La Bella Vita Wine Estate in Paarl was where I found myself for this shoot, not too long ago, in our land’s history.

An absolutely fantastic show was to greet me as I entered perhaps the most remarkable photo shoot I had done to date. Generally there is one person to greet you on a home shoot: the owner, or host, or agent. Sometimes, two. This time around I think there were six! Six wonderful humans all wanting to contribute their best in order to ensure the photography of the apartment was as good as could be.

We had two owners, one home manager, a stylist, her friend, some other person (I don’t recall what she did), and then me. Together it meant I had numerous helping hands, a perfectly styled home, and finger food aplenty. I don’t think all the people were necessary, but it certainly was fun.

The interior was divine, the light both soft and subtle, and it was another breeze to shoot. Sometimes all you need is to point the camera in the right direction and you will be a success. This was one of those times. I have been meaning to upgrade my camera body for a while now (with no real intent) and have had a new lens now for a good few months. However, with these kinds of places, you could probably get away with photographing with an iPhone – which is what they had done before, actually.

This gem in Paarl deserved better though, and so I gave it my best, but would have loved to have seen what I could have done using all that available manpower, and some more lights, and a R50,000 camera body.

Anyway, that day will come, but do know that you need little more than a decent body, a great lens, and some general knowhow and whatnot.

Ah, Paarl. I do love this Pearl of a town. The previous shoot was not quite so glamorous, but perhaps the next one will be more so. I do hope so…