Category: Uncategorized

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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

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Pictures taken on Sigma glass

When people ask me for advice on buying camera equipment, I always try and let them understand how important your glass (lens) is. The sad thing with companies almost brainwashing consumers into being part of the “Megapixel-race” is that consumers more than often spend most money on a camera body and only leave a little or no money for lenses. In my opinion its the wrong way of going about buying camera gear. 
Some people use the excuse of not being able to take great photos because of their equipment, but this is not true. All of these pictures were taken on Sigma lenses which have always been the ‘cheaper’ alternative and you can see in these pictures its a very good option. I believe the results speak for themselves. Sigma have been producing more and more good quality glass.
  • I really enjoyed the Sigma 50mm lens, because of its very good depth of field and it suited my shooting style.  
  • The Sigma 12-24mm is crazy wide. Also a very good alternative when you don’t need f2.8.
  • I just love the 8mm Fisheye. Your creativity can run free and make beautiful pictures. Not a lens you can use every day and you have to use it very wisely as it distorts a lot at the edges.
Some of the settings might look weird, but I was trying to test the lenses fully.
Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 1.8
Shutter: 1/8000


 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 3.5
Shutter: 1/4000


 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 2.2
Shutter: 1/6400


 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 1250
Aperture: 2
Shutter: 1/125


Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 11
Shutter: 1/250

 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 1.4
Shutter: 1/8000


 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 1.4
Shutter: 1/4000


 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 1.4
Shutter: 1/8000


 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 5
Shutter: 1/3200


 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 5
Shutter: 1/200


 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 2
Shutter: 1/5000

 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 100
Aperture: 1.8
Shutter: 1/1000


 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 200
Aperture: 4.5
Shutter: 1/160


 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 200
Aperture: 4.5
Shutter: 1/160


 Lens (mm): Sigma 8 Fisheye
ISO: 2000
Aperture: 3.5
Shutter: 1/80


 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 1600
Aperture: 2
Shutter: 1/1250


 Lens (mm): Sigma 50
ISO: 1600
Aperture: 2
Shutter: 1/320


Lens (mm): Sigma 12 – 24
ISO: 320
Aperture: 7
Shutter: 1/250



The day when the lenses arrived 🙂

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Suzaan Steyn is now a Kwela presenter

Yesterday I photographed Suzaan Steyn who was appointed as a new Kwêla presenter on the DSTV channel, KykNET.

It was a make-shift shoot at her guest house in Randburg. Took me about 15min. It was overcast and I used a 60×60 softbox on my Nikon SB-900 speedlight.

Unfortunately my picture was the published in a 1cm x 1cm format, I kid you not. That is the dimensions of the published picture! Eish.


Story: (Afrikaans)
http://www.dieburger.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Suzaan-Steyn-sluit-aan-by-Kwela-span-20120229

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Velvet Sky Chaos

 Rudi Vorster and his son. They luckily had chairs with them because they were going to watch cricket.

 Ben and Daniel Korn from England.

  Rudi Vorster and his son. They luckily had chairs with them because they were going to watch cricket.

 Paul Fikipo from the DRC.

 Margeax Swartz painting her nails.

Vanes-Mari Du Toit, Springbok Netball player. She had to take a bus down to Cape Town for a wedding she attended.

Vanes-Mari Du Toit, Springbok Netball player. She had to take a bus down to Cape Town for a wedding she attended.

 Music group Tidalwaves who missed their gig in Wellington.

  Music group Tidalwaves who missed their gig in Wellington.

  Music group Tidalwaves who missed their gig in Wellington.

All Velvet Sky flights cancelled

2012-02-23 16:14

Johannesburg – A business dispute caused all Velvet Sky flights on Thursday to be cancelled, the low-cost airline said.

“We had to cancel all our flights today,” Velvet Sky spokesperson Gary Webb said.
“We are in a dispute with a service provider. We are in the process of changing service providers so we started that process today [Thursday], but it was not concluded in time to operate.”
The broad-based black economic empowerment company is based in Durban and flies between that city, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Earlier on Thursday, the airline apologised and said flights were only delayed not cancelled.
Velvet Sky said the delays, which started on Wednesday, were caused by circumstances beyond its control.
“Velvet Sky management however continues to work very hard in ensuring that there is minimal disruption in our operation.”
Airports Company SA (Acsa) confirmed the delays.
Acsa spokesperson Solomon Makgale said Wednesday’s delays were primarily out of Cape Town. The delays on Thursday were from Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.
Webb said passengers would be reimbursed on merit. Some people would receive refunds and others flights to their destination on other airlines.
“We are going to have a bit of a backlog because of today, but we should be okay.”
He advised customers to check their flights on the Velvet Sky website or phone the call centre. The airline would also contact passengers via SMS.
“We are doing our best to keep all our passengers accommodated,” Webb said.
– SAPA
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Blue Bulls Pink with Bobby van Jaarsveld

The Blue Bulls, a South African rugby team from Pretoria, announced yesterday that their away-jersey is pink. This was welcomed with a lot of different reactions as their usual color is blue.

Last night I drove through to photograph Bobby van Jaarsveld, Afrikaans singer, in the jersey.

It was Valentine’s Day and he was busy with dinner at a restaurant. I took these pictures outside the mall as it was the only option.





Here is the story (Afrikaans),
http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Bulls-Dis-nie-pienk-nie-20120214

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KONGOS escape the flood waters in South Africa.

KONGOS is a rock band of four brothers – Johnny, Jesse, Dylan and Danny Kongos and are currently in South Africa as part of a tour. They were on vacation at a lodge near Kruger National Park when the floods started hitting that area.



Eventually after a long ordeal with Land Rovers being rolled in an effort to get out, the band was rescued with a South African Military helicopter.


Here is the full story by Pauli van Wyk:
(Afrikaans)


http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Internasionale-rockgroep-vertel-van-wildtuin-drama-20120119