STUDIO WORK IN STRAND / SOMERSET WEST

Photographer: Martin Van Niekerk
Model: Ronel
MAU: Candice Harker

HORSE PLAY ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON IN SPRING

Photograph taken in late afternoon in very low light in stables.
Photographer: Martin Van Niekerk
Copyrighted to photographer, 2012

New arrival photographed in stables with Nikon D800 at 3200 ISO
Photographer: Martin Van Niekerk
Copyrighted to photographer, 2012

Photographer: Martin Van Niekerk
Copyrighted to photographer, 2012

Photographer: Martin Van Niekerk 
Copyrighted to photographer, 2012

Photographer: Martin Van Niekerk
Copyrighted to photographer, 2012

FITNESS MAGAZINE ENTRANT

Leilani Swart of Brackenfell, Cape Town asked me to photograph her in my studio in Strand for  Fitness Magazine's 2012 USN Face of Fitness Cover Model Search competition. The winner gets a R25 000 product sponsorship and R25 000 in cash! She will also appear on the cover of the January/February 2013 issue of Fitness Magazine.

Follow this link to the magazine’s website and look at Leilani’s photograph and those of the other entrants. 

Photographer: Martin Van Niekerk
Model: Leilani Swart
MAU: Candice Harker
MVNP Studio, Strand

Leilani Swart 

CHANTAL WITTHUHN - WINELANDS WINTER QUEEN 2012 - Lily Category

Chantal Witthuhn, 2012 Wineland Winter Queen (Lily category)

Chantal Witthuhn of Kleinmond was chosen as the Winelands Winter Queen 2012 in the Lily Category in Paarl, Western Cape, recently. 

Martin Van Niekerk Photography in Strand / Somerset West sponsored studio photoshoots worth R1 500 each for the two most photogenic Winelands Winter Queen finalists. Chantal was one of the winners and the other prize went to Marili Scharrighuisen.

This unique pageant is one of a number of competitions for different age groups and sexes, started by Rietha Kruger of Paarl. The Winelands Winter Queen competition is open to women between the age of 25 and 50 years, married or not, divorced or not, moms or not and who want to make a difference and help the less fortunate. The project emphasises community participation and finalist become actively involved in community projects.

And that is exactly what Chantal is about. She believes that one has to be what you were created to be and you can set the world on fire. 

"For me, life is an adventure that should be enjoyed and lived by all and because of this, it is my passion to help and assist people."

Chantal, a mother of three boys, is a fashion and image stylist and as the owner of La Femmetique she is involved in training people in the fields of modelling and  pageantry. That is besides co-partnering an engineering company with her husband Russell.  iWeather developes and manufactures cellphone-based weather and environmental monitoring systems.

If this sounds like something you are interested in, the following pageant's entry forms can be requested from: info@misswinelands.co.za on the dates stated here -

• Little Miss and Mr Winelands entry forms will be available from 15 January 2013 and the finals will take place 9 March 2013
• Winelands Winter Queen 2013 entry forms will be available from 27 February 2013 - dates will be announced early in 2013
• Miss, Mr, Miss Teen & Mr Junior 2013 entry forms will be available from 1 March 2013 - dates will be announced early in 2013

RENE IS READY FOR REDKEN: Charlise

Rene Erwee of Salon Elan's third entry for the Redken Ultimate Chromatics Haircolour Contest. 

Photographer: Martin Van Niekerk
Hair stylist: Rene Erwee, Salon Elan in Somerset West
Model: Charlise
MAU: Candice Harker

Charlise before and after ...

... and during!

RENE IS READY FOR REDKEN: Esri

Rene Erwee of Salon Elan's second entry for the Redken Ultimate Chromatics Haircolour Contest is red hot, three shades of red to be exact! It turned out just the right combination to emphasise model Esri's beautiful blue-green eyes.

Photographer: Martin Van Niekerk

Hair stylist: Rene Erwee, Salon Elan in Somerset West
Model: Esri
MAU: Candice Harker

Esri before and after

Rene does last minute adjustments to Esri's hair ...

... and her lips.

RENE IS READY FOR REDKEN: Coral

Rene Erwee of Salon Elan in Somerset West asked me to photograph hair models for the Redken Ultimate Chromatics Haircolour Contest which she wanted to enter. The competition gives colourists the opportunity to win a trip to the 2013 Redken Symposium in Las Vegas in January. 

This project stretched over three shoots and nearly two months. 

The next three posts tell the story of one very creative hair stylist (Rene), three brave models (Coral, Esri and Charlise), a very talented MUA (Candice Harker) and a photographer who was given license to experiment (lucky me!). 

May there be many more such competitions!

CORAL

Photographer: Martin Van Niekerk

Hair stylist: Rene Erwee, Salon Elan in Somerset West
Model: Coral
MAU: Candice Harker

Coral before and after a total of eight hours in the salon.

Rene continues to style Coral's hair during the shoot in the MVNP Studio

WRAPPING UP: Job well done, time to play

WRAP ARTISTS: On Wednesday last week, after wrapping up a shoot with model Charlise for Salon Elan in Somerset West, hair stylist Rene Erwee and I started playing around with a piece of used backdrop paper and this is the result.
Photographer: Martin Van Niekerk
Hair styling: Rene Erwee, Salon Elan
Model: Charlise
Make-up: Candice Harker
MVNP Studio, Strand

ASSIGNMENT KAPULA CONTINUED ...

After our visit to Bredasdorp to document the workings of Kapula, Martin and Kapula's marketing manager Anke Appelgryn continued the work in the MVNP Studio in Strand near Cape Town. Every range of candles and ceramic ware had to be photographed for the website and believe me there are many, one as exquisite as the other.  

Photographs: Erika Kruger

Kapula - The warm art of Africa

Anke and Martin setting up in the MVNP Studio in Strand

Lining up the candles ...

... while the next batch is already busy with a practice run in the background.

KAPULA CANDLES: THE WARM ART OF AFRICA

 In April this year we visited the Kapula Candles-team in Bredasdorp near the southernmost point of Africa, to take photographs of the Kapula people, products and processes for their new website and promotional material. 

Thanks to the friendliness and enthusiasm of marketing manager Anke Appelgryn and every other member of the Kapula team, it didn't feel like we were working at all. 

Here are a few photographs that tell the story of our visit. 

Anke and Ilse Appelgryn. Ilse started making candles in her garage in 1993 and today it has grown into a thriving business which embraces the principles of  the World Fair Trade Organisation

From the smiles, it is clear that this assignment was not hard work! I had to shoot a portrait of each and every Kapula employee (96 people from four different locations in all). Thanks to marketing manager, Anke's ability to plan and organise and everyone's willingness to participate, we managed to complete the task in four hours.

The candles are hand-made and hand-painted by experienced workers using wax and pigment and a very steady hand.

The workshop where the candles are made. I had to contend with very low light as well as a fine, clingy mist caused by molten wax. The equipment survived!

The coloured wax turns even ordinary tools into works of art.

An experienced candle painter with a sample board showing one of many combinations of patterns, textures and colours in the Kapula candle range

The workshop where the candles are painted offered an endless supply of photo opportunities.

Production team, marketing team and design team meet. 

Besides candles, Kapula also creates hand-crafted ceramics and tableware.

Special people and special products

Each item's design is hand-drawn before the glazes are added.

Martin among the ceramics painters


Background photographs by Erika Kruger