A year and a half ago we were lucky enough to fly to the bottom of the world for a 2 week shoot in South Africa. The stadiums were just getting built but you could already feel the excitement in the air. After the shoot wrapped our amazing producer somehow got us comped a free safari at Phinda. As rad as that trip was, how great would it be to be there right now?!

Photos from when we originally blogged them after the jump.


I should preface this by saying I should have broken this up into 2 or maybe 3 posts but what the hell, it was less than 2 days of time total so a ton of photos all at once is how it’s gonna be. On our last day in Africa we were fortunate enough to get free rooms comped at the Phinda Private Game Reserve about 3 1/2 hours north of Durban. Not sure how our producer Dale pulled that one off but I guess that’s just a perk of being a world famous photo super duo (yeya!!). We only had one extra day before heading back to the good old U.S and A but we made the most of it by going on safari in the evening, dinner, a 5am safari the next day and then straight to the airport. We don’t shoot with any lenses over 105mm so we aren’t threatening any Nat Geo photographers out there but we did get enough to make me excited when I went through them a month later (today). 50 photos to follow. Sorry, bad editor.


This was the first wildlife we ran into, on the way to our bungalows.

Swimming pool in the bush.

Our trusty assistant Rennie Solis dresses like a hardcore kid from the early 90s but don’t hold that against him, or do.

Look at that muscle tone in the bush.

Our bungalow, in the bush.

Thatched roof! They warned us to keep our doors closed to keep the monkeys from raiding the mini-bar. No shit.

Our deck, overlooking the bush.

I was going to add water coming out of the outdoor shower until I remembered I don’t know how to do that.

Dear Castle,
If you are looking for anyone to shoot your new campaign let us know, we already have 2 shots for you.
Sincerely,
Jeremy & Claire. Castle lovers.

I friggin hate spiders.

“The making of…” that last shot.

On to the evening’s safari! On to zebras!

Our trusty guide and his trusty rifle.

Cheetos.

Sophies.

How many parent’s got that reference? Sophie La Giraffe.

Can someone get those lions out of the road?

Kitty.

The face of one lucky photo assistant.



Those things.

and those things. The things that just sit there in the water.

Seriously, can someone do something about all the lions blocking the road? This is ridiculous.



Whiskey break, in the bush.

When we got back to our room the tub was filled with a bubble bath! The monkeys maybe? No idea.





5:30AM! Yes!

This little crack addict was perched outside our room, waiting for the mini bar.

More Sophies, within minutes.

Lucky giraffe.

Unlucky giraffe.

Why do all the animals insist on blocking our path?



Goodbye Africa.

Hello another airport.



At least we got to shower in Heathrow before a second 12 hour hour flight. Showers, in an airport. Brilliant.

And the Olympics were on while we waited for our flight.

Breakfast my love?





Greenland, I think.

Claire (being a British citizen) couldn’t have been happier flying in a Rolls Royce powered plane with a Union Jack on the wing.

22+ hours of flights later and 5 or 6 bad movies under my belt…

Where are you Los Angeles my love!!!????!!

Oh there you are my beautiful city under the smog.
That’s it for the Africa pictures, thanks to Phinda, AFS, Jimmy Fang and W+K Shanghai, all the Nokia peoples, Eleni the golden one, and everyone else we met on that journey.

More photos from Africa here…HERE.