Port Elizabeth is a great place to go if you want Cape Town weather, except the ‘lite’ version. I was to learn this when visiting the city this past August for a road trip adventure of a photography extravaganza. The trip was a work trip from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town – with a large focus on the Garden Route – in an effort to shoot more places in this area of the country. [Johannesburg and surrounds are next, I might add. Coming September…]

The 11-day blitz was a dream “holiday” of sorts, with work punctuated with large moments of rest, visits to the beach, and dining both in and out – budget and weather constraining or luring us out. One could almost argue that the holiday was punctuated with moments of work, such did it feel. It’s a strange thing, but it sees life travels by at a completely different pace out this way in the Garden Route, and neighbouring Port Elizabeth, compared to the cities of Joburg and Cape Town. A sad thing if you have to leave it to return to those two cities, but a great thing when you arrive and feel slightly worse for wear.

The first client to be serviced was Brookes Hill Suites, a really nice hotel down by the beachfront. The views out east were spectacular, and the room they made up for us to shoot really made the most of it. I was fortunate enough to have my loyal aide and assistant, Lisa, with me this time and it made all the difference having a female eye, and savvy decor mind. Together we made quite a team, and were done in no time whatsoever. The resort manager happy, it was off to our next shoot, that of the Kleinrivier Mountain Lodge, just an hour’s drive north.

It would the start of a wonderful four to five days of shooting in and around the Port Elizabeth area, and something I want to do again, and soon.