Paul Cocks

Bianca

2012-02-20T01:06:00.000-08:00

This shot was part of my last shoot but even at the time of shooting it I knew it was always gonna be a stand alone beauty shot and not part of the other story.I also managed in my haste to thank the person that was instrumental in getting this whole shoot off the ground.

That person is Shahnaz.

Shahnaz is a killer make-up artist but besides that she has to one of the most organised people I know.Before we even finish talking about a potential shoot she has already sent mails and made calls to make it happen much to my amazement!

Thanks for all the hard work and the rad makeup on my shoots!

check out some of her work here or here

model: Bianca from pure

from the hip

2012-02-16T05:33:00.000-08:00

churchaven

2012-02-13T04:13:00.000-08:00

Twins

2012-02-06T01:04:00.000-08:00

on the road again

2012-01-30T00:34:00.000-08:00

flight

2012-01-24T05:43:00.000-08:00

The Grove

2012-01-23T02:07:00.000-08:00

north

2012-01-12T02:43:00.000-08:00

Towards the end of last year I was sitting watching the sun go down over Camps Bay with a Dutch friend of mine who was in town for a few weeks for some shoots.
We were chatting about what the next few weeks held in store for us,when he mentioned that one of his jobs had fallen through and that he had a few days to kill at the end of his trip.
He went on to say it would be great if we went on a road trip!
My initial thought was,"what an awesome idea",then I asked ,"where to?''
"What about Namibia?" he said.
I paused and then said "ok, but that might be bit far!"
He just sat there and gave me this look as if to say, so whats your point then!

In the end we drove close to 3500km's in four days through amazing landscapes on one of the raddest trips I have ever done!

Langeni

2012-01-06T04:55:00.000-08:00

Into the night.

2011-11-30T15:25:00.000-08:00

Walls

2011-11-22T06:17:00.000-08:00

Sunday

2011-11-21T00:52:00.000-08:00

5 years

2011-11-14T02:54:00.000-08:00

Denzil and me,test polaroid,2007 - Guy Neveling

I''ll never forget how I felt the first few times I managed to get on set.

Evereything so new,everything so exciting.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed with a world of possibilities that lay in wait.

I remember thinking this is it!

This is what I want to do!

This is what makes me come alive!!!

I was still studying at the time making the trip down to Cape Town from PE at every possible opportunity,sleeping on friends couches, trying to connect the dots and make the contacts that were going to get this awesome journey on it's way.

I was so hungry then.

I wanted it so much.

I still do.

It was a sweaty Thursday morning.I had just walked in from the shop, buying the usual morning breakfast/entertainment consisting of a chocolate croissant and the Cape Ads.Browsing through the pages looking at old cameras,dreaming of all the deals I wished I had the money to buy.

Then came the call,unexpected and out of the blue It was Guy on the line replying to an email I had sent through to him a few days before, looking for a chance to get on set.

We had a brief conversation regarding the up coming possibilities on his shoots and went on our way.

I floated back into the living room where I paced up and down with excitement for the rest of the morning.This was it , finally this was it!!!!

5 years,tons of shoots,a couple of beers and even more advice and encouragement later I look back at the amazing journey that has unfolded.

I will always be grateful for that phone call and the friendships that it has brought.

But more so for how it has inspired me to follow my dream and follow what I love!

Thank you.

Shy the sun.

2011-11-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

Model: Jessica Mensah
H+M :Shahnaz
Styling:Tamara
Assistant:Lindsay
General chaos:Mr Slinky

Thanks to everyone for a rad shoot!!!!

Me taking pictures of Guy taking pictures of things!

2011-10-18T03:05:00.000-07:00

On Distant shores

2011-10-04T03:14:00.000-07:00

"I always find peace here

here where the worlds collide

here where the ocean sends the waves to sleep

In the solace and the silence my heart recalls all the things it once forgot."

all my loss

all my grief

all my pain

all my hope

all my joy

my failures and fortunes dissolved in every drop

in every grain.

It's here I find my freedom.

Stairway

2011-10-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

Freedom and the open road!!!

