Travelling Circus Shoot #FlashbackFriday

My artsy sis Jacky is a genius behind the photographic lens and every now and again she gets a crazy creative concept for a shoot she just feels like doing for fun. Which in turn allows me to play model and her to build on her varied portfolio for her company The Playroom Photography.

About two years ago she had this vision for images of a travelling 'night' circus with vintage-inspired and textured characters, almost with an editorial feel. So she began strategically planning a whole intricate shoot on location and with a varied cast of characters. Our good friend Marno van der Merwe (who also modelled for the shoot) allowed Jacky to shoot all of her images at their beautiful farm in Rustenburg which really lent itself to incredible backgrounds she had in mind and so many options to choose from. On top of which we got to stay in their gorgeous guest houses on the property! My beautiful friend, Tandi Gavin was highly pregnant with her first little boy at the time and she looked just gorgeous in the soft vintage rose dress my sister chose for her. We rented all of the wardrobe pieces and props from Hollywood Costumes in Krugersdorp before driving through to Rustenburg and it all came together beautifully on the day.

Ferdinand, Tandi, Esta, Marno, Diani

Marno was cast as the 'strong man', hubby Ferdinand had a 'ringmaster' inspired look and my own theme was a mix of trapeze artist meets horse trainer. Even our Golden Retriever boy Eli was featured - not that that's anything new for him, by now he's become a veteran of the stage and screen, lol!

Jacky's friend and model Esta (above) was dressed in a 'lion tamer' inspired look and was absolutely golden to shoot in the afternoon sunlight. In this shot below she is captured with Tandi, where they had tossed glitter into the air to create the hazy golden glow effect. 

We got a little crazy and had lots of fun with it, in the end I think Jacky captured some truly magical shots. The shoot turned into something of a weekend getaway with partners and parents in tow. It was beautiful to shoot on the farm and is still a special memory for me. I even got taught by Marno to properly ride a horse for the first time, no pictures of that I'm afraid. (My very first time on a horse I attempted to gallop and fell so hard onto the beach sand at Noordhoek, but that's a whole other story for another day!)

Hope you enjoyed these images! If you do, go and like the Facebook Page for The Playroom Photography here, and check out more of Jacky Joubert's work.

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Front Covers with Follicle #FlashBackFriday

Earlier this year, hubby and I had the pleasure of being magazine cover stars for a day!! As (extremely) proud ambassadors for the incredible salon Follicle Hair Atelier, (find their website here.) we were part of a big group of Follicle ambassadors, stylists and employees who were all dressed up, dolled up and dapper for the larger than life 'Star Struck' front cover of the online POLS magazine for their March/April 2015 edition. POLS is published by the online platform called Issue that hosts a wonderful variety of online glossies and editorials of varying content and topics.

Here pictured below is the whole lot of us, all 34 proudly posing on the FRONT COVER of Pols online magazine as part of team Follicle and feeling rather sublime in the glitz and glamour of it all!

Donavin Lovell (photographer) did a particularly great job capturing this crazy bunch of eccentrics and being able to share the essence of all of us onto the digital page. 

On following pages in this edition of Pols magazine, each of the individual Follicle ambassadors were introduced (I particularly love these mad shots of us all) and also the wonderful sponsors who made it all possible!! The elegant Mercia van der Walt and her team from House of Superior Clothing (Twitter @HSC_Pretoria), had each of us girls fitted and looking fabulous in their magnificent gowns, whilst the gents were all devilishly dressed by Smart Guy in Centurion, hubba hubba!

Juanita Velts, Magdie Raats, Timo Crane, Marco Spaumer, Anna Wood,
Tertius van Heerden, Nicolaas van der Walt, Ferdinand and Diani Gernandt, Izaan Steenkamp

Here are some 'behind the scenes' moments of the team getting pampered and lacquered into glam gorgeous cover stars - that was a feat in itself! I adore this picture of Hannes Greyling painting my face and the beautiful Shannon Gurtler getting a grip on my luscious Strands of Love extensions. (Boy, do I miss my mad red hair *sigh*) I look so completely content, and why shouldn't I? The makeup chair really is one of my favourite places, I could totally fall asleep while team Follicle turns me into a beautifully 'enhanced' version of myself!

