Ok, so most of you by now have heard that our family’s house has burnt down. What a bummer. We have no place to stay together and it really is such a stressful time and with my wedding coming up in two weeks now, I really need to just concentrate on the task at hand. I just wanted to thank everyone for the support they have been showing my family and really want everyone to know how appreciative I am.

I shot this photo of my blinds in my bedroom while I was packing my gear for a shoot in Cape Town this weekend. On sunday when I got back, they are gone, burnt and covered in glass. Poor house.

I was shooting photos at sunset today of a factory for a client of mine and shot this sunset and some leaves on the floor while I waited for the right time. Hope you all well, M

There is just something about winter that I like. Ok, don’t get me wrong, winter in Johannesburg has it’s downers especially because it becomes so dry and brown and it looks kind of sad. I am talking about thing like how good it feels when you sleep and get all warm in the pile of blankets, drinking warm hot chocolate, cuddling with Anja and the sky. I love the way the sky is SO blue at this time of the year. Alet Pretorius actually blogged about this same thing a few weeks back and finally I shot a photo that I wanted to put up for this. Winter sunset …. amazing.

My friends from Cassette are busy working on new material for their next album and I joined them at their secret band room on friday to see how it is coming along. It was good fun as always. A documentary is being made on the process so these are just some photographs of the afternoon I spent with them.

My friends, Bemo and Buddha, were guests on UJ FM last week and Alan and I decided to go along and party with them and obviously shoot photographs. It was super cool and hopefully they will get to do it again.

My mom has a statue in our house and I decided to test something on it today. I shot this photograph of it with one light directly to it’s side and this is the result.

6 weeks ago my uncle Robert was rushed in to theatre with pains in his body. I am not the most technical guy but his main artery was about to burst so it wasn’t looking good. They operated on him immediately and fixed the problem but it was already too late and he spent the next 6 weeks in ICU fighting for his life. Our whole family spent last night in the hospital praying for him and just really loving him and being there for him. Sadly, he left us this morning at around 1:30am. It really is terrible and SO sad to lose anyone especially family but I think of seeing him last night and of how tired he looked and how much he had been trying and I feel almost relieved that he isn’t going through that anymore. It sucks and he is already missed.

The photograph I have posted was 2 months ago and it is of my uncle Robert (front) and my dad (back) riding quad bikes in a forest. I am so glad that we got to share many memories like this together but it is sad to know that we won’t ever be doing this again. Life is so strange and it can leave you in seconds. I won’t ever understand why or how someone can be here today and then not here tomorrow but I do know that I cannot control or change that. It makes me realize that life is way to short for stupid grudges and dumb little issues and that we should really live our lives. Make plans to see your friends and family, tomorrow might be too late.

Goodbye uncle Robert. You were a husband, a father, a brother, a son, an uncle and a friend and I am so sad to see you go and I know you are missed so much already. Please, if you’re reading this blog, think of my aunty Barbara and all of our family and friends. They need all the love and support they can get.

Ok, I think I have blogged enough now so this will be my last post for today even though this has been fun. This is just a photograph I shot last night of a storm brewing during sunset from my house. Clouds are amazing.

Haha, this post is going to create laughs. I have been mocked for ages now about still using a PC and after using Alan’s Mac for about an hour I was sold and I bought myself one. This photo is of Alan, Nantz and myself working in my lounge, actually I am lying, it is a photo of us watching the new Muse DVD. Either way, what a work station!

I saw my buddy Justin Davies on Saturday and he got some new ink. It’s been a while and it was good to catch up. I shot a photo of his arm, with the words “GRACE” tattooed on it, infront of an empty dodgy pool. I like this one a lot.

Wow, how good am I? SO many posts in so little time. Really feeling shooting again and my mind is really thinking of stuff to shoot. The moon is looking nice tonight and Anja messaged me to have a look at it so I took a picture incase you might have missed it. It is a little blurry but shooting at 1000mm is crazy without a tripod. Haha, don’t ask.

Hope you are all well, thanks for commenting and keeping me going.

I shot these two photographs on Easter sunday. It was super good to spend it with the family and just relax it for a bit. Hope you all had some sort of a break.

