a fab day. Joleta Keane, my favourite make-up ally, was in the for day, fighting some early pregnancy nausea, but she’s a trooper and made Jenny look fab.

For a quick vibe of the day, see the video, and here I’ll just post a bunch of the pics.

This pic was the first of the day, more or less as a make-up test shot, but I like the vibe and decided to do some shots in this setting. I’ve found that the first bunch of pics of any given portrait shoot is more settling in, getting the sitter comfortable and “feeling” out the vibe. A lot of these images gets chucked early on. However, in some instances, you don’t have that luxury, and you need to capture the shot within the first five minutes, or it’s all going to go downhill from that. Not all people have the ability to stay focused and relaxed.

I have found with people like Jenny that initially must get a winner shot, which builds her confidence and then the rest of the day she just keeps getting better and stronger in front of the camera. However, and this is not exaggeration, on a full-day shoot like this, the poor subject gets smile fatigue and tired. This starts to show later on, so short bursts of shots helps keep everything fresh.

I’m a big fan of the environmental portrait, as the person is more comfortable here, it tells you even more about the subject and you normally get to play with a mixture of available light and flash. As much fun as shooting strictly flash-lit portraits are, a good mix of available light just cements the local atmosphere and ambience. For lifestyle type shots like the above it is also essential.

Jenny’s kitchen studio is also great, as it has a funky urban design interior, but the most gorgeous little alley outside, giving you the sense that you’re somewhere in Greece or Portugal. The cover for her book (front and back), was shot in this little alley. The textures and shapes all add to the ambience and story that is being told about Jenny.

Since images like these get used in all types of media, online, print, lifestyle, advertising, posters, avatars, etcetera. I find it is very useful to shoot in a variety of styles. Newspapers and magazines have different requirements in terms of style and one size does not fit all, so to speak. From airy available light lifestyle vibes, to more conservative, publicity portrait lighting, to proper studio lighting. Apart from the fact that this variety is in the interest of the client, it also keeps thing interesting for me.

In this case we also needed to shoot a food image, so we had a set-up that I could get this done, while Joleta was touching up on Jenny’s hair and makeup. Dual set-ups in high turnaround shoot days are a huge help. In this way the subject can move in-between sets, without having to wait around for me to get my gear set-up, and also to have food-setups ready or product setups or whatever the need may be on the day.

What was particularly cool about this shoot was all the locations. We did about three set-ups at Jenny’s studio, we went to her home where we did pics in her garden and then off to my studio, for more conventional PR portraits.

This does create a bit of work, and also some urgency on getting things done, but the variety is priceless in my opinion.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that Jenny’s house is situated on a beautiful piece of land, overlooking the Cape and Table Mountain with huge lavender bushes in her garden and a bit of cloud cover to soft-box the light. Fill-in was used in most places though.

Jenny and I have been working together for the last four years, and have built up a great repoir and work-flow together. It helps so much if your subject trusts you to make them look their best. Some people simply does not seem to understand that it is in my best interest that they look good. Often times people seem to think I’m waiting for that one shot where they look stupid, so I can create a viral email out of it and take the mickey out of it. Luckily, between Jenny and me the understanding and mutual symbiosis is understood and respected. We have fun, laugh and get the shots.

Now, about makeup and retouching. Yes, I do recommend both. No, it’s not dishonest, in most cases, as you don’t go out into the street without brushing your teeth. Your teeth is not naturally clean and minty-smelling, it takes some grooming. We present ourselves all the time. I’m not for excessive retouching or overdoing things, naturally, but I do advise all people, where possible to make use of a makeup artist. Photography does not conceal normally, it is more likely to reveal. I don’t need to explain the problem that develops with this characteristic of the medium, once you start photographing persons over the age of twenty five who does not have perfect skin.

Did I do any retouching on Jenny’s face? OBVIOUSLY NOT!

Running Wild

2011-11-23T01:21:00.001+02:00

It’s not that I don’t like blogging, in fact, I love it. At last count, I tried to maintain 5 of the things. It’s just, I’ve been really busy, with a workload not befitting one individual. I’m typing this blog at 1:14.AM.

So all I’m telling you is that I’ve been to Zambia last week, with Jenny Morris, to stay at the most beautiful Royal Chundu Lodge, on the mighty Zambezi river. As I’ll be blogging about this extensively, all I’ll tell you is that 4 days away, and 4 weeks of insanity before that, has left me a bit thin on the blogging efforts.

I’m positively choked up with all the stories and shoots I want to blog, but just haven’t had the time. So please be patient. Soon and very soon I’ll get back on track.

I just got a new laptop after my other one had a melt-down last month, and I was restricted to my workstation at work, where the machine couldn’t stay ahead with conversion and retouching. Generally I blog at night, so now that I have a machine to take home again, I’ll be getting more time here.

