gareth bentley photography

Away in the UK

2008-10-13T13:30:00.001+02:00

My commercial site is currently under complete re-development, so haven't been able to post to this blog. Leaving for the UK for a couple of weeks to shoot a wedding. New site will launch mid-November.
Cheers
gareth

back online!

2008-09-25T08:52:00.003+02:00

Phew. At last got internet sorted properly and able to get online hopefully more regularly now. I have alot of posting to do, but for now here are few images from some of my recent weddings.

busy busy

2008-08-13T13:06:00.002+02:00

its been a manic 6 weeks! I've shot 4 weddings and moved house and office. Getting internet access is proving to be a challenge, but as soon as I do, i'll try and get up to date.
cheers
gareth

star trails

2008-06-21T23:24:00.002+02:00

This is an image I shot a couple of years ago down in the Zambezi Valley on a starlit night. Star trails pictures are usually pretty corny but I like this one. The colour in the sky is courtesy of the town of Chirundu, just over the horizon.

Moto X

2008-06-21T23:01:00.002+02:00

I've had a week of catching up on borning admin and IT stuff :(
Sunday afternoon, I drove out of town to shoot a big Motorcross Event. I had a great time, although the dust was was pretty crazy - had to spend ages cleaning all the dirt out my kit. The D3 has incredible autofocus tracking - great for this kind of shoot. I fly out Monday morning for a week of shoots on the Copperbelt and in the Lower Zambezi. Here are a couple of the motorcross shots:

old images

2008-06-08T22:01:00.002+02:00

Just been going through some old backups of mine and came across this image from a shoot for the Irish Embassy. A boy looking through the window of a classroom in a township in Kitwe.

Esnart Daka, Chikumbuso

2008-06-08T20:49:00.002+02:00

This picture is of grandmother Esnart Daka, who lives in Ngombe Compound here in Lusaka. She is part of the Chikumbuso Womens and Orphans Project which does amazing work to help the people that live in this shanty. I photographed Esnart Daka about a year ago, when she was looking after 5 of her grandchildren because she had lost 3 of her own children to AIDS. Twelve months later she now looks after 10 grandchildren and still lives in the same tiny shack. She smashes stones by hand to sell to the building trade and is lucky if she makes a dollar a day. Her story is in no way unique.

www.chikumbuso.com

Climate Care

2008-05-31T17:22:00.000+02:00

Just back into town again from a 3 day shoot in North Western Province for Climate Care based in the UK. We flew up in an old islander and spent 3 days visiting the new hydro station that Climate Care is helping fund, as well as the schools, hospitals and people that the power will benefit. It was a great trip and my first shoot with the new Nikon D3. I shot 70% of the images with a 50mm lens, as this was the only short lens I had that would work with the D3. It was a challenge but I am super impressed with the low-light capability of the camera.

Here are a few of the people shots from the shoot:

Green Mining?

2008-05-31T17:02:00.003+02:00

This is just a fun shot from one of my mine shoots a few weeks ago. I liked how all the shapes on the contruction site work together to create an image.

Ellensdale revisited

2008-05-31T13:47:00.003+02:00

A few weeks ago I went to shoot some more agricultural images for Ellensdale Farm. Everytime I go out there, the weather goes bad, so once again I had to do the bulk of the shoot in a few minutes before sunset as the light broke through the cloud cover. A powerful quad bike allowed me get around the farm quickly enough to shoot each field.

Kasaka Lodge, Lower Zambezi

2008-05-30T17:27:00.000+02:00

Had great fun shooting for Kasaka about a month ago - here are a couple of the pics.

In the middle of nowhere...

2008-05-21T15:06:00.005+02:00

Phew - blogger appears to be working again - kind of anyway. Have only managed to do this single post so far.

Wow - can't believe its been over a month since my last post. I've been travelling almost constantly and madly editing the rest of the time so I've got a bit of catching up to do. These shots were for an exploration company working out in the bush. It was one helluva drive on a track through the hills to get there - over 4 hours to do 100km!

The helicopter is rigged to do specialist survey flights towing a huge receiver contraption. Amazing to see!

Drill teams work 24/7 drilling survey holes.

blogger problems...

2008-05-20T22:18:00.000+02:00

Hi all. I've been trying to post for several days now but there appears to be a problem with blogger which means I can't currently upload or link to any photos. VERY frustrating. It seems to be a problem for a lot of people at the moment. Will wait a few days to see what happens, otherwise I'll move the blog to wordpress.
cheers
gareth

The Islands of Siankaba

2008-04-14T21:29:00.003+02:00

Spent several days shooting the Islands of Siankaba a couple of weeks ago. It is a beautiful lodge and the food is fantastic. I experimented a little with the panoramic format as it seemed to suit the job rather well. More 'normal' ones to come.

back in the city... briefly!

