Magical Unilever

It is said that there are just TWO requirements for creating sensational imagery; an interesting subject and beautiful light.

The architecture here at the new Unilever factory north of Durban, designed by the phenomenal Elphick Proome Architects, is of course way beyond interesting so the only element we had to wait for was some beautiful light. Closely watching the weather predictions recently we had to wait for about a week to get the clear blue sky conditions we needed.

With the excitement mounting we were on site early on Wednesday afternoon and had to wait around for about an hour so before the lightshow started. Once it starts you have to work quickly as at this time of the year you only have about 20-minutes before the sky turns black. The Unilever factory complex is big and spectacular so it’s very challenging to have to decide what angles and facades you are going to shoot and what you unfortunately have to miss for next time.

There is of course no singular perfect moment in time for shooting as over the 20-minutes you have a constantly changing array of colours and intensity of light to play with that enables you to create a wonderful and varying collection of high-impact images. It’s in these last 20-minutes of the day where all the magic happens in landscape and architectural photography so if you want to create beautiful images be sure to watch the weather and chase that light.