Life in a fishbowl

I recently shot on the Sony F3 it is an impressive camera.  This camera is a by-product of DSLR revolution with a super 35mm equivalent sensor. The Canon 5D mkii has positively pushed the video world into a new dimension. The menu on the F3 is simple enough to sail through if you have handled one of Sony’s prosumer cameras before.  What would make these video cameras more effective and film-like, since film is the aspiring standard, is to have less navigational menus.  Instead of the menus, a button that switches the camera into film mode would give the cleanest highest quality video with the greatest possible latitude for postproduction. In addition three or four dials to control colour temperature, shutter speed, frame rate and ISO is all that would be required to make the camera simple professional and easy to use.

The white moon is the shadow of the earth engulfing the moon. The orange moon is the earth shadow traversing the moon.

Julius Malema 

Mining for change is a documentary I worked on and it is making its debut at the encounters film festival in Cape Town V&A and Hyde Park Johannesburg. The story is as colorful and interwoven as is the South African landscape.

http://www.encounters.co.za/films/mining-for-change-a-story-of-south-african-mining/  

Storm cloud and dhow on the golden sea.

Fisherman wading to his dhow at dawn with fluttering seagulls , Maputo

  

A ramshackle guard tower overlooking an old open sea diamond claim.  

Ray magazine did a photographic profile on my work in the August, September edition on page 109. It is always nice to have ones personal portfolio photos printed in a magazine.

I recently finished an independent documentary on mining South Africa. We got to film all round SA in extreme conditions from being 3600 meters underground with a humidity of 70% at TauTona Gold Mine, to Alexander Bay’s freezing winter sea fog. This was a good platform to see how camera equipment would respond. We used a Panasonic HDX 900 with the Letus Ultimate lens adapter and Letus Relay. The lenses were Nikon mounted Zeiss primes 28, 35,50,85 - Nikon 14, 20, 55 macro and 80-200 f2.8 zoom.  Zacuto follow-focus and lens gears were used.

The lenses both Zeiss and Nikon live up to their reputation.  The 55 macro wide open doing macro work had a blurry streaky distortion, the in-focus portion of the image was not completely sharp but it did have a magical quality about it giving it an ethereal look.

The Camera was a work horse, feed it tap and batteries and on it went never protesting with overtime.

The Letus, wonderful in-studio but after a week in the field it became problematic. The limited depth of field that the Letus gives, is what we are all looking for and slowing down the Letus Ultimate gives the image a little texture, creating a stunning look. Unfortunately while filming a winter city sunrise, the lens release button came off. We were stuck with the 28mm lens filming the big red sphere until repairs could be made.In Albertinia on an ochre mine, black spots became visible on the image due to dust inside the Letus. Setting the back focus on the Relay also became taxing, the lock-off screw striped. Towards the end of filming the Relay with its iris markings no longer lined up.

The Letus has a wonderful look.  However rather use a Pro 35 with a Nikon lens mount to save on PL lens hire when in hard working conditions.

The Zacuto follow focus is not worth the money spent on it, as it slips on the gears due to the video support bars being so flexible and flimsy.  It will be nice when video rental companies use Arri base plates and 19mm support bars with Arri follow focus and matte box systems. As for the Zacuto follow focus it stayed in its box after its first week in service.  

In the end I would probably do it all the same again as budget dictates.

Main Street west of Gandhi square is looking superb. If you in JHB for FIFA world cup, it is worth an architectural and historical walk in downtown JHB. This is the mining district with the sidewalks displaying old mining machinery as sculptures. These photos are from an old mine head gear that was re-erected on Main Street.   

Edward Weston photographed green peppers that looked like the backs of beautiful nudes. These are my intertwined legs. 

Soweto Gauteng 

Tin roof

Improvisation, the window held open by a plastering tool. 

 

This photo was taken in a mining village on the southern end of Johannesburg.

 

A lot of love, in downtown JHB.

   

Early morning opposite the Market Theater JHB.

 

Guess what I was doing on 31 December 09 new years eve, yep taking time lapse photos of the partial lunar eclipse. Cant say I was too impressed, was expecting a little more. The area that did see the full lunar eclipse was the border of Pakistan and India.

A glass of red wine to celebrate the new year.

Christmas is feasting time, this home made (wife made) cherry cupcake did not make it to Christmas eve.

   

This photo was taken on a Durban patio. The wrought iron chairs and long morning shadows is inspired by early Parisian Photographers of the likes of Andre Kertesz.   

 

Textural decay on an old colonial building. (Nice backdrop for a fashion shoot) 

An endless expanse of indigenous forest near Gorongosa National Park. The trees looked etherial, so I simply enhanced it in post.  

Dotted along the Mozambique coat line are fishing villages with brightly coloured dugout's.

 

Today is voting day for Mozambique.

I was in Mozambique for a few days filming aerials for Frelimo's TV campaign. It was four days of pure heaven, we flew from Maputo to Cabora Bassa Dam in the north west. The scenery was breathtaking. 

At a restaurant in White River, Mpumalanga.

At White River we went to visit the two Bosch Studios of Anton Bosch and Esra Bosch.

A Helping hand after a morning wallow. 

We took some time out and went to the Kruger National Park, that was the idea. We spent more time shopping at White River and twisting by the pool. 

 

I wanted the blurred lights going into and away from the Palace. To achieve this I

had to composite two photos to create the desired effect. 

This Lily is wading at the Tusk Lounge, Sun City.

 

The reflection of the windows and tusks off a baby grand piano.
I have a fascination for pianos, their craftsmanship, engineering and beauty create a
ineffable sound.  

Palace tower reflected on Baby Grand Piano, Sun City Palace of the Lost City.

Sunset at the Palace of the Lost City, Sun City

Local and international production companies alike use Sun City as a filming location. On this occasion I was working for TV Globo, a Brazilian TV Network filming a soap-opera (tela-novela).

 

All a man needs is an unlimited horizon, fire to fuel his passion and a cold beer.

Cooling breeze at the end of a hot desert day. 

When you are in the middle of the ocean with only sky and sea about, the vastness and space seems endless. That is what it feels like when you are in Namibia.

After eating miles upon miles of sand road we arrived at the wide open spaces of Kulala. 

The solitary road out of Solitaire

On our way to Sossusvlei from Windhoek we filled up in a "town" called Solitaire. Pixar, the makers of the animation movie Cars must have based their town in the movie on Solitaire. It hardly ever rains there and it exists due to its petrol station, in the middle of nowhere.  

Some more Photos of N/a'ankuse Namibia. Go to their web site www.ecotourism-namibia.com

I recently did a shoot in Namibia. It was my first time in Namibia and boy did it blow me away. The shoot was for the Australian TV Network, Channel 7. The shoot was on Marlice the Cheetah women, so we spent 7 days in the bush. N/a'ankuse is Marlice and Rudi's farm where we did most of the filming, it is 50km outside Windhoek and it is beautiful. We next did a 10 hour trip South to Kulala bordering Sossusvlei. The space, silence and peace at Kulala was breathtaking.