live.love.laugh.

Cabin Fever...

2008-09-17T04:16:00.000-07:00

Exams are getting to my head, so I decided to play around with some product photography, not exactly my strongest point, but it was fun. I managed to get this big piece of black material which I used as a background, and used a study lamp to provide the lighting (Studying blues). It was fun. I like this one of the 8 hour cream ... I highly recommend this (no, Elizabeth Arden did not pay me :P), it works so well! I've only used it like 2 times and I bought it about 2 months ago.

My sister wore these shoes to her matric dance back in the day .. just fooling around in Lightroom.

Tried out some funky lighting, these shoes are very interesting.

Overhead lighting, one can tell I wasn't keen to study! I can't wait for Friday!
Over and out

Beach days (greeblepix contest)

2008-09-17T03:47:00.000-07:00

One of the rare days where it's actually been sunny ... what a way to end off a good day :)

Not missing anymore!

2008-09-08T12:36:00.001-07:00

Yes, as Wade said, Danelle thankfully has been found.

MISSING

2008-09-08T00:33:00.000-07:00

I know the amount of blog readers is little on this blog ... but if anyone is reading:
Danelle Basson went missing on Friday 5 September 2008 in the evening. She was out in a club with some friends, and has not been seen since then. This was in Stellenbosch. She is sixteen years old, and please ... let's find her!

Stormy weekend

2008-09-02T08:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend was my birthday weekend - legal at last! We mostly just lazed around, had some cake, visited friends, and then on Sunday went to the beach. Woops, there was no beach! The storms have made the beach disappear - only water that's inching a bit closer to land. At least the kiterunners were having a good time.
Fran decided to pitch up in shorts ... not a good idea as it was FREEZING - so he borrowed Nic's coat.
We were taking photos of the building that was flooded when the water rushed in - Nic managed to jump onto the wall on time.
One has to have ice cream when at the beach no matter what the weather is like!

Over and out

Ryall and Nikki

2008-08-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took some photos for Ryall and Nikki, a very sweet couple. We went walking around the university sports grounds, all in all I'm glad the weather turned out really well, we've been having winter all over again!

Over and out

Another crazy sunday...

2008-08-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

Sundays at Crete are always crazy times. It's the church house where 7 guys live and where crazy things happen. This Sunday was no exception ... where we went crazy with photo taking!

this photo is my favourite.. and I love Lark too!!!
over and out

Croquet

2008-08-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

Haven't been blogging in a while - life has been busy for about the last few weeks. Last weekend we went croqueting! which was a lot of fun, but not my type of game!
Sammy trying to see where to hit!
The croqueting was actually part of my friend's nicolai's birthday - since he loves the Jane Austen era so much another friend organised this for him!
nicolai and faye (the girl who organised the party)
Here Duane and Sam are playing against one of the best croquet players in South Africa.
A random mini - shoot .... :)
Over and out

Wintersday

2008-07-26T11:25:00.000-07:00

Today was Wintersday, a sports day between our school and the Afrikaans girls high school next door. Even though a lot of people didn't attend (it's died over the years), the spirit was great and there was a lot of good netball and hockey played!
This was from the first netball team match. Boy, it was one of the most exciting netball matches I have ever seen (though I don't watch a lot of netball :P). we were only planning to stay for a few minutes before heading off to the hockey, but it got REALLY exciting, so we had to stay for the whole match.
It was a gruelling 40 minutes of a lot of jumping, catching, throwing, and trying not to play dirty! Our girls did SUPERB, we really have a solid team this year, and managed to draw 23 all. Our school doesn't have a good reputation for netball, so I think the playing was a bit of a shock to the Bloemhoffers. I think this is the first time we have ever drawn in a netball match at Wintersday - yes, that's how amazing it is!
We moved onto the hockey, which wasn't going too well. For some reason I really like this photo - it makes me laugh for some odd reason. Anyway, but the hockey wasn't going too well, and unfortunately we lost 4-1. But the spirit of our school was really amazing - that's one thing I really love about our school and will miss when we leave school at the end of the year!
The hockey was less exciting than the netball, but hockey is definitely less interactive, with netball we were standing right there next to the girls that were playing, but with the hockey we were knocked off with a fence. And for good reasons too!
Our beloved goalie was taken off, she managed to get a bloody nose, so that's why the goalie in the photo was not padded! But this was about a minute until full time. It was a great morning, and I do think it was worth waking up at 7am to watch a great day of sport!

Over and out

The adventures of the travelling pink bag

2008-07-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

My sister got this bag from her friend that said that she would never use the bag, so she decided to use it and take it on a phototaking adventure! It was an interesting two days, and we travelled to other towns.
This was on the way to the fresh food market, it's not my kinda vibe, very upper class and larney, but there are a lot of wholesome goods, so you are getting your money's worth. I also had a chance to use the lightroom presets that I downloaded, they are really really cool!
Next we just went walking around town, and pretending to open up my piano teacher's car, he has a mini cooper, lucky man!
Next we went to the art museum in town that belongs to the university. It actually has really cool artworks .. so we decided that this woman needed a bit of an accessory change!
The next day we drove to Franschoek which is this lovely town half an hour away. There they have this mother of a bear, that likes to guard the curios shop! :)
And just a random one of me, with the travelling pink bag!

