Piet, maize and a pitbull

I love my shoots through Pannar Seed, mostly because it’s a doorway into another whole world…and this time, it was into the Vrystaat!

I have to be very honest here. I am born and bred in KwaZulu-Natal and my Afrikaans is appalling! Dismal. Laughable and maybe even insulting to some! Oddly enough, I learned more afrikaans back in the days of working and living in England than I did growing up – I met more afrikaans people in London than I did in my home town! And if my highschool afrikaans teacher had to see me now, attempting to communicate in afrikaans, she’d be saying “Ja Lianne, nou gaan jy kak en betaal.”

But this is the beauty about these shoots – even with a language barrier, I get to meet and experience some of South Africa’s most hospitable folk. I have to take my hat off to the Afrikaans farmers and their families I met on this photo tour, they really do go out of their way to make their guests feel welcome… including speaking english to an ‘engelse photographer with completely kak afrikaans!’

Meet Piet, his family, Martins the Pannar consultant and of course, last but certainly not least, in fact quite possibly the star of the show the pitball “Buks.” Buks is an extremely talented and most useful farm dog. His skills include soil sampling, shredding the mealie pips from the cob with one swift bite, chasing birds and even driving the combine harvester, solo. “Buks” also gets his own seat at the breakfast table. This I think was my photo highlight…the breakfast table and the hub of the house at the Vanrensburg’s! I got the wonderful opportunity to capture some truly South African documentary shots.

Boss dog.

These images are licensed to Pannar Seed.

Lianne Ashton is a freelance photographer based in KZN, South Africa. Her clients include large commercial agricultural corporates, NGO’s, small businesses and investment companies with a focus on promoting agriculture in South Africa and throughout Africa.

To work with Lianne or find out more about her photography services, click here to say “hello.”