Behind the scenes look: Lesotho Herdsman with his blanket

I was on an assignment in Lesotho. Whilst driving I saw this guy walking with his colorful Blanket. These blankets are just a boring grey when you buy them and this guy has embroided his own blanket. He is a cattle herder and of course has all the time in the world to do the embroiding. These blankets literally means their survival. They wear them for the cold and at night they sleep under them. I immediately turned around and try to buy the blanket from him. In Lesotho it’s very cold and there was no way he was going without a blanket. I offered to go and buy him another one and pay him for extra for the embroidery that he did. After a very long negotiation he wasn't willing to sell it to me. Then I got the next brainwave and I asked him if he will be my model for a shoot. Fortunately he was willing to do the shoot.

The light was bad already at this stage and the only way I was going to get a half decent shot was to use fill in light. This was also not a job for a small light. I used my Power pack with a 70” Octabox. The Octabox gives you a clean light that you can control. He was standing in a Tin shack and the surface is a very reflective, witch make your light control very important. The rain also didn't made my life easier
at this moment.

My model didn't speak English and I have very limited BaSotho Language skills. A lot of explaining had to happen with hand signals. I struggle to explain to him to stand exactly where I wanted him. He would move every time When I just  I decided that it’s going to be easier to move the flash. Eventually I drew an X on the ground and manage to explain to him to stand on the spot. By now we have drawn a big
crowd by Lesotho standards. They all wanted to see what we were doing.

Finally got my model to relax and enjoy the shoot. I then manage to play around a bit and had a very satisfying result for an unplanned shoot. I still didn't manage to buy the blanket, but at least I had great images of him and his blanket.