I went to the Coke Fest yesterday with Alan and Claire and it was super fun kicking it with them like it always is. I have named this blog as is because I was the third wheel yesterday but its all good. Always rad when a couple doesn’t make you feel like you are intruding even when you probably are. Good times.

Today is a proper saddest day. My friend Wayne passed away today after suffering in ICU for the passed 6 weeks. All this because some stupid idiots shot him while he was visiting our country, as if robbing him wasn’t enough.

I am so sad and am not sure how to deal with stuff like this. I normally just go back into my hard drives and look through photographs that are appropriate and in doing this, I found this photograph. It might not be one of my best but it means a lot. It is basically from the first set of photographs I ever shot of food. I shot this at a restaurant called Malachites which Wayne used to own and run. They were one of my very first clients when I started Melon Graphics 6 years ago and they trusted me to do some work for them. I love this shot just because I remember taking it with Wayne’s help and then eating it and thinking of how excited I was starting my new venture. That was long ago. Malachites was since sold and Wayne and Gary moved over to the UK about a year and a half ago and they have loved it. We hung out with them last year when we were over and we spoke to them about our plans to move over at the end of this year. They have made us so excited and helped us a lot already by motivating us to think of the bigger picture and Wayne joked about us coming to stay with them for our honeymoon later this year. I’m telling you this just to get it out and give the sense of what good people they are.

Anyway, thank you to everyone who has been praying for and thinking of Wayne during this time. It really means a lot. I am sad to say goodbye to him but I know the suffering is now over. All my thoughts now focus on his partner Gary and all Wayne’s family and friends. So much love and strength not just now but with everything.

Wayne, you’re already missed …….

I shot photographs for about 2 years for Heat Magazine and during this time I worked quite a bit with Ashley Callie from Isidingo and she really was such a cool person. Every charity event that I attended that she was at, I remember her being one of the only important guests that were always there really trying to help. She was friendly and just a down to earth person. She passed away today after suffering from a bad car accident and that really is sad news. I get really sad when things like this happen to anyone I have ever encountered or come to know and this post is just to wish her family well and let them know that people are thinking of them. This photograph is really just a funny one that I shot 2 years ago that I always thought was funny.

Also, my friend Wayne is in ICU trying to recover from an armed robbery and I cannot stop wishing that there was something I could do to help this. If you’re reading this, please think of him and pray for him to get through this and become well soon, if that is what you do.

Sunset yesterday was super cool. Hasn’t been like that in a while. I shot these while I was driving. Can you get a fine for shooting photographs while driving a car? Haha

I was asked the other day by a new stock images company to contribute some of my work to their database so I have been going through all my photographs from the passed to see what I think would work well for them. The people heading it up are super cool and the website is www.tickyboximages.co.za but the site is still being loaded at the moment so it isn’t completely finished yet. They are targeting to market photographs specifically of Africa and this is really exciting for me because it makes me want to go out and shoot more in my free time and not just shoot stuff for my clients.

Hope you’re all well. M

I wish I was born Asian. I love Asian culture, I love Asian food, I love the way Asian families seem to look after each other and out of every country I have visited before, Asia has been one of my best.

This week has been Chinese New Year and we have been celebrating and partying whenever we could. Yesterday we visited the Nanhua Temple in Bronkhorstspruit to celebrate with everyone during the day. They had an amazing festive celebration and we enjoyed some of the really good food that we miss from abroad.

These 3 sepia photographs are of the Emperor beings giving good luck envelopes to everyone.

This photo is just of an elderly lady worshiping. I like the lighting of it.

In the end, forget about the photos and let this post serve to wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year. Hope this year is an amazing one.

Thanks for reading, M

Anja and I were walking through the parking lot trying to remember where we parked my car last night and I loved the way the car lights were showing people in silhouettes so I shot these two photographs.

This time of the year is Chinese New Year time and tonight we went to celebrate with everyone in the first China Town in Johannesburg on Commissioner Street. It is ALWAYS super fun and so good to see everyone so happy. It reminded me of two years ago when I was in Taiwan for this time and it was one of the best times ever. I love Asian people and Asian culture. I definitely want to explore it all more.

