Vision In Focus

Phase2 Interiors made over this space for an upmarket optician in Stellenbosch. Even though there are strong branding elements from various eye-wear brands, they work well together and don’t fight with each other for attention. The colour scheme has also been beautifully selected to keep the mood upmarket and contemporary.

As it was quite a small shop to shoot, the main focus was getting the angles right to emphasis the space and how it has been segmented into the retail area and the optometrist waiting room. Although open and free flowing, the shop has discreet areas for eye tests, doctors rooms and even a small coffee bar.

Large windows again allowed for loads of natural light and I only really had to use the flashes in the darker areas.

The optometrist and client were very satisfied with the results.

Liquorice &  Lime

This was a job I did for Phase2 Interiors recently. They needed to get portfolio shots of various clients they had worked with and we started with this restaurant and next door bistro.

Situated at the top end of St Georges Mall, it caters mainly for the business crowd and passer-byes. The restaurant and Bistro are simple and elegant with a contemporary edge with the use of colours. They also left or renovated most of the original design  work inside each area. Hence all the great wooden details around the counters and edging.

The Art Deco style is great to shoot as it’s very angular and clean. Add to that the great big windows and I had plenty of light to work with.

Park Hyatt, Hanoi

A businessman’s retreat in the middle of Hanoi surrounded by all the trappings the well-heeled look need in their travels abroad. Part of the Hyatt chain of luxury hotels, the Park Hyatt is there to provide world class hospitality to its guests.

It has an impressive collection of local artwork and crafts from throughout Vietnam which are displayed prominently throughout the hotel. This adds to the richness and opulence of the building. Plus, it has the best rated restaurant in Vietnam, Square One.

The restaurant has three areas; Asian, seafood and Western. Situated down the side of one beautifully decorated room, each area is subtly sectioned off with lattice work. Diners can either eat at the counters in front of the chefs preparing their meals, or sit back in one of the tables set away from the bays. Fusion dining mixed with unsurpassed service made our one meal unforgettable!

So, to shoot in such a location is no easy task. The hotel prides itself on guests being able to relax and have no intrusions or unwanted attention. Thus a photographer poking his lens here and there is not preferential. Most shots I had to set up discreetly and await a moment when people moved on and then shoot a couple of quick exposures. One tip though is to immediately make yourself known to the security men and clear your shooting angles with them upfront. Otherwise, you will be harassed and have to wait until they have called higher authorities before shooting..

Zen Zero Restaurant

Following on from the Paranga shoot, I also had the pleasure of shooting the newly opened Zen Zero restaurant nearby. Again, a bit of HDR work had to be done for the main panoramic image which comprised four images shot vertically and stitched together. Thankfully, having an slated roof allowed a lot of light to fill the foreground so there wasn’t too much difference in the various exposures. I also had two Speedlights set up near the corners to add a little fill light in the dark corners.

As with most restaurants along Camps Bay’s beachfront, Zen Zero is both a daytime and night time venue. Thus you end up with two very different moods created solely by the light and lighting depending on the time of day. The mood created at night is rich and warm with an emphasis on opulence and textures, while in the daytime, it is light and mediterranean in feel.

Shooting both in the day and evening is interesting as each one highlights different aspects, some details only come to the fore at various times in the day.

I tried to capture each mood separately and although it was a longer than normal shoot, having to go back later on in the day, I think the results were pretty good.

Again I also had to shoot various dishes in the afternoon but more of that in a later post.

Paranga Restaurant

First off, I’m not a big fan of the whole HDR (High Dynamic Range) way of photography. I can appreciate the results and the skill involved in rendering the images, but, I still prefer getting the results in-camera before heading back to the computer.

Having said that, certain situations dictate a need to use the benefits of HDR to produce images otherwise unattainable with normal photography. Such was the case when shooting the views of this Cape Town restaurant. It is situated across the road from Camps Bay beach and has been designed to be as open as possible for diners to appreciate the magnificent view.

Thus, to expose both for the interior and exterior is next to impossible in a straight forward shot. So with this in mind, I did various exposures and panoramic images so as to be able to stitch and play around with them in photoshop later. My main concern was not to end up with the typical “greyness” of full HDR images. They look un-natural and to me, are not true reflections of light in a scene.

I admit to spending a lot of time working on these images, especially the portrait sunset one as I had to remove a lot of background clutter as per the clients instructions. You can compare it to the landscape of the same scene above it.

