Making Picture-Perfect Memories for life
Myriad memories frozen in time
Dirk van der Westhuizen is a very talented singer/songwriter from Pretoria. He had everybody on their feet dancing during his performance. To be honest I was exhausted just looking at him jumping up and down on stage… Sooo much energy….
He wrote his first song at age 12. In 2012 Dirk shot to fame when he recorded his South African version of the Gangnam Style. He received millions of hits on You Tube.
Here some of the photo’s taken of her at the Sonskynfees.
I met and photographed Wynand and Cheree for the first time in 2007 at the Varingfees with my little Pentax camera. Since then I have had the honor of capturing them on more than one occasion. These two artists has got hearts of gold.
This duo couple have a very full live. They are blessed with two beautiful daughters and both have their separate singing/songwriting careers also. Little Taylor-Hope joined her mommy on stage at the Sonskynfees. She stole many hearts with her performance.
For more information on Wynand and Cheree please visit their websites. Cheree , Wynand and lastly the duo’s Facebook Page Wynand and Cheree
Here are some of the photo’s taken of her at the Sonskynfees.
Steve Hofmeyr (born 29 August 1964) is a South African singer, songwriter and actor. He is an activist for Afrikaner rights in South Africa, and has been involved in several controversies throughout his professional career.
Hofmeyr married actress Natasha Sutherland, whom he had met on the set of Egoli: Place of Gold in 1998, they had two sons, Sebastian, born 13 December 2001 and Benjamin, born later. Hofmeyr also has three other children by other women. The couple was divorced after reports of numerous affairs dominated Hofmeyr’s time in the spotlight in 2008. Hofmeyr married Janine van der Vyver on 26 January 2014. In 2008, Janine van der Vyver, a fitness instructor, revealed they had been seeing each other for 10 years.
Hofmeyr’s grandfather was Steve Hofmeyr Sr., a leader in the Ossewabrandwag.
In January 2007, there were reports that one branch of the News Cafe restaurant chain would not play Hofmeyr’s song Pampoen (“Pumpkin”). The managing director of the company that owns the franchise denies that this is company policy and points out that many Afrikaans acts, such as Karen Zoid and Arno Carstens have performed at News Cafe.
In 2011, he made public that he supports the organisation “Expedition for Afrikaner Self-Determination” (Onafhanklike Afrikaner Selfbeskikkingsekspedisie, OASE). OASE describes itself as an advocacy group for Afrikaner self-determination in compliance with the international law and the guidelines of the international community. He is an avid pro-Afrikaner but mentioned that he maintains a moderate political stance in an OASE public relations video.
Hofmeyr was heavily criticised after performing the former South African national anthem, Die Stem, at a cultural festival known as Innibos in Nelspruit in July 2014.He went on to perform the anthem on international tours, and encouraged South Africans to continue singing it, stating that it did not contain any form of hate speech.
In October 2014, Hofmeyr wrote and published a tweet stating that he believed that black South Africans were the “architects of apartheid” on his public Twitter account. This prompted a significant public backlash. One of Hofmeyr’s critics was puppeteer Conrad Koch and his puppet Chester Missing, who launched a campaign calling on companies to stop sponsoring Hofmeyr. On 27 November 2014, Hofmeyr failed to acquire a final protection order against Koch and his puppet in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court.
Hofmeyr has given statements indicative of an apartheid denialist which has led various journalists and public figures to label him a “disgrace to South Africa”
Information of Steve Hofmeyr as quoted from Wikipedia
Here are some of the photo’s I’ve taken at the 2015 Sonskynfees.
Suzanne is another one of our local Female Vocalists. She is very down to earth and has a heart of gold.
She started singing at a young age and in 1997 at the age of 11 she launched her first album On top of the world. In 1998 she made her debut appearance on Noot vir Noot one of South Africa’s most loved television shows. Since then she was a very busy girl. She launched 6 albums and also recorded a song with Snotkop.
For more information on this talented lady please visit her Facebook Page
Here are some of the photo’s taken of her at the Sonskynfees.
