I’m always keen on making portraits at new locations. So when I was called upon to make portraits for the Johnnie Walker + Magical Kenya Open 2022 partnership by IMG Kenya on the yet to be completed Nairobi Expressway, hitting the road was not an option.

Preparing for the Shoot

We first drove up and down a long stretch of the Expressway on Sunday 27th February, to identify the specific location and background that would be best for shooting portraits come Monday morning.

After several minutes of driving and imagining what the lighting conditions would be like during the portrait photography session, we settled on a section of express way looking into Westlands, with Kenyatta Avenue below us.

The morning light was all forms of glorious that Sunday morning.

Having the evolving Westlands skyline and shooting with the rising sun behind us is what attracted me to this view.

We agreed it would be the best location for the portraits.

The elation was clear.

Shoot Day

Come Monday morning 28th February 2022, we got delayed in leaving our 6am rendezvous point, and got to the shoot location when the sun was already up in the sky, flexing at maximum shine.

This didn’t deter our resolve to make great portraits.

After Johnnie Walker announced their Kshs69.5 million sponsorship of the 2022 Magical Kenya Open, we got down to making the portraits with the team from EABL, Magical Kenya Open and pro Kenyan golfers.

This was my favourite shot of the day. I feel like I should add an explosion behind them.

Greg for birdie. (Sometimes captions just write themselves).

Nairobi from the Expressway

I took advantage of the vantage to capture some shots of Nairobi.

Ongoing refurbishment at Central Park.

Nairobi’s image is changing as we watch. I’m happy I got to use the expressway as a photography location before it is open.

Here’s a short video of my experience driving on the Expressway during the recce.