 

 It was like a manic hustling beez' nest in the dressing room as all 34 of us tried to get ready and radiant for the camera.The cover shoot took place on the stage of the Theatre of Marcellus at Emperors Palace, complete with exquisite stage lighting and theatricality.

Hubby, Ferdinand Gernandt looked incredibly handsome in his suit from Smart Guy, it's always fun to play dress up together. But equally enjoyable to just cool down over drinks with the gang at Hooters afterwards, lol! :)

 Here below I am pictured with Walter Wurth from Follicle Hair Atelier and Janine Snyders, the Editor in Chief of Pols Magazine.

Hubby and I with the passionate Walter from Follicle Hair Atelier. 

 We are thrilled to be continuing our ambassadorships and friendships with the 
wonderful Follicle Hair Atelier team into a bright new year of 2016! Go and like their Facebook Page and follow them on Twitter @FollicleH, they have an amazing Follicle On The Move team as well, who'll travel to your event to style and 'glamify' right on site. 

Also go and follow Pols Magazine's FB Page here, or on Twitter @Pols_Mag  and subscribe to the magazine on the Issue online platform. It's free, it's easy and it's online!

Here's to sharing more of the glimmer and glitter of all that I get up to with all of you!

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Pretville Film #FlashbackFriday

Two years ago we were involved in the most colourful and vibrant Afrikaans musical feature film project called Pretville produced by Hartiwood Films. Hubby Ferdinand Gernandt was choreographer for the project, I acted as Assistant Choreographer and featured as a dancer in the film as well. Producers Paul Kruger (also DOP) and Emma Kruger, as well as Co-Producer and Director Linda Korsten, were so supportive and encouraging throughout the creative process, it was only a pleasure to create 'cinemagic' together.

We had so much fun shooting this project and creating the choreographic content for the lively musical numbers. The delightful lyrics and soundtrack was created by the talented arranger/composer Machiel Roets (@machielroets on Twitter), some of my favourite tracks being 'Skillie Skillie Skilpad', 'In die Maanlig', 'Is jy Verlief?', Skud, Skop en Hop' and 'Ek en Jy'. 

We had a week's worth of rehearsals with the amazing dance team, as well as the various characters prior to principal filming. And then we worked the final touches whilst preparing on set during the shoot days. Here are some beautiful and fun 'behind-the-scenes' shots of the rehearsals and other on set moments.

 

The challenging task of editing fell to the lovely Anel Stolp, the beautiful costume design was the work of Nerine Pienaar from The Wardrobe Studio and the magnificent art direction by Bathoni Robinson. It was a wonderful team of crew and cast; we really had such a fun time during production.

 I even have a wonderful cookbook at home called 'Proe Pretville' that was released along with the film which contains some of the most beautiful stills from behind-the-scenes of filming Pretville.

Fans can actually visit the little Pretville 'town' in Hartbeespoort Dam which functioned as the set for the film. It has now expanded to include memorabilia from other Hartiwood Productions, there's a functional 50's 'diner' where you can order yummy milkshakes, a quaint 'silver screen' bio-scope where you can watch the film Pretville (and several other Afrikaans or South African produced features) and you can also visit the Zaza Photographic Studio, take fun photographs in the little town and dress up in 50's wardrobe and accessories. It's a really fun family outing, so contact Emma on 083 283 1323 for movie tickets, times and info on the the Pretville 'dorpie'.

Hartiwood recently produced another feature film called 'French Toast' which is due for release in 2015, (I play a tiny cameo role as a nurse and loved every minute of it, read about it here) for which they built and created another magical 'set' in Hartbeespoort Dam - the lovely French Toast 'Koffiekafee' (Cafe).


It is now also open to the public, serving their customers french-inspired cappucinos, macarons and all styles of french toast.

A few of our FADCreationS Mentorship Students will also feature in this film, read this post on their behind-the-scenes experience.


Here is a trailer of the film Pretville which released in Nov 2012.

Here's to making movies in SA!
Chat soon peeps!