Posts to look forward to:

The making of “Cooking with Jenny Morris” with videos and BTS images.
Shooting Continental 2011, with video and bts images.
Zambia 2011 with Jenny Morris, John Maythan, Liezel van der Westhuizen, Alan Ford, Clayton Morar and Bianca Coleman, to name but a few.
Svenmill 2011 – shooting decor in a factory
A couple of weddings
Shooting an glamour portrait of an editor
and too many others to remember. And I made sure that there were videos shot on most every shoot, so watch this space.

Anyways, till very soon, hang tight, high with hope, down with dope and don’t run with scissors, or pour water on acid.

Table Mountain - A Cape Town Wonder

2011-11-12T14:26:00.000+02:00

To licence RF or order print, contact http://www.nelimages.com/

Last night, our dear Table Mountain, was chosen as one of the 7 New Wonders of the World. This is a big deal for Cape Tonians, as in some way or the other, our lives are influenced by this majestic rock daily.

Either you use it as a way to align yourself with direction ("towards the mountain" is a universally accepted wind-direction for us. "Away from the mountain" is seldom said, since this leaves most of us with a nagging feeling of discomfort, so we rather just say "Towards Bellville", which for most people who live in the City Bowl, in the shadow of the mountain, is akin to saying "Towards Cairo"), or a happy place to look at and feel some sense of calm. Even from my very semi-industrial enclave in the suburbs, I can see Table Mountain. Ok, from my porch at the studio, looking over a petrol station, I can see it.

To licence RF or order print, contact http://www.nelimages.com/

Well, photographers don't escape the influence of the moutain either. Or at least I don't. Whether I'm shooting scenics, showing our beautiful outcrop, or whether I'm shooting a portrait of Ryan O'Connor, or a wedding for foreign visitors (infront and on the mountain), cars for a magazine with the mountain peeping out over the skyline, bottles of wine for an advert dropped in over the mountain with a clever catchline... or out at Blouberg beach with my family. She always crops up somewhere.

License RF from http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-43210891/stock-photo-table-mountain-over-table-bay-from-bloubergstrand-beach-cape-town-south-africa.html

The view from Table Mountain is 360 degrees of amazing sights. There is nothing in the way, except the odd cloud now and again. But for the most part, the view from Cape Town's beacon is gorgeous. In every direction.

To licence RF or order print, contact http://www.nelimages.com/

Ryan O'Conner for MyWeek, 2009. Contact http://www.nelimages.com/ for Editorial License

Wedding 2011

Wedding 2010

To licence RF or order print, contact http://www.nelimages.com/

Who wouldn't want to practice water-sports against a backdrop like that? Even if you wipe out primo, people can still see your body get wrecked but the Atlantic against a tranquil backdrop. The wind in this area is also generally good for wind- and kitesurfing enthusiasts.

Wedding 2009

To licence RF or order print, contact http://www.nelimages.com/

License RF from http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=53344939

License RF from http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=55804522

To licence RF or order print, contact http://www.nelimages.com/

All in all, as I hope you can see, we're very privileged to have this rock crop out over us, and we are very clever to live where we do. I'm just grateful that Cape Town and those custodians of its brand, has taken a very keen angle on promoting all things Cape Town. We've been chosen as the host city for the World Design Capital 2014 initiative, we made a huge success of the FIFA 2010 leg in Cape Town, and are continually pushing forward the image and beauty of our fair city.

Shooting some Rice

2011-10-10T17:39:00.001+02:00

A while ago I had the great opportunity to shoot with Jenny Morris again, but not on her book, as I've been doing for a good part of the winter. This time around we were shooting for Spekko Rice, with Susan Bosman picking up styling duties, and Jenny designing the recipes.

We had 3 days in her studio, and as always it was a fun affair at the "Cook's Playground".

If you thought rice was not an interesting food to shoot, or that there is not a lot you can do with it, think again. I've never had so many different types of rice dishes, ever, and I'm still quite amazed how a little grain plant from obscure paddies in Asia can be used in such culinary masterpieces.

It's also important when shooting food, and especially over three days, that you mix up the light set-up, in order to avoid it looking the same in every shot, but also to keep it similar enough for the thread of consistency to go through all the images.

I can't let too much out of the bag in terms of shooting the images or what happened behind the scenes. However, I can share some of the results with you! Enjoy, get hungry, and trust me, it tastes as good as it look.

Sorry to do this, but as I've been ripped off I have to put this disclaimer here:

All images on this blog belongs to Danie Nel Photography cc and the commissioning client in its entirety, and any unauthorised copying or usage of these images are strictly prohibited, whether in use for blogs, websites, print or any manner of distribution, except in this blog.

Now with the unpleasantries out of the way, eat your monitor.

Jenny Morris a.k.a. The Giggling Gourmet

The Team (ex Jenny - she had to go and do a radio show when we took this pic). In broad terms it's our culinary assistants for the day, the PR representative for Pioneer Foods and the advertising agency's art director, and me on the right. Second to left is Susan Bosman. For sake of privacy I'll not name the others.

Remember my food photography portfolio is viewable at my website.