Nicholis Louw (born 30 December 1979) is a well-known South African pop and opera singer and signed to Select Music, the major South African record label. His repertoire mainly in Afrikaans includes rock, pop, country and music ballads, often incorporating strong classical elements. Louw has had a number of successful albums through releases through Select Music starting with his debut album in 2003, selling over 650,000 albums. His major hits include “Ek wil my baby hê vanaand”, “Rock daai lyfie” and “Generaal”. He tours extensively averaging above 100 gigs a year. On 12 July 2014, he married Denise Shrewsbury.
Information of Nicholis Louw as quoted from Wikipedia
Here are some of the photo’s I’ve taken at the 2015 Sonskynfees.
Francois Henning better known by his stage name Snotkop previously known as Lekgoa is a well-known Afrikaans and Sotho language singer and rapper.
He started his music career at age 15 preparing demo CDs and in the late 1990s adopted the stage name Lekgoa singing in the South African kwaito genre of music. In this period, he was signed to Gallo record label, releasing two Basetsana in 1999 and Ngamla Yoba in 2002.
In 2005 he adopted the name Snotkop initially a 4-piece boy band, and shortly later a solo act signing with Next Music record label with the launching of his debut self-titled 2005 album Snotkop followed by So Damn Sexyin 2008 and Francois Henning Was Hier in 2009. With the release of Ek Laaik Van Jol in 2012, he became one of the top selling South African artists in Africa in Afrikaans language. Well known single and music video releases include “Song Vir My Dad”, “Dis ‘n Land”, “Hou My Stywer Vas”, “Oppas”, “Katrien”, “Parapapa” a remake of Cidinho & Doca hit “Rap das Armas” and “Ek Laaik Van Jola”. He is also featured in Kurt Darren’s hit “Stoomtrein” and in MoniQue’s hit “Ek Val Vir Jou”. Snotkop is also known of popularizing international hits in his Afrikaans language adaptations.
Snotkop is also a television personality. He presented the programme Petrolkop on MK, the mostly Afrikaans music channel in South Africa where Snotkop featured various celebrities driving racing cars in time trials against each other.
Information of Snotkop as quoted from Wikipedia
Here are some of the photo’s I’ve taken at the 2015 Sonskynfees.
The past few months I have been thinking a lot about my love for photography and trying to make a living from doing what I love. I started doubting myself why don’t I get any business? Is there something wrong with my work? Why can’t I approach people and tell them I am a photographer and that I would love to do a shoot with them. Why if people ask me what I charge I feel guilty about my pricing and always end up giving them discounts without them knowing it and still don’t get the business? Yes I am a self taught photographer and I don’t have any formal training but I love what I do. I work hard and keep learning new skills. I have changed my logo for a cleaner look. I branded the back window of my car. I also got myself a T- shirt with my logo on and on the back it says photographer and my cellphone number. I am a my own walking advertisement.
Sunday night I started watching a workshop I downloaded last year; Confronting your challenges. Sue Bryce said something that’s hitting a nerve. She said if you are not doing it you don’t want to do it. My first reaction was but I love doing it. Why did this upset me so much? Then later she talked about if you are a genuine photographer you will do anything to just take photo’s and to make a success of your business. I felt relieved that’s me. I will even shoot for free just to take photo’s. Two days before a shoot I do my planning. What props I am going to use what backdrops, what poses and I memorise it. I treat all my clients with respect and I give them my best if they paid for a shoot or got a voucher I sponsored. I get sick very easy and I did many shoots with a fever and aching body. I did a wedding last year while sick with food poisoning. This did not stop me. I can not disappoint my clients I made them a promise that I will give them beautiful photo’s/memories. I do love photography, I do want to be a photographer with all my heart and soul. When I walk in shopping malls and I see the windows I imagine how I would incorporate the items in a shoot. I don’t see a basket I see a baby in it. I don’t see a hat I see beautiful face wearing it…. When I drive around I would say wow this would make a beautiful photo…
Business have been very slow since the beginning of the year. Because of all the time I have on my hands I started editing vacation photo’s and I realized something very shocking… Isn’t vacation photo’s suppose to be all about the people that is with you, the activities that you do as a family? When I go through my photo’s 95 % of what I captured was birds, animals, flowers and landscapes… When I had my student what did I teach her to photograph 95% birds, animals, flowers and landscapes…. Now I am sitting with another question how do I make a living of photographing nature in all it’s beauty. How can I incorporate it in my business? Everybody that follows my blog will know that I use my nature photo’s and put quotes on them. Yes I have thought about selling them but how to market them? When I walk into stores and see the postcards I think by myself wow I have beautiful landscapes for postcards….
