Peeling back Nyanga's layers...

Nyanga is home to some of Zimbabwe’s most dramatic landscapes, and because of this it is a landscape photographers dream! The weather is also often dramatic and this combined with the beautiful surroundings can leave you running from heather to fern trying to capture all the camera worthy vistas.

I am often a twitching, nervous wreck when I am trying to enjoy a family break in the Eastern Highlands as I never leave the house without my camera, much to my patient families annoyance.

That being said, with easy access to some of the best views in the area, who can blame me? Check out a selection of images from my last few visits to the Eastern Highlands below and feel free to leave a comment!

Their Casa was my Casa...

Nandos Zimbabwe is one of the biggest fast food retail outlets in Zimbabwe and so when I was approached by them to photograph their casas nationwide I was ecstatic! The Nando's casas are beautifully appointed and their modern, colourful designs make every angle a joy to photograph. My brief was to capture the daytime and evening atmosphere of each casa by shooting wide shots as well as close, detailed shots of the furnishings.

I am very happy with the results but will let the images below speak for themselves! As usual I would love to hear from you so if you have any comments please feel free to contact me!

Deloitte

When the worldwide accounting giant Deloitte asked me to photograph their new offices in Harare recently I was more than thrilled by the opportunity. Housed in one of the more recently completed office parks in Zimbabwe's capital Harare the space leant itself well to being photographed. I was asked to capture a variety of angles of the externals of the building at sunset as well as in the evening, placing emphasis on their brand name as far as possible.

Which image do you like the best? Feel free to email me and let me know your thoughts! A big thank you to the team at Deloitte Zimbabwe for the continued support.

All about the Architecture...

I am lucky enough to do a lot of architecture photography and so when Geoff and Graham from Architectural and Planning Studio got hold of me I was literally rubbing my hands together! APS have worked on a number of amazing projects around Zimbabwe and the region and they wanted me to visit their recent sites and capture a variety of images for their new website. So I was happily dispatched to the 4 corners of Zimbabwe as well as Mozambique to photograph all their hard work. The brief was to get a good variety of wide shots showcasing the project in its entirety and then focus in and look for engaging, abstract shots that really emphasise the design elements in each project. I covered some great projects including the shiny new Megahey library at Peterhouse school, KFC outlets in Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls to name a few. The project is ongoing but I think if you have a look at the results I have managed to produce so far you should be as happy as I am with the results!

I would like to extend a big thank you to the team at APS for their trust and continued support!

Happy Harare...

I am lucky enough to do quite a lot of photojournalism around Zimbabwe and Southern Africa, mostly tourism and wildlife related stories, but recently I was happy to receive a brief from Travel Africa magazine to do something a little different. For their April/June edition they wanted to feature an article on the highlights and attractions of Zimbabwe's capital Harare. The article was coined 48 hours in Harare I was asked to showcase a variety of activities that a tourist could enjoy in and around Harare in a few days. 

This involved quite a lot of interaction with some of Harare's residents, from the amazingly talented sculpture artists at the Chitungwisa arts centre to arts and crafts purveyors at the various flea markets I visited. Several strangers were also accosted in the streets and everyone was always happy to have their picture taken, affirming the often attributed characteristic that Zimbabweans are some of the friendliest people in Africa.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time meeting new people around Harare and would encourage anyone to get onto the streets and mingle, make new friends and most importantly smile alot!

You can check out the edition of Travel Africa magazine that features my article here (flip to page 80) and see some of the amazing smiles that I captured around Harare below.

Living it up and La Rochelle..

Nestled in the Imbeza valley near Penhalonga in Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands is possibly one of the countries best kept tourism secrets; La Rochelle Country House. The former home of the eccentric Courtauld family it was generously donated to the National Trust of Zimbabwe on their passing and has recently been refurbished and offers sumptuous cuisine and unique boutique accommodation to the discerning visitor.

La Rochelle are focusing on the experiential traveller and so a large portion of my brief was to showcase, often in close detail, the unique settings, drinks, dining and more that is on offer at La Rochelle.

And it is certainly undeniable that La Rochelle is one of the most unique buildings in Zimbabwe, the original architects where instructed by the Courtauld's to create one of the most 'ambitious' homes of their time (in the 1960's). True to form and built on a large scale for entertaining their guests, the facade of La Rochelle is truly fascinating.

Thankfully I had a good amount of time at La Rochelle which allowed me to capture as many of the experiences on offer. From exceptional food and drinks to wandering through the immense and captivating gardens, sipping gin and tonics by the pool or enjoying a relaxing session in the Spa, there was certainly a lot of opportunity to create and capture some stunning marketing pictures. Because of this, I would like the images to speak for themselves, so sit back, relax and enjoy the splendor of La Rochelle!