2011-09-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

Activation

2011-09-19T01:41:00.000-07:00

Helped out friends of mine Dean and Emma from Ogilvy shooting some pics of a really cool activation that they were doing for VW a while back.We had tons of fun cruising around capturing peoples reaction to the mouth piece.Even Mr slinky got involved,well almost...

Bonsai island

2011-09-12T00:37:00.000-07:00

Last week I spent a few days shooting some behind the scenes work on a really cool car commercial.
The shoot took us to some rad locations and reignited my love for the landscape that surrounds us in this amazing country.

First scanned roll!!!

2011-08-24T01:46:00.000-07:00

So I scanned my first roll with my new scanner ,stoked with the outcome.

KAROO circa 2007

2011-08-21T04:03:00.000-07:00

I bought a scanner on Friday to start scanning some of the shots from my Yashica.
I soon remembered a whole bunch of film that I shot a few years back in college,when we still had awesome long holidays and rad equipment to play with.It was shot in the Karoo on my friend Kris' farm.
I shot it on a 4 x 5 view camera with a 6 x12 rollback.Shooting 4 X 5 was always so nerve racking as so many things could go wrong and everything is upside down on the ground glass!
Anyway it came out pretty rad.

ROOF!

2011-08-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

I am a bit old school when it comes to music,not so much in my taste of music but rather that I prefer buying Cds than buying digital downloads.
I love the feeling when the moment finally comes to push play and your'e filled with joy,excitement but mostly expectation.
Will it be all you hoped for,will it be as good as the last one,will it change the way you see the world, will it strike a chord somewhere deep inside?
Sometimes the songs connect straight away and sometimes after many many many listens it finally becomes clear just how well crafted it is.
This shoot for me was much the same,all the excitement, all the expectation and all the joy,but with all of that aside I don't quite know how I feel about this set of images.
Perhaps like a good album they will grow on me with time,perhaps not.
So you get to make up your own mind...

THANKS
caitlin ( ice models)
Shahnaz ( hair and makeup / oneleague )
Tamara ( styling )
Lindsay ( assistant )
digital brothers for the gear

Caitlin

2011-08-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

I was doing a shoot Monday and just as we were about to wrap up the flash died.I decided the light was too rad to waste and that I would shoot a quick few frames before calling it a day.Anyway these are two of the 5 or so frames I shot.
I'll post the full shoot soon.

hall

2011-08-02T03:37:00.000-07:00

City Hall

2011-07-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

This shoot was done a while ago with a stylist friend of mine Kerys.
Bare with me if it's a little slow to load.I decided to do it this way as the single image posting seemed to loose some of its impact.
It was shot at the city hall in Cape Town which is an amazing location and the people there were really accommodating which always helps when doing these things on zero budget.
I am really pleased with the result and have a lot of people o thank for this one including Nick for helping out with the lights,Farran for helping with the retouching and the awesome crew.

Model : jessica lee B from 20Management
Hair and makeup : Shahnaz from Oneleague
Styling : Kerys

Jessica

2011-07-21T05:58:00.000-07:00

and the assistant of the year is .......

2011-07-13T23:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did this little shoot as a favor for a friend,since we were shooting on the beach and it was pretty low key I decided to take slinky along as my assistant/seagull wrangler.For the most part he was running on the beach on his own and for a brief while I had forgotten that he was actually there.
That was until he launched himself into my background and started trying to climb up a sheer rock face.
It was pretty entertaining watching his tiny little legs clawing on like his life depended on it afraid of plummeting to a certain death that lay just 30cm below.

lightbox

2011-07-13T04:25:00.000-07:00

I had my windows cleaned today just in time to get me test roll from my twinreflex back from the lab.
So stoked it works just fine,I'll have to wait for Mike to help me scan them before I see properly but for now looks like it works nicely.

The twin from slummies

2011-07-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

I spent the last week in my home time of East London visiting my parents and waiting for the sun to shine so that I could go fishing at our cottage in the Transkie. The one day my mom and I went into this little second hand store and I promptly found my way to the back where they keep all the cameras.

