M9 does meerkat and snakes...

Some more images from our visit to the Bird gardens. There are quite a lot of enclosures with-in the bird sanctuary with various animals in it. All is within the premises of the Pilatzo Hotel.

Pilatzo hotel. View from the Penthouse suite. R 35 000 per night. I made this image from about six images stitched together, then HDR it in PS.

                                                            M9, 35 mm 'Lux, F1.4

                           

                                                              M9, 35 mm 'Lux, F1.4

YCS 2012 National TV launch...

Tuesday was the launch of the 2012 Young Community Shapers! It was an hour long, interactive live-broadcast on the one of the National broadcaster's channels.

We had the MD of the main sponsor, two finalists and the winner of 2011 and my wife as the owner of the concept in studio.

Naturally I took the M9 with to make a few images of the setting.

                                                         M9, 35 mm, F 5.6, ISO 600

M9 does Africa motor show...

While digging in the archive today I came upon these images I took the end of 2011 at the Africa Motor show. All was made with the M9 and the 50 mm Summarit at F 2.5.

Some of the old outside... then the new...

                                                   This old-timer had many admirers.

Of actors and painters...

In the years we have been doing the Young Community Shapers we have come upon some interesting scenes in the townships. This was one of them.

A bunch of young kids started to give cultural dance lessons as well as acting classes for the others after school. Of cause it was quite a site to see, and we totally admired there initiative to keep the kids busy after school and away from mischief.

Two of the jokers in the group was interacting with the crowd via costumes and was teaching the younger one acting.

In one corner of the small property was a young artist teaching others the paint and draw. Here he is with one of his drawings.

Amazing if you see the conditions the have, but still want to help uplift the community. Of cause apart from the one participating, a crowd was watching from all-over.

                                                    You have to love Africa for this!

M9 does bird gardens with the 35mm 'Lux...

I visited the bird gardens in Northern Johannesburg with my son and took the M9 and the 35mm Summilux F 1.4 with to shoot some birds. Anyone still wondering about the color rendering of this remarkable camera can rest assure... it is superb!
All images were made with the 35 mm 'Lux, (latest edition) lens, wide open at F1.4. All though I had to crop some of the images, the big sensor-size of the M9 gave me plenty of MB to work with. No image is smaller than 8MB.

                                                 My wing is also my cape...

                                                   Look at the sharpness in the eye!

                                          This looks almost HDR, - strait from the camera!

                                                                    Beautiful colors!

                                                     

                                                                        Just chilling!

Madagascar passing ho!...

Made a few images as we pass over the Western side of Madagascar. As you can see the airplane window was a little frosted over so the images are not as sharp as I would have liked.

                                                            Leica M9 50 mm Summarit
                                                       

                                                                Leica M9 50 mm Summarit

                                                         

Levitating brother...

Just found an interesting site called yowayowacamera.com. It is of a woman making images of herself while she is in the air during a jump, - making it seems like she is levitating, within interesting surroundings.

 It reminded me of a image I made of one of my brothers doing a split-jump.

I had two speed-lights at 45 degree angles aimed at him and was low, shooting up to get only the clouds in the frame. Sometimes it helps if your family members are acrobatic as well as funny!

Flying high... at night!...

So the same bunch of lunatics did the extreme jumping again, but this time in the night. There was lights but still... They went bananas!

Food for thought...

One of the heartwarming projects we have visited and helped with the Young Community Shapers was this one in Alexandra, Johannesburg. Situated next to one of the "high class" suburbs, - the situation in this area is all but cosy.

Here children have to walk to school, many on empty stomachs. This is also the place where Sarah wanted to make a difference in the young children's lives.

So, together with her Mother and Grandmother, they started to cook warm meals to feed the children in the mornings before school.

Now, since they started this project, they are feeding close to 120 little hungry kids in the mornings before school.

Some are orphans and some of the children's parents leave to early to make breakfast for the children.

Sarah says that feeding the kids are filling her heart with joy. She has since started to work as well in order to provide for these children. The small donations they receive is just not enough.

During winter the children really appreciate the food as the winter and an empty stomach does not make for a happy scholar.

Seeing the joy on the faces of these children make you realize that we certainly need more young people caring like Sarah and her helpers.

Shooting Mining vehicles...

Recently a client of mine asks me to make a few images of some mining vehicles that went in for repairs.

These guys take the whole vehicle apart and then start to replace and recondition all worn-out parts. The job cost a cozy R 2 million. But that's not the best part, - after they test it, they take it apart again, to be taken down into the mine bit by bit.
When the mine closes one day they leave the vehicle underground! It is just too expensive to take it apart again and bring it to ground level.
Anyway, I just had to shoot some images, not work out the economics of the company.

In the end they wanted some post processing of the image to place it into a catalog. Here is the result;

                       It is not so high, about 3 meters, it needs to fit in mining tunnels, remember.

             Here is one with the crew that did the overhaul on the truck and the loading vehicle.

High flying...

Recently I had an invite to shoot the MX- guys again for some images they need for their web-site. They wanted images like always of them flying high and then some during the night doing the same thing! Crazy right? Here are a few during daytime...

                         Just to show us he have no fear this guy also did a few jumps with the quad.

Of cause each "movement" in the air has it's own name, I will not even try to name them.