According to Wikipedia, “African Time (or Africa Time) is a colloquial term used to describe a perceived cultural tendency, in most parts of Africa, toward a more relaxed attitude to time. This is sometimes used in a pejorative sense, about tardiness . . . also . . . the more leisurely, relaxed and less rigorously scheduled lifestyle . . .”, etc. Well, it’s never more apparent than on safari – in the best way imaginable.

We had the renewed pleasure of this privilege recently, invited by Dave’s brother Mike and his lovely wife Lisa to Welgevonden Private Game Reserve.

Some time was spent loitering on the porch, watching zebra and other wildlife at the nearby waterhole.

Zebra at a waterhole - Welgevonden Game Reserve, SA

But cheetah were the star attraction of this particular trip. These elusive cats treated us to no less than three spectacular sightings in as many days. This was the first, perfectly positioned at golden hour:

Cheetah soaking up the sunset - Welgevonden Game Reserve, SA

. . . and another, captured beautifully by Dave not far from the lodge:

Cheetah silhouette - Welgevonden Game Reserve, South Africa

In between, we lazed around some more and were spoilt beyond words with mouth-watering food.

Safari sundowner snacks - Welgevonden Game Reserve, SA

Oh, and of course, we drank sundowners

Sundowner on safari - Welgevonden Private Game Reserve, SA

The game drives didn’t disappoint, as you can see from another of Dave’s masterful shots:

Waterbuck ram - Welgevonden Game Reserve, South Africa

Part of the magic was in the delicious interludes, like this one for coffee and freshly baked muffins,

Drinks stop at a dam - Welgevonden Game Reserve, South Africa

while magnificent game viewing waited around the corner.

African Elephant - Welgevonden Game Reserve, South Africa

Then it was back to the verandah for more relaxation, if we could possibly contain it -

Vista from a verandah - Welgevonden Game Reserve, SA

as we breathed in another African sunset,

African sunset - Welgevonden Private Game Reserve, SA

before hearing the murmur of luxury calling.

Private Suite - Welgevonden Game Reserve, South Africa

We’re happily home again, with Africa Time humming in our bones, just the way we love it.

If you’ve never experienced this, our wish is that you will, at least vicariously, as it’s simply too special not to share. So in that spirit, you’re welcome to browse my Facebook album, featuring more wildlife photography, here: Welgevonden – April 2012

HAPPY EASTER to all who celebrate it!

We’ve been having a wonderful time with our grand-daughter Mykaela, who delighted in an easter egg hunt in our garden and is sharing some bounty with her mom in the above photo.

With the abundance of chocolate eggs everywhere, I thought I’d share an interesting article that I found at the Chocolate Trading Co, explaining the History of chocolate Easter Eggs. Apparently “Modern symbols of Easter, such as the egg and the bunny, have their origins in paganism. Rabbits were the most potent symbol of fertility and the egg, the start of all life, was often thought to have magical powers”.

So in honour of real eggs, here is an image of a hen’s egg, backlit by a torch and touched by a fingertip. It formed part of a low light, slow shutter speed photo shoot, which explored the senses and offered an unusual perspective on some ‘everyday’ things – one of the pleasures constantly available to us via photography.

FINGER ON EGG

And now for the chocolate lovers among you, here is a studio pic that’s perhaps more to your taste – a basket of easter eggs photographed on our light table (one of the best investments ever for product photography) with the help of two soft-boxes and an additional light from below; all three lights flashing in sync:

EASTER EGGS in a basket - www.ovpstudio.com

Dave was busy with our video cameras during the easter egg hunt, doing a preliminary shoot-out between the Canon XF100 and Canon XF300. These two masterpieces are more than worthy of a dedicated article, which he will be publishing soon, so I’ll be sharing that for anyone interested.

In the meantime, we wish you all a magical day, full of memorable moments, captured for the fun of it with a handy camera

Entries open soon for Miss SA Teen 2012. Follow that link to find out all about the selection criteria and entry requirements, which include two recent A4 colour photographs (one head and shoulders and one full length), dressed appropriately.

Being highly experienced in studio photography of modeling portfolios and specializing in assisting aspiring models (for the likes of Figures Models SA), I have had the pleasure of photographing a number of young beauties for their Miss SA Teen entries in the past – such as stunning Thato pictured above, who placed in the top 12 finalists for her year.

I would love to do the same for you, so am offering a 1-hour Studio Shoot Special, exclusively for Miss SA Teen 2012 Entrants. (Our studio is based in the Randburg area of Johannesburg.)

It can’t be emphasized enough how important your photographs are in the selection process, with a number of the models that I have photographed sailing through the preliminary phase on the strength of these alone – so don’t short-change yourself on potential success, but seriously consider having truly professional images taken for your entry.

If you’d like to browse some more of our portraiture images and modeling portfolios, take a look at our gallery OV&P Modeling & Portraiture and our sample portfolio album OV&P Albums & Prints.

