Posts by Simon Barnett
Jonkershoek Valley, Stellenbosch
Back again, a week later, this time in the bed of a river flowing through the Jonkershoek Valley, to get shots of Strijdom walking along the river to be intercut with the footage of him talking that we shot the previous week. Last shooting on the project – 16 months and 10 days after our…
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Back in the Jonkershoek Valley, this time in a beautiful shaded spot under a group of small trees where we could get the last shots we needed of Strijdom talking on-camera.
Read MoreJonkershoek Valley, Stellenbosch
We knew we needed shots in a wintry landscape for the middle of the film but could not wait until mid-2022 to get these shots as the film had to be completed. The Western Cape’s mediterranean climate duly provided what we needed: in the first week of April, less than a month after our light-filled…
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Following day: a perfect spot for Strijdom to talk on camera – in the shadow of a solitary tree seemingly growing out of a rock, with the vast mountain-backdropped space behind him filled with Stellenbosch’s beautifully bright late summer morning light, and with colours and weather conditions that made for seamless intercutting of this material…
Read MoreJonkershoek Valley, Stellenbosch
Having completed all the filming of the making of the artworks on the project by November 2021, bringing us full circle to summer again, exactly as planned, we could move on to filling the gaps – particularly with footage and sound recordings of Strijdom talking, of which we still had almost nothing. Not for lack…
Read MoreTankwa Karoo
We wanted aerial shots of a large work consisting of a curving unbroken line forming an elongated oval shape when seen from above that Strijdom draws in the gravelly sand by dragging his right foot. But in the small hours of the night before the shoot, as strong gusts of wind shook the cabin, it…
Read MoreTankwa Karoo
First morning of our third time in the Karoo. Strijdom had spotted an opportunity in a ridge of angular bright orange rocks contrasting with the surrounding flat area consisting of much darker smaller rocks and stones that could effectively serve as canvas. We had visited the site the previous late afternoon to confirm and plan…
Read MoreJonkershoek Valley, Stellenbosch
Returned to the location late afternoon the next day for more shots of the completed work. Short window in which to shoot, from the moment the sun dips behind the mountain, removing the direct rays of light falling through the tree cover onto the work, to the moment when the light becomes insufficient for the…
Read MoreJonkershoek Valley, Stellenbosch
Initially the idea had been to shoot the making of the work over several days in the soft light at the end of the day but we realised this would not work as the light would visibly be going in the course of each late afternoon’s shoot. Plan changed to shooting it all in a…
Read MoreJonkershoek Valley, Stellenbosch
Great to be back in the forest in Jonkershoek outside Stellenbosch where we had shot so many works in April and May – the setting now, in the full flush of early summer, looking very different compared to those distant days of autumn. Got some shots of Strijdom gathering branches and sticks from which to…
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