Thursday, April 29, 2010

Some moments

Some moments are just to good to be missed.
They make you smile whenever you remember them, and if you've captured them, it's always worth the revisit...
You see, Pieter is a real gentleman.
When Nico gets married, Pieter offers to help me with the keys to the venue.
So dressed in his Saturday-best, he arrives to do key-duties.
But, as I said, he is a gentleman.
And when he sees the bride is in need of help, he willingly assists.
I just love the moment.


It makes me smile.
We need more of those.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Characters

Some people never let you down when it comes to photo-opportunities.
They are the true characters of the world -
They stand out because of who they are...what they stand for, how they live.
No, I'm not talking about the "outstanding" businessmen, the glitzeratti or the famous jetsetters.
I'm talking about the people one gets to meet when you drive into the rural areas of South Africa.
People who love the countryside, breathe the fresh air, live in the present.
Some are poor in monetary terms.
But so often, when I interact with them, I find that they are wealthy in many ways.
And I always return home a wiser person.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

In the moment

In life, we often measure life in years, days and hours. In photography moments are captured in "parts of a second" (splitseconds). One is often astounded by the amount of things that can happen "in a moment."  When the Mitchells got married, the rain came down.
Heavily.
Especially after the sermon, when we were supposed to take the pictures.
We literally had only the moments.
And the moments were great.
We had to rush around, find the scenes and get the pictures.
Some would call it frustrating.
They called it adventurous.
And when it comes to moments, our choice of interpretation makes all the difference.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

To see the world...

Don't know why I've been thinking of poetry the past few days.
On the other hand, I think it's better than thinking of politics ...
As I was browsing through some of my older photographs, this one caught my eye.
It reminded me of the words "to see the world in a grain of sand". Sometimes the world is in a flower, a tree, a bird's flight. So often when we capture moments at shutter speeds of 1/250th of a second - we realize the speed at which daily miracles happen. Maybe we should keep our shutters of perception open to everyday wonders all the time...
They're always happening.
If we only take the time to see them.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Music makers and Dreamers of dreams

Dad used to recite part of the the poem by Arthur O'Shaugnessy, it goes like this:

We are the music-makers,

And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams.
World-losers and world-forsakers,
Upon whom the pale moon gleams;
Yet we are the movers and shakers,
Of the world forever, it seems.



As a photographer, I love the pictures that celebrates life, energy, wonder. There are enough media to show us the bad things, it's up to us to feed our minds with the things that energize us.
So when last did you look at a picture for the sheer joy it brought?
When last were you a picture of joy?
We're all cameras, composing a great picture of life.
Indeed we are the picture makers and we are the dreamers of dreams...