Joe Cocker

Here's a shot of Joe Cocker that i took for South African Press Association at the Big Top arena in Carnival City.

Cut, Snip, Fit - Taylor

So it's been a hard days night and and i've been shooting like a dog (that's a but overdramatic but it's been busy). It's all been feeling like work, but this morning i shot with Mel, lead singer of Taylor, and all made sense again. She's a tokyo star, singer, word poet, a voice and a whole lot a laughter. Dankie Mel.

Not the city

I've been doing a lot of traveling for Wegbreek magazine lately. It is really cool to work with them and every month i open their magazine i can see that their content just gets better. Here is some shots i took in the Drakensberge on a trip up Langalibalele Pass. Friend Gerhard and I dragged our lazy behinds up the mountain for a killer hike. We were completely alone in a 11km radius. It was so good. One factor however freaked us out a bit. The pass is where cattle thieves take their cattle to and from Lesotho, so we were sleeping right in these guys path. We didn't come across any cattle thieves but when we saw carcasses lying in the grass, from the cattle that couldn't make it across the mountains, then we were a bit apprehensive. These shots belong to Wegbreek, so like always, keep your grubby paws offa it.

Tuks Rag

So Alet, Waldo and Michel Bega (he'll be shooting for the Citizen soon) and me shot Tuks Rag. It was like every year - drunk students and music. Two thing however were different. For one i started feeling my age this year. It was like i couldn't associate with students like i always do. Two, there was no mud. Must be global warming or something, 'cause the usual mud-party didn't go on.

International act OK GO played, but to me the ZA music was much better. One of our group of photographers commented that if they have to shoot Parlortones again they'll vomit, i felt much the same. But then when Parlortones started we all kinda started shooting and loved their music. What is it that makes us always like them?

Fokofpolisiekar were the main act and i think that there were 10 000+ people that watched them. I couldn't get any nice shots of them, partly because i was shooting pics of security trying to stop the barriers from breaking. You could hear the screws pop every now and then. Security were really straining. And that was it, we photographers left before the end 'cause we wanted to miss all the drunken traffic. So that's it. Music and drunk students. Some things never change. (p.s. All these shots belong to Beeld, so hands off!)

Who are The Stenographers?

Who are The Stenographers? No, really, who are they?

Dziękuję Ola

So, Ola and i went out with two flashes and a car full of smiles and hit the local cafe about a kilometer from my house.
Ola is super easy to work with so my job was easy.
Most of the shots have two off-camera flashes directly to Ola's right and left. The background is underexposed by about two stops.
While we were shooting some guys came out of their house and just sat on the sidewalk 'observing' the shoot. How weird. Ola handled it super cool and the weirdness of it disappeared after a few bad Borat jokes from the both of us.
I think this might just be my personal favourite shoot so far this year.
One problem though. Look at the top picture (it's all warm) and then the rest (quite cold). i Struggle with editing. Do i warm up the pics, add saturation, cool it down or desaturate. I don't know. At the moment i like a cold look where the skintones are slightly desaturated.
Anyways, that's me for now.
I hope i can do another fun shoot like this soon.
Do widzenia

The Little Bird

So, this is not the kind of thing i ever do. Photographing dead birds and stuff like that. I actually find it pointless. But i was jogging along the other day and saw this little dude just lying there. He (or is it she) looked like it was asleep.

So here it is:
Ode to a dead bird
you are lying there
wishing slumber upon yourself
because slumber brings waking

My 5cents!