Lomagundi College...

Earlier this year I was commissioned by my colleagues at The Marketing Chefs to create engaging content for one of Zimbabwe's boarding schools; Lomagundi. The school is split into a junior school as well as a college and the brief entailed getting as many appealing shots of the school, staff, grounds and activities as possible which would be used on the schools' new website being developed by the Marketing Chefs, which you can see here.

As usual the shots had to be of the highest quality and had to showcase as many different aspects of the school as possible. Needless to say it was a frantic 24 hours of shooting on site! The biggest challenge on a shoot like this is always time, its never on your side! We were shooting on the last day of the school term and so even though we had been given complete carte blanche and several awesome helpers we still had to work round class times and teachers' schedules.

Despite this the shoot went without a hitch and myself and the team from The Marketing Chefs managed to get all the content we needed. As we arrived in the afternoon of day 1 we got straight into shooting some sports practices. Like all good boarding schools in Zimbabwe sports is at the heart of the school and its students, so we were able to get a good variety of shots on the basketball court, the rugby pitch and even some equestrian images.

Early the following morning we set about shooting some sunrise and early morning shots of the school grounds. The school isn't very large which made it easier for me to find the best angles in the beautifully soft early morning light.

Boarding school starts early so there wasn't even time for a coffee break before I was shooting some setup shots of the students around the school grounds. Lomagundi College is co-ed so part of the brief was to showcase the integration on the school premises from the Junior School through to the college. The boarding houses however are same sex so I also did some shots showcasing a small portion of life for the students in the boarding houses.

A school shoot wouldn't be complete without having a good selection of classroom pictures, the trick here was to get the students looking happy and engaged, and if you remember school like I do not everyone loves the classroom! The Lomagundi children must be commended on loving their school and classroom time and so this did not prove to be an issue at all! I also shot some setup pics in the library as well as the computer lab to showcase the digital innovation that is essential the modern day school environment.

I was thrilled with the pics that we managed to get at Lomagundi, and most importantly so was the school! I would like to say a big thank you to Lomagundi for having us and to the team at The Marketing Chefs for their continuing support and creative direction! See some screen grabs from the website below or check out it out here. Please don't hesitate to be in touch if you would like any marketing shots done of your won school, business or product! 

Capturing Coffee...

We all love it, it picks us up when we are tired and smells heavenly when its being brewed but must be one of the most under appreciated staples in the kitchen. I was mulling this over early one damp morning when I decided to try and showcase some of Zimbabwe's finest coffee products. So off I shot to the shops and spent an aromatic half hour wandering around the coffee section of our local supermarket. I ended up selecting Vumba Coffee, a brand made in Zimbabwe's eastern highlands because I liked the vibrancy of the brands' logos and wanted a challenge photographing the shiny silver packaging.

Check out the time-lapse video below of me seting up the studio and shooting thje product.

I tried a few different setups initially and wasn't overly happy with the results as I wanted to hero both the packaging as well as the coffee beans themselves. I eventually settled on a setup where the light from a large 30x120cm softbox 'grazed' the product at a very low angle. I liked the striking, contrasty atmosphere that this lighting setup produced as well as the muted effect on the silver packaging.

However there where several shots that I also feel did the product justice, I did battle to contain the reflective nature of the silver packaging as well as manage the various bumps and dips created by the coffee in the package, a little bit of photoshopping was required to try and smooth out these inconsistencies.

For the above image I used a black background and a beauty dish with a tight grid to create a very focused pool of light on the product, with a very shallow depth of field this keeps the focus on the product and the mug. In this shot I particularly like how the vibrancy of the red in the label stands out against the subtle green wood and particularly the stark black background. The use of a lot of 'dead space' above the product would allow for the addition of any artwork to be added without impinging on the product shot.

I went with a similar setup in the above scene but added a few more lights so that the product was less dramatically lit as well as a background. I didn't light the background so that it wouldn't be distracting but visible enough to add an extra layer of meaning to the picture. In keeping with the more neutral look of this picture I also changed the colour of the mug to suit the overall mood of the shot.

Finally for the above shot I tried to add a sense of fun and excitement by dropping some coffee beans into the mug. I feel that the sense of movement and shadows created by the falling coffee beans adds an extra layer of excitement and vibrancy to the shot.

Overall I am happy with the results from the shoot as a whole but would lean towards the first picture being my favourite! Do email us and let us know your thoughts if you feel differently or have any feedback. Going forward I would really like to shoot and do a behind the scenes blog every month specifically on some of the wonderful products being made in Zimbabwe. So if you feel you have a uniquely Zimbabwean product that you would like showcased please be in touch!

Go behind the scenes and watch me as I setup my studio and shoot the above scenes in the below time-lapse video.

Droning on about how wonderful it is...

