In true Cape Town winter style, our fashion shoot day turned out to be horridly cold and wet. The shoot date turned out to be a public holiday, which complicated our original location choice, and then, of course, the weather-man duly informed us of rain, wind and unsavoury weather conditions for outdoor shooting. Everyone had been booked: make-up; models etc and they weren’t available any other day… so we scurried to find another location that would work for city living basics fashion and the unpredictable weather.
We arrived at 15 On Orange with no real plan (the location was only secured late the previous day), we looked at the parking garage, it had potential but there were more interesting places in and around the building that would add a more graphic city quality. We had shot there previously for the March fashion editorial earlier in the year – so we knew what the location offered but this shoot had to have an entirely different feel. Alexis and myself did our reccie while hair and make-up was in progress. We soon realised that the parking garage wasn’t going to work with the clothing, so we went outside where there was glass, and structural lines. We liked what we saw and quickly put a shoot plan together.
We started at the front door, and that in itself posed a few challenges, such as patrons of the hotel and restaurant entering and leaving the premises. With patience and tough knees I knelt on the icy floor, and with bare blub battery-pack lights I was getting the look we wanted. The sun at times peaked between the clouds and changed the look, but we persisted. With three shots in the bag we hurried inside as the threatening clouds unleashed the promised rain. On the stairwell, there was only one place I could be, crouched way low with one light strategically placed in the narrow space. As the rain clamoured down I had Alexis stretching Carl’s scarf over my head to protect me and my camera from the rain, I was so focused I wasn’t quite sure what was overhead. They’re a real gems, those two! It was a fiercely cold day, but models and crew survived and the shots have a special quality that we wouldn’t have achieved had it been a beautifully sunny day!
On set: Angie Lázaro – Photographer (@angielazaro); Tiro Sauls – Photographic assistant/ behind-the-scenes photographer;Alexis Chaffe – Fashion Editor (@alexischaffe); Kate Russell – Fashion assistant; Carl Issacs for Yardley – Hair and make-up;Models – Katerina and Francois.
