The Aerial Perspective

07/08/2018

Air to air photo shoot undertaken for APT Ari Kraak. Always challenging but rewarding when clients smiles tell the story when the work is delivered :-)

10/05/2018

NAMAQUALAND for the morning.
Great sortie up to Springbok for the morning.
Real photos to follow soon.

27/04/2018

09/04/2018

Proud to be recommissioned by our valued clients in Europe again for another shoot-at-sea with a trio of vessels heading up the West African coast.

Early morning overcast and intermittent rain made for tricky but dramatic lighting the Kaombo and her two ALP tugs some 20NM offshore.

06/04/2018

BOKALIFT 1 the star of one of our recent photo missions in Table Bay before resupply in Cape Town Docks.
Built in 2012 BOKALIFT 1 is a unique heavy lift, self-propelled crane vessel with a 3000 ton rotating crane aft.

22/01/2017

Offshore tanker hunting for an overseas client as their vessel rounds Cape Point.

22/11/2016

Cape Town with the urban sprawl of Parklands unravelling in the foreground.

Table Mountain breaks the horizon over Table Bay in this mornings portrait of Cape Town.

07/10/2016

We have some exciting new developments starting next week - YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS OUT ON, so Watch this space for details...

03/07/2016

You can't afford to turn your back on this deal

13/06/2016

Working on Sunday AGAIN ;-)

Flew my POWERCOTE branded powered paraglider from Green Point to Morning Star and back yesterday afternoon.
A pensive overcast sky, dead calm air and ocean played an array of landscape lighting before me.
Camera settings needed to be spontaneous (plenty of water below me) and the composition changed fast.
Order of priorities - FLY safely first, then take pics!
Its amazing to see how close natural light was to black and white.
Canon EOS 1 Ds MkIII
ISO 100
F 7.1
1/320th
28mm (Canon 28-300mm)

27/04/2016

Salt River Railway Junction -once the pride of South African Railways.
Now just a junkyard, home to train skeletons...

14/04/2016

A recent shoot completed for Engel & Völkers Enzo Lezzi and Amanda Croker shows how we out-perform drone quality and composition with no image distortion and ultra high resolution.

These stunning Camps Bay and Clifton properties can be purchased via their contact details on each photograph.

07/03/2016

The geographic confines of the Hout Bay valley are not coping with the overload we are imposing upon the ecosystem.

Besides the residential fallout by overcrowding in the informal settlements, the complete lack of any infrastructure to cope with swelling numbers leads to sights like this -

Here inadequately treated sewerage blooms from the outlets just off the Sentinel (all the light blue tainted water is sewerage diluting with our ocean).

Unchecked industrial fallout from concealed outlets compound the issue.

Inadequate informal settlement infrastructure permits storm and grey water into the valley waterways and the Disa River carries the bulk of this highly polluted water into the bay.
The highest pollution and ecoli levels are at the outset of the winter rains when the acres of human faeces surrounding our informal settlements wash into the waterways off the mountain slopes.

Unless a sound environmental stand is taken and regulation adhered to, the growth rate here will lead to sterilisation of our bay and surrounding shores by pollution in Hout Bay.

"Green belts" are the absorbing the overflow and unless checked and stopped now, the next informal settlement will be ratified in suburbia.

29/01/2016

8 AM flight overhead the beautiful City of Cape Town and just a few of the iconic historic landmarks - come fly with us or commission us to get you incredible images of any project you desire.
Please call us on
083 463 7113
or
083 55 000 11

08/12/2015

ZS-HOS does some low fly pasts with a firefighting "bambi bucket" for a film shoot at Hout Bay harbour.

03/12/2015

Damen Shipyards built RED EAGLE bids Cape Town farewell with dual water canon fan sprays after servicing with Damen Shipyards, Cape Town. Thank you RED EAGLE for the spectacular display and rainbow!

13/11/2015

Aerial photography is not everyones cup of tea, although its easy to get incredible perspectives and angles on subjects seldom seen.

The advent of drones has flooded the arena with many images - most not fantastic, but some pretty good ones and some really great close-proximity action and wildlife videos.

The drone market has "opened up" awareness to aerial perspectives by way of competitive (dramatically reduced) pricing offered by many new aspiring photographers getting into the market.
A high percentage of these new "aerial photographers" contribute largely to "the good enough syndrome" where clients are happy with average work because it cost next to nothing. This doesn't do the industry much good.

I have often been asked why I don't get a drone.

Short answer:
1. I enjoy MY flying too much - the person flying the drone isn't flying.
2. There is no substitute for having a creative eye in position, overhead, composing the shot required.
3. I would need a mega-$$$ drone to lift and carry my 3kg camera and lens aloft - at what cost on endurance?

The drone might be capable of achieving many things, but substitute the artist-in-the-air it can't.

I get fly various work sorties every week and have been doing so since 1990, all over SA.

Flying and sharing images from the air has to be one of the most rewarding feelings and it is really sweetened when people choose to commission work.

Sometimes its just lekker to share that feeling of satisfaction and euphoria that flying and creating images brings to me, so here's an image of Hout Bay that, although the angle is common, I think captures the mood of the landscape aptly.

Yesterday morning's flight from Hout Bay Beach to Claremont CBD and back via just south of Hout Bay to capture this view.

No matter how often I get to see this, the views just blow me away and all of this possible on my "3-D scooter", a powered paraglider.

People often ask me if it isn't dangerous or scary up there - maybe yes, but here aren't any taxis and the numbers of commuters are FAR less than our crazy roads.

What if the engine quits?
Easy glide back to Hout Bay Beach from this position.

Do I prefer this to an aeroplane?
Difficult call really - different purposes, different dynamics and speeds obviously. Aeroplanes provide a faster and more expensive platform, but are equally rewarding to fly.

First prize is pure unadulterated paragliding though.
Nothing beats the sense of achievement obtained flying beyond the glide slope from one's launch site.
Even better when raptors fly alongside you.

Have a super weekend everyone!

Canon EOS 1Ds MkIII
1/640th F4.5
28mm
www.aerialphoto.co.za

12/11/2015

A DRAGON emerges from beneath the ground on the slopes of Karbonkelberg above Hout Bay!

29/10/2015

Thank you to POWERCOTE for buying advertising space with The Aerial Perspective.
One lucky winner per month will receive discount on their painting quotation upon submission of a clear photograph to POWERCOTE of this paraglider in action (please supply along with contact details and place, date and time of photo).

25/08/2015

Great way to end off the day with dramatic lighting and an experienced crew willing to show off their vessels capability!