June was a pretty busy month for me on the property photography side of things. One of the homes I did for Shelley Residential in June is a magnificent farm / ranch style house situated in my favourite suburb, Cowie’s Hill. There was a LOT of work put into marketing this 500m² home by the agency and myself. I visited the property 3 times to shoot photos and video, including 2 twilight shoots. I did 2 twilight shoots because the first one was scuppered when we discovered that the swimming pool lights are not connected to the house’s solar electricity supply, so load shedding had it’s way with us on that score. We had to have the pool lights on for the evening shoot, otherwise what would be the point?
When I returned for the second twilight shoot the sky presented itself with horrible grey clouds, not the kind that usually make for decent twilight shoots. Fortunately Photoshop had the last laugh in that regard and the feature image of this post is what I came up with for my portfolio shot. The photos the agency used had a lighter sky, because it made more sense when they were using multiple images in the listing. I really liked the colour of this sky though, so that’s my shot.
Right, more about the house… Well, as you can tell from the small collection of images below, this is an outdoor / indoor house where the emphasis is on flow and outdoor entertaining with a large but well segmented decked area that spans the entire main facade. Stacking doors allow you to move seamlessly between the deck and the main living areas. The pool embedded in the deck is just the right size to cool down in on a balmy Durban summer day. If you’ve lived with a pool you’ll know that maintenance can become a nightmare, so for me the smaller they are the easier that job becomes. Definite win for the farm house there. On the other side of the deck, closer to the master bedroom is a fantastic fire pit where the owners have circled four Adiron chairs. This is a great place to warm up with some marshmallows and maybe a glass of sherry on winter nights. There’s also a jacuzzi tucked away around the corner of the deck. Inside the house it’s all about space. Two indoor fireplaces, one in the main lounge and another in the coffee lounge / bar area. Big farm style kitchen with shabby chic cabinetry and a scullery. And check out those hardwood floors. I’ve shot a lot of properties but never seen hardwood floors like that.
The asking price was R5 million. I use the past tense because this house sold at full asking price just 9 days after the listing went live. I shot 13 homes for Shelley Residential in the highway area in June and of those 9 have already sold, or are under offer at the time of writing this blog. That’s a 70% success rate. OK. We’re all doing something right here!
By the way, if you’d like to do a twilight shoot of your own property, for whatever reason, check out my offer here.