When I look back I started out photography with landscape photography and flower photography. When I got my Canon EOS 500D I started with bird photography. It was only when I had my website that I started focusing on portrait photography. Since then I have tried macro photography, Low light photography and I am not finished yet. I will not give up until I do it perfectly.
Don’t get me wrong I do love capturing weddings, babies, children, families, events and portraits. I get excited when I look at the back of my camera and see that I nailed a shot. When I edit I relive the shoot and when I get to the special moments I feel so happy that I got the chance to photograph them. I have a very important job! I capture moments and freeze them for eternity.
Okay now I am totally confused can one person love what they do so much that they can’t identify what she loves doing the most?
When I am in nature I am relaxed, I can sit on a rock for hours to get the shot that I want. I think it’s a lot like hunting and fishing… Nothing bothers me and I even catch myself talking to myself telling myself that this is the life. This I can do full time and it would be great if I can get paid for it too.
I love traveling and my long term plan was to go overseas in 2016. Well things did not work out like I wished and this plan will have to be moved on a few years. I asked for a map of South Africa for my birthday. I want to visit and photograph all the different towns, cities and parks in South Africa. This is a great project for me but lets face it without an income from my photography I am not able to do this. So to do what I think I really wanted to do from the very beginning I need funds.Travel photography is an expensive genre and for now I will only do this occasionally. My car don’t run on air, I don’t run on air and I need a place to lie down my head at night. South Africa is not the country it was many years ago where you can stop go lie on your back seat and sleep for an hour or two. It’s not safe. When I go on trips I always take the boys with or my mom and dad. LOL and by luck I will take a photo or two of them also (this is embarrassing to say and I feel ashamed).
When I am busy with a family/portrait shoot you are working against the clock. You have to produce a certain amount of photo’s. People are much more complex and one have to be very careful what you say. You deal with different identities the whole time and have to keep that in mind. Not everybody are extroverts not everybody like a camera pointing at them. 99% of women don’t like their bodies. When I look at a photo I just see the beauty shining through. They only see their ears, crooked teeth and nose… We can’t all be perfect, God made us and to Him we are perfect. Working with newborns and babies is my favourite. Why? Because I capture the innocence, beauty and the greatest gift of God. Yes it is stressful I may come across confident when working with the babies but inside I am praying that I don’t let them fall, bump their head or make them feel insecure. Also the new mommies are like a Lioness just waiting to pounce and take her precious bundle. When setting up you feel their eyes on you watching your every move. But when you show them the photo’s and see how their faces light up that is precious and then I know why I do it. Unfortunately I don’t do it enough anymore. There was a time where I did one a month and then it just stopped.I still get emails asking for my packages but that is where it stops. When I look at facebook I see they did their shoot at either a more expensive photographer or a cheaper photographer. This is when I start doubting myself and ask questions like what is wrong with my work?
In February started a glamour photography course that I bought last year . I have my models lined up for test shoots I just need to get through this course first. To be honest I started with a bang and then I got so depressed because I don’t earn any money and I stopped. I was not concentrating and frankly I did not feel like picking up my camera and practice and I am the one preaching to everyone that photography is 95% practice and 5% teorie.