Crestock Homepage Image

2011-10-06T07:53:00.000+02:00

This image, from a stock shoot last year, is available today as a free download at Crestock only. Crestock was taken over by Masterfile last year, and has since shown a great improvement. I have a very small portfolio still there, but working on getting it up to 500 images by December.

I'm currently a contributor to 12 microstock sites, and one traditional local stock agency. As you can imagine, keeping all of them fed with a steady supply of images is rather time-consuming on top of all my other work.

Here is a little behind-the-scenes video of the shoot we did on the day.
Make-up: Joleta Keane
Model: Monnique Heydra

In the sidebar you'll see most of the agencies I contribute to, and you can check out my work there. Bear in mind that stock is somewhat different from creative commercial work, and genericism is a key component to this work.

All my stock images is available directly from me as well at nelimages.com. The site is continually getting new images, and is lagging somewhat behind what is available at istock, Shutterstock and the like. You're welcome to request an image you see on there from my portfolio, though, and I can supply directly to you.

Toyota Zone – On Table Mountain

2011-09-09T16:06:00.001+02:00

So a couple of months back I shot the SANPARKS (South African National Parks Board)’s fleet (or small part thereof) on Table Mountain for Toyota’s magazine, Toyota Zone. Yes, Table Mountain is a national park. Now, for those who’s never been at Table Mountain, now you can see what it looks like right on top. It is not set with giant plates and cutlery for the gods, but just beautiful rocks, fynbos (indigenous plant type to the Western Cape of South Africa), a couple of dams and trails. And it’s not very flat. Trust me. I’ve done the South – North hike from Constantia-nek to Platteklip Gorge along the length of the mountain. 6 hours of hard hiking no less.

Getting the vehicles on top of the mountain is done by taking a single service road that was built to get vehicles to the dams on top of the mountain, and for these rangers to be able to travel up and down easily. This road is open to hikers, but not vehicular civilians. The vehicles need to travel through some really hard terrain as they do their patrols and the like, so they don’t play around. It’s Toyota Hi-Lux 4x4’s and Land Cruisers, baby. But not the frilly Prado, shopping centre-hopping variations of off-road transport, built to park on pavements. Nope, the real, hard, no mags and ugly dashboard variety. And, there’s not a lot of cars that just gives you serious “nature” cred like a Land Cruiser with grey steel rims and a bull-bar. No need to spray on your own mud either. You’re bound to get dirty here in the mountains. And guys: chicks AND guys will notice you in this thing.

There’s not a heck of a lot to say about the shoot photography-wise, as its intended market is editorial. It’s just that the location, the view and the rest made for a really enjoyable couple of hours.

The vehicle driving on the trail. That is False Bay to the south.

We had to shoot the rangers around the vehicles as well, which gave things a bit more context. The ranger is holding a shot-gun shell he picked up there. Poaching is real people, right under our noses. Beware though, these guys are armed too. Or if you sneak a midnight cycle up the mountain, you might find yourself being transported back in the back of one of these Toyotas.

On the mountain trail. This could be somewhere in the Karoo too?

At the dams. There is a museum on the other side of the dam. It holds old pumping equipment and such memorabilia. I would venture that this is one of the most inaccessible museums, and probably least visited in the world. It was probably less effort to build a museum than carry all the equipment down again.

As always: proof that I was there.

The view on the way down. That is False Bay in the distance, with Constantia and the Southern Peninsula of Cape Town in the foreground.

Ascent – A Short. Film.

2011-08-24T22:26:00.001+02:00

Danie Nel VIDEO: Ascent - De Kelders, South Africa from Danie Nel on Vimeo.

This short film I shot last year as my brother-in-law was ascending a bouldering route at De Kelders, Western Cape, South Africa. Bouldering is sort of like a work-out for bigger climbs, making your arms strong etc, but a lot of guys specialise in this type of mountaineering. Full length movies are made on bouldering around the world. The Baniff Film Festival shows a couple of these every year.

It helps having someone who climbs mountains, jumps off it (paraglider), runs of it (abseiler), rides to it (just completed a 2-month journey from Johannesburg, north through a bunch of countries, to the Ethiopian border and back, on a motorbike, see www.kronkelpad.co.za), and still plays sub-10 handicap golf. It also helps that he’s a recent convert to filmmaking, so he was quite keen on doing this.

The rest of the team on the day was sister-in-law, Ella, for moral support and climbing the odd route for herself. Also, she and bro just do a lot of stuff together.

And Kris, Ella’s man, and all-around ‘why not?’-guy. He also plays mean guitar, which means we can do stuff together too. He’s very tall so it would be wrong to say he climbs too, he sort of stumbles over them, but he was great as a fall-break, in case Pierre decided to miss a grip or something, and tumble to earth.

Now the beauty of bouldering is that you don’t climb high enough, normally, to make a fall fatal necessarily, but certainly high enough to break a good number of bones. So, if you’re short on a decent mattress, it’s good to have a guy like Kris under you. If you think it’s easy climbing a boulder, cave or small rock portrusion. See if you can do this:

This was taken the morning while doing a quick recce, so he was checking the vibe, and sensing that he’d have a good time trying to climb this. The weird thing about boulderers is that they often start a climb from a lying position. Try pulling yourself up from the ground under a table, and then onto something else. Not that easy.

