Axia Corporation...

Axia Corporation is one of Zimbabwe’s largest corporates with interests in the home furnishings and appliances, automative and distribution markets, so when they asked me to help them create some unique images for their 2018 annual report I was delighted!

The brief was to capture engaging images of each brands’ retail premises, staff and products that encapsulates their commitment to a quality product and service. I spent a day shooting at each brand, starting with the automative giant Transerv which you can see below.

The next day I joined the Axia marketing team at their home furnishing and appliance division TV Sales and Home where we visited a variety of their retail stores to capture the staff, retail spaces and available products.

To cap it all off we spent the day at one of the countries largest fast moving consumer goods distribution companies, Distribution Group Africa. Their distribution centre must be one of the biggest commercial spaces I have ever photographed, with the opportunity to create vast wide angle shots being around every corner! Check out some of the shots in the gallery below.

I would like to thank the marketing and admin folk from Axia as well as all the SBU’s that we visited while shooting for the annual report for their hard work and patience during this frenetic exercise!

Zooming around with Zuva Petroleum...

Zuva Petroleum is one of Zimbabwe’s biggest fuel companies, with over 100 station’s around the country, so when they asked me to photograph all their stations I filled up and hit the road! The trip required a lot planning and consideration to ensure that the light was right for each station, the sheer numbers of stations there where to photography however meant that not all of them where photographed in the golden hour light. Despite this though I, and more importantly Zuva, where very happy with the results which you can see below!

Garfunkels Grill...

I was approached by Garfunkels in 2018 to help create a variety of food and lifestyle images to promote their restaurants in Harare, the Garfunkels Grill and their takeaway business. Naturally I am always happy photographing food, even if it means I am drooling for several hours in a row! Check out some of the delicious results below.

In addition to the food photography I was also tasked with creating some lifestyle pics of their staff at work in the restaurant as well as some staged images of guests having a great time. We shot in both venues to get a variety of different shots, don’t you love the beaming smile on the Pizza makers face?

The campaign would have been incomplete without some great exterior and interior shots of the restaurant spaces, so a good amount of time was spent shooting at different times of the day to get the best results possible.

The kind of Trouble we love having in our studio....

I am a great lover of Chilli sauce, and Dr Trouble is about as good as it gets! I have photographed Dr Trouble in the studio before and so was more than excited when I was asked to photograph their new bottles which had been re-labeled. The brief was to get a variety of shots of the front and back of each bottle, as well as a variety of creative shots of individual and groups of bottles. I am very happy with the results, let me what your favourite shot is in the comments below!

Only take one lens to Paradise...

I am very luck to be able to travel all over southern Africa with my job, but this often means I have to take quite a lot of equipment along so I can get my various jobs done. I have often found that when I have a lot of equipment on me, the temptation is always to try and make the most of all of it. This inevitably leads to a lot of fussing over gear at the expense of capturing your scene well.

So on a recent editorial assignment to Santa Carolina Island, better known as Paradise Island in Mozambiques’ Bazaruto Archipelago, I decided to keep things simple and only use one lens. And wow what a difference that made to my modus operande! Not having any other gear with me forced me to really concentrate on the scene in front of me, how to approach it, compose it and capture it in a way that will do it justice.

Paradise Island is a true “rock Island" and is enveloped by some of the most pristine blue ocean one could wish for and this sense of timeless beauty is only further accentuated when you sail up to Paradise in a locally made dhow. It is almost too picture card perfect! Visiting Paradise Island by dhow is a very popular with the areas tourists so naturally I had to focus on this, check out some of the results below.

A visit to the Island wouldn’t be complete without a walk around the crumbling colonial-era hotel on the East flank of the Island. Once the pinnacle of colonial style luxury the hotel was abandoned in 1973 and has since been slowly reclaimed by the islands’ vegetation. Needless to say it is a visual paradise which vividly juxtaposes mans’ historic presence on the island.

So, onto the technical stuff; I was using a Venus Laowa 12mm f2.8 lens which is fully manual on a Nikon d750, and it was a match made in camera-dork heaven! The lens is small but well built but most importantly sharp as anything at all apertures and with very minimal distortion, not a barrel curve in sight! Despite having manual focus and a manual aperture ring the lens is very easy to use, which allowed me to keep the focus on creating great images.

So if you are like me and have lots of equipment, albeit to do lots of different jobs, do yourself a favour and every so often pick one of them and tackle a subject with just one lens, you will be surprised what you can achieve with minimal equipment and maximum focus!

Zooming in on Zimplats...