Other than that, I got a new keyboard, which is exciting because my old one sucked!! I don't like hard to press keyboards, they really are a pain! And it's also wireless, which is just cool in the sense that there are no wires required!
Over and out

A day at the fish farm

2008-07-16T02:00:00.000-07:00

I never knew that a fish farm could be such a pretty place. My friend, sister and I went on Sunday for a picnic there .. and it is such a lovely chilled place to hang out on a Sunday afternoon. People were just fly fishing and just enjoying the winter sun!
It really is a chilled place.

Sarah's yummy cinnamon and apple muffin with speckled eggs!
I love this photo. It's just so chilled.
Awesome shoes!
A funny sign we found!
Over and out

Town day

2008-07-09T04:25:00.000-07:00

We've been having solid rain since last week - and it seems to be persisting until Thursday. So, my friend and I decided to go around town taking photos - there's only so much one can take of this rain :)The town council decided to decorate the longest street in our town. They put red material around every tree in the street: 232 trees, 8km of red material and many staples later - the trees really make the town come alive though. It was a lot of fun shooting in town.
I wasn't the only one that was out shooting - saw another person as well - the weather was actually quite decent yesterday!
We were walking around when we found this awesome derelict spot - these alleyways actually look cool - but don't go by yourself - you never know what you can get yourself into.
We carried on walking and we got to this cool bridge!
And finally walking down the road where the seminary is ... what a lovely day!

Over and out

Matric dance!

2008-06-30T03:50:00.000-07:00

On Saturday it was our matric dance (which is like senior prom). Anyway, it was SO much fun, even though it's overrated, but still I enjoyed it a lot! Here's me and my friend Milli - just before we left

The gang .. taking some photos at the before- party. It's a good thing one of our friends lives in a golf estate.
I just love this photo - it makes me laugh so much. the guys really wanted to try out the golf cart and their faces were just so funny.
We arrived at the hall in a limo! Wow - it went so fast, and it was awesome! The theme was the Ritz hotel - it was REALLY well done .. I enjoyed it. Afterwards, we went to our after party which was at a club in town.

We stayed up until 4am at the club .. they kicked us out basically. Man, I was quite ready to leave at 3am. but it's only once that you actually do this so why not!

I'm still recovering from that evening!

over and out

Emos vs Eskimos

2008-06-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

Last week was our youth dinner at church - namely Eskimos vs Emos. It was a cold cold night, but a fun night!
I was just trying out some shooting stuff - I like cutting out heads for some reason.

Barry was emo of the evening - you gotta give him credit - he wore eyeliner and nail polish! Jono should also get a mention because he wore his sisters jeans (how he fits into them is highly possible)
Emo drawings
Tessa the emonator . .. love the top!

Eating ice cream is awesome ...
Over and out

Puppies!

2008-06-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

My friend Rosalie's dog Chloe gave birthday to really cute puppies a while back. Now they've grown up a little bit and are nearly ready to roll into their new families!

This one was really cute!
I couldn't resist asking Rose to put the dogs in interesting locations!

looks like they're having a convention!

Over and out

My first paid shoot ...ever!

2008-06-08T03:58:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I went for my first paid shoot ... ever! It was quite a challenge, it was for an invitation to the SRC (Student Representative Council) ball, they wanted a casablanca-esque theme. Anyway, so some of the committee posed and it was hard working in a small space. But after editing and everything else, here are some of the results!

I'm loving lightroom at this moment in time! it's sooo much fun!
Over and out

Amy's 18th

2008-06-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

Amy is my oldest school friend, and her mom taught me in grade 0. It was also her party this past weekend, a nice brunch on an awesome sunday morning.Jess Mac who is the one talking tells stories in the funniest way. She is really friendly and funny!
Barbs is also another old friend of mine, I've known her for about 12 years too!
Ginger the cat who has a lot of fur ...
Tammy, who is very very beautiful!!!
We went outside to bask in the sun, while some of us played table tennis ... Dom seems a bit competitive!

Over and out

Laura and Luisa's party

2008-06-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

On Friday it was Laura and Luisa' s party, they're some old friends from primary school. It was quite a nice party, and there was good food!
yummy cocktails ..
Oh Olive my friend is so funny ... kinda outta proportion!
This is one of the birthday girls Luisa, and her sister.
Laura's mom explaining something to her niece, I really like this photo

Over and out

What a weeeeeekend!

