Getaway Magazine Gallery Competition 2016

Editorial photography portfolio, Getaway Magazine, Publication, Craig Fouché Photography

10 Dec, 2016

Getaway Magazine Gallery Competition 2016

I entered the Getaway Magazine Gallery Competition 2016 on the 21st August 2016 and was informed that I was a finalist for the November Gallery. Needless to say, I was delighted, as this is quite a prestigious travel magazine and competition. Getaway Magazine is known as South Africa’s favourite travel magazine. I was then requested to submit a high resolution image on the 26th August 2016 along with either an amended or approved caption which was already submitted along with my image the first time.

On the 17th October 2016, I was then contacted again by Getaway Magazine staff, requesting the unedited original/RAW of the image attached. They were in the process of judging Getaway Magazine Gallery Competition and need originals for editing comparisons.

It is a wonderful feeling when one enters competitions, and you up against some of the best in the industry, some even internationally recognised photographers, like my friend Morkel Erasmus. It isn’t and shouldn’t always be about winning, and yes, it is awesome to win. You get the well deserved bragging rights that go along with it; this for me, is more about validation, accreditation and recognition of my work.

The Story Behind The Shot

I was covering the Lipton Challenge Cup 2016 which you can read about here, and as with anything else you can pretty much come prepared to do the task at hand, have all the ticks in the boxes completed, but can do absolutely nothing about the weather. This is exactly what happened!

I hired a helicopter for the shoot, as I don’t own a drone, and was looking to expand both my aerial photo portfolio and to shoot yacht racing from a different perspective. The days leading up to the final of the yacht race had a constant change of weather from calm days and sunny skies, to a total blanket of cloud that kept us grounded by Cape Town ATC (Air Traffic Control) and a race day cancellation, and on the last day a very cold, windy and wet day, which is great for yachting!A

Lipton Cup Challenge 2016, Table Bay, Cape Town, South Africa

The day in question that I shot my entry was the second last day of the Lipton Challenge Cup. We had been on standby for most of the morning and the cloud forecast didn’t look good at all. There were patches of rain in the early morning, and way too much low-level cloud which prohibited us from flying. Alex, my friend and pilot, and I had been sitting around waiting for word from ATC and the race organisers to let us know if we could fly, it was yes and no, yes and no, and finally no. The yacht race was cancelled for the day, due to no wind and poor visibility.

As I had paid for flying time, and had to use it, Alex suggested we fly anyway, as we had a break in the clouds over the airfield, and visibility was good for that time. I was rather reluctant and disappointed, almost ready to go home in fact! I had not met my end goals and time was running out of time to capture aerial images of the race that was ending the next day.

Aerial Photography – Alex & I, Philadelphia Surrounds, South-Africa – Fuji Superior 400

We took off from Morningstar Airfield, headed up the coast towards Atlantis, where I shot both film and digital images. The view was spectacular to say the least! We then headed out towards the direction of Robben Island to capture a series of panoramic images, which were just as spectacular! I have long wanted to capture the images of skyscrapers in Dubai, where the buildings are shrouded in mist, that day I did, except it was Cape Town! Flying over Blaauwbergstrand afforded me just that very opportunity!

That is when I captured my competition entry image, which incidentally, did not look as great in colour as it did in monochrome. During my edits, I asked my wife Dominique for her opinion; monochrome she said, and she was right!

The Fairest Cape has so many different moods and so character, the best way for me to title this image was to name it after the band, Just Jinger who wrote the song Table Talk, which aptly, poetically and appropriately describes Table Mountain:

Just Jinger – Table Talk

If Table Mountain could talk
What would she whisper in the Lions (Head) ear?
What kind of Signal (Hill) would she give, to the hill?

And if she spoke spoke loud enough
Could she perhaps get through to Chapman (Peak)?
Or did he lose his peak, years ago, years ago?

Just imagine, La da da da da, la da da da da da da
This is Table Talk
La da da da da, la da da da da da da
This is Table Talk

If Table Mountain could sing
Do you think she’d be into Elvis?
I have a feeling she’s always been into rock of some sorts

And if our mountain could think
Do you think she’d be into Plato?
Or did she give up long ago, and let the Cape win her Point

What’s the point?
Just imagine, La da da da da, la da da da da da da
This is Table Talk
La da da da da, la da da da da da da
It’s on the Table!

If Table Mountain could say anything,
What would she say?
If she could only say
What would she say?

There are so many images captured by so many different people, photographers, tourists, travelers and the like, each with their interpretation of Table Mountain, this is mine from a different view! I am very grateful to Alex for the the prompting and nudging that I needed to fly that day, you can see exactly what I would have missed out on if I didn’t.