William Veitch: Beneath the Surface

Most photographers have had an “uh-oh” moment at some point in their careers.  I hadn’t, however, ever heard a story quite as bad as the one William Veitch told me.  Indeed, his recollection of it all made me sweat just listening to it. And if you know Will, you’ll know that the story was recounted in the most descriptive and elaborate way, a way that makes you feel as if you’re there with him. Storyteller extraordinaire.  Also, a pretty amazing photographer.

But what happened on that memorable day is something that Will looks back on as “fun” (I might add here that he is somebody who loves the rush of adrenaline and I therefore completely believe him).

In 2004, Will was asked to photograph a friend of a friend’s wedding. Excited at the prospect, off he went to capture the day’s special moments with two film cameras, a couple of lenses, and 8 rolls of film. He was confident that that would be sufficient, despite knowing that when shooting with film, there is no room for error.

Will breezed through the ceremony and photographs of the happy couple afterwards and noticed, not without a degree of anxiety, that he only had two rolls of film left. The first roll he flew through taking photographs of the bride and groom with their parents and while reloading his camera with the very last roll, distracted by small talk with the families, it jammed, and the entire roll was ripped apart with the winder.

What would you do in this situation as a photographer? Personally I think I would crumble, panicking way too much to cover up what had just happened. Yes, I would crumble, and tearfully break the news to the wedding party, completely spoiling their entire day. Then I would pack up my camera, run away and start a new life in another country.

Will did panic, yes, but didn’t cry or run away. With hands hidden behind his camera bag, he sweated a bit then rolled up the twisted and torn roll of film and proceeded to ‘pretend load’ the very last roll of film. “Listen guys, this is the last roll, so let’s make it extra special”. Will acted his way through the next 10 minutes, complimenting the wedding party on how amazing they all looked and adjusting his settings on the camera to accommodate the day’s setting sun…  yes, all without any actual film in the camera.

You have to hand it to him, it must have been an excellent performance. But how, you may ask, did he explain the lack of photographs once developed? Well, it wasn’t his doing at all you see, it was the new lady at the photo lab, she messed up with the chemicals and the whole roll came out ice white…

The happy ending to that pretty crazy story is that Will was duly forgiven and he continued on his photography journey…  a journey which does, of course, have a beginning, and so I asked Will when it all started.

Growing up in Uitenhage, his passion was ignited from an early age:

“I loved cameras, I loved photographs… my older sister Michelle bought me a little film camera with a fold-up view finder – I remember this so clearly. I also remember how expensive film was, quickly learning its value after messing up an entire 36 exposure roll of film. I calculated the cost of each photograph that I had messed up and the valuable lesson taught me how to develop an eye for framing. From then on I used my imagination to picture what I was looking at, and then decide if it would make a decent photo or not. I still use this method today. I will look at something, imagine it in the form of a photograph, then decide if it’s worth capturing.”

Gonubie Point

From the age of 13, Will played around with various film cameras and, when able to afford it, purchased a Canon EOS 3000N. It was, he says, the beginning of the greatest time of his life. Excited that he could now change how he wanted his photographs to look and armed with different lenses, he would go to rugby matches at the local schools and photograph the games on a Saturday. He had the time of his life with a few of his images making it into the school magazines, a huge accomplishment for this young man back then.

Fast forward a few years to the mid-2000’s when Will was able to purchase his first DSLR. Costing around R8500 at that time, he swiped his card with a mixture of excitement and nausea and off he went with his newfound love, the Canon 400D.

Weddings followed (without any hiccups), functions, sports events, advertising campaigns for local newspapers, product photography, aerial photography, and a variety events including the ABSA Wildlife Festival in Kirkwood in 2006/07 (for an East London newspaper). It was at this event that Will took full advantage of his press pass and hopped onto a helicopter to capture some aerial shots, a style of photography that he has always had most passion for.

“I requested for the door (of the helicopter) to be removed, as I usually do, as I feel that it makes photographing much easier. You can hang half your body out of the chopper, a beautiful feeling in itself, and I’m certain that the pilots enjoyed it too, taking serious left banks all the time. On one particular aerial jaunt I was accompanied by two female passengers at the rear…I was instructing the pilot where to fly over and to then bank sharp lefts so I could get the most awesome shots. I shall never forget the screams of the two young girls in the back”.

Taking a hiatus to focus on other things in his life, Will once again picked up a camera, this time a GoPro, just last year.  Driven by the thrill of shooting blind, he combined his love of the water and his passion for photography and began doing underwater shoots with models, the results of which are pretty stunning.

Of his choice of equipment, Will says:

“I don’t need a fancy rig, just a GoPro, a body of water and I’m good to go. I had seen some underwater modeling a while back and thought it looked like a lot of fun. I was right, it is enormous fun, and what better way to capture a moment forever. I have also discovered that the same rules do not apply when under water – everything is reversed, so whatever you apply when shooting on dry land, disregard it when you head below the surface of the water…light is the first thing that disappears, and very quickly too; it’s as if the water just swallows it up, a very beautiful thing to see. Two feet below the surface gives you an almost studio type light but two and a half feet down and you’re entering a black hole, for which you need strobes… there’s a very fine line when shooting underwater and I am learning more and more each time I go down”.

Will is hopeful to experiment with a wedding couple next (after lockdown, of course), shooting them in full wedding dress and capturing something extraordinary.

“If you are fun and risk-taking couple, give me a shout, we could make moments that will last forever, and it will be one hell of a story to tell. I’ll do it free of charge…my gift to you! (Disclaimer: you can pay for the A0 print)”

If it has a different spin on it, Will Veitch is up for it. Always chasing the out of the ordinary moments, he is adventurous in his work and lets his creativity flow. Whether it’s sweet talking security to let him up onto the top floor of buildings or heading down below for a whole different perspective, Will puts an emphasis on having fun while shooting, a key ingredient that adds to his success.

He is a name that you are going to become familiar with quite quickly, just watch this space!

For bookings, you can email Will at theofficeprojectproductions@gmail.com or contact him via his Instagram page.

Article by Karen Herman

All photographs provided and remain the property of William Veitch.