A while ago, you may have noticed the video shoot project that a few local businesses on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa worked on! It was a stunning video shoot & drone footage of Uvongo Beach, with the Drone Footage from BVR 360Media captured, that turned into Uvongo Falls itself and then an overview of Fire Performers SA performing on the rocks. That same day, South Coast Explore was there too! We captured some photos, videos and a live video here and there of the beautiful experience alongside IH Photography Studios (Ian Hards), a young and enthusiastic photographer in the field who is responsible for the majority of the close-up shots of the evening.
The Local Gems Who Made This Possible!
Barry 360 Media & Drone Footage (BVR 360Media). Capturing the Drone Footage and editing it all together, as well as the prep work! Local champs on the KZN South Coast that know how to handle their equipment and make it a memorable one!!
South Coast Explore. Capturing the Live Footage! From photos, videos and sharing it with our local community! Showing the world what the stunning KwaZulu-Natal, South Coast of Uvongo Beach has to offer!!
IH Photography Studios. For capturing the shots in-person, on the ground, on Uvongo Falls and tripping in puddles occasionally…Trying to capture that magical moment! And, can we just say, wow! Ian truly outdid himself and made sure to get only the best shots of the fire dancing on Uvongo Falls that day!
Fire Performers SA. The Fire Performers team outdid themselves and fully committed to making it possible! Despite the cold, slippery and rather odd conditions than what we were used to, we were still able to 100% ensure their safety, training and commitment to making that shoot possible.
How The Shoot Came To Be!
Who, how and why did we do this? Well, it started out with Fire Performers SA and South Coast Explore discussing the possibility of bringing more presence to and showing locals and tourists what the beautiful Uvongo has to offer. It’s a quiet, calm and peaceful area, where we both had the fantastic idea to perform at Uvongo Falls! What better way to showcase the beauty of Uvongo than to do it right on the river that flows directly through Uvongo and onto the beach?
So we decided to start the planning and prep for this big video shoot, and boy, was it a mission! But it was so worthwhile when we all worked together to make it possible, from the weekly practice sessions that took place for 2 months before we could make this shoot possible, fire dancers practiced, photographers worked on honing their skills and we worked on providing ideas, suggestions and improvements on how best we could make this possible and eventually the big day came! The 30th of June arrived, to our disappointment, the wind was not on our side that da,y and it would have been too dangerous to try and shoot video, capture photos, and fire perform at the same time. Probably not the smartest idea, so we postponed the event to Plan B, which was set for the 7th of July, and we tried again; this time, it was a massive success.
We were eagerly awaiting this big day, and when I mean all of us. I mean all of us were super excited to finally head down to Uvongo Falls when the time was right, grabbed our coffee and treats from the coffee cave and headed straight to! From prep work to set up and practice runs, we made this shoot something else! We highlighted the beauty and hard work of our local community on the KwaZulu-Natal, South Coast. The day of this shoot, the performance was magical, the drone passing by above every few seconds felt phenomenal, with the fresh breeze running off of the Uvongo River behind the bridge and it turning into a massive waterfall below into the lagoon, onto Uvongo Beach and out into the ocean. The whole experience was one to remember, one to feel and one heck of a way to spend a Monday in July on the South Coast! The stunning scenery and warmth of the fire performance were a magical experience, truly highlighting the awesome, serenity, calmness and magic that the south coast has to offer.
After this shoot, we were cold, some of us got wet from stepping into naturally formed puddles on Uvongo Falls, we headed to The Coffee Cave to grab a warm beverage and refresh ourselves after the brilliant evening! The welcoming atmosphere at The Coffee Cave, staying open past normal business hours for us was magical, peaceful and truly a thrill to experience. We couldn’t have been happier to do this.
Creating memories on the South Coast and making something special that will last forever and be a reminder of what Uvongo Beach has to offer. But, that’s not all, because more south coast beaches will come, not just Uvongo, but Margate, Ramsgate, Umtentweni, and so many more!
We’ll be excited to do this again and share it with you!