Coming there late afternoon, the scene was set for some beautiful imagery, gorgeous warm light, and some creative fun.

So this is the route he had to climb. I’m not on firm factual ground here, but I understand that this cave is where De Kelders (The Cellars), gets it’s name. The cave looking like a cellar then. Anyways, that’s close to Gansbaai on the Western South Coast of South Africa. Notice the mattress in the foreground. It helps you not get scratches as your bones break from the fall.

Only having 1 camera available, but wanting to shoot multi-angle meant that he had to do the same route about 3 or 4 times. That’s a lot of climbing. Also, he had to replicate his route every time for me to make seamless editing possible. Also, I had to try figure out how I can shoot this to keep the story coherent, without weird cut-aways, or cut-to’s. The only gear I head was a photo tripod (not a fluid-head) and my camera. Anyways, it took a number to takes, giving him a couple of breaks, and then shooting little odds and ends. Doing the close-ups on his hands meant looking for recognisable grips in the wall, and then shooting it as he used it to hoist or grip.

That’s what your hands look like after a couple of climbs. Nice. Not that that stops these guys from just trying another route. In this case, an old stone wall, just next to the cave.

And it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t try and climb the wall too. It’s fun, you should try it some time. Just make sure there’s not a lot of air between you and the ground when you do it for the first time. It seems to be fantastic full-body workout, cardio exercise and de-stressing exercise.

Knowing that there is only fingertips, knees and toes between you and a chiropractic appointment, does make for the fun element too, and adventure.

The light at this juncture was really warm and beautiful, but not much, and I was starting to hammer the ISO’s to get some shots of us. Also, we had moved on from the cave, and I didn’t really see myself using these as well. After all, the whole reason for doing this was just to have fun. Nothing else. That’s why it’s taken me ten months to get to editing a two-and-a-half minute video.

Next time I’ll do a lot more. Plan more. Have even more fun. Anyone up for Kilimandjaro?

When it came to uploading the video, I had to quickly think of a name, and I’m fairly certain “Ascent” has been used in mountaineering videos, but who cares, it just felt right.

Creation: Forward Thinking

2011-08-12T12:53:00.001+02:00

This is one reason why I enjoy working with the clients I do. Look at how nicely Creation Wines has integrated video tasting notes I have filmed for them into their social media and web mix. If you click on the pic, you’ll be taken to their Facebook page, by the way. Not just that, but their bottles are now equipped with QR codes, so by using your smart-phone, you can scan the code, and instantly be transported to a guided tasting by Carolyn, right there in the supermarket! When in their tasting room, you can Tweet or FB your findings, by using the ipad supplied to you for this purpose! Now if that isn’t clever, then neither was Einstein.

Youtube and Vimeo hosts a number of channels dedicated to wine tasting. Some of these channels entertain a rabid following. Now image how much a mention of your video, or a link, can help with getting buyers from across the globe interested in your product. This is true for all types of business in fact.

As bandwidth and online technology allows more and more, it will become difficult to supply customers only with still images in marketing. I’m ready for the challenge, and have steadily been shooting more and more video for various applications.

Herewith an example – please note: resolution is kept low, as the ultimate idea is for mobile devices, ultra-fast loading and small screens.

Music Video: Hosea Said

2011-08-11T23:06:00.001+02:00

So after 7 years of listening to this song, it takes a sudden urge (and the need to test something on my camera), to come up with this little video. About an hour of shooting, and an hour or two of editing, no concept to speak of, I came up with this video for my song (I’m a passionate amateur muso – I give all my music away at http://danienel.bandcamp.com or http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/Danie_Nel ).

Challenges? No hands to help. So sync, music, framing, focusing… everything, I needed to do. But it was a great exercise. Now imagine if I had a solid concept, storyboard and the like worked out, what I could’ve accomplished. I liked the idea of a dramatic black-and-white portrait, in motion, and then the idea of the papers and jets came about after I started thinking through the lyrics to get something to peg it to visually, without giving the game away. Just a fun reference, the works visually, but even at a stretch, ties in with the lyrics.

Now imagine your company, product, band… let’s chat.

You can hit me up at www.facebook.com/danienelmusic if you wish to connect. My music is on www.last.fm, www.jango.com, www.jamendo.com …. to name but a few internet stations. Feel free to listen to my stuff anywhere, and download and (please) share to your heart’s content.

Ford Mustang GT shoot for Jack Daniels

2011-07-25T22:06:00.001+02:00

A Mustang is a smoking hot guitar. Seriously, it’s even cooler up close, and way cooler once you start the engine. I’m not a petrol-head by a long shot, but I can appreciate a well-built and appealing car. And this car is appealing. And I shot it. I can add it to the Nissan GT-R, Audi R8, Aston Martin DBs, Jag XFR’s and a host more seriously sick cars I’ve had the privilege to shoot.

