Sandra

This is my girl Sandra. I think she is really beautiful. Last year she entered a hair competition for Candice Wyatt-minter from Wyatt hair salon and they did really well and travelled the world! This year they entered another competition and unfortunately didn't go through but it looked amazing. So, while her hair was still fairly freshly cut I decided to photograph her. I really love these, as I do her. This is the first of many a shoot of Sandra, so more to come.

Daughter Of 1000 Blues?

Hey. This is Federico (from Son Of 1000 Blues) and his daughter. I shot it in between set ups on a recent shoot. Bye.

Hope And Homes For Children

About a month ago, I was asked to go out to Hammanskraal to do a shoot for an Aids NGO based in the UK called Hope And Homes For Children. It was for their annual review and featured a few case studies of Aids Orphans in the Hammanskraal area. It was a very brief encounter, but I want to do a follow up story sometime soon. The group have set up an office and a few community centres that are basically geared toward looking after the children that have lost parents due to HIV/Aids. They are doing some really great work and I really loved the opportunity to work with them. It was the first time in a while I had done work of this nature and it was a great experience.

8 Days Work, 3 Days Play

So, I'm down in Cape Town at the moment working on a few things and I had a few days off, so my girlfriend came down and we headed up the West Coast for some quiet time. Here are some pictures as my words fail me right now. So, listen to 'Sleepless' by The Decemberists and dream of the desolation. Goodnight.

An Update At Last

Black Coffee for Mercedes Magazine

FHM Editorial

Cleo Magazine

There are a few things that never see the light of day on my blog. Mostly because after waiting for it to be published, I simply forget. Other things I'm waiting to show the world, I don't know why yet, but I am. There are a couple of music projects i'd like to post but haven't yet because I'd like to do something with them. But these I will show.

There are a few portraits for Channel O magazine featuring DJ Sbu, Kelly Khumalo, Thandiswa Mazwai, Khanyi Mbau, Simphiwe Dana, DJ Waxxy, ProKid and Lira that i'll post soon. Then a couple of editorials for Cleo and FHM, Some portraits of Black Coffee for Mercedes Benz magazine and then a day filled with beer in a Catholic primary school hall for a gift for my friend Candice's boyfriend Michael. Been pretty hectic this month so I may post what I've been doing soon. But I'm really interested in starting a 'real' project.

We'll see what transpires!

Bye.

Prestidigitation & A Reindeer Named Knut

routine was the theme, he'd wake up and...wash and pour himself into uniform
something he hadn't imagined being...
as the merging traffic passed, he found himself staring, down, at his own hands..
not remembering the change, not recalling the plan, was it...?
he was okay, but wondering about wandering
was it age? by consequence? or was he moved by sleight of hand?
mondays were made to fall, lost on a road he knew by heart
it was like a book he read in his sleep, endlessly...
sometimes he hid in his radio, watching others pull into their homes
while he was drifting...
on a line, of his own, off the line, on the side
by the by, as dirt turned to sand, as if moved by sleight of hand
when he reached the shore of his clip-on world
he resurfaced to the norm
organized his few things, his coat and keys...
any new realizations would have to wait till he had more time, more time...
time to dream, to himself
he waves goodbye, to himself
i'll see you on the other side...
another man...moved by sleight of hand...

I've been listening to a lot of Pearl Jam again lately. It takes me back a lot and puts things into perspective again. Been struggling to gain perspective lately. The world of commercial photography is not far removed from the sentiments of Eddie Vedder above. Having said that however, the challenges are vast and most of the time really interesting. I love what I do. Immensely. And this year calls for more personal endeavors within the genre. Got my hands on a Linhof 4 x 5 and it's beautiful. Gotta play!

Speaking of commercial photography, these were for a Cape Union Mart Christmas campaign. I shot it in and around Cape Town towards the end of last year and other than the wind, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

He waves goodbye, i'll see you on the other side.

Window Vs Door

Hello. I hope you are all splendid. This is from an editorial that I shot yesterday. They're definitely not gonna publish this shot, but I quite like it, so here it is.

Fishpaste & Crosswords

These two wonderful people are my grandparents. My grandmother is 93 and my grandfather is 94. They are incredible, I've spent most of my nearly 30 years getting to know them and they inspire me so much. Most of the sights, smells and fond memories as a child are thanks to them. They have been married for 70 years now and celebrated their Platinum Wedding Anniversary last year. I feel like a lucky man.

Missing Home

So, my beloved Beetle is gone. It was stolen just over a week ago with my laptop. Fuckers. This is my favourite photograph of her! Yeah, I know I'm getting soppy but I loved that car dammit! If you see it, please let me know, the registration number was CVX433GP and it was black with white doors.