For those of you who follow us regularly on our various social media platforms the fact that I now have a drone is not new, and if you are reading this for the first time, whoop whoop Scottyphotography now has a drone!

I have had the opportunity to use it a fair bit in the past month or so in various different situations shooting both corporate and personal work and have been loving every minute of it! I have always been a fan of aerial photography and have always tried to do as much as possible when time and budget allowed. Now this is where the drone comes into its own, aside from the cost of purchasing it it doesn't cost me anything extra to fly it, with the added advantage of being able to do so whenever I want and where ever I happen to be.

Yes it may be a bit bulky to have with me all the time but who cares when you can zip it up and grab a few shots from a completely different perspective? As a professional photographer being able to offer my clients a huge variety of images from different perspectives, including some aerial ones, is a big deal that will outweigh any minor inconveniences.

I was in the vicinity of the spectacular Great Zimbabwe National Monument a few weeks ago and couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend a few days there. I have been lucky enough to photograph the monument many times in the past but have never seen or photographed it from the air. Needless to say I had a fantastic time and managed to get some stunning results!

So what have I learnt about the drone and its capabilities over the past month or so? Firstly that planning is key, the battery life on my particular drone only gives me around 15 minutes of flight time, which doesn't give me a lot of time to faf around once its up. This makes me think critically about what I want to achieve before I send it up and this can only be a good thing.

Secondly, the mobility is fantastic! I can hover directly over a subject and shoot straight down in order to get detail or abstract shots and the next minute I can zip off up to 500 metres away to get that distant, all encompassing shot.

This mobility allows me to capture a variety of pics of the same scene, essential for building up a good story board around a particular subject. I can showcase the fine detail and shape of the Great Enclosure above as well as place it in its context in relation to its environment and the valley (below).

Lastly I have to talk about the performance of the camera's sensor, yes its quite small and so suffers from a bit of noise at high ISO but the drone is such a stable platform that I can shoot at 100 or 200 ISO quite happily down to 1/15th of a second and get sharp images. The sharpness of the resulting images is fantastic and the resolution has withstood the stringent attention of the quality control departments at the various stock libraries I supply with flying colours.

Another huge advantage is to be able to shoot in manual mode as well as create 5 stop bracket sets. This allows me to shoot into the sun and use clever HDR post processing techniques to create images full of detail and colour, like the ones below.

So in summary; the drone is an awesome tool that allows me to capture that unique aerial angle without too much fuss, but often with spectacular results!

Do you need some aerial images done? Don't hesitate to contact us with your ideas!

Good staff pics are key

In the modern digital world it has become more essential than ever for corporates to have engaging, professional portraits of their staff. Clients want to see who they are dealing with over the phone, email or through the multitude of communication channels available to corporates, to put a face to name as it were.

Not only does it portray a strong sense of corporate professionalism it also creates strong bonds and re-humanises what the efficiency of modern communication has swiftly de-humanised over the past 10 years. Nothing says 'how can I help you' more than a warm smile in an engaging portrait picture.

Thankfully with the modern technology available today creating engaging, professional staff portraits is a relatively quick and painless exercise. I have been shooting staff portraits for over 10 years both on site and in our studio, so if you are interested in updating your staff profile, have a look at the few examples below and don't hesitater to contact us for more info or to make a booking.

The Elephant Camp...

I am lucky enough to travel around Zimbabwe and the region doing photographic work for some amazing lodges and hotels and rightly so, people who talk to me about the work are almost always jealous of my travels, laughing accosting me to get a proper job and that swanning around 5 star establishments can't seriously pass as hard work!

Well let me attempt to dispel that myth and start by saying that contrary to mass opinion it is actually very hard work, enjoyable yes as I get to travel and see some fantastic camps and places, but no less hard work that any other projects we take on. So whats the challenge you may ask? Well I am often travelling to places I have never been to and am asked to essentially capture the life and soul of a place that I am unfamiliar with, this requires keeping my eyes open and my creative juices flowing 24/7.

It also requires a lot of planning by the lodge management and executing vastly complicated setups shots with a very small time window. Often there is no second chance so the pressure is always on. I take the work seriously, work hard and produce the goods, and I am confident that this is reflected in our portfolio.

So I was very excited when Wild Horizons asked me to come to Victoria Falls and photograph their luxury safari lodge; The Elephant Camp. This would be my first time working with Wild Horizons and so naturally I was keen to impress as usual! Needless to say there was a lot to do and I take my hat off to the management of the camp for their endless support in the face of my never ending requests! 

The smallest things can cause consternation on a shoot like this, for example we where shooting a romantic dinner setup on the pool deck of the camp and the firewood was quite wet and stubborn which caused some heart failure in no small amounts when the evening light was perfect and the fire refused to take! You can see some of the frantic energy required to make this all happen in the short time lapse video below.