Whether you are an experienced model or new to this exciting prospect, we can help to guide you in creating an exceptional portfolio. At the same time, we guarantee that you’ll have a huge amount of fun, as our studio shoots are extremely interactive. Our top-end camera is tethered to a computer during the photo shoot, allowing you to view images immediately on a screen and participate fully in the whole process, including selection of your favourites.

To find out more, or to book a photo shoot, please Contact Us today, to allow enough time to finalize your photo’s in advance of Miss SA Teen 2012.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL ENTRANTS!

There’s no excuse. My cycling gear has been staring forlornly at me for weeks, and I’ve been pretending not to notice . . . or blaming my exercise (and blogging!) neglect on the rhino, since we’ve been so tied up filming for them. That’s not fair, though. It’s not as if they asked for it. No-one held a gun to my head, unlike poachers have been doing to theirs.

Why is it that balance seems so tricky to master? I guess it has to do with priorities, and mine have been focussed on serving the cause of saving the rhino, other photographic work and creating WordPress websites and blogs, one of which has led to true inspiration. A special friend of ours recently launched In-Touch, a by-invitation, business networking initiative for the purpose of synergizing, strategizing and recharging – based upon connecting with like-minded people who share similar values.

An inherent benefit is the opportunity to inspire others and be inspired by shared success stories about business and life. It has been my pleasure to create the website for this group, and being passionate about writing, I was approached by one of the partners, Keith Fairhurst, to transcribe his story, which incorporates a profoundly inspiring, lightbulb moment. This spans a ten-year period, during which Keith found himself neglecting health and fitness goals in favour of striving for (considerable) work success.

Having previously been exposed via the media to the first Ironman extreme triathlon in 1978, he had developed a vision of this series being the pinnacle of sporting achievement, reserved solely for superheroes. Yet, through the course of the story, Keith unwraps a precious gift, in the form of insight into his phenomenal experience of witnessing the American, Randy Caddell, a paraplegic man, complete an entire Ironman event, including a 3.8km ocean swim, 180km cycle (using a hand-powered bicycle/wheelchair) and 42km “run”, also in a hand-powered wheelchair.

It turned out that Randy had been the victim of a drunk driving accident, before dedicating his life to participating in Ironman and sharing his personal story around the world, highlighting the perils of drinking and driving to all who would listen.

As a direct result of watching Randy’s amazing accomplishment, Keith went on to complete 5 Ironman SA events and 1 Ironman Australia event and sums up by sharing his dramatic realization that “no goal is too difficult, and if we just stop finding excuses, we will achieve so much more than what we thought possible”.

Isn’t that the truth?

Here is a link to Keith’s special story Ironman: Event, Sport, Lifestyle or Metaphor for Life and another to a moving video tribute for the late Randy Caddell, who passed away in 2005 after being knocked off his hybrid racing cycle while training in Hawaii:

Sincere thanks to both of these exceptional men for their true inspiration and powerful life philosophy. Now it’s time to get my cycling gear into action, instead of being solely the subject of studio photography!

Hi everyone, I hope 2012 is off to a fabulous start for you all. We’ve hit the ground running, hence the few blog posts and general silence around the blogosphere – apologies to my blogging friends!

Apart from being absorbed in a significant project to help save the rhino (which is progressing at speed, so more on that soon), we’ve consolidated the branding on our photography and videography business, to bring the outdoor (Outdoor Video & Photographic) and studio (OV&P Studio) aspects under one umbrella. This included creating a brand new website at www.ovpimaging.com.

Once again, I must offer a huge High Five to WordPress for being so brilliant!

Above is a screen shot showing the top part of the front page of our site, designed as a blog with the help of the awesome Thesis theme and the Exhibit skin for Thesis. We chose the blog format to keep things vibrant and allow Dave especially to share photographic advice and photography tips, together with straight-talking industry commentary. If you’re keen to stay informed, please subscribe

A genius WordPress plugin, CataBlog, works a treat to display our galleries, from African wildlife, commercial and corporate work, interiors and architecture, to modeling portfolios, family and location photo shoots, product and advertising photography, as well as a sample album of our studio portraiture.

If you follow that last link to the album, you’ll find that the cover features the following photo, of stunning model Christina (who is based in London) with our puppy Storm:

Christina & Storm

At a mere few months old, he’s already in the limelight! After a recent party we threw for Dave’s birthday, where Storm was the centre of attention (apart from Dave, of course ), one of our friends adopted two of his siblings. You can expect photo’s of them all having a ball together before long, but here are some to show you how rapidly he’s growing – fast enough to give Quest a run for his money soon:

Storm - plotting his next pounce on Quest

Quest - fascinated by his baby brother

It’s not all roses; the scent of the carpets that is. House training is slow and we’ve already steam-cleaned once, wall to wall, with more to follow! Still, one look at this smile and how can you be cross?

Hopeless attempt at scolding Storm for carpet wetting