My husband, boys and friends was suppose to go hunting the beginning of April 2015. Due to my depressed state I told them I am not going with I’ll rather stay at home and edit the event I did that weekend. God decided that He needed to help me out of this depressed state. My husband got a call a week before the hunting trip that they can’t go anymore. So our friends organized a house at Montagu Springs for the week. They asked me if I am coming with. I thought about it and decided why not. This breakaway did much more for me than anybody would realize. While sitting on the rock taking photo’s of the ducks I felt at ease. The next morning I woke up early took my camera and started walking and ended up in the dried up river taking photo’s. Once again God and nature came to my rescue…
Back home I was feeling much better and I was feeling more positive. I decided that in order to get more work I need to clean up my computer hard drive and also my external drives. First I needed to finish all my paid and free shoots. I finished the Sunshine festivals photo’s within 3 days. It normally takes me 2 weeks. I did a talent search but did not get paid for it. The contestants have to buy their photo’s… Not doing it this way ever again. I finished that in one day. Posted it online and are now waiting for the orders. I had a matric ball I finished this in 2 days and this normally takes me 4 days. While editing I realized that my I don’t need to do that much anymore. I only do the very basic tweaks on contrast, sharpening and cropping. The rest I already did in camera.
I am currently editing all my personal photo’s. Making space for all the work that is going to come in when I am finished with my course. Yes I have started my course again. Had to start at the beginning again and make sure that I nail every aspect of this course. The marketing part of it is a bit scary. I have trouble introducing myself and selling my services…. But I have to be positive that I will overcome this hurdle. If all goes according to plan I will in the near future get to Travel more and very soon my map will be one colorful pinboard…. Then I can start getting maps of other countries…
While writing this very long post I came to the conclusion that I love to capture everything and freeze special moments for eternity.
Photographing what I love……. EVERYTHING…
Thank you for stopping by.
Coreen
Pierre Rossouw is one of our own local singer/songwriter. In 2012 he won one of our reality shows “Ons soek die sanger”. Pierre was given a wonderful talent and he can compose a song for you in a few minutes. He is also a presenter at one of our local Radio Stations Bok Radio. They have a slot where you send in some key words and he’ll compose a song unplugged on air.
For more than 10 years now Pierre has written songs for well known artists. He writes around 150 songs in a year.
Pierre is a very down to earth guy with a heart of gold. I have had the pleasure of capturing him in the past at festivals and functions. He is also closely involved with The Alta Du Toit Aftercare Centre in Bellville.
Here are some of the photo’s I’ve taken at the 2015 Sonskynfees.
Kosie Beukes is only 7 years old and he masters 13 instruments already. I had the pleasure to capture this little guy at the Sonskynfees this year. Hope to meet him again someday. Will keep a close eye on his music career. When Shaleen talked to him on stage he said that he is better than his grandad on the concertina… Just love this little boys attitude…
Here are some information I got from an article about Kosie in the Boksburg Advertiser.
“Kosie picked up his first guitar when he was just two years old and even though it was a toy, he would seemingly play along when he heard a song he liked.
“He began playing his first instrument before he was five when his grandfather gave him a box guitar,” says mom.
“I think that was probably the first time my husband and I actually began to realise that our child was gifted.”
After realising that his mother is talking about his musical gift, Kosie quickly stands up and fetches his most recently purchased instrument, the mandolin, looking very eager to play a song.
Appearing delighted to have another chance to show off some of his musicality, he pulls on a few strings as his mother goes on about how he started playing the concertina.
“It was just a matter of months after Kosie first picked up the concertina before he could play at least 15 songs.
“His grandfather showed him how to play only once, and nine days later he was playing an entire song with no assistance,” says Julia.
She says Kosie is usually a very introverted child, but his personality changes once he starts playing an instrument or gets up on stage to perform.
Julia believes that Kosie may be the youngest concertina player in South Africa because, according to her, the youngest concertina player recorded by the Guinness Book of Records is the same age as her son.
Here are some of the photo’s I’ve taken at the 2015 Sonskynfees.
At the end of 2006 Viljoen Retief made a huge decision on his way to work. He was listening to a Bob Dylan song on the radio when it came to him. He wanted to be a full time singer and songwriter. He phoned his dad Ds Johan Retief and told him about his decision. His Father said he was waiting for this phone call for a while. According to him Viljoen Retief has a talent and his passion is his music and songwriting.
On 16 March 2007 he had his first CD launch and has been going strong ever since he decided to live his dream. He writes his own songs and also writes for fellow artists. He writes about people, places and day to day stuff. I love his music and had the pleasure to capture him on more than one festival.
