2018-05-30 - Cape Town

Discovery Foundation Awards - Week 3 - Western Cape

We flew Mango to Cape Town on Monday morning.  The airport was completely crazy with people, colour and noise enough to wake the dead and seriously confuse the living.  Michelle and I had endless fun - ha - lugging equipment through airport traffic to the rental car.

We spent the rest of the day getting settled in, finding the best places to eat, admiring the views from Signal Hill,  and getting ready for the week's photoshoots at Grootte Schuur Hospital & UCT.

2018-05-22 - KwaZulu Natal - Behind the Scenes

Discovery Foundation Awards week two.

This week we are in KwaZulu Natal, photographing doctors at various regional and district hospitals.  

The KwaZulu Natal Health Department has some very helpful people in the communications and public relations fields who have been assisting us in getting permission to photograph doctors and patients in their facilities.

We are staying at Jakita's Guest House in Ballito - absolutely wonderful - you can book your Ballito stay at Booking.com.  

2018-05-17 - Discovery Foundation Awards - Behind the scenes

It's that time of year again.  

The Discovery Foundation will soon be publishing a new set of their wonderful books on the remarkable South African doctors who recently received Discovery Foundation Awards for commitment and excellence in various fields.

We are travelling all over the country to photograph these amazing people, taking both formal portraits and trailing the doctors around the hospitals, clinics and laboratories to capture a glimpse of what their work is really all about.

We kicked off the project last week in Gauteng, with three photoshoots in three days and a portrait shoot at the SunshineCo Jozi studio over the weekend.  The gas heaters they provided kept us all toasty during the early morning cold snap and were much appreciated by the doctors - not to mention the photographer!

This week we are shooting in KwaZulu Natal - we'll keep you posted.

2018-05-11 - Bonsai - Watching a Master at Work

♦︎ 盆栽 ♦︎ ぼんさい ♦︎ bonsai 

On Monday we had another fun photoshoot with Antony Smith - a well known name among bonsai aficionados in South Africa.  Antony runs the Willow Bonsai Shop in Pretoria and is also in charge of the Bonsai Addicts club.

Antony also recently won the SABA Photographic Competition Indigenous section with a photo we took of his Ficus burtt-davyi nana (veld fig tree) of 14cm tall and a 3cm thick trunk (The same tree shown here).

Antony has been training this 12-year-old tree for the last 6 years.

Behind the scenes, we enjoyed coffee, conversation, laughter and an impromptu lesson on trimming and training bonsai.

2018-04-25 - From the Durban rush to a little gem in Ballito

Sunday we were on our way to Durban in KwaZulu-Natal.  With all the extra equipment to lug around, we decided to drive down rather than flying.  We also didn't wan't to stay in Durban, but to have a bit of a look at the Dolphin Coast while we had the chance.

We found an absolute gem of a guest house in Ballito.  Jakita's at 12 Salisbury Road is a lovely place to stay, with stunning views, comfortable, spacious rooms and friendly staff.  Demetri and his staff even got up ridiculously early to make us breakfast so we could be at our first photoshoot before sunrise. You can book your stay online through Booking.com like we did and get a nice discount as well.

While in Ballito I also tried the scrumptious baby chicken at Mozambik - to die for.

Monday we were shooting all day at sites in and around Durban where our clients from Stefanutti are involved with projects to build bridges, waterfront walkways and pipeline supports.  

A long trip and a busy day, but the views are gorgeous and make it all worthwhile.  Sunrise over the ocean and the quiet construction site was an amazing experience.