Moving Pictures

On our last shoot at Maun Lodge with Kathy Jay Naval, I took some time to capture some short video clips. Cinemagraphs are another way of making images more interesting on the internet without the download time of a video.. I like the effects and am working of some more creative ways to get my clients noticed ! its sad that FaceTube dosen't allow this kind of file but its an old internet standard with a new twist . . Working on a new add for a hotel.

keep watching as it may take a moment to get working :-)

Getting into it

With all the parts arriving form various countries including the US, the UK and Germany I got busy in the workshop building a motorised dolly for a couple of Time-Lapse sequences that I'd planed. that turned out to be the easy bit, getting up long before dawn (I'm not really a morning person) and driving to locations also not so bad. launching my boat at 04:45 to catch 1st light or sleeping out on it for a sunrise, assembling all the parts and setting up the camera in waist deep and quite cold water also not so bad.. 1 eye out for the croc's n hippo's that go with the location is now second nature, but to get all this done before a coffee, well that's the hard part. But I think it was all worth it and a little warning here, Time-Lapse work can be addictive believe me...

my home made dolly with the eMotimo TB3 and D700

Then it was time for the fun part, editing and making a sound track, putting all the pieces in the puzzle is when it all comes together and that's when I can get to smile at all the work that can go into 3 1/2 minuets of video, I think it worked out quiet well... here's a link to the finished film 
Have a look and enjoy  :-)

Getting a better veiw...

8M mast with Nikon D800 and powered pan & tilt head

It only took about 5 weeks to get permission to Photograph the new BOCODOL building in Maun but then it was the dry season and the dust from the calcreat road to this wonderful building created a dust bath each and every day, so we waited for some rain to wash the building so it may sparkle like new.
At last the rain came and at first it was too much, then the conditions changed and the 2nd clear morning in some weeks, today was going to be the day. As the day progressed the clouds were forming at about the right rate so as to make the sky interesting but clear enough to get some light on the building...
The Nikon D800 mounted on a powered pan & tilt head with a small video camera & remote release, all hand cranked to the max 8M height...
Within 15min the clouds got themselves into position and the image was in the can. I set the camera to bracket the exposure + & - some stops, just to be on the safe side. The resulting image can be seen on Kalahari Images new website and as the banner on our facebook page. I think you'll agree it really was worth the wait (4 months total).