Here are some of the photo’s I’ve taken at the 2015 Sonskynfees.
Amore is another one of our local Female Vocalists. She is very down to earth and has a heart of gold.
She started singing at a young age and in 2005 she was a finalist in the Burger Plusster singing competition. This was when she decided to pursue her dream and started focussing on her singing career. She travels all over the country bringing her music to all her fans.
I met Amore for the first time in 2008 when she performed at the Varingfees. Since then I have had the pleasure to capture her in action on several occasions.
For more information on Amore feel free to go visit her website.
Here are some of the photo’s taken of her at the Sonskynfees.
Our MC for the Sonkynfees was well known actress Shaleen Surtie-Richards.
Shaleen was born in Upington on 7 May 1955 and schooled both there and in Cape Town. Qualifying as a kindergarden teacher, she taught in both cities between 1974 and 1984. Shaleen Surtie-Richards is a South African actress best known for her title role in the 1988 feature film Fiela se Kind (Fiela’s Child), and as Ester (Nenna) Willemse in the M-Net soap opera Egoli: Place Of Gold. She was also a judge on the reality competition television series Supersterre from 2006-2010.
Shaleen took many roles in several amateur stage productions between 1974 and 1981 and was also active in productions of the Department of Education’s Theatre-in-Education from 1982 – 1984. She became a professional actress in 1984 and has become very well-known through her appearances on stage, television and films. She also works on radio as narrator or actress.
Her stage work over the last 30 years includes productions by some of the country’s leading directors. She has been seen on stage in all the main centers of the country, as well as London, and has participated in both the Grahamstown and Edinburgh Festivals.
Here are some of the photo’s I’ve taken at the 2015 Sonskynfees.
Well what can I say about Pieter Mohr? Pieter was born in Kimberley and grew up in Bellville. He recorded his first album in 2012 3 of his songs got nr 1 status. His original song “Can’t find the words to say” won 2 x IFM Melodie Awards voted by radio listeners & enjoys radio airplay internationally as well. He also shared the stage with Ray Dylan, Fredi Nest, Manie Jackson, Billy Forrest, Bobby Angel, Lance James and Dozi.
I photographed him for the first time on stage in 2014 at the Sonskynfees. With his cowboy hat and guitar he really brings his audience to their feet with his collection of country songs. One just can’t help to sing along. His favourite country singer is Alan Jackson and he also performs a few of his songs.
Here are some of my photo’s taken at this year’s Sonskynfees.
Andriëtte Norman is one of our local Afrikaans Female artists. She lived and grew up in Brackenfell. In 2007 she got second place in our Idols competition I still say she had to be the winner. I just love her voice.
I first met her in 2008 when she performed at the Varingfees in Brackenfell her hometown. Back then I only had my Kodak camera nothing fancy but my husband arranged that I may take photo’s backstage. After all these years she is just as humble as the first time I met her.
Here are some of the photo’s I’ve taken at the 2015 Sonskynfees.
On 1 December 2014 my aunt turned 79 and I took her and my mom to Aspidistra for some cake and tea.
She has Alzheimers and for the first time we saw with our own eyes how bad it has become. She can’t remember things that happened a few hours back. It’s heartbreaking to think that she was once a very vibrant and funny lady. She danced on tables, told stories and always made one laugh with her remarks.
She was a bit depressed when she woke up and did not want to go. You see they were busy moving into a smaller flat and she just could not deal with it. So what better place to visit than Aspidistra Nursery. I told her to get dressed I am taking her out for her birthday.
She was quiet the whole way to Aspidistra I asked her a few times if she’s okay she just said yes I am looking at the all the houses in my time it was farms… When we got to Aspidistra and she saw all the plants and ornaments she was like a child in a candy store did not know where to look next. We showed her to the little coffee shop and she smiled the whole time and that made me very happy. I told the lady that it’s my Aunts birthday and when our tea came she had some flowers on her tray. We had the most delicious Milk Tart and Carrot cake Muffins.