Batonka and the beautiful Blue...

Batonka Guest Lodge must be one of the most well appointed small boutique lodges in Victoria Falls so when they asked me to help them update their marketing gallery I was thrilled! Although the focus was to create some fresh material to be used as signature images for the lodge's new marketing strategies some more general shots of the public areas and rooms where required to replace older images. You can see some of the great results below.

The owners of the lodge really love the look and vibe of the property in the 'blue light' just after sunset so as the sun started to dip over the horizon there was some frantic activity to ensure that all the areas we wanted to cover were well prepped and looking fantastic. I'm sure you will agree that the character of the lodge is really accentuated by the soft tones and poppy colours of that magical blue hour. 

In addition to the beautiful blue images above we took to the air to look for some unique angles of the lodge that really showcase the green haven that it is. As usual my drone did not disappoint and I was able to capture a stunning sunset above the lodge. 

All in all I am sure you will agree with me that the shoot was a great success, thankfully so did the owners of Batonka Guest Lodge who where thrilled with some of the fresh angles that we managed to capture! I had great fun shooting Batonka and would like to thank the owners for the opportunity to shoot and showcase the lodge.

Focusing on Food...

Food is certainly a large part of the overall experience that we have come to expect from modern travel and so a large part of my job when photographing hotels and safari lodges is to showcase the amazing food on offer. So when Zimbabwean hotel giant Rainbow Tourism Group wanted to showcase some of the premier dishes available at their hotels I was all too happy to rise to the occasion. I would like to let the food do all the talking here, so below are some of the delicious results...

Into the storm...

As most of you know I am a big fan of drone photography and never hesitate to let you all know about it whenever I can! However this time I would like to extoll the virtues of my long suffering family and friends! It was drummed into me when I studied photography that a great picture often needs some from of human element to either give it a feel of place, size or perspective. This was considered even more prevalent with sunset pictures, and that without some form of subject matter to tie it all together they where considered 'wallpaper' pictures. I have never had an issue with creating wallpaper but did take into consideration the teachings and have always tried to add a subject matter to my sunsets.

In most cases this has been my previously mentioned long suffering family and friends. They are quite used to being ordered into place in front of a variety of backgrounds, some more life threatening than others, with a resigned but compliant attitude. In the case of the 'wallpaper' above I felt I needed some form of human element to both contrast the power of the storm as well as showcase the sheer size of it. So to the rescue came my wife and father in our small boat and I must say they took my request to go roaring off into quite a lightning charged storm with as much enthusiasm for my dangerous request as they could muster.

However I assume that you are as impressed with the results as I and my models are, however unsure they still are that is was almost worth their lives to capture! So what are my ramblings building up to, basically be kind to your friends and family as you never know when you will need them to out their lives at risk for you to get that amazing picture!

I was extremely lucky, and my models where quite frightened, by the lighting thrown around by the storm, the above capture was by pure luck and I didn't even know I had it until I reviewed the images in Lightroom after the shoot. The only thing that ruins the shot somewhat for me is the boat angling to the right of the frame leads the eye away from the storm and the lightning bolt.

Going for Green Fuel...

I was contracted by Green Fuel Zimbabwe last year to visit their sugar cane plantations on their Chisumbanje estate in Zimbabwe's South Eastern region to create a photo library of their Agricultural, Plant and Community developments. Green Fuel currently harvest about 9000 hectares of sugarcane on both their Middle Sabi and Chisumbanje estates which is then processed at the plant to produce ethanol that is blended with Zimbabwe's imported fuel. 

My brief included showcasing the various agricultural developments and activities around the estate, their processing plant as well as their various community development projects. As usual I used a good mix of on the ground pictures as well and aerial shots to showcase the size and scale of the agricultural operation which you can see below.

Green Fuel have invested a lot of time and money developing the community surrounding their estates with investments in small scale agricultural projects as well as the rehabilitation of the local library and learning centre. Green Fuel also created a sewing project were men and woman from the community have been trained to make the necessary safety garments required by the companies' agrictural and plant workers.

Lastly to the plant; its architecture is visually appealing and well light at night which lent itself to well to being photographed in the 'blue light' after sunset. A good amount of time spent observing the operations in the plant resulted in some great detail images as well as of staff working. I always make mention of the invaluable use of my drone in conveying the size and relative perspective of such a large structure and it was no less applicable here, with some great aerial images being captured.

All in all Iw as very happy with the results of my visit to Green Fuel and look forward to my next assignment for Green Fuel, I would like to thank the management and particularly the marketinfg department at Green Fuel for their continued support.