Early Bird discount extended to 14^th July

Notes on morning guided outings

1. Tour to Farm – visit a local farm with the opportunity to photography the farm’s animals and the morning’s farm activities. Numbers limited to 40 per day
2. Tour to cheese factory – demonstration of cheese making and the opportunity to photograph the process and the surrounding gardens. Due to space constraints to numbers are limited to 20 per day. However delegates can visit the cheese shop at any time during the week but will not see a demonstration.
3. Landscape – guided trip to great landscape locations with help available from experienced landscape photographers.

1. Astro Photography – Emil von Maltitz will go through all the technical aspects of shooting the night sky with plenty of tips on how to get amazing astral images. You can then put into practice what you have learnt during the evenings.
2. Model shoots – Monday and Tuesday – Workshops presented by Godox Lighting and Robbie Aspeling. These will be two different styled workshops using lighting to enhance portraits and model photoshoots. Wednesday – a more freestyle shoot with models in outdoor settings.
3. Table Top –  presented by Godox Lighting and Robbie Aspeling showing how to set up for good table top photography and various ways of lighting your subject.
4. Macro – Rory Baker – a theoretical and practical workshop to improve your macro photography of still life including focus stacking techniques and the use of lighting supplied by Godox.

MATTHEW WILLMAN

Matthew Willman is a South African based documentary photographer, author & professional speaker.  He has expressed himself through an extraordinary body of work which includes writing, storytelling and exhibition.

Willman has gained over 25 years’ experience working for some of the world’s foremost institutions in the field of visual communication, development, visual arts and leadership. A true global citizen, Willman has worked in 48 countries tailoring his inventive brand of communication to the needs of an array of clients that include: Oxfam International (Australia), The World Health Organisation (Geneva), The Nelson Mandela Foundation (Johannesburg), The Bill Clinton Presidential Library (Little Rock Arkansas), The Vodafone Foundation (London), The National Underground Railroad Freedom Centre (Cincinnati), Robben Island Museum (Cape Town) and The European Commission (Brussels).

Willman has had the pleasure of being commissioned to photograph individuals from a cross-section of the global community. Private commissions include: US Presidents Barack Obama & President Bill Clinton, 7 South African Presidents, Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Annie Lennox.

Perhaps one of Willman’s greatest achievements was his significant contribution to the recording of the process of South Africa’s democratic change. In 2003 Willman was commissioned to archive and document the life and times of Nelson Mandela for the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Over the years this afforded him many intimate experiences with a man who for Willman embodies the very spirit and conviction we all possess as Africans in the world today. Willman’s collection of work is now central to the Mandela Centre of Memory & Presidential Library in Johannesburg.

In 2011 Willman founded a non-profit foundation trust to support his various endeavours with a focus on enabling young Africans in their quest for education and development within the field of visual and commercial arts.

EMIL VON MALTITZ

Emil von Maltitz is an internationally recognized South African landscape photographer and member of the International Environmental Photographers Association. He is also a brand ambassador for Nisi filters and has been a finalist in International Landscape Photographer of The Year for 3 years, and in 2017 received 2 bronze, 2 silver and 1 gold award in the Epson Panoramic Awards. He has been involved in photography for the better part of the last two decades. After completing his post graduate degree in Anthropology, he opted to pursue his dream and turn his passion for photography into his career.

Along with freelance, commercial and assignment photography, Emil spends time running photographic workshops through ‘Nature’s Light’. A particular interest of Emil’s is the theory and practical application of advanced composition in landscape photography, which is usually covered along with teaching in Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and Capture One Pro on the workshops that he leads.

Website  http://www.limephoto.co.za/

RORY BAKER

I HAVE ALWAYS ENJOYED THE ARTS, NATURE AND WILDLIFE.

I have been involved with photography since high school but it was not until 2011 after a long career in the corporate world that I decided to pursue professional photography. I have always been driven and pushing boundaries, learning and trying new ideas and enjoy most of all the challenges that are presented along the way.

MY DECISION TO CHANGE FROM A CORPORATE CAREER TO PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY TOOK A LOT OF SOUL SEARCHING.

One thing was clear though, I needed to make it a sustainable business foremost supported by my passion for photography and not the other way around. My initial goal was to photograph anything as long as I was paid and my end goal was to hone in on people, corporate and industrial photography.

To this end I had to diversify:

In 2014 I established My Photo School which was an ideal way to put my mentoring and coaching skills to work. Initially it catered for basic photography coaching but has grown into offering a range of photography and post processing courses and supported by a number of different photography workshops including wildlife and landscape. In 2016 I started My Photo Safari offering wildlife photo safaris to overseas guests and 3-5 day wildlife and landscape workshops.

In keeping with the trends and technology that support what I am doing as a photographer. I got involved in immersive 3D virtual photography which supports much of the corporate and industrial photography that I am already doing. In 2022 the brand Mzansi Virtual Tours was started and will be providing a host of services to many different industries.

https://www.myphotoschool.co.za/

LINDA NESS

I am a South African photographer. Over many years of photography in general, I have specialized in underwater free-dive photography.

My work has water as its center piece and Africa at its heart. It continues to take me to places that are inspiring in nature, they are sometimes hard to get to and often physically demanding.

My water-work has two parts. Ocean imagery from within the surf zone, where I spend many hours in different conditions to capture wave images, and the surfers that ride them. And pelagic imagery, sea animals in their natural environments, typically in the top 10-15m of the water column, as I choose, for now, to utelise only natural lighting – which differentiates my work to a large extent.