After tea and Muffins we took a walk through part of the nursery and when she said she was tired we headed home…
For me that morning will always be special. Even though she don’t remember a thing of it I at least have photo’s of her at my favorite nursery….
Aspidistra is for sale. Here is a link to a video made by Scott McNaughton of Harcourts. If you are the lucky prospective owner of Aspidistra please just mention that you saw his advert here on my blog.
Last year I had the pleasure to capture a wedding at St Anthony Chapel in the Valley. What a beautiful little Chapel and the surroundings is ideal for some rustic wedding photo’s…
Here are some information from a website on St Anthony Chapel in the Valley.
The story of St Anthony in the Valley. 10 December 1999
The year 1997 was financially a low point in the history of the farm. The vineyards needed to be replanted with better cultivars. Some of the farm equipment had to be replaced. I then made a promise to God that if I succeeded in selling a portion of the farm, I would use some of the money to build a chapel for the community. In December 1997 a portion of the farm was sold.
Part of the chapel was an existing building, dating from the early 1960’s. The building was originally used as a dairy and at one stage as a house. In 1980 I realised the farm staff needed a hall/meeting place and we changed this building into a community hall. It was used for religious and other community purposes, at one stage even as a crèche and afterwards a clinic. Today this building has been altered, extended and is now the chapel.
The chapel is dedicated to my late parents, Pieter & Inah Visser, who taught us children to respect every one else, their religion, their beliefs and their “mens wees’. The two windows at the entrance are dedicated to our family lines. The “wheat window” representing the bread or the Body of Christ in the Eucharist is dedicated to my mother’s side, the Jordaan’s. They were wheat farmers in the Bredasdorp area. The “grape window” representing the wine or the Blood of Christ in the Eucharist is dedicated to my father’s side, the Visser’s. They were wine farmers in the Stellenbosch area.
The tabernacle doors are made from Oregon pine. This wood comes from the original interior window shutters of the farmhouse (Villeria) which was on the portion that I sold. The altar top is made from solid Burmese teak. This wood comes from a huge vat that stood outside the Nagenoeg house. When I was a child it was used to store our drinking water. The same wood was used for the 14 Stations of the Cross (which represent the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem), the cross section of the crucifix, the shelves for the statues and the hymn notice board. No explanation is needed for the two wine vats at the altar. This is a wine farm and my father was a trained cooper, and Jesus’ first miracle was changing water into wine at Canaan, at a wedding feast. Wine plays a big roll in Christianity and in the Bible. Each year on St Vincent’s day we have a blessing of the harvest. He is the patron saint of wine growers and his feast day is on 21 January.
During my pilgrimage in September 1999, I bought the St Anthony’s statue in Fatima, Portugal. His feast day is 13 June. He is the Patron Saint, not only of Portugal but also of lost causes and couples. In the chapel there are two statues of Our Lady, namely, Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Lourdes, France. Both are very special places for me. I visited these places firstly as a non-Catholic in 1989 and then as a Catholic in 1999. The small “Sacred Heart” has a long history. When my father bought Villeria in 1963, the statue was left behind by the previous owners. I have always kept it with me wherever I moved. It now has found its rightful place in St Anthony’s. The Crucifix figure was bought in Oberammergau, Germany where the Passion Play is performed once every 10 years. The olive wood Sacred Heart was bought by me in Shepherd’s Field outside Bethlehem in Israel as well as the Crusader’s Cross (also known as the Jerusalem Cross), which hangs above St Anthony’s statue in the back of the chapel above the doors.
Most of the other articles in the chapel have been donated by various people. There are too many names to mention them all. I would like to say once again thank you to everyone for their generosity.
Different denominations, mostly through staff members, use the chapel. Sometimes there is up to three or four church services on a Sunday. On the 4 December 1999, His Grace, the Archbishop of Cape Town, Lawrence Henry blessed the chapel. In his sermon he mentioned that he would like the chapel to become a place of pilgrimage for all the people from the Cape Town area. Today the chapel and community hall are used very frequently for retreats, not only Catholic but many other religious denominations from all over the Western Cape.
As you can see everything has its special God given place in St Anthony and in my life.
I would like to thank God for all these privileges. I am truly blessed.
