Guinivere

The last Year End lunch of the weekend has arrived. The Joburg Photowaljers held their Year End lunch at the READ Educational Trust. I dealt with READ before when they used Metrorail to distribute reading material to underprivileged schools in Soweto. The schools met the train at their closest train station and Read donated reading books to them. The READ Educational Trust was established in 1979 and strives to have children reading for themselves with a project like the Readathon and other literacy projects.

So the Joburg Photowalkers, at the end of their third year got together for a light luncheon at READ, watch a video of ourselves that was flighted on a national TV channel, and viewed each other's photos taken in the past year. Wow, I looked impressive in my interview on TV. I will get it up sometime on the internet. Here is Mark's better half, Guinivere enjoying her lunch while I had a camera pointed in her direction.

Fordsburg

Saturday finally arrived which I eagerly awaited since today was the Joburg Photowalkers' Feast for the Eye Photowalk in Fordsburg. I was hoping Matthew would be able to use my new PowerShot Canon S100 camera but alas it is still sitting at Cameratec waiting spare parts. At only two months old, Canon should have simply just given me a new replacement camera but no, they are waiting for spare parts from where ever. I don't even now what is wrong with the camera. Anyway Craig came to the rescue and loaned Matthew his old Canon 500D body. So off we went cameras in hand to the see the spices.

There was lots to see in Fordsburg if you into bargain shops, spices, and South Asian cuisine but I am into people, so I was looking for good everyday people shots and I think I got a few. A collection will soon to be uploaded into a Facebook album. It was also a day for Matthew to look through a lens for the unusual and I think he had a good start today. Now this photo tells a story. Firstly there is Matthew, camera in hand walking through a flock of pigeons feeding. He is followed by a giggling group of young Muslim school girls from Benoni and all the while, a motley crew of photographers focuses on the pigeons taking flight before the feet of the youngsters.

After the photowalk, we ended up at the Bismillah Restaurant on Mint Street. This restaurant had a much better décor but slightly more expensive than the last one that we went to before, ah yes the Al-Mehran which is just around the corner from the Bismillah. I ordered a Mutton Korma with extra meat for R68.00 which by northern suburb prices is very reasonable. When my food arrived I got served a Mutton Karahi instead at R79.00 a bowl. Not causing a fuss I settled for the Karahi and was pleasantly surprised that is tasted very good even though we were overcharged.

But to Craig's learned tastes, which he got from loving the Southern Indian style of curries, the karahi was very bland and that Cyber Curries in Douglasdale still haven't been dethroned. Oh dear, clearly I haven't got a pallet for curries as I found that my last curry I ate at Cyber was way too salty for my delicate taste buds. Anyway Craig is the connoisseur on curries so I will take his expert word for it. Final word, a good curry will keep the flu away.

Canon EOS Adventure Roadshow

Once again it is time for the adventurous Canon Roadshow and this morning cold rain would not hold wild horses at bay as the queue to get in went around the corner. In this photograph you can see some of the crazy Joburg Photowalkers like Mark, Pascal, Geraldine and if you look carefully Craig right at the back of the queue. Please note that Robin was still in bed.

It was good to see Roger as I walked past the registration tables and a good man hug was in order. Many other Joburg Photowalkers, that is the Canon part, were seen streaming into the building such as Alan, Candy, Clare, Desiree, Jacqueline, Johnny, Niamh and Paul. Sadly Robin was still in bed.

Roger the Man,Canon’s DSLR Product Manager, opened the Roadshow to a packed house and introduced the range of Canon EOS cameras and the new models such as the Canon 650D, Canon 60Da (for astrophotography), Canon 5D MkIII, Canon 1D C and the Canon C500. Sadly my camera the Canon 550D has been replaced by the 650D. :-( See the unhappy face here. At least Roger punted the Joburg Photowalkers towards the end of his talk, which made me smile all over again. He mentioned our names including Robin who was still in bed.

After Roger was Abri who introduced the DSC (Digital Small Camera) and printer range. He briefly mentioned my camera that I had my eye set on since it was mentioned at the last road show by Abri. I wanted a small camera to carry around instead of lugging a DSLR around and sometimes security frown upon cameras. The S100 was the perfect camera, small with most of the features of my now defunct camera.

Then it snack time and time to catch up with the other Joburg Photowalkers whom I only catch a glimpse of earlier. After the break the first of the guest photographers Richard presented some of his aerial photographs of the beautiful and not so beautiful landscape around us. Watching the slideshow of his images I thought of a perfect title for Richard’s next book, Fingerprints of Man. Next was Manus from DSLR Training who educated us on talking photos in low light, now this was very interesting and I have leant some new tricks which I have to go try out.

As usual at the end of the Canon Roadshow comes the best part. Well they do leave the best for last. Names of the attendees of the Canon Roadshow get randomly drawn and super duper prizes get given away. And smiles were broad as this time my name gets called out and I was handed a Canon 50mm f1.4 lens. Big Smiles. Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday Mr President.

After the Canon Roadshow Craig, Geraldine, Pascal and myself met at The Digital Experience at Fourways Crossing. Now if you need any camera gear no matter what brand, Digital Experience is just the place with the best prices anywhere in Johannesburg. Pascal left with a battery pack for his new Canon 5 D MkIII and me the Canon S100. More about this stunning camera tomorrow as we off to an awesome late lunch at Fournos Bakery.

Inner City Doodle

The Joburg Photowalkers joined a doodle event at the Ansteys building but added a photowalk before hand around the inner Johannesburg city. I got permission to take the group into the famous Blue Room at Park Station. It is someplace that the older Joburgers remember nostalgically as having the best restaurant in South Africa but that is now all ruins. To see the tall columns of the old concourse is a sight to behold. On the way back we climb to the top of Ansteys sister building, the Manners Mansions build in 1937 by the same architects that did the Ansteys. I am unfit. Here are some of the Joburg Photowalkers, in front are Adrian, Robyn and Gary, and while seated behind are Desiree and Karen and her husband.