I flew to Johannesburg for the April Cover shoot with our very own Aidan Bennetts and Tamara Dey. Arriving the day before gave us a little bit more time to strategise the shoot. Hayden Fortmann, Top Billing Magazine Publisher and I produced the shot list. I was wishing for an overcast day, but in Jhb that could mean thundershowers, so I wasn’t wishing too hard. We planned to do the cover and one of the magazine editorial photographs outdoors, the rest of the shotlist would be indoors.
The cover would be shot at Arts on Main and the other outdoor shot on the rooftop of the 12 Decades hotel. The city skyline is impressive from there, but the light was difficult to judge as the shoot would take place at a different time of day. I hadn’t seen the wardrobe but was excited to see what South African fashion designer David Tlale would select for the shoot. Tamara and Aidan would be wearing only his designs. David had just recently showcased his work at the AFI’s Johannesburg Fashion Week. He didn’t choose an ordinary ramp to showcase his designs, but the historic 284m Nelson Mandela Bridge. Ninety-two models walked the length of the bridge, the first and probably last time this landmark will feature such glamour.
The next morning Gunther and I arrived early to prepare the set. Gunther is Top Billing’s Johannesburg photographer. It was great having him there, as only a real photographer can be one step ahead of the photographer’s needs. Today was going to be rather high-pressured as all the shots needed to be done by 13h30 and the TV crew needed to shoot behind the scenes and conduct interviews too. The first shot was at 11h00, this was the cover shot and I really needed those fast moving clouds to filter the sunlight.
Working quickly, once we got the cover shot, we packed-up and moved up the road to the hotel rooftop. Richard, Gunther, Nyasha and I looked like packed yaks as we lugged all the equipment two blocks to the 12 Decades Hotel. We discovered that none of the plugs worked on the roof, so we pulled out our super long extension hoping it would be long enough as we snaked it from the roof down the edge of the building, one floor down, and through a window. With the lights all set-up Tamara positioned herself on a precarious wooded crate which created the ‘stage’ for the shot – with the skyline as her backdrop she looked like the goddess she is. Aidan in one of David’s edgy tassel tunics looked the part of the super cool hero.
In celebration of celebrity collaborations we have our very own Aidan joining David Tlale designing a room for Grand Designs in the IID house and Tamara will collaborate with Phil Darby. We collapsed the set and rushed inside with all the equipment in-tow to complete the next shot. Tamara’s hair was pinned-up for a more sophisticated look. I got the shot in a few minutes and packed-up again and headed back at the Arts on Main. Using the upper central space we shot our double page spread. We shot a lot in such limited time, but I guess that is indicative of Jhb vibe and not for the faint hearted.
On set:
Magazine – Angie Lázaro (Photographer); David Tlale (Fashion); Gunther Grater (Photographic assistants/ behind-the-scenes photographers); Penny Rose (Hair and Make-up); Richard Egenreider (On-Set Manager); Nyasha Zindi (Fashion Assistant); Tamara Dey (Musician) and Aidan Bennetts (Presenter)
TV Crew – Lars Schwingers (Insert director); Pierre van Heerden (Camera), Lucky Msibi (Sound).Location: The Maboneng Precinct, Downtown Jozi
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