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.