Schalk W Visser
082 414 8333 or beesting@mweb.co.za
The money that we receive for the weddings will help pay the school fees and school clothes for the children from the workers on the farm.
This year will be the third birthday of the Sunshine Festival held in aid of Alta du Toit Aftercare Centre. This will also be my third year involved with this festival and I am proud to say that I’ll be their photographer for the day.
On 18 February 2015 they had their media launch at Eaglevlei Wine Estate and also the home off the festival for this year. The festival will take place on 28 March 2015. I am so looking forward to this. It’s one of my photography highlights every year.
I had a shoot at Eden on the bay with a lovely couple about a week ago. The wind was howling and I decided to put away my Canon EF 18-200mm lense and use only my Canon EF 50mm for the shoot. My reason was simply because of the wind it would be much easier to handle in the wind and I was afraid that sand will get into the lense. Normally with my outdoor shoots I use my Canon EF 18-200mm and for my studio shoots I normally use my Canon EF 50mm.
Here are some of the photo’s I took while we were waiting for the couple. Lian my youngest came with to help me. He ended up carrying props, backpack and shoes…
Armand my eldest son gave us one big surprise this year. He started shooting at the school’s air rifle club. From the beginning he did very good and I was very proud of him.
To get provincial clothes he had to shoot 2 x 705. In August they had two competitions one on the Friday and the second on the Saturday. The Friday he shot a 699 and the Saturday he surprised everybody and shot a 756. After the competition they cleaned up the hall and then the Grade 12’s who’s last competition it was invited all the shots to go and join them and they entertained and danced for us. They really wanted to end their years of shooting on a high note. I am gonna miss some of them at next years competitions.
Although Armand did not qualify for full provincial clothes he made the under 14 b sporter team and represented his province in Gauteng in October 2014. When they called out his name and said he was chosen for the team I could not help myself, this mom cried of pure happiness and was so proud of him. He could not believe it and he smiled from ear to ear. After the team was called out we had to fill out forms and as we sat there his coach came and she told me that Armand shot himself into the team with his scores the past two days. And then we cried of joy again….
Armand also qualified for a gold medal when his team came first in one of the competitions earlier in the year. At the Gala evening they handed over all the medals and trophies for the different competitions. Just look how proud my boy is. Smiles from one ear to the other….
Then the big moment arrived the one we were all waiting for. They called out all the teams who were going to represent our province at the SA’s in Gauteng. Although we already knew Armand was going this was just finalizing everything. I had to really work hard not to cry again….
Now the hard work started. Armand wanted to qualify for his full provincial clothes while at the SA’s in Gauteng. He practiced at school and at home. He started playing with the little dumbbells to help strengthen his arms so that he could be more steady when standing and kneeling.
Here are some photo’s of Armand showing off his Western Province Kit he got at the Gala evening…
I must admit even now that I am writing about it I still get so emotional.
Hein Smit, one of our talented designers, was part of the Save the Tie, Save a Child Fashion Show. His dresses made heads turn, and one was sold after the second show… Months of work went into the design and making of these dresses. Many late nights and hundreds of ties went into these masterpieces.
Hein also designed the dress for our Hostess, Mrs. Cape Town 2013, Chantal Witthuhn.
Thank you for stopping by my blog.
Mrs Cape Town 2013 Chantal Witthuhn hosted the Save the Tie, Save a Child Fashion show on 27/28 June 2014. She had the idea of making outfits out of old and unused ties. When she asked me if I would be part of the team I just could not say no. What an experience it was and I have grown allot in the process. I helped collect ties, took photo’s at the meetings and had the honor to meet so many new people. The best of all was to see old ties transformed into gorgeous outfits and evening gowns….
The Junior Models and their Mothers had approximately one week to design a dress out of the old and unused ties collected. They did not disappoint at all and I must say I was super impressed once again.
Over the next few posts I will share some of the photo’s of the three designers who were also part of the project.
Thank you for stopping by my blog.
A while back I photographed this beautiful white Iris in our garden. I used my O – Flash attachment and I must say I am very happy with the results…. From now on I will certainly use it on a regular basis…
