I had the privilege to attend the RE.INVENT workshop hosted by Dror Eyal and Andrea Carlyle at Forum Homini on Tuesday. It was quite an experience I would love to do it again. I learnt so much in one day, more than I expected.

I just want to say a quick thank you to both the hosts the day was really a great opportunity for me, thank you for awarding me the bursary even if my name was drawn out of a hat I’m glad I was the lucky person that got to be there. I picked up so much, besides my nice collection of mossie bites I think I walked away a more “enlightened” photographer.

The more I dabble into wedding photography the more respect and admiration I have for it. On that note a collection of my shots from the day I really couldn’t decide on just a handful they are all so different, so I thought id share all of my favorites.

A week ago our lectures from The academy of creative photography invited us to do a shoot for the Guide dog association of their new puppy’s, what more can I say I spent more time cuddling then taking photos.
They are the most gorgeous little pups you will ever lay your eyes on and there were nine of them to play with just heaven. We had a ball here are the results just follow the Pups TeeHee

K.O the poor reindeer and puppy over indulged this Christmas..

Look u can see the lighting set up “stupid” Baubles

Ohh mommy I want to take him home…

 The lack of posting these last few weeks, are due to the excessive amount of work I’m experiencing at the moment, but finally I’ve taken 15min for myself to upload some of the last few photos I took on course.
We used our home made light boxes and went mad, here are some of the results. I’ve had so many interesting things to photograph lately so hopefully ill get a chance to post them soon, especially the Puppy shoot ..

But for now these are the unedited “class pics”  the best out of the couple I handed in. Let me know what you think.

About 2 weeks ago I was asked to take a couple of pictures for one of the brands I design for to put up on there social media platforms, so I tagged along to FHM poker party which was hosted by Piggs Peak Casino home of All Africa Poker. I was interested to see the “brains” behind the Magazine and there General readers.  It was allot of fun and I got to take some really cool shots, but such a busy environment where the guys don’t generally pose for Pics is difficult, anyway the winner of the night is above, Leanne Liebenberg, she is stunning so its difficult to screw up any picture with her in.

The photos are “Property” of Piggs Peak home of All Africa poker, as Part of there marketing Campaign with Leanne Liebenberg.  Here are some more photos…

These are the photos that I took, and were picked to show in class. I haven’t edited them at all, it feels like cheating when the other people in my group don’t know how to use Photoshop so I’ve upload my unedited ones. Let me know what you think.

A friend of mine is getting married next year, and ill be taking the photos, really looking forward to it, So I’m getting allot of “practice” in. This last Friday night I had camera withdrawals and bought myself a bunch of roses, and decided to take some typical Ring pictures, I gave myself a few challenges, I had to take the photos indoors on a flat surface, bellow Tungsten light (with a globe that’s only half functions)

I was only allowed to use my rings and the red roses, I had to try and remove all other backgrounds and the main focus needed to be either the rings or the rose..

After I played around with the different settings, on the camera and flash, I got the exposure I was happy with. I under exposed allot to get the dark backgrounds..
I tried to think of a way of taking the photos that wouldn’t be the “first solution” so tried all sorts of different angles and with allot of trial and even more error, with fast dissipating flash batteries, I came up with these solutions. They all seem quite traditional but then I think the dark effect works well.

I did edit in Photoshop,  I played with the curves and levels, I used the Stamp tool to get rid of the “rose blemishes” And I used unsharp mask…
Rose’s are so unforgiving….. They show every little bump and kink and flaw, I suppose were all so used to seeing the perfect 5 roses rose now days that when you take a picture of the average joe rose, it doesn’t cut it..
I’ve decide not to Guilt trip myself anymore on editing the photos, that’s what I can do, know how to do and studied for 5 years to do…
So I suppose ill forgive myself. Ask me tomorrow again though ill probably change my mind.

I have a studio session on Saturday, an introduction to studio photography, where a couple of our lectures that gave us our first course have started their own Photography school http://www.photoacademy.co.za/
Have a look, I’m hoping to soak it all up, and then decide which is the next best class for me to do, but in the mean time ill just carry on playing, and experimenting on my own. To view the larger images and a couple of extras click the more link.

I haven’t had a chance to work with my camera in a while and I’m missing it, but in the mean time I’ve edited a couple more from the Make up Trial.  Also allot of images, constructive criticism welcome..
Let me know if you like the layout of the images, i found a new option in my admin that i haven’t used before.

It was my little Brother in laws 6^th Birthday this last weekend, and of course the camera came with. I took a whole bunch of candid family photos, but luckily I got these two treasures, I just love them, the expressions on their faces, are just magic. This is probably the first time I’ve taken pictures of kids, after all the “refresher” training. 

A portion of my studies at Design center was all about photography, we worked in Dark rooms, and had a fabulous time, it all feels like so long ago, and I’m so glad I did a recap. I’m not to sure where to go from here, Clearly I want my photography skills to improve, and I’m sure ill do a couple of more courses, I think once I’m more confident ill approach some of the well known photographers in my area, to offer my slave services in the hope of picking up some new skills.

But in the mean time My Cam is attached to my hip and its practice, practice, play and have fun… and more Practice.. ok ill also admit the occasional blog stalking.. but its only to learn more & more…

Our final class outing was this Sunday, We had to get up at sparrows and go to JHB botanical gardens, where I spent the morning snapping away, It was actually allot of fun, except for the frost bite. Here is a little collection of some the images.

As part of the class your not allowed to use photoshop, so these are strait out of my camera pics, I don’t think they are to bad, considering I actually quite like them, cant wait to get the time to do some touch ups..

I can’t decide which is my favorite, maybe the reeds? Anyone out there? Let me know which one you prefer…