2008-04-14T21:12:00.002+02:00

...just back from almost 3 weeks of travelling, shooting lodges in Livingstone and the Lower Zambezi and shooting Greg & Terry's wedding the day before yesterday. They held a beautiful wedding out in Mazabuka - here is just one pic as they made their way to the reception. Will post more pics from the wedding and the other shoots soon.

The Royal Livingstone Express

2008-03-17T16:27:00.002+02:00

Just back from a fantastic 2 days shooting the newly restored steam train, The Royal Livingstone Express. It has been lovingly restored to its 1920s decor and it is a wonderful experience. A 4 hour trip through the game park, past herds of buffalo, giraffe etc. and a 6 course meal with cut crystal glassware and silver cutlery. Definitely something to see.

going to the zambezi, gonna get married...

2008-03-17T15:50:00.002+02:00

After yet another shoot underground, this time for the Australian Mining company Albidon, we tore off down to the lower zambezi to shoot Karl & Annelise's wedding at beautiful Kanyemba Lodge, (www.kanyemba.com). After a rather eventful trip (during which I nearly drowned my car in what I thought was a puddle but was in fact a 4 foot deep hole) we arrived a little damp but no worse for wear. Karl & Annelise had a beautiful small ceremony at the bushcamp on Kanyemba Island, followed by a long sundowner cruise and then the reception under the trees on the banks of the river. Here are just a few pics from the day. More on www.garethbentleyweddings.com

Mine Shoot - 600m underground!

2008-02-18T13:55:00.003+02:00

These images are from a shoot just before Christmas. Had to overcome a fairly serious bout of claustrophobia to get these. It was an amazing experience but I one I hoped I wouldn't have to repeat too soon. Unfortunately I have another one at a different mine tomorrow!

Ethiopia!

2008-02-18T12:38:00.007+02:00

Here are just a few pictures from an amazing 11 days spent in Ethiopia shooting the Timkat Festival. Myself and a fellow tog shot day and night pretty much non-stop for the entire time there. Arrived back in Zambia exhausted and ill but tightly gripping a backup drive with thousands of images on it. Need to get on to writing accompanying articles and trying to flog them now!

Will post more pics in a gallery soon as far too many to post here.

One of my favourite images from the Trip. This is Gonder town taken from the Goha Hill. It took 3 cold pre-dawn attempts to capture this one.

A priest inside one of the incredible rock hewn churches in Lalibela. The entire church is carved out of one piece of rock!

As we travelled along a wretched road outside Lalibela we spotted this man herding his cattle along the hills.

St. Georges church in Lalibela at dawn.

The Timkat Festival in full swing.

From a walk through Gonder at dawn.

garethbentley weddings launched!

2008-02-18T10:36:00.002+02:00

Wow, it been ages since my last post. Time has gone by in a flash, with a shoot in Ethiopia among everything else and trying to get my wedding website up and running. It has finally been launched in the last couple of days and you can have a look at it by going to www.garethbentleyweddings.com Looking forward to shooting a small wedding in the beautiful surroundings of Kanyemba Lodge in the Lower Zambezi, at the end of the month.

Will post some pics later today from some interesting recent shoots.
cheers
gareth

do you? I do

2007-11-20T12:16:00.001+02:00

i've been shooting more and more weddings lately and I've decided to launch a new website dedicated specifically to wedding photography which should be going live in the next few days.

this is another long exposure of Doug & Donna's beautiful wedding on top of a hill with an incredible view. it was completely open-air and thankfully the weather held!

sunny madagascar??

2007-11-19T13:08:00.000+02:00

been sorting through my image collection, and came across this shot. it was taken on my honeymoon to madagascar where it rained constantly :( I balanced the camera on my rather damp camera bag (having left my tripod at home) for a long exposure in between showers; one of only a few times I was able to get my camera out. i'm not normally a fan of 'feathered water' shots using long exposures, but I liked the stormy mood of this one.

yet more harvest...

2007-11-18T00:33:00.000+02:00

so been spending alot of time out on farms recently. this shot was for Zambeef plc for their annual report. was amazing to watch this very skilled driver loading these huge bales onto a trailer at incredible speed. nearly got run over several times...

the sunny zambezi

2007-11-16T15:56:00.000+02:00

an older pic from a previous shoot for sun international - this is the zambezi sun in livingstone. going back soon to shoot a wedding special for the royal livingstone which should be a laugh :)

harvest time

2007-11-02T14:26:00.000+02:00

It's been a rather crazy month in terms of commercial work so haven't had a chance to post for a while now. With the skies beginning to threaten rain now, most farmers have got their wheat harvests in. This image is of the wheat crop being harvested on ellensdale farm near lusaka. I'd been struggling with dull grey skies all day due to the smoke and haze of the dry season but just before I gave up the sun broke through the clouds briefly just before it set for the day.