The images are for Jack Daniels who is currently running a competition where you can win this desirable vehicle. So, I needed to make it look every bit as hot as it is. Also, the car will be presented in a very special way to the public, but I’m not sure if I’m at liberty to discuss that, so I’ll let you see the press for details.

It helps a lot when you’re shooting these type of things in a proper studio, fitted with a revolve, huge curve and proper lighting. BTW – the lighting was a mix of HMI and red-heads, Kinoflow and a DIY kino-vibe things, standing around in the studio. Normally I work with flash, but shooting cars with continuous light helps, as you’re always aware of what you’ll see even as you look at the car.

Here you can see two kino’s. I basically just used them for edging the black car on a black background. Top lighting and reflectors were the mains. And could you blame the team for wanting pics? Represented in the pics are Jack Daniels, Bletchley Park, Car Magazine, and … me.

And I couldn’t resist being photographed with the ultimate BAT-MOBILE!!!! This is so sad, I know, but I can’t help it. That car is just too hot. And I’m turning into a middle-aged teen-ager. Ok, that’s ott. A 32-year old teenager.

Moet & Chandon: Marc Brevot

2011-07-21T16:29:00.001+02:00

I think I might’ve mentioned that I really like my job. More like love it. Anyways, in case you forgot, I’ll just say that I do love my job.

This time around I was lucky enough to shoot Marc Brevot, winemaker for Moet & Chandon Champagne, France. Now, if you’re not into wine and things, it won’t have much impact on you, but it’s not unlike shooting the chief designer for BMW or innovation manager for Google… you catch my drift. It’s probably the biggest, or close to, champagne brand in the world. It’s cool knowing these iconic brands from afar, and then meeting the people making it happen day to day. It’s even better because the task of creating images for his local publicity was entrusted to me, with my well-known passion for corporate and business publicity imagery.

Now, I will confess my initial fear of most Frenchmen will be that they might be a tad, … hmmmm, unfriendly, with a bit of haute …aspects to their demeanour. I must confess, my next three encounters with successful, cultured Frenchmen were quite the opposite. They were friendly, professional, fun, and great to work with. As one would expect of a brand ambassador, of sorts.

Also, the location was the Ellerman House, one of the smartest hotels you’re likely to encounter. Ever. Based in Bantry Bay, it’s not as in disgusting, ridiculous opulence, more just like exclusivity and service beyond the norm. That’s why you’ll see the name Lance Armstrong among others scribbled on the kitchen’s guest room service orders…

Also, the shoot was organised in a bit of a rush, due to some unforeseen circumstances on the marketing end, and I was called upon rather suddenly. Hence I showed up at the shoot, at this very prestigious location, for a prestigious brand, in shorts and sandals. Niiiiice. Well, the client was awesome about it, and after a while of shooting, I was glad that that was what I was wearing.

Anyways, herewith some pics… and then the highlight. Important to remember with these type of images are that they need to be generic to the point that most any publication will use them, so as tempting as it might be to go completely OTT with creativity, usability is of utmost importance, and thus mileage for the PR-campaign.

And then, as a wine-lover, I was obviously eyeing the bottles of Moet standing around, and wondering if I’d get to taste. Better. I got to sit down with Marc, and over a glass of Moet & Chandon Grande Vintage 2002 I was given an introduction to Moet.

Marc Brevot and I having a glass of bubbly.

www.danienel.co.za will take you to my portfolio of publicity images.

Weddings: W&H

2011-07-08T16:26:00.001+02:00

Some people are just instantly likeable. Some people are just as easily photographable. That is what makes wedding photography special – synergy of creative to subject, event to moment, and the serendipity of meeting really cool people, in really intimate settings.

Herewith some images from W & H’s wedding at Stellenrust, Stellenbosch. Rain stayed away just long enough for us to have a great outdoors wedding, and a grand old time shooting in the vineyard. Enjoy.

A little groveling…

2011-07-01T22:22:00.001+02:00

I’m a musician for fun, as some of you might know. Please go ahead and click on the button above and nominate me for the Jamendo Awards. I don’t do music for money, but if I can win a couple of bob, why not? In fact, all my music is free/pay-what-you-want.

After you’ve nominated me, why don’t you go and download all my music for free (only requirement is that you share it with a mate, burn a CD,blog it, Tweet it, or Facebook the link)/Pay-what-you-want at:

http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/Danie_Nel

http://danienel.bandcamp.com

30 Second Portrait: Neil Stemmet

2011-06-15T16:18:00.001+02:00

Chase Jarvis has a 60 second portrait, but for me that is too long. Some other film-makers have variations on the theme. It’s been used countless times in ads etc. As a portraitist, I really do like the 30 second “exposure” one has. It’s a portrait, but a bit more.

This is Neil Stemmet.

30 Second Portrait: Neil Stemmet from Danie Nel on Vimeo.

Watch this space.

