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Would you believe us if we said there's a place where a goat a giraffe and a sheep are best mates, a place where Percy the pig roams freely among impala and a herd of Nguni Cattle. A place with sweeping views across the magnificent lowveld mountains. A place where outdoor and animal lovers can go to, kick their feet up, catch fish, go on hikes, have picnic at a waterfall and enjoy the crackling sounds of a campfire. A place with genuine warm hospitality, not just for you, but your K9 friend aswell! A place with beautiful rooms surrounded by untouched bush. A place called Caracal Lodge. Tucked away in the beautiful Houtboshoek valley, this laid back country lodge offers guests the unique opportunity to truly unwind in the most natural setting, whilst at the same time enjoying the luxury of rustic accommodation and bush cabins. We were tasked to showcase the beauty of Caracal lodge and it's surroundings, and needless to say we had a great time photographing this unique lodge. Below is a few of our favourite shots capturing the essence of the lodge.

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Well well well, has gin ever looked this good!? Throw some @lowveldgin creativity , mixed with @hallandbramley and a good dose of studio photography skills together, and you get one heck of a good looking photograph This is the first of a series of mouthwatering images that we are going to share with you of a recent shoot we did in our #photographystudio.
When this product shoot got approved we could hardly contain our excitement as  there is nothing like a good lighting challenge, The Hall & Bramley Lowveld Gin Fest is going to be an event not to be missed.

Remember not for sale to persons under the age of 18, The Gin part that is, The Hall & Bramley Mixers South Africa mixer can be consumed at any age.

Photographer: Karen Musica

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Creativity ? A phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. Basically this is the ultimate goal when you call yourself a photographer - a creative, someone that creates something new and adds value to it. Someone who nails the equation of creativity ( Creativity = New + Valuable ). This past weekend I got the opportunity to shoot stills for Phonix Capture cc - Professional Photography and Videography at the annual Three cranes challenge, hosted by Wildlands WildSeriesTrail and KZN Trail Running The main goal was to be creative and showcase the spectacular Karkloof valley,it’s Fauna , flora and how this three day stage race traverses this rich biodiverse area.

Three Cranes Challenge is hosted to raise funds for the Karkloof Conservancywho actively conserves the rich biodiversity of the Karkloof for the benefit of future generations. For a large part conserving this spectacular area takes plenty of creativity. Farmers and stakeholders has to work together to find new farming methods that adds value back into the soil and habitat of unique species found in the conservancy.

Taking place of three days the race gives runners the unique opportunity to traverse a host of different environments, ranging from indigenous forests to mountain grassland. This made for quite a lot of fun shooting as each environment has its own unique look and feel.

Below is a collection of images that I’ve captured over the. Past weekend, it includes a few images of each day, and hopefully gives an insight into the beauty of the magnificent Karkloof and inspires you to enter the Three Cranes Challenge in 2021 . To be honest I’ve personally struggled a bit to nail the creativity equation over the last few months, but I guess working in these environments challenges one to constantly improve and look for more creative and dynamic angles as your previous event. As one runner at our first Wildseries event back in 2017 said, “ You live and you learn” and learning in environments as beautiful as this is one heck of a privilege!

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Its Mopani Pharmacy Barberton XCM MTB Challenge ! What was it all about? Well, combine some good rain, add in some soil, mix well with some tread and you get one intense organic mud facial and one epic MTB Video! What a Saturday it was, we are pretty sure that Barberton XCM MTB was a very solid wake up call to the riders kicking off their 2020 bucket list season. We were super pleased to spend the day in our back yard and capture the mud, sweat and determination on a race that is seen as Brutiful in some of the oldest mountains in the world. The slogan: "Not as delicate as a daisy" lived up to its name once again. -  Keen on cranking next year ? Visit the race website here https://www.barbertonxcm.co.za To see more of our MTB work that we've done follow this link to the Sabie Experience MTB Video series that we did last year. https://phonixcapture.co.za/portfolio/sabie-experience-2019-3-day-stage-race/ https:/https://youtu.be/xZbtJnLmISk

Wildside enduro! Its quite a unique story, before 2019 we used to drive past Badplaas often en-route to many event destinations or ocean holidays, on the right hand side towards Lochiel are 2 large granite monoliths that have been asking to be explored every time we've passed them, who knew that eventually we would be racing around and over them with our camera gear capturing the beauty of the place together with the craziness of Enduro riding. Watch the weekends racing unfold:

https://youtu.be/ydQwo8REo3Y

Personalised Branding and corporate identity... Its been a number of years that we have worked closely with Tracey, most notably through Halls Fresh produce. With incredible experience working in the corporate marketing world for a number of years she has been a meticulous client that we have really enjoyed working with. So when it came to her asking us for website images for her new company as an organisation and life coach we knew it was going to be a specific brief. As creatives we tend to conceptualise a lot of our shoots but sometimes it really helps to be briefed on the look and feel of the clients corporate identity before commencing a shoot so that we can be creative within the boundaries of the clients personalised branding. Check out her website launching soon at www.traceymcbain.com

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