Anyway, Happy Chinese New Year. Going to be celebrating again on the weekend at the Chinese Temple so will hopefully post a few more photographs after the weekend.

I was given a Lomo Fisheye camera for Christmas from Uncle Rudi and haven’t really had time to play around with it yet until now. What a super cool little camera though. I have been wanting one for ages and it was so exciting collecting my prints today. Anyway, I have created another blog for my lomography pictures and you can see it at www.lomography.co.za. Hope you enjoy.

Haha, I just stumbled on this photo that I shot last year at about 1am in the morning. We were all out that night trying to shoot some photos and film some skateboarding at the new double set of stairs at the mall near my house and it just wasn’t working out. I spent a bunch of time setting up all my lights and stuff and as soon as I took a test shot, we got kicked out. This is the only shot I could get of the evening. It’s kind of sad because I love skateboarding and I love shooting skateboarding but I hate getting kicked out and dealing with people who are out to fight. This photo makes me laugh though. Clayton and Jamie.

I have just joined a stock images resource website that is launching soon called Ticky Box Images. The peeps that are heading this up seem super cool and after meeting with them yesterday, I started thinking carefully of all the photographs I have taken over the years and I remembered this one that I shot last year in Soweto.

Lance Armstrong was here to launch Unite for Health and I was commissioned to shoot photographs for media. Personally, I was really upset that Lance was a bit of a chop. He walked through Soweto like a movie star with sunglasses on and never even greeted the children who were there to welcome him. They were singing songs for him while he walked down the red carpet. This bugged the hell out of me so I just started shooting photographs of the children instead and I remember getting into trouble for concentrating on the wrong subject but I did have a lot of fun.

This photo is of me being bombarded by a bunch or rad little children, majority of whom were super sick. I kept showing them what they looked like on the camera (thanks to digital) and they all wanted to see at the same time so I would show them and then shoot another and then show them again. This is just me turning the camera over and shooting while they were trying to see the screen. You can see me in the bottom right corner.

That was a fun day and a day that I got a lot of respect for Gerry Rantseli because she was right there with the children, not a bit bothered by trying to be a celebrity.

Going through some of the photographs that I have logged recently and forgot that I meant to post this a few weeks back. Sunsets are awesome.

We saw a million cows eating in a field on the way to George and stopped to shoot photographs. I shot a whole bunch but want to go to bed so am only going to post this one for now. The sky was just clearing up from a crazy storm and the light peeping through the clouds was really so weird and like I had never seen before for that time of day (11am). I was able to get so close and the cows weren’t too nervous. I really like these shots and want to maybe print them as a set for something.

We went to visit Monkeyland on thursday on our way down to visit our friends in Jefferey’s Bay and it was really such a fun visit. I got killed by the mosquito’s which really is the worst thing ever but Monkey Land is amazing otherwise. Check it out if you in the area cause it is so good but be sure to bring that insect repellent.

Tonight was the Night of 1000 Drawings evening and it was really awesome. The guys really do put together an amazing event for a good cause. I contributed 6 photographs again but they were put together in a rush which I don’t feel good about as I really wanted to shoot something unique just for the event. Anyway, these are the six and they were all shot on my trip to Taiwan at the beginning of last year when I went to visit the misses as she was teaching English there for the year. SUCH an amazing place.

I shot this photo the other day of myself driving in my car. Her name is Carrie and she is really special. Haha.

I have always been interested in lomography but for some reason I haven’t purchased a camera of theirs yet to try it out. I will some day but for now I thought I would just try and process to create a similar feel. I was shooting for a client last night and when I got to the location, the sunset over Sandton City was really amazing so I thought it would be a good place to try my idea out. I shot with a fisheye and processed the photo the way I thought it would look, not sure if I am right or not but I like it.

I was standing in my garden talking on the phone about 10 minutes ago and looked up and saw the moon through the electric fence we have on our 10 foot wall surrounding our house and now I cannot stop thinking about why in South Africa it seems like I am the only one who wishes we could do something to cut crime out and give people the right to safety. It’s so sad that our country is getting messed up by this. I hate it. I get sad that it makes me hate. That’s it really.