2008-05-25T04:14:00.000-07:00

What a weekend it was ... it started off with Friday where I had to go play at an eisteddfodd, and then I went straight to my friend's house because we were writing entrance exams for UCT on Saturday .. we did some maths homework, and then straight to bed! 6am on Sat the alarm went off, and we got ready for a long long day ahead. My other friend Jess and her grandparents took us through. We got there at 7:30, surprisingly enough there were directions to the exam building (UCT is famous for their DISORGANISATION, trying to fill out the application form was already a mission and a half), we finally arrived at the building only to receive a "If you are writing the humanities test please go to Zoology." We were a bit cross, but we got there. Basically it took a while to do stuff around here ... but the tests were okay. They were definitely not easy at all, one had to really think about it! After the test Tess' sister came to pick us up and we went to Cavendish to have lunch at this really really yummy place! Then back to UCT where Jess had to write another test and we finally got home at 5pm .. and I still had a party to go to! Thank goodness it was really chilled. Sam's birthday was on Sunday and she hosted a party where she was housesitting. It was a beautiful home, an artist and his wife live there and their personalities just shine out in this home!
Nic decided to be an emo .. we have no idea why! He wore eyeliner and nailpolish!
Tim and Doug our minister ... they like posing!
It was a nice and chilled evening, and we played a round of 30 seconds. 30 seconds is really becoming very competitive!
Sam, the birthday girl. She always manages to be on the winning team!
When we came out, the moon was looking really stunning, I put on my big lens and started snapping away. I cropped all of them though because the moon was really far away, so the quality has diminished somewhat. but still, it was a beautiful moon.

Other than that, the main topic on the majority of South Africans lips is xenophobia. It has really escalated to a bad point. Why do people do this? It is cruel and inhumane. A lot of the foreigners do A LOT of work to try to get a job here. And this is what they get!

Happy Sunday
Over and Out

Party party

2008-05-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

On Friday we had a surprise party for our friend Astrid. It was another successful surprise party!Decorations were cute!
Astrid really looks happy!
Nic and Andrew ... it's Andrew's cute face!
Some good sokking going on!
We are loving the song Pop goes my heart from Music and Lyrics ... here's the pop!

Over and out

Puppies!

2008-05-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

My friend Rosalie's dog gave birth to 6 puppies .. beagles to be exact! and they are cute and ugly you know ... like all puppies are!They were so cute when they tried barking and stuff... adorable! We tried taking each one to get a little photo session with them ... but unfortunately we only got 3 puppies!
Busy trying out different things ...
This puppy is the only girl ... we thought the pink chair would suit her well! :)
Then they all went for feeding .......
This is Gracie .. the older sister... she's hyper!

Over and out

What happens when we need to kill a camera battery ...

2008-05-12T21:53:00.000-07:00

My friend Sarah came to visit us from the EastCoast! I've missed her so much. We went to visit another friend of ours .. and chilled!Nic found the story soooo funny that he was gone ...
We started fooling around with all the stuff that we had ... when we came upon the rad glasses and the red cape!
We all love the geeek ....
Then we moved it outside. Nic's friend was taking all these photos!
We found the couch on the other side of the house ... these bunch of emos weren't too happy about sitting on it!

Oh well .. what a great afternoon!
Over and out

Housewarming!

2008-05-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday night was the housewarming of our friends Candice and Adrian. They have a really cute place ... it was a great night!Grace and Julz trying out the bopit! It's this awesome game .. I'm sure it's popular in the states, but it doesn't really exist in South Africa! It's addictive too...
Everyone was watching the rugby. Here are the lovely J's watching ...
A very cute puppy .. called Jabulani!
We had an intense round of 30 seconds ... and in the end this team won! Sam is really happy!

Over and out

Dannica's 18th

2008-05-10T05:48:00.000-07:00

Last night i went to another one of my friend's 18ths. Nica's house .... WOW! It's like a designer's dream ... sooooo amazing! When I entered I felt like crying because there was so much smoke on the top floor ... how to start up a fire! :)
I made more use of my 70-300mm... it are yummy!!!! I had a ball taking photos of the decorations.
These glasses were yummy yummy ...
My friend Essa ... Well her name is Tessa but I just call her Essa. Anyway, I think this is one of my favourites from the evening!
The birthday cupcakes .. yum yum!
We had a bit of fun taking photos of the whole group ... what a kicking evening! One thing I learnt though .. shooting at ISO 1600 is fun .. but a pain to edit! The noise .... thank goodness for Lightroom but it only helped a little!

Over and out

If you don't have a shootsac like Jessica Claire...

2008-05-04T06:02:00.000-07:00

As they say in Afrikaans .. "'n boere maak 'n plan" I sure did make a plan! I didn't know how to keep my other lens with me and have it easily accessible .. I found a handbag ... inspired by the shootsac! I can't wait to get one if I am close enough to the States to get one ... I can imagine how those help!It now has a home in my camera bag ... now I don't have to worry about leaving my lenses behind.
Weekend is nearly over .. sadness.
Over and out