Wedding: T&J

2011-06-13T11:14:00.001+02:00

So, another couple from Europe decided to utilise my services for their wedding earlier this year. As always, it was a short, 2 hour affair, involving a guest-house for legal proceedings, and then a world-class venue for the ceremony, which is always small. In this case, 6 of us in total. The guest-house was somewhere in Tamboerskloof, where I signed as witness, as usual, and then we proceeded to Oude Kraal Beach, which strangely enough, I’ve never been to. As a Cape Town resident, it shames me to admit that I’ve been missing out on this beautiful little beach, right here in Cape Town.

Without saying too much about the wedding or the photography, all I can say is that is was good fun, bright sunlight, cool water and a great family. If we can bring people like these to our shores every year to have their weddings, we’d be doing ourselves a huge favour, as they bring passion and excitement about our country that we ourselves so often lack. The groom has worked as a physician in one of our hospitals in the past, and decided to bring his family out here for the wedding. Let’s keep inspiring people to come back. And get married here. And use me as their photographer!

To photographers: I used two lenses on this shoot only. I used a 70-200m f2.8 and a 17-40mm f4. I’ve found restricting yourself to a couple of lenses forces you to think and experiment. It was the first time I’ve used this particular lens-workflow. Since then I’ve used it many times, but with a 50mm prime thrown in there as well. I also didn’t use any flash on this wedding, which is unusual for me, as I’m quite keen on off-camera flash.

Herewith a couple of highlights:

I’ve been CAPTURED…

2011-05-27T22:49:00.001+02:00

by the skill of Philip du Plessis – my previous assistant. This time he has done a great job of doing a illustration of me in my trademark gear: white long-sleeve t-shirt, with a Batman T-Shirt over it, my Q-Strap Double, my 2 5D’s, long and mid-lenses, and a goofy smile! He’s also made sure to show my extremely masculine arms, rigidly proper posture and glowing cheeks! Compare this to…

This was done last year. Love this one to bits too!

Catch up with him and see Philip’s work at http://philustrations.blogspot.com/

And this is Philip with his chum, Cyril Ramaphosa. Shot at a Black Umbrellas event. Hey Phily, now we’re even.

Wedding: C+V

2011-05-20T21:05:00.001+02:00

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged a wedding, and as it stands, I’m rather behind on blog-posts. Without saying too much, we were (Philip joined me for the day) fortunate enough to shoot a gorgeous wedding for a couple from Australia, with about sixty of their friends, at Churchhaven in the West Coast National Park. We were only there for 2 hours, but fun we did have and the couple was a joy to work with. Enjoy a couple of outtakes.

Apart from the event organiser having to phone me on the way to organise toilet-paper as the venue had suddenly run out, there was also the question of blistering sun and wind. Wind as only it can blow on the West Coast. But as I’ve said ad nauseum: get lemons, make lemonade. I’ve always found that apart from the discomfort on the day, wind makes for beautiful pictures. Dresses show better when blown about a bit, and I’m a sucker for wind-swept hair. It all just suits the whole mystery of the bride. Anyways, herewith, as promised some more pictures.

Libya Prints

2011-05-06T23:36:00.001+02:00

Almost 2 years after going to Libya, I’ll be taking out some prints for the first time. About a hundred of the images are available through stock portals, but I haven’t printed any, except as a present for a mate, and one of two for a collage in my living room. I was asked to participate in an artist’s market at a retail complex and thought it might be a good idea.

It’s also ironic, since currently a civil war is raging in Libya, whereas when I was there in 2009, it was the most peaceful and safe place I’ve ever been to! Looking through the images does bring back fond memories of a great place, that hopefully I can visit again soon. Most of the images are from the Medina (old walled city) in Tripoli.

I also took hundreds of photos in the Roman ruins around Sabratha and Leptis Magna. The ones I selected for this exercise felt more decor-suitable to me, and also had way more meaning to me. The ruins are typical of documentation, whereas these images I have a rather more artistic and emotional response to. The doors in the Medina intrigued me, so hence a lot of door pics. A walk at dusk through the medina, and the accompanying smells and sounds will stay with me for quite some time still.

I still need to get the images in catalogue format on nelimages.com to make orders possible, and also to get the whole collection up. All the images are also sold and available as royalty free stock images.

Herewith the some of the images… Contact me if you’re interested in purchasing. A variety of formats, finishes and frames can be applied.

Shooting film for fun – Yashica LM 6x6

2011-04-29T00:14:00.001+02:00

I’ve been quite busy, and with the barrage of holidays thrown at us, it makes it difficult for a self-employed individual to get to posting blogs on top of getting around to all other things entailed in being a pro shooter. Well, I must be honest, I’ll rather wait for next week and the reality of 5 day weeks to kick in again, before I post something that seems too much like work to you guys. So, I’ll go ahead and post some of the things I do for kicks.

I trained and fell in love with photography long before digital hit. I’m a qualified colour hand printer, black and white printer, large format, medium format etcetera shooter. I still find myself doing +1/3 compensations on readings for the Kodak 100VS tranny film I was so fond of. But truth be told, I don’t miss film as a work medium. I think digital is and will be the only viable medium for work. Also, 11 years after working in a darkroom, I still have issues with damaged skin on my hands due to (negligent) use of argentothyosulphite developers. The digital/film debate was settled in my mind around 2004, I think. I’m not getting into that though, it’s about as exciting as the Canon/Nikon debate to me anyways. Which is just below clipping my toenails.