Now most the time these kinds of shops have the same collection of old cameras which usually consist of a dozen brownies, one or two 35mm pentaxs', a stack of 35mm instant cameras and the odd polaroid.At the same time they are usually not working and pretty expensive,well especially in Cape Town.
But on this occasion I was stoked to find that they had this old Yachica twin reflex.I took it out the display and tested all the settings,the shutter,the focus,the aperture all seemed to be in working order so I braced myself to look at the price tag and was pleasantly surprised.
Now this camera is no Mamiya, Hasselblad or Rolleiflex but at R250 bucks I'm pretty stoked with it.
Now to see if this little guy lives up to my expectation.

Ben

2011-07-12T04:46:00.000-07:00

Alexithymia

2011-06-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

chasing the sun

2011-06-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

Nick

2011-06-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

After weeks of failed attempts and backwards and forwards backwards and forwards we're on then we're off again we eventually managed to get everything together for this shoot.
I'll post the actual shoot in due course but for now here is Nick posing for a light test,I really wish we still shot polaroids because this would have been a rad one.

The dog ate my homework!!!

2011-06-07T01:31:00.000-07:00

Mr Slinky is bummed because I wont let him eat the tasty little porti prints!!!

The old man and the sea

2011-06-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

Dean...

Naryan

2011-05-27T02:52:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks I've been resorting and relaying out my portfolio,going through all my old hard drives and finding stuff I had put aside but somehow it got lost along the way.
This shot was actually from the first shoot I did when I moved to Cape Town.The same shoot as the shot of Laura I previously posted.
Sometimes It's good to revisit old shoots with new eyes,at the time you may think a shot sucks but your'e clouded with what you were trying to do and all the surrounding circumstances.

Mauritius

2011-05-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

A few years back I got the opportunity to cruise to Mauritius to assist on a shoot for a local magazine.We spent nearly every waking minute shooting but the one afternoon I managed to sneak out when no-one was looking.

Jungle book

2011-05-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

Laura

2011-05-17T01:35:00.000-07:00

The one that got away

2011-05-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

This shot was meant to be part of the Lord of the flies story for the between 10 and 5 exhibition but it somehow didn't really fit in with the rest of the story so it became a bit of a lone ranger.

Between 10 and 5 exhibition

2011-05-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

Some pictures I recently took for a collaborative exhibition with between 10 and 5 and the Elizabeth Galloway school of fashion.After nearly dying twice on the way to the shoot,once from a blowout on the N2 and another from the two clowns that jumped us on the N2 while dealing with the blowout we eventually managed to get it done thanks to support from Pippa and Lindsey and almost an entire bottle of rescue drops.

DIEPWALLE

2011-04-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

SNAKES AND LADDERS

2011-04-23T03:44:00.000-07:00

Second home

2011-04-12T01:22:00.000-07:00

Probably most of my fondest memories of growing up took place on this beach and it always seems the things you love the most seem the hardest to photograph.
I'll never do this place justice.

Gcina.

2011-04-08T06:52:00.000-07:00

Reunion!

2011-04-05T02:17:00.000-07:00

2011-04-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

I don't crop enough and I don't shoot enough Black and white.The end!

Seasons

2011-03-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

Goodbye summer,winters weary feet are at the door.

Institution

2011-01-31T13:14:00.000-08:00

kiff office

2011-01-14T06:58:00.001-08:00

JAYNE

2010-12-05T14:51:00.000-08:00

2010-11-30T10:40:00.000-08:00

I guess It's hard not to get caught in the grind and to take time out to focus on exactly what it is you are trying to achieve,exactly what direction your going in and to plan for what is to come.
I guess everything seems to get stuck in the dreams of the future and there always seem to be more pressing matters to attend too.
But I guess patience is a virtue after all.

summer bums

2010-10-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

Recently a friend of mine uncovered this old voigtlander that used to belong to his grandfather I think.It seemed to be in working order so I decided to pop a roll in and give it a go.

Guy

2010-10-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

A while ago I was lucky enough to get on a really cool job with some really cool people and go to some really cool locations.The luck didn't end there I was also lucky enough that I didn't have one technical hitch the entire trip(which is rare for phocus) so much so that I even had time to take a few snaps.

Now thats mos lucky ne.

FRIKA

2010-10-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

A free shoot i did for some students at triple yay!!!