About A Girl

Of Beaches & Generators

I recently shot a campaign for Sun Coast Casino in Durban, we shot plates at the casino and then some models in studio and one model on the beach in Cape Town. After being rained out the first day in Cape Town, we returned on a glorious day, which was rad for photography but really shit in terms of lugging gear and a generator through beach sand. By the end of the day Jason and I were broken men! But with the promise of beer and these last couple shots I took of Armanda, all ended well.

Slow Show

A while ago, 2 very cool Wits students approached me about doing a short documentary about me and my work. The idea they had was based on a French film 'Le Jetee' made up entirely of still black and white images. After a series of very chilled meetings and interview sessions they had what they needed. We had chatted about them accompanying me on a 'personal' shoot but due to the fact I had to leave for a while on a job, they came to the very next shoot I had booked. They still may accompany me on a job of a more personal nature to add to the documentary.

I think they did a great job and it was a super humbling experience for me. They even threw in 'Slow Show' by The National for good measure! so thanks to Samantha Nell and Mark Middlewick for making it easy and doing something rad. Here's a YouTube link if you wanna see it.

This is a pic that Samantha took of me on the shoot. I don't have many pictures of myself and I really love this pic.

Quay 700

These are a few of my favourites from the 2nd episode of Model Millions. I loved this day. So much. Bianca Tanchel styled it and Carl Isaacs, Merle Titus and Bianca Hartkopf did hair and make up and the mighty Sebastian Voight helped me out.

Post War Post

So, these were gonna be published in Dossier Magazine but now they want me to do some longer stories for February which is gonna be super rad... So here they are again!

R

I'm Open

A man lies in his bed in a room with no door
He waits, hoping for a presence or something, anything to enter
After spending half his life searching
He still felt as blank as the ceiling at which he stared
He is alive, but feels absolutely nothing, so is he?

When he was six, he believed that the moon overhead followed him
By nine, he deciphered the illusion, trading magic for fact, no trade-backs
So this is what it's like to be an adult?
If he only knew now what he knew then

Lying sideways atop crumpled sheets and no covers
He decides to dream...Dream up a new self...For himself

The last 2 months have been the craziest ride. The lyrics from Pearl Jam above ring true. At least I'm open and for now, I feel. More than ever. No trading magic for fact. I'm sure by now some of you would've seen the Model Millions or heard the stories. A huge fuck up in many respects, but in others the best experience of my life. I was lucky enough to work with some of the finest people one could hope to meet. So, for that, thank you. We managed to put together 2 full episodes and it is a huge pity that we couldn't do more together, as I have no doubt that we all could've done something special.

The rest i'm not gonna go into but ask me over a beer and i'll share!

War Post

K, so below is what I posted last night, I also posted some pics but i've just removed them because they're gonna be published in a super rad magazine in December, so for now i'm not gonna say anything about and wait till December to put them back! But thanks for the opportunity to publish them. Rad.


A long time a'comin. Been super crazy of late and amongst shooting, a back log of retouching, a day fishing, some portraits of my grandparents (who incidentally shared their 70th wedding anniversary the other day, crazy!), some planning for a new shoot which I'm really excited about, buying film and learning a new camera I have found some time to post this, which makes me happy!

These garments were inspired by the 1940's and recreated. One of the garments is a war time piece and the other 2 are part of 'New Look' just post war. I was asked to shoot these for a costume designer and with little time and no budget for a location shoot, I decided I opted for some film, a 4/5 camera, a Pentax 6/7 and shot studio portraits. I had watched the Annie Liebowitz documentary a few days prior to this shoot and my love and passion for photography was at a high, so decided to go back to the old school and 'make' pictures whilst shooting rather than 'take' pictures and 'make' them afterwards.

This process soothed my wounded soul and after stressing over whether or not I had got the focus right on f5.6 with the bellows tilted and shifted to the max, I got them processed and scanned and was presently surprised! The first three are the 4/5 shots and the other two were shot on the Pentax. They're very simple but I like them, maybe more because of the process, I don't know yet?

On another note. Summer, Fishing, Beer and a particle accelerator. Fuck Yeah.

R

Converse Century

I shot the new Converse campaign a while ago. The campaign is based on the international campaign using 'icons' strung together and joined by the feet. It was a really cool campaign to work on, one of the icons was Cassius Baloyi, we took this portrait on the day. It was also really cool meeting Jonty Rhodes, believe it or not, I'm the hugest cricket fan!