Despite the stubborn fire the fantastic team from the camp and myself managed to make it work, as you can see from the resultant pics below.

In addition to the frantic planning, the right equipment also goes a long way in ensuring that the shots I take are of the utmost quality, watch below as I explain why a perspective control or tilt shift lens is an essential part of my equipment for a lodge or architectural shoot.

A big part of any lodges' marketing drive is visuals of the rooms as visitors often judge the luxuriousness of their destination by the opulence of the rooms. Without understating it too much the rooms at The Elephant Camp are amazingly appointed and fantastically comfortable! So in order to showcase this quite a lot of effort went into showcasing the rooms from as many different angles as possible and at different times of the day. 

Speaking as one who loves their food as much as anything else in life I can confidently say that the food at The Elephant Camp was delicious! This made photographing the food even easier!

The main boma is exquisitely appointed with lots of wide windows that gave you the impression of actually sitting IN the view. The ever spectacular dance of the iconic 'Moisi O Tunya' or spray from the mighty Victoria Falls was a welcome accompaniment to any meal or chill time on the deck of the main area, and is one of the lodges' draw card selling points.

From all of the above I hope I have established at least 2 things, firstly that I am not 'on holiday' when I head off to photograph a lodge and that all the time and effort put into the shoot has resulted in some fantastic images that The Elephant Camp can use of their various marketing for years to come. And secondly that the Elephant Camp is a fantastic destination...

Scottyphotography has a drone...

I am very excited to announce that Scottyphotography now has a drone! It has been registered with the Civil Aviation Authority as well as the Ministry of Defence and so is fully legal to fly in Zimbabwe. Chris has a lot of experience with aerial photography and this drone will now allow us to offer it as part of our day to day service at a greatly reduced cost. 

The camera is able to produce 12 megapixel picture files which will be acceptable for most marketing requirements but we will be looking at upgrading the camera to a 20 megapixel model as soon as possible. The camera is also able to do 4k video recording and so we will able to offer aerial video as where necessary.

So if you are looking for a new angle of your lodge, hotel, factory, business premises, construction and agricultural projects or anything else then please don't hesitate to contact us! The sky isn't even the limit anymore in terms of the photographic services we can offer!

I have only been able to fly the drone on a few occasions in the past few weeks but have been very happy with the end results, you can see some of the edited pictures below.

The Dissection of a Dhow...

I am blessed to have had excellent training in my field of profession and we strive to pass on some of that knowledge as often as possible through our Introduction to Photography Courses. However, despite the power of knowledge it can be almost useless if it is not applied in the right manner. There is no exception to this in the field of photography and thats why getting out and using your camera so you gain as much field experience as possible is invaluable.

As a working professional I have the opportunity to do this every day, and with a wide scope of clients, locations and personal interests the experience that I gain everyday is invaluable. You can also never stop learning, something I am always happy to admit to.

Despite all this wonderful experience and the often complex way in which we have to shoot some of our corporate work, its always fantastic to be able to get back to the real basics, and often the results are stunning.

This happened recently while I was on a short holiday in Mozambique, we had rented a dhow for the day and were heading off to the tropical beauty that is Paradise Island in the Bazaruto Archipelago. I was on holiday and thus very chilled, had no brief from a client and just one lens on my camera, almost bliss! So back to basics it was, to photograph the boat from as many angles as possible to showcase the Dhows' different functions and character.

When I talk about composition in our Intro courses I always try to emphasis that you need to move around your subject as much as possible to get as many different angles of your subject as you can, this is very basic stuff but I am left wondering if a little bit of experience doesn't help you decide that basics are often better!

Lighting leather.....

I am fortunate enough to do a variety of product photography in my studio, from bottles to art the variety can be endless and often great fun. This was certainly the case with our friends from Totes who make a fantastic range of handcrafted leather bags and engaged us to help them create a variety of images for their website.

Check out the lighting setup used on a styled handbag as well as some of the action in the studio in our behind the scenes video below.

This is the kind of shoot we really enjoy, a new product and a brief that allows us to be creative within some set parameters. The brief involved photographing each item on a clean background showing the whole bag and then focusing in on some of the finer details such as the stitching, clasps and lining to showcase the quality of workmanship that goes into each bag.

As the bags are all different shapes and sizes we wanted to display some functional pictures showing an everyday use of the bag using props that you would liklely carry around in a specific bag. The props also give a sense of size and scale to each product.

Now I am told by people in the know that no self respecting woman would buy a handbag without 'seeing' how it would look on her so of course we had to oblige and have several pics of each bag being 'modelled' by our discerning volunteer.