I was thrilled to have been contracted this year to photograph one of Zimbabwe’s largest mining groups, Zimplats for their 2018 Annual Report. The assignment entailed 3 full days of photography at their main Ngezi mining operation, in their surrounding community and at their ore smelter. The scope of the Zimplats operation is massive and despite running around like a headless chicken for the duration of the assignment I felt that I only really scratched the surface in terms of the potential images on offer.

One of the requirements in the brief was to capture new, alluring images of their mining infrastructure, so I was up and about capturing images in the soft early morning light as well as the wonderfully complimentary evening blue light. I was also asked to capture as many intriguing pictures of the Zimplats employees at work, with an emphasis on capturing as many different woman in their varied roles at the mine. Check out some of the resulting images below, and be sure to see their annual report here.

After shooting the mining operations I turned my lens to the Selous Metallurgical Complex (SMC) where the mined ore is smelted down for transport to and further refining in South Africa. Again the emphasis was to be on the scope of the infrastructure as well as people at work in their various roles at the SMC.

The shear size of the infrastructure at Zimplats is nothing less than overwhelming, and there is no better way to show this this then with a drone, I flew my aerial buddy a lot during my shoot and managed to capture some wonderful images that give the perspective of size and scope well.

Zimplats is no stranger to their local, regional and countrywide community and they have consistently implemented and supported projects aimed at uplifting both the infrastructure and people within those communities. No corporate shoot would be complete without a focus on these community development efforts.

Overall I had a manic but enjoyable time shooting for Zimplats, and I am sure you can agree that I managed to capture the essence of their operations, people and community efforts well. I am very happy with the results and thoroughly enjoyed my time working with the team at Zimplats! I would like to extend my thanks to the Zimplats team for all their hard work involved in making this shoot a success.

Bustling around Banff Lodge...

Earlier this year I was asked by the team at Banff Lodge to create some new marketing images of their BnB. Situated in the Bulawayo suburbs this family owned BnB was a real pleasure to shoot!

I was asked to cover all the public areas of the BnB in different lighting conditions and including some of the staff at work in the restaurant and their popular pool deck, I particularly like the images of the pool and external images of the BnB in the blue evening light, check them out below and see for yourself.

In addition to the general public areas some of the rooms had been newly refurbished and so some great images of these were also needed, what would a hospitality shoot be without pictures of the sumptuous rooms on offer?

Another highlight of the day for me was shooting their new food menu, the main challenge here was keeping my grumbling tummy at bay during the duration of the food shoot! Check out some of the delicious results below!

Its always a pleasure for me to do hotel photography and on this occasion with Banff lodge it was no different, I would like to say a huge thanks to the team on the ground who made everything happen to effortlessly!

Bakers Inn...

When Zimbabwe’s biggest baker Bakers Inn asked me to come in and help them with imagery of their bread bakery for their website I was naturally thrilled! Bakers Inn have bakeries in both Harare and Bulawayo and I was tasked with capturing images from the Harare bakery that showcased both the equipment, process, premises and people involved in the process. With the bakery churning out over half a million loaves of bread a day you can image that is is quite a bustling place to be!

I started with some exterior architectural shots of the office block and then moved inside the bakery to capture all the machinery and staff at work. Needless to say the delicious smell of baking bread that assaulted the senses was both fantastic and distracting as my tummy didn’t stop grumbling!

Helping Bakers Inn with their corporate photography was a pleasure and I look forward to working with the giant bread maker again soon!

Relishing time with Rocco...

I was thrilled when we where approached by Rocco to photograph their awesome range of teak platters and chopping boards. Sustainably harvested from Zimbabwean teak, the products from Rocco ooze woody warmth and the natural grains in the wood lent themselves well to the camera in the studio.

To give the client an idea of how their product would look on different backgrounds we photographed the same serving board on all of our different surfaces in the studio. Rocco liked one surface in particular and we then photographed all of their product on that one surface, check out all the different shots below? Which one is your favourite? Please leave us a comment at the end of the newsletter wit your preferences.

IN addition to the different surfaces we also photographed the products on a clear white background and deep-etched the images so that Rocco had the option of having a uniform clean look on their website gallery as well as being able to place the deep-etched images onto adverts and marketing materials. You cans see the clean, white images below.

And finally we photographed all the products on the dark, charcoal surface that was the client’s preferred choice. As you can see the warm, richness of the wood contrasts well with the darker surface, allowing you to really appreciate the unique grain of the wood.

We thoroughly enjoyed working with the team at Rocco to showcase their amazing product, if you have a product that you would like photographed please don’t hesitate to contact us!

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!