I have 3 film cameras that I play with. This means: no light-meter, expired, like really ancient film, cheap pharmacy film, Holga-isque shooting techniques, having fun. There’s a saying: film’s not dead it just smells funny. I have a Yashica LM TLR (Bought circa 1998), a Pentax K1000 (my first slr, bought when I was 16) and a Canon AE-1, bought last year for a song.

Today, I’ll be posting images I shot with my Yashica LM TLR camera. It was manufactured between 1958-1962, so it’s kinda, ok, very old. The ‘LM’ stands for ‘light-meter’, which is ironic, as I purposefully don’t use it, and I’m certain it’s broken anyways. Its lens is not sharp anymore, and a bit battered, but I love the box-feel, and I love the rustic, retro vibe of walking around with it, freaking ipod-kids out and then the 6x6 format.

The film: Ilford XP1, expired circa 1993 (seriously), obtained from my old lecturer. About 12 rolls. I still have a couple left. Ilford XP1 was discontinued in 1991 and replaced by XP2. When I started studying in 1997 XP2 was the standard for C41 black and white (chromogenic) films. Which is also useful for me now, as I’m not keen on having to dig out my Patterson tanks and buy Ilford ID-11.

Shooting these images has a lot to do with charm, and the knowledge that I have no, absolutely no, commercial value to these images. It’s out of the box, in the box, through the box, whatever I want, reckless, fun, for me, for kicks… and I love the suspense of processing a bunch of films that I’ve spent 3 months haphazardly filling up. It’s not fun getting to pay it afters. Jeez, I’m glad that part of my life is sort of over! I really love a lot of these images, because I was there and it makes sense to me. Sorry, but I have to allow myself some indulgence.

Since I spend a lot of my free time with my kids, it stands to reason that they’d show up on some of these images. Bear with me.

Academia vs Real Life

2011-04-12T23:17:00.000+02:00

Who's your daddy? Moi and my wife. I was the last of 691 students on the night to graduate. The last. I waited 2 and a half hours to collect my degree. Last. Like, totally, 690 people before me. As I went up to collect they started to switch off the lights (just kidding about the last bit).

I have mentioned on and off during the last two years, especially when speaking about stock photography, that I'm finishing up my B.Tech degree in Photography at www.cput.ac.za , after getting the diploma in '99. It took 10 years to take the step to do the extra part-time years to get degree, but finally I did.

I'll pop a couple of the images from my final portfolio in here as we go along. All the images are availabe from me directly at www.nelimages.com or through any of the microstock portals you see on the side here.

My take on the practical? Part of my research was tracking the performance of my own images. How can they fail me if the images are selling commercially? I felt that was a rather fail-safe approach to practical work! I totally shied away from making the "pretty" portfolio, but rather focused on showing a profitable portfolio. Not something that students, or lecturers, except in this case mine, can appreciate. When one is a student, you're bright-eyed and naive about commercial art. We forget that commercial means "to please others enough to give you cash". Most artists find that completely horrible, but me on the other hand, I'm naturally rather fond of seeing people happy around me, and if they're willing to pay me for my personality trait, so be it. I shoot the artsy stuff for myself.

Thoughts on studying and running your own business at the same time?

- Do not kid yourself and think because you work for yourself, you'll suddenly have the ability to study during work-hours. Your clients thinks otherwise. In the two years of study, I was able to study at work once. Another couple of times I was able to push in a couple of hours at a coffee shop, with Philip still working for me, before hitting the studio. Most of the time, after ten at night while the family was sleeping. Much like I'm doing now.
- No amount of book knowledge can make up for the hard-graft knowledge you get by working and earning.
- Don't complain about studying, you wanted it, so finish it. You don't complain about having work, do you? Do you?!
- The internet is a vast source of unverified, spit-balled, contradictory and questionable research material. Wikipedia, especially, is suspect at best. But good for general knowledge. Not submissable as a reference in a bachelors degree course anyways.
- Your lecturer might not understand what your thesis is about, since you've worked in the market much longer than they have. As long as they're enthusiastic and supportive, though, and can read objectively, it's invaluable. Irvine helped me get this one through the ravine. He is not an art-director. Took me time to get used to this again.
- Academia is terribly self-indulgent and idealistic. Commercial photography is about pleasing others.
- Earning a degree will make no difference to what you're earning if you're self-employed. Kinda obvious, that, but I get asked the question quite a bit. I completed it as it was on my bucket-list, basically. Also it gave me and excuse and the tools to research the impact of microstock imagery of commercial photography, and left my wide-eyed in what has happened since the launch of istockphoto in 2001. So in a way, earning this degree has made me aware of the fact that I might be earning less one day. (Unless I get infront of the wave.)