And finally towards the end of the shoot we did a few styled shots on a grey background with some softer, more angled lighting to create a few 'grab' images that may be used in brochures and fliers.

If you have a product that you would like photographed please don't hesitate to check out our commercial showreel and gallery and don't hesitate to contact us if you would like more information.

Greens and blues on Rhino Island...

What could be better than ushering in 2017 in one of Zimbabwe's most beautiful wilderness areas while being hosted by a fantastic team at an awesome safari lodge? I am fortunate enough to spend a lot of time all over Zimbabwe and the region helping our various tourism friends update their marketing portfolio's throughout the different seasons and on this glorious occasion I found myself in the verdant surrounds of Rhino Safari Camp on the shores of Lake Kariba.

The camp is located on its own little haven, Muuyu point (which in the local lingo means Baobab Point) and when the lake is really full it's often cut off from the mainland by the high water and becomes an island. I have done some photography and run some photographic safaris at the camp before so was very excited when I had the opportunity to head back at a different time of the year.

The brief was simple, get some stunning marketing images of the camp, its surrounds and activities that will help promote the 'green season'. This didn't prove to be too difficult as the bush was thick, green and vibrant after a good start to the rainy season.

Kariba is synonymous with its 'big sky' which is best seen in the green season when the rain keeps the haze at bay and the cloud formations are at their most stunning.

The only slight snag was working around the weather! Being the end of December and in full swing of the heaviest rainy season in a long time it was a constant guessing game as to what we would be able to achieve. However on the plus side the sky always had some great cloud detail in it which adds a certain livliness to the pics.  

Some wonderfully cooperative models allowed us to get a handful of 'lifestyle' shots around the camp which add an invaluable human element to the marketing pictures.

The sheer 'greenness' of the surrounds made it exceptionally easy to showcase how vibrant the camp is in this wonderful season.

Even some of the local wildlife played ball and allowed us to get some fantastic game viewing images. Despite the heavy rain and abundance of grazing the game on the island is never far away.

The post-sunset 'blue light' provided a moody background to the glowingly warm, inviting atmosphere created by the subtle lighting around the public areas of the camp, with the warm glow of the evening 'bush television' shouting "sit near me"!!

On new years' eve with most of the camp staff and guests in tow we headed out onto the wonderfully expansive Kariba foreshore to a spot we had picked out earlier in the day under a towering petrified Mopane tree to setup a romantic bush dinner.

The weather seemed perfect for the occasion and the only logistical challenge we faced was how to hang the lanterns in the tree. Initially there was a lot of head scratching as the incredibly hard Mopane tree repelled any attempt to bang in a few temporary nails to hang the lanterns from. After a bit of sweating in the now rapidly descending sun some clever soul had a brainwave, why not use some fishing wire to hoist them up?!

If you have a tourism product that you would like photographed feel free to check out our tourism gallery and showreel or contact us for more information.

Recharging in the wheat...

As a professional photographer I am at the beck and call of my clients to create visuals based around their concepts, brand identity and company ethos. This is a wonderful thing as I get to work with some creative and innovative people and am always involved in the creative process. This also means that on a day to day basis I am also juggling many different brand identities and their specific requirements when it comes to photography.

As wonderfully exhilarating and energising as this may all be, after long periods of constant shooting the creative edge can be dulled a bit and weariness may set in. So what would any normal person do, go on holiday or take a hiatus? Not me, I like to squeeze my creative juices by taking my own pictures, of a variety of subjects.

Ideally I like to disappear into the bush for lengthly periods, however this may not be practical all the time especially when the calendar is full. So it was at one of these junctures that I found myself quite happily sitting in a filed of wheat on a friends farm, quietly on my own. 

All I had was one camera with a 105mm macro lens, no pre-conceived ideas and no brief to fill, wonderful. This allowed me to take pictures of whatever I saw that interested me, and in a field of wheat this can really help get the creativity flowing, how else do you make wheat look cool? For a few hours late one afternoon I was lost in this happy bliss of selfish composition, and I think the results speak for themselves?

The above pictures are the result of that happy abandon and energised me even further to try and get more creative, different angles of the wheat. So over the next few days, during the golden hours when my family where happily distracted elsewhere I would disappear into the fields with no preconceptions and just a few different lenses to see how creative I could be.

Confident that I had done the macro lens proud I moved over to creating shots with a wide angle lens as well as my panoramic setup.

Creating a 180 degree panoramic image of this field of wheat at sunset allowed me to showcase the sheer size of the field.

I love using my wide angle lenses, they have an ability of really opening up a perspective in a unique way and this worked to my advantage as the fields of wheat I was photographing were huge.

So by doing what I love for myself for a few days I managed to fully charged my Chi, got my creative juices back to bubbling and came away with some wonderful stock images. Not bad for a few days 'holiday'.