From Paris with Love: The 130-Year-Old Camera that Captured a Nation’s Soul

Some stories deserve to be told in sepia, not pixels.

In a world addicted to filters and fleeting feeds, Castle Lager’s new “Heritage of Craft” campaign pauses time. It rewinds the clock to 1895 — the year South Africa’s oldest beer was first brewed — and finds a way to link that legacy to our modern sporting heartbeat, writes Mark Keohane. 

At the centre of this visual time-machine stands Mike Sharman, founder of Retroviral Agency, and one of Africa’s most gifted creative disruptors. Together with Castle Lager’s team, Sharman took a brand known for unity and tradition and reframed it through a literal lens of history — an original 1895 camera, found in a tiny Paris antique shop.

“About a year and a half ago, we were looking at a brief surrounding Castle’s new packaging,” Sharman recalls. “And we went down quite a rabbit hole. Castle was founded in 1895, and it’s been part of the South African psyche for 130 years. It’s been the one consistent sponsor, through thick and thin — Springboks, Bafana Bafana, Proteas — always there, always dependable, like the taste itself.”

That word — consistency — became the heartbeat of the concept. In sport, consistency wins titles. In beer, it defines trust. And in storytelling, it forges emotion.

In Paris for another project, Sharman stumbled into an old camera store. The kind that smells of dust, oil, and ghosts of artistry. Hanging behind glass was a wood-and-brass camera dated 1895 — the same year Charles Glass brewed his first batch of Castle.

He bought it. And with it, he bought the soul of this campaign.

What began as a packaging brief transformed into a cinematic pilgrimage: capturing South Africa’s modern sporting heroes — the Springboks, Proteas, and Bafana Bafana — through the same kind of camera that existed when Castle was born. The result? A mini-documentary that blurs eras and celebrates one thing that hasn’t changed: the craft of creation.

Sharman’s narrative drew on three remarkable South Africans:

Kyle Moskovitz, plant head at Newlands Brewery, guardian of the same walls that have brewed Castle for generations.

Dennis da Silva, South Africa’s master hand-printer, who still develops photographs by hand in black and white, his fingers stained by history.

Vino Snap, once a township footballer, now one of Mzansi’s most viral photographers — self-taught, self-made, and a modern mirror of hustle and heart.

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“We live in a world dominated by AI,” Sharman says. “Everyone wants instant gratification. But mastery takes time — ten thousand hours, maybe more. That’s what Dennis represents. That’s what Kyle lives every day in that brewery. And that’s what Vino embodies — modern craft built on timeless principles.”

For 130 years, Castle Lager has been a thread through our nation’s fabric — the familiar gold label in moments of celebration and heartbreak alike. From Joel Stransky’s drop goal in 1995, to Makazole Mapimpi’s try in 2019, the charge down of Cheslin Kolbe against France in the quarter-finals, the goalkicking of Handre Pollard in the quarterfinals, the semi-finals and final, Pieter-Steph du Toit’s 28 tackles in the final and the glorious moment of captain Siya Kolisi lifting the Webb Ellis Cup in 2023, there has always been a Castle in the background — in fridges, on tables, in the hands of fans from Khayelitsha to Krugersdorp.

Think Bafana Bafana, winners of Africa’s biggest title in 1996, hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup and in 2025 qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

 

From the field to the dressing room — pure joy, pride and unity! 🇿🇦

Bafana Bafana celebrate in style after sealing our ticket to the FIFA World Cup! 🎉

A moment for the history books. 💚💛

⚽ #BafanaPride #FIFAWorldCup #SABCSport pic.twitter.com/4guPwjAkFi

— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) October 15, 2025

Think the Proteas cricketers, the legends, the greats and in 2025 the winners of the World Test Championship when Temba Bavuma did like Graeme Smith and hoisted the Mace for South Africa being Test cricket’s best.

The “Heritage of Craft” campaign recognises that relationship. It’s not nostalgia; it’s an acknowledgement of shared identity.
Thomas Lawrence, Castle Lager’s brand director, calls it “a metaphor for our investment in culture — through the lens of South African fandom and our heroes who don our national colours on the global stage.”

Over the years, Castle’s partnerships have defined our sporting nationhood. The Springboks have become the world’s gold standard in resilience. The Proteas personify grit, patience, and perfectionism — much like brewing itself. Bafana Bafana, the eternal heartbeat of our townships, remind us of rhythm, spirit, and hope.

Castle hasn’t just sponsored sport; it has sponsored belief.

From Paris to Polokwane is a full-circle moment when one considers that Vino Snap, who’d never shot on film, was handed that 1895 camera and sent to Polokwane, where he captured Bafana Bafana during a World Cup qualifier.

The photos are grainy, imperfect, and utterly magnificent. They look like history — because they are.

For Sharman, that was the full circle: “The process may change, the tools may change, but taste is timeless.”

Crafting heritage on a century-old camera

In an era of AI-generated everything, this campaign insists that some things can’t be automated: heritage, craftsmanship, emotion.

It’s also a love letter to Paris — the city where Castle’s old camera was found, and the city that has gifted South African sport so many memories. Paris 2007, when John Smit lifted the Webb Ellis Cup. Paris 2023, when Siya Kolisi did it again. Paris 1998, when Bafana Bafana took their first steps on football’s greatest stage.

From Paris with Love, indeed.

The campaign’s symbolism is as rich as its taste: South Africa’s most iconic beer, brewed in the Cape, born in 1895, still toasting victories 130 years later — captured through a lens from the same year, by a new generation of creators.

Sharman’s “Heritage of Craft” isn’t an ad — it’s a reminder that fire, friends and sport will always unite us and that craftsmanship isn’t dead.

It is a reminder that what we celebrate in South African sport today is what was carefully made yesterday.

So, here’s to the camera bought in Paris.

Here’s to 130 years of Castle Lager.

Here’s to a taste — and a spirit — that has stood the test of time.

• Shaun James filmed the documentary.