Angry Bees

The unmistakeable sound of angry bees buzzed from all directions as our new drone, the DJI Inspire 1, took off on its first test flight outside our offices at eKayaMedia. The buzzing somehow reminded me of an very old song about the stinging tsetse flies and the crocodile eyes in the hot Zambezi valley.

Basically the Inspire 1 is an all in one flying camera which from our tests today, is a breeze to fly and very very stable. So with the Inspire 1 set on Beginners mode (limited range of 30m whereas on normal settings can operate up to 2km away), the nimble Inspire took off and reached its Beginners limit in less than 2 seconds.

This is no slouch as the book says it can reach about 80km/h which for action shots is the perfect drone. Oh and when this baby takes off, the landing gear along with the rotors re-position itself into a higher position thereby getting out of the way of the camera.

The multimedia team which consists of Lawrence, Kabelo, and Des, have decided to call this Terminator looking drone, Blade 1.

Back to Work

I awoke late this morning feeling as right as rain so I had a good soak in the bath, got dressed and headed for work. Although I was still booked off for today, I didn’t want to sit at home or simple turn around and go back to sleep. Boredom makes healing go slowly so there I was halfway to work when I started to get tired. All this activity left me short of breath and wanting to put my head down and sleep.

Anyway I made it to work somehow without crashing, and first order of the day was change my work passwords because of the theft on Friday evening, next was the catch up on all the emails, then meetings, and finally some reports. Later while on a "not to go to sleep" break, I did a walk about, fresh air and catching up with the other members of the eKayaMedia team and of course to find a photo for the day. Two birds with one stone morsdoodgeskiet, so here is Kabelo, hard at work doing some video editing upstairs in the studio.

3000th Post

Here are my team mates at eKayaMedia gathered together to wish me all the best on my 3000th post. In the front row, left to right is myself Jerome, Kabelo, Noma, Paballo, Sandra, Calvin, Des, and Ernest. At back is Johan, Ilana, Mpho, Ella, Xolani, Mkuseli, Philip, Bridget, Lawrence, Wayne, Viandre, and Jacques. Below are the three special children Rob, Velile, and Gillis, who couldn't make the group photo. Thank you everyone who participated in this 3000th blog post.

Wow to reach 3000 posts on this blog has been something of a ride. What do you expect with all ups and downs of over eight years of a blog post per day till now? It’s nostalgic looking back through all my posts. Some bring a smile to my face, and some make my eyes all teary, but such are these 2999 memories woven into the fabric of what I call a sorry excuse of my life. And now I have one more which takes it up to 3000.

Every one of these 3000 moments are precious to me even the broken pieces when my days were dark as the light, the joy of life just overwhelms everything else. Someone once said that a photograph can be an instant of life captured for eternity that will never cease looking back at you.

Please feel free to browse through all my life posts, right back to the start in January 2007. Yes one day I’ll look back on all this and smile because it was life and I decided to live it.

The Ant and the Food Bloggers

Once upon a time, in a kingdom not unlike ours, there was an ant who loved to write. With the pen being mightier than the sword, he set off to find his fame and fortune.

Whoooa, so what is this all about, an ant and the food bloggers. Well nothing of course but I remember as a young teenager my friends and I used to make these make believe stories about kingdoms far far away where we used to escape as the heroes of our wild imaginations. Those were the days where the worries of this world seemed so far away. And now dark grey clouds are threatening us on all sides. Where is the ray of sunshine to pierce the dark heaviness of my heart? Where is my saviour to rescue me from this world that looms all around me? My heart cries out!

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a fairy, hand in hand.
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

During lunch time, while strolling up to the canteen through the lovely gardens here at Mogale Business Park, I was wondering what photograph to shoot for today's blog. I