All on board

We recently had the privilege of being allowed onto a tugboat to do a photographic feature about these incredible machines. It was quite awesome to see what exactly these boats get up to.

Here are some of the pictures to wet you apatite, stay tuned for some more of what we got up too on the day…

PS. A big THANK YOU to Noeraan Daniels of NPA with whom we arranged to do the shoot!

Montagu: Behind the Scenes

Day 1

We arrived on the farm just outside Montagu late on a Thursday evening. After unpacking we made a fire and gazed at the stars while enjoying a few cold beers. We decided that experimenting with exposures for our planned star trails is a good idea.

This was where we learned lesson #1: Have an equipment check-list!

We had our tripod, but no mount plate and shooting long exposure without a tripod does not work.

We were worried for about 10 minutes… then we just laughed at ourselves and MacGyver’ed a solution.

Anything can be solved with a little grey matter…

Day 2

We drove around Montagu’s back roads scouting for a few locations. We saw a couple of good spots and took some reference shots so we can discus them later.

Evening came and it was time to do the star trails with the subject in frame.

HOW TO…

We had 2 speedlights left and right from camera at 45 degrees. We lit the barn with a separate handheld 580 (this being a 2 ½ hour exposure we had all the time we needed to light it.)

The vehicle’s lights were switched on for about 60 seconds to add some more light and effect.

Day 3

We were up EARLY… I was up before sunrise for the first time in about a year! (I’m not a morning person!)

The previous day we arranged to have the gates to Poortjieskloof dam opened at 06:30 so that we could be set up and ready to shoot at sunrise.

We picked a nice location the previous day while scouting and we had to drive on the edge of the dam to the specific spot.

HOW TO …

The vehicle was lit from the right with one speedligt and another flash was used to light the bushes and log to the left.

It was with this shot that we learned our 2^nd and 3^rd important lessons.

Lesson #2: Don’t drive into a dam… cars tend to get stuck! Even Bakkies

Lesson #3: Don’t drive around without recovery equipment!

After struggling for an hour to get the car unstuck, we managed only to get ourselves deeper into trouble.

We had no choice, the only option left: we had to do what every man never wants to do… We had to phone for help!

While waiting for help to arrive we got bored and the harsh sun came out: The perfect excuse to fool around with cameras!

We also had some interesting visitors…

Day 4

Sunday morning we did our last shot.

HOW TO…

We had 2x 580’s left and right from the camera at 45 degrees. Another 580 at the back to put some detail into the roof of the barn and a 4^th light, a 430, at the front left to light the tire. We did not need a 5^th flash for the right tyre because we had sunlight filtering in from that side to give some detail.

The 4^th and final lesson we learned: The back of a bakkie is a dusty place!

Montagu

We recently decided to take a trip to Montagu to photograph a bakkie (pick-up). The purpose of the trip was to get a few frames we could use in a proposal to potential clients.

We got a few nice shots, and learned a couple of things in the process.

Among the lessons were :
- Don’t forget your tripod mount plate at home!
- Don’t drive into a dam, cars tend to get stuck!
- Don't drive around without recovery equipment

But more of that in later posts…

Here are some of the frames from the weekend, enjoy!

Introduction: Pieter Saayman

I’ve been hooked on photography since the first time I’ve used a camera, which was at age 8! But only when I got to high school did the bug really bite me, and at the age of 14 I decided that I wanted to make it my career.

In high school I started taking pictures for the school newspaper. One day the school sent one of my pictures to the local newspaper, which they published the following week. Seeing my name under a published picture was like a drug, and I was hooked, instantly! All through high school I was on a mission to get my pictures published. There were days that I would leave my books at home, but never my camera! My camera bag became my constant companion! (I suppose I was a bit of a geek… and I still am)

I matured a bit from my by-line chasing high school days… now my passion is more concentrated around evoking emotion and telling stories with my pictures. Although, I must admit, I still enjoy seeing my by-line... at the moment there are very few things that can compare with the excitement of seeing FRONTROWIMAGE.COM under a published picture!

One big lesson that I have learnt over the past few years, especially since the conception on FRONTROWIMAGE, is that photography is more than a job, more than a career even… It is a lifestyle!

With this blog we aim to give you some insight into that lifestyle… picture by picture.

Introduction: Pieter Swanepoel

I became a photographer while I was travelling in the UK. I bought a small Nikon Coolpix 775 point-and-shoot camera and the photography bug bit me. I could not get enough so I started to learn photography over the internet.

It took time, but it was the best time of my life. My second camera was a Sony Cybershot F717. I made few upgrades as time went by and I learned more. The Canon EOS 10D was next on my list and now I was in the DSLR market.

The first picture I sold was of Jennifer Ellison taken with the 10D. She was not very famous, but famous enough to sell. From there onward I took pictures of celebrities on a regular basis, and in London there were plenty. I went out mainly at night and knew all the celeb spots

Most of the time you will have at least a couple of other pap's (paparazzi) on the same job. Everyone knew one another, but when you saw a celeb you were enemies. All of us fought for a picture and the quickest and luckiest got the best. Sometimes you have to make your luck and sometimes even luck does not give you a picture.

I started to miss images because of the speed of the EOS 10D, so I decided to splash out and buy the Canon EOS 1DM2. The 8.2 frames per second was definitely what I needed. What a camera!!!

In the paparazzi industry speed is everything. You need to be quick to get the shots and you need to get your images to the agency faster. The quicker they get the frames the better your chances are of making some sales. After that I worked for a newspaper as a press photographer. That lasted for almost 2 years.

I decided to start my own business and January 2008 Front Row Image was started. A partnership between 2 photographers who believe they can change the world, one image at a time.

My name is Pieter and I am a Professional Photographer. What do you do for a living?