Needless to say, after many hours of trying different techniques I have found a solution which although looks photoshoped, still has a bit of mood and contrast to it.

Finally, the other interior shots seemed almost a breeze to do and the food shots were a separate shoot altogether. I will discuss them in another post.

Pilgrimage Village

Central Vietnam luxury and pampering at its finest in this beautifully designed hideaway just outside Hue. This is a family owned and run resort that caters for business and family alike.

It has been roughly laid out in the same way traditional villages in the area were. As with most luxury establishments in Vietnam, the attention to wooden detail is outstanding. The workmanship and skill is extraordinary and for guests looking to own a small piece, they have their own workshop on site were you can buy any of the local crafts found in the rooms.

Unfortunately, being in Vietnam over the rainy season means eternally grey skies. Hence the pool shots and outdoor shots look a little less appealing than had there been some blue sky around! Overall I was happy with the interior shots as I wanted to keep the warmth of the rooms and the homely feel of the resort.

Mango Bay

Sitting just off the southern coast of Vietnam is the island of Phu Quoc. The island is seeing major development in its tourism infrastructure so that its easier to reach it’s more central beaches. However, there are still a few remarkable properties that own their beachfronts and Mango Bay is one of the best of them .

An eco-friendly resort with bungalows stretching along the coast, it is the perfect idyllic island experience. Laid back staff, beach bars and fisherman casting off the rocks and you could easily be forgiven in thinking you had the whole place to yourself. Due to its size, even if the resort was fully booked, you would hardly feel cramped.

Luckily we had three days here so I could relax for one day, then get into the serious stuff. I found the best way to shoot was to simply spend a few lazy hours at different areas, look for nice angles, then head to the next spot. There was no need to rush around trying to set things up.

The only difficult shot was trying to get the bedroom looking half decent. Eventually I ended up shooting through the window with my tripod balanced on a chair. I think it came out pretty well in the end.

Knai Bang Chatt

An amazing example of Modernism architecture, designed and built by one of Le Corbusier’s Cambodian protege’s on the Kep coast.

The main buildings were built in the 1950’s when the French were developing Kep as a tropical holiday town. Luckily, the buildings all survived the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese occupation, and have recently been revamped and brought back to life. With only 12 rooms, the service and sense of luxury is fantastic. The rooms have a minimalist aesthetic in keeping with the Modernist style with textures of wood, bone and cotton all harmonising perfectly.

This was an exceptional property to shoot as everything lent itself to clean, simple photography. Plus the afternoon light was stunning as it lit everything with a magnificent golden light.

We also had to review the accompanying Boat Club which serves as a restaurant and bar. It was converted from an old fisherman’s cottage and sits over the water with a wooden jetty jutting out into the bay.

Funnily enough I ended up with a large amount of chairs in many of the closer shots, purely by chance.

Veranda Bungalows

This small resort has been in development for seven years, perched high up on hills overlooking the small coastal town of Kep in southern Cambodia. The owners, who also built the majority of the bungalows, wanted to create unique bungalows that nestled in the forest canopy.

The majority of the bungalows are connected with wooden walkways that lead back to the main reception / dining area overlooking the bay. All the rock and timber was sourced locally and only local artisans were used in the construction of the bungalows.

The rooms are finished to a high degree, with many small touches such as sea-shell soap holders. Each room is individually decorated in different patterns of pebbles, stone, cement and wood.

Hence the emphasis was on showcasing the textures and construction of the bungalows. The craftsmanship was remarkable especially as very little mechanical help was used. Although the rooms were quite spartan, all the little decor touches gave them a warmth and personal feel.

Raffles Hotel Le Royal

Situated in the heart of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, the Raffles is a complete oasis. The hotel has a long history including a visit by Jackie Kennedy back in the ’60’s.

The Raffles brand is all about hospitality and making you feel at home. The decor is always influenced by local design and customs, which in this case was quite colonial to suite the historical nature of the buildings.

Needless to say, there was plenty to shoot. Its always a bit overwhelming in large hotels as the attention to detail is phenomenal. Small, silver plated elephants sit on carved wooden chests within a towering lobby filled with buddhas and masks. The easiest solution I found was to walk around shooting for a full day, wandering from area to area and back again, as each time your eye picks out a new detail or angle.

Plus, in hotel filled with businessmen and families, different areas get filled with people at different times. You have to be pretty flexible and of course discreet.