Author: Cornél van Heerden

For rates, bookings or enquiries, contact me at: +27 82 588 5538 cornelvanheerden@gmail.com
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Nampo Oesdag: Portraits

Just outside Bothaville in South Africa, Nampo Show gets held every year.

Nampo is an agricultural showcase of all that is to offer to the farming community in South Africa and beyond. Everything from tractors, animals, electrical and electronic gadgets, information and even new patents are exhibited here. The newest, best, shiniest of everything.

While there to cover the event I had a small project running on the side – shooting portraits of The People of Nampo. Here is a couple…

 
 Berdine Pienaar (28) is from Hoopstad where she and her husband farm with mielies (maize) and its her 10th Nampo.
Dion Joubert (60) is from Zeerust where he farms with vegetables and cows. He comes to Nampo for the fellowship with other farmers and to see the new inventions that he can use for himself in farming.
 Bongani Joel is busy shaving a sheep. He is Frankfort.
 Pieter du Plessis (40) and his son JP du Plessis (12) on the left and Len Cloete (50) and his son Geoffrey Cloete (9) on the right. They come from Pretoria and they farm with sheep etc. When asked whether their kids also wanted to become farmers they said: ” Not if we can help it”
 Dyamluti Godweni (64) from Eastern Cape. He farms with red meat (cows). His children and grandchildren is also farmers. He visits Nampo every year.
 Louw Steytler, Chairman of Grain SA. Grain SA is the organizer of Nampo.
Douglas Elphinstone is from Tzaneen. He is 16 years old and in High school Merensky, an Agricultural school. His parents are farmers and he plans to farm as well.
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Greenpeace protest at IDC in Sandton



I got tipped off that Greenpeace is planning something at the IDC in Sandton and I went there not knowing what to expect.

Greenpeace started banging drums at one entrance and then moved to the other one. At the other entrance, they chained themselves to the gates and later ‘delivered’ plastic bags full of leaves and with Nuclear-stickers on the bags.


The security there started freaking out and ripping the bags, throwing it at the media and hitting the media with it!


It was quite funny, but if the bags was something hard… It would have been a different case.





Here is a couple photos of me, taking the pics…
Photos by Alon Skuy / Times








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Midlands Meander Model

Daniella and I was on our way to Karkloof Waterfall after we did a Canopy Tour. On our way to the waterfall we saw these logs and I remarked how nice it could be to do a shoot here. At the falls Dani changed from clothes and sneakers to ordinary clothes. When we were passing the logs again, I decided to grab the opportunity and take a couple of pics. Dark clouds were rolling in and the light began to drop, but Dani was an awesome sport 🙂 However, I just had a single flash there with no stands or accessories, so it was only make-shift.


Just for fun.

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Pieter-Dirk Uys at Wits

Pieter-Dirk Uys spoke at Wits on Monday, here is a couple of portraits I shot while he was on stage.

Story:

Johannesburg – An oppressive system similar to apartheid could emerge again if South Africans did not get more involved and held government accountable, activist Pieter-Dirk Uys said on Monday.

“Apartheid will never come back again under the same name but of course it will come back under a different name,” he said at a public lecture at the University of Wits in Johannesburg.

“It will be an acronym and we won’t know what it stands for but we’ll continue to vote for it.”

Uys said apartheid was a “stupid” system. He recalled how he was explaining to a 12-year-old how during apartheid that black people were not allowed to sit on certain benches and the boy thought it was stupid.

“Stupidity kills… It’s so inventive; never underestimate stupidity… Don’t underestimate the ANC Youth League,” Uys said.

He said South Africans should not ignore what suspended ANCYL president Julius Malema said. “We ignore [Malema] at our peril.”

The ANCYL was the future of this country, said Uys.

He urged the youth of South Africa to get more involved within youth structures.

– SAPA

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Masterjudge Andrew Atkinson

I went and photographed Masterchef South Africa Judge, Andrew Atkinson, at The Michaelangelo Hotel in Sandton for Beeld newspaper.


Great guy and he did a lot of staring for the pics.


Masterchef South Africa is now showing in SA on DStv.

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Baby Israel

On 9 May 2008 a healthy baby Israel was born.

November 2009, at 18 months, he was hospitalized with croup.

Due to negligence by the doctors and nurses, his ventilation pipe is blocked, and his heart stops for nearly 10 minutes.

His parents are suing the Gauteng MEC of Health for more that R20 million.

Now at age four, he still can’t do anything for himself.

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Moon, Jupiter and Venus

The three brightest objects in the night sky have aligned, making for a spectacular sight for Manawatu stargazers.
Last night’s conjunction of the moon, Venus and Jupiter – the three most visible objects in the night sky – was “pretty with the planets either side of the moon”, astronomer Noel Munford said.
He said although Venus and Jupiter were millions of kilometres apart, because they were on the same plane going around the sun the conjunction made them appear close together.
“And we were lucky in New Zealand, because it was symmetrical here, and even five hours later in South Africa, the moon was much closer to one of the planets than we experienced,” Mr Munford said.
Astronomers were out in force last night to observe the triple conjunction. Tonight, the moon and the planets will have moved and, while still a sight to behold, the moon will no longer be in the centre of the alignment.
Those who missed last night’s display can look forward to another astronomical spectacle on June 6 – the transit of Venus across the sun.
Venus will pass directly between the sun and Earth, becoming visible against the solar disc. Transits of Venus are among the rarest of predictable astronomical phenomena, occurring in a pattern that repeats only every 243 years.
“This is our last chance to see it,” Mr Munford said. “The next transit of Venus won’t happen in our lifetime, or anyone who is alive today.”
– © Fairfax NZ News