I feel young, but on campus a 32 year-old is old. I got called 'oom' (uncle) by 3 young guys in a 4x4 at the McDonald's today. I wanted to protest, till it dawned on me that I'm probably 14 years older than they are. These were my class-mates basically.

CHEFS: Peter Ayub

2011-04-05T16:18:00.000+02:00

I'm a believer in personal projects. Just shooting "to be creative" is too wide for me. I need to narrow my focus down to something that I can conceptualise, and more importantly, sustain over months or years. Wax Lyrical is a project on musicians that I've been doing since 2001. I don't shoot for it often, but when I do I enjoy it tremendously. It has spawned two exhibitions in 2001 and 2002.

However, since I've been shooting a lot of food, I've been working with chefs a lot the last decade, and they're every bit as passionate about their game, as musicians are. During my work on "A touch of Rooibos", the idea started to form that I want to do a project just on chefs. Stereotyping of chefs abound, but I found that though they share some similarities, there is so much personality in each one, it's worth a portrait. Also, since cheffing has become quite the celebrity game, people has since also started to like looking at pics of chefs.

So after a couple of years of thinking about it, I went into shoot mode, and chef number one is Peter Ayub, proprietor of http://www.senseoftaste.co.za/ , a fine food catering company, also doing fun cooking school evenings. The reason I chose him first is because he is my direct neighbour, for starters, but also, he is bona fide chef. He is passionate about food, and more importantly, brings his own air to the persona of chef. In his case: tattoos, love for Windhoek Lager, Liverpool, and some aggression. The latter you'll find as with most "aggressive" types, is only skin-deep, and his a helluva nice guy to anyone not standing in his way when his cooking. And he refuses to endorse anything if he doesn't really believe in it. No money for package dry herbs ads, thanks.

I asked him to bring along something, maybe a knife, that says something about him, or that he's fond of. He brought a pint of lager.

Below follows some of the outtakes of the shoot at my studio. Final presentation of the project will most probably be web only for now. I still need to shoot so much anyways, that there's no point in worrying about that now. Enjoy.

Watch this space for more info on Chefs.

Wedding: S&M

2011-04-04T15:12:00.001+02:00

Half-way through my holiday in Gansbaai/De Kelders, I had to pop back to Cape Town to shoot two weddings. The first which I blogged about here. The second one, after my Wellington job, started in Camp’s Bay and found its way all the way to Sunset Beach, on the Western parameter of Cape Town, ending off at Bloubergstrand. All these locations spell one thing: wind. But, I like wind in pictures, although I don’t like shooting in it, the final images are always just that much more real. It gives that great wind-swept feel to the dress and the bride’s hair.

The couple had 1 guest, their daughter. The rest of us were a couple of okes from a drum circle, supplying the ambience, myself, the priest, the videographer and the agent. They were tourists from Germany.

When the drum circle supplies music, most of the time, the couple engages afterwards, and in this case it was no different. So afterwards, we all sat in for a 15 minute drumming session, before finishing our champers and heading out to the beach and making great images.

Afterwards (read 7pm), I, windswept and lekker tired, got in my car, fetched my wife (she also came in to work for the day), headed back to De Kelders to go and spend New Year’s with the family, playing pool, having a couple of frosties and eating like kings.

Simply Asia

2011-03-23T16:13:00.001+02:00

As a photographer it’s a great experience to walk into shops, homes, book-stores, mag stands or drive by billboards and see your work. To realise that your work has been viewed millions and millions of times, is sometimes a bit daunting! I’ve been shooting magazines for more than 11 years, advertising, stock, books, PR releases, bands, etc etc etc. Some mags that I’ve been published in has 1 000 000+ readers per week.Even the internet these days supply me with surprises! That’s where shooting weddings (which I also do) doesn’t quite get close. It’s great to walk into a house and see your wedding pics on a wall, but knowing your images were blown up to 9mx5m and put up over Johannesburg Central taxi rank, or 4mx6m at Gugulethu taxi rank and left there for a month… well, the eyes parading over your work certainly does increase. If I was clever, I’d like to calculate how many views it gets. Through Shutterstock alone I’ve sold just under 2000 images…. how many people have viewed those final artworks?

Anyways, the reason I post this is just that I walked past Simply Asia this morning, and saw my images up on their posters, and was reminded of shoot we did in the hottest day in January to get those images. The agency was Network BBDO. Herewith some images and memories. Many were taken with my BlackBerry, so bear with me. Yes, we do eat the leftovers and food. I know you wonder.

Despite the incredible heat of the day, coffee was a necessity as in all shoots.

Because of the heat, and also because of the high flaming possibilities of Thai Cooking, the chef thought it prudent to move the stove to the porch, where it just happened to be a tad cooler. On this day we gave my neighbours, www.senseoftaste.co.za, a run for their money with great flavours! The food stylist for the day was Lisa Clark. Not too much to say on the photographic front, only that it’s not as easy as it seems to shoot “simple” food shots. Because the food is so prominent, the styling and photography needs to be spot on.

Lessons learned? Air-cons must be worth every single penny.