Tag Archives: South Africa

Day Nine: Johannesburg to London

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Photo by Stephen Elliot in association with MudProductions.comIn the same way this journey began I find myself once again on a flight somewhere over Africa. What was once anticipation and curiosity is now a collection of memories, photographs, and scribbles in my Moleskine. Acquaintances are now friends, and my bucket list is evidence of the adventures I found in South Africa. It’s quite bittersweet to see this chapter come to a close, and honestly I don’t feel like I’ve spent enough time processing it yet. Continue reading →

Day Eight: Johannesburg

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Photo by Stephen Elliot in association with MudProductions.com

Today felt more like work than a new experience. I’m not sure if that means I’ve become accustomed to the environment or what. In any case, we had another four shoots today, and all of them went well. …or maybe I should say, we got good pictures of all four ladies we shot. Continue reading →

Day Seven: Johannesburg

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Photo by Stephen Elliot in association with MudProductions.comPerspective. The word for the day is perspective. Continue reading →

Day Six: Durban to Johannesburg

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Photo by Stephen Elliot in association with MudProductions.com

Pretty much any time your day begins at 4:30 AM you’re already waking up with a deficit in quality of life. Somewhere between the lack of sleep, minimal creative contribution, and an absence of normalcy I started to come undone today. Continue reading →

Day Five: Durban

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Photo by Stephen Elliot in association with MudProductions.com

Over 19 hours ago my alarm signaled the start of our day. None of us just how how busy the day would be, but now that it’s over it’s hard to believe everything that happened, much less that it all went so smoothly. Continue reading →

Day Four: Cape Town to Durban

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Photo by Stephen Elliot in association with MudProductions.comI’m a big believer in the Sabbath. Even when it seems like there aren’t enough hours in the day I do my best to take a day of rest. Though I had no involvement in planning my schedule for this trip, today was naturally a day off because most businesses in Cape Town are closed on Sunday. There were no stories to capture or places we had to be, so instead the Schroy’s (my hosts) planned a fun day for us all in wine country.

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Day Three, Cape Town

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Photo by Stephen Elliot in association with MudProductions.com

Before I agreed to come on this trip I made a list of a few adventurous things I wanted to do if time permitted. At the top of that list was “Swim with sharks.” Continue reading →

Cape Town, Day Two

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Photo by Stephen Elliot in association with MudProductions.com

Boy did I ever get a taste of the diversity of this place! We started the morning with another visit to the slums to collect some location and landscape photos. Sunrise was a little splotchy, but I feel like we got some decent shots. I was particularly struck by the uniformed kids walking to school in this setting every day. Continue reading →

Cape Town Day One

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Photo by Stephen Elliot in association with MudProductions.comThe phrase “baptism by fire” comes to mind after my first full day here. The good news is that I haven’t felt particularly jet lagged. Sure I was tired when the alarm went off at 7 AM, but those two conditions are not mutually exclusive. Continue reading →

It’s Go Time

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Sunset in London on the first of three flights.

Sunset in London on the first of three flights.

At last! The hardest part is behind me. Now that I’m done packing all that’s left to do is shoot twenty portraits across three cities in a foreign country.

At the moment I’m hovering somewhere over Africa on the longest flight of my life. So far I’ve done precisely zero work for this project, yet I feel relieved now that my bags are packed and I’m en route. Very soon I will be on the ground with an aggressive shot list and whatever gear survived three international flights. It’s the challenge of a demanding shoot that gets my blood pumping. On the other hand I become a nervous wreck when it comes to packing. The endless procession of questions, “what ifs,” and Plan B’s eat at me constantly. Yet, when I pick up my camera all of those worries blur out of focus. Continue reading →