Spring

2010-09-08T04:53:00.000-07:00

WINTER DAZE

2010-08-26T05:46:00.000-07:00

Jayne,

thanks Greta!

hidden

2010-07-16T04:31:00.000-07:00

I guess theres always something hidden.

Something just below the surface.

Is there reward for those that seek?

For those that assign meaning.

Something in the smiles,

something in the sun,

something in the background,

some little glimpse of something no one else sees.

A glimpse of something more than merely what most eyes see.

2010-06-27T05:32:00.000-07:00

proud parents

Surrender

2010-06-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

"All along I thought I was learning how to take
How to bend not how to break
How to live not how to cry
But really I've been learning how to die
I've been learning how to die"

Jon Foreman

New explorations of old frontiers

2010-06-13T13:10:00.001-07:00

2010-05-30T06:10:00.000-07:00

Haven't been shooting too much lately,but soon soon I hope....
Progression requires motion not necessarily forward motion,but for now the next level illudes me...

BEFORE THE RAINS COME

2010-03-09T03:09:00.000-08:00

Soaking up the last few days of summer!!!

New direction

2010-02-08T12:29:00.000-08:00

A while back a friend of mine asked me to shoot her end of year range,these are the long over due images that resulted,thanks to Simone VR from trigger models,Digital brothers for the lights Michelle for designing such rad clothes and Jade for the make up.

first in last out

2009-11-24T08:01:00.000-08:00

Sadly these are some of my first, yet some of the last Polaroids I will ever take.
Ill miss the plastic grinding sound and the pop of the flash as the camera vibrates and spits out a undeveloped moment.The smell of the chemicals,the excitement as the picture slowly appears from the grey immulsion and the sheer dissapointment when one gets jammed.
farewell short lived friend.

no lekker

2009-11-20T02:40:00.000-08:00

As Promised here are some of the official shots we did with local band THIEVE a while ago,was a long process but a cool job,
no lekker.

head down chin up

2009-11-16T08:21:00.000-08:00

Does the world need another photographer?

2009-10-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

I've been wading through a lot of stuff lately thinking and processing revisiting ideas reevaluating everything I'm on my way towards.Thinking of everything I've lost and left to get here.The world seems like such a discontented place all these people striving to leave there mark,all these people somehow trying to be heard but the audience is so bored.Over stimulated by images and ideas blazed into our minds by our frantic culture.Individuality seems to be an artform we left long ago,nothing comes naturally anymore we have let our freedom bind us.
Does our discontentment ever cease,is it friend or foe forever searching never finding.

Band

2009-10-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

some stuff I shot for a local band,some more coming soon.

desire vs dissapointment

2009-10-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

"When desire is too much to bear ,we often bury it beneath frenzied thoughts and activities or escape it by dulling our immediate consciousness of living.It is possible to run away from the desire for years,even decades,at a time,but we cannot eradicate it entirely.It keeps touching us in little glimpses and hints in our dreams,our hopes,our unguarded moments"
-The Awakened Heart

2009-09-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

"We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time"
-T. S. Elliot

2009-09-07T02:02:00.000-07:00

2009-09-03T02:21:00.000-07:00

Meet Mike
He's not emo,he just dropped his awesome vintage film camera on the floor!
bummer.

Well the last few months have been super hectic after complaining about how long and boring and workless the winter here is Ive managed to work almost none stop and got to travel a bit too.I haven't shot much but the bits and pieces that I have managed to do have been flipping rewarding.I did an awesome shoot for an up and coming band THIEVE which we're in the process of trying to get published so I cant post them here just yet but hopefully you'll see them around soon.This has brought about other cool opportunities and hopefully ill start getting a little more published work out there soon.

Dont blame me I'm from slummies!!!

2009-06-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

So after like a year of deliberation I finally decided to start a blog, and in doing so put myself out there and show a bit of what I do,or at least try to.
So the winter in the Cape is always hectic besides dodging the rain and the gale force winds the photo industry goes into semi hibernation. Just making the end of the month seems to become an unattainable goal as the winter drags on and on and on and on and on......

But before the storms rolled in and stole the sun I was lucky enough to do a really cool test shoot(my first).Now fashion isn't my forte but with some help from Candice(stylist)we managed to do some cool stuff.
lekker!