Over the past decade I have embarked on specific photographic expeditions out to sea, off the Transkei coastline during the northern migration of the sardines, around the island archipelago of Tonga, the Neptune islands of South Australia, as well as many home-grown photographic missions to the Aliwal Shoal, Sodwana Bay and by invitation into the UShaka Marineworld tanks .

I am a Structural Engineer by profession, which has been a wonderful technical backdrop to the constant demands of equipment, understanding the physics and mechanics, and problem solving gear which is an exaggerated challenge underwater. I am thankful for the amazing teachers I have met along the way who share their knowledge freely.

To capture meaningful images of sea creatures requires an understanding of them and their behavior, and many hours in the water observing their habits. The outcome of this are interesting, hilarious and sometimes hairy encounters, the stories behind the images which I like to share in talks and presentations.  

I love being in and around water, and the specific skills required to capture these images are hard won and much practiced. I am an Advanced level scuba diver and regularly train breathe-hold techniques for freediving, and open water distance swimming.

My work is featured on my website, a fine art selection offering, and across social media. My focus on commercial aspects is to partner with causes I strongly believe have value for greater good outcomes for the sea, so in some respects it has become a non-profit endeavor for myself, with events such as exclusive partnering exhibitions where profits are donated, and limited bespoke photographic product drives to profit research. I have been invited onto a panel of professional photographers who donate time and skill to especial occasions for SAAMBR, The South African Association for Marine Research. My picture set for the release of the Bob earlier this year, the Green turtle rehabilitated for 8 years at the Two Oceans Aquarium, was featured on the front page of the Cape Times, a win for a positive story to take that space!

The pursuit of the craft is relentless, absorbing and rewarding, a creativity that spreads across the activity from planning and execution to post processing, and most importantly – the exhibition.

It is my mission to inspire by delight – because the emotion of seeing, or experiencing awe in Nature of the Seas is where the seeds of effort for care can be found in us all. I am grateful to be able.

https://lindaness.co.za/

MATT YARDLEY

About me

I am currently an Expedition Leader and Wildlife Photographer for Wild Eye Safaris but my journey started as a young child in the enchanting Zululand in South Africa where I was born and raised. Growing up on a sugar cane farm that was surrounded by wild areas meant that my whole life was spent in the African outdoors with my friends tracking animals, fishing, camping and learning about our natural world. It was inevitable that one day my passion for the bush would become my career. Early on in my career I grew to love photography and now combining my two favourite things I get share these as a profession with people from around the world as a professional guide. Follow my journey and sign up for my newsletter/journal for stories, new safaris, photo tips and more.

The Photography Years

Early on in my guiding career, shortly after I qualified, I would try really hard to share stories of what I had seen in the field. With all the excitement and passion in my story I could never really portray the exciting or beautiful moments I had witnessed and so it was a no brainer to pick up an old interest of mine and begin photographing some of the sightings. One problem though, I was still really broke. So I managed to save enough money to buy and SD Card (memory card for a camera) and then borrowing mates cameras (those who were brave enough to lend them to me) and taking these cameras out on drive. This interest in wildlife photography very quickly became a full on passion. After a year or so of intense saving I managed to afford my very own camera. A Canon 70D with a 70 – 300mm kit lens and from there it grew grew.

I moved into the world of fine art quite early on. Fine art is basically a title you give yourself that allows you to do whatever you want to a photograph. My first love for fine art came after I messed up an edit on an elephant picture and out of frustration I converted it to black and white and threw a filter over it and then noticed that I actually saw some potential for a unique and different edit. I don’t like the image very much these days but 8 years ago I absolutely loved it! And so the fine art journey began. See image below…

Website https://www.mattyardley.com/

ATKV Drakensville

Contact
Email drakensville@atkv.org.za
Tel 036 438 6287
Booking reference: 150183

Prices per room/house

All units are self-catering but there is a restaurant for breakfast

Alternative Accommodation

There are a number of alternative accommodation venues – below some of those that are closest:

Caverns https://www.cavern.co.za/

Nthlalanati https://www.hlalanathi.co.za/

Pizza Tower https://www.towerofpizza.co.za/

Alpine Heath https://www.alpineheath.co.za/

Montusi Mountain Lodge https://montusi.co.za/

Berghouse & Cottages https://www.berghouse.co.za/

Little Switzerland Hotel  https://www.lsh.co.za/

Berghouse and Cottages
Cottage 1 is a 4-bedroom Cottage sharing(2 bathrooms) that sleeps 8 Pax R4100 Self-catering.
Cottage 3 is a 5-bedroom cottage (2 bathrooms) that sleeps 10 Pax R5100 Cottage 2 is a 2 bedroom cottage (2 bathrooms) that sleeps 4 Pax R700pp Self-catering.
Cottage 4 is a Premium cottage that sleeps 2 Pax R1020 pp Self-catering.
Cottage 5 is a single bedroom cottage that sleeps 2 R700pp self-catering.
Suite 6 sleeps 3 Pax ( 2 bathrooms) R700pppn self-catering.
Suite 7 sleeps 2 Pax (bathroom ensuite) R700pppn self-catering.
Cottage 8 is a Premium cottage, that sleeps 2 Pax(bathroom en-suite) R860pppn self-catering.
Cottage 9 is a Premium cottage, that sleeps 2 Pax R1020pppn Bed and Breakfast.
Cottage 10 is a Deluxe cottage, that sleeps 2 Pax R1020pppn self-catering. Self-catering

Tower of Pizza
Accommodation available. Prices range from R530pps -R630pps in high season

1. Zulu Dance team – a local dance team that is always fun to photograph. To be held on two days.
2. Model shoots – There will be a variety of models and different themes to provide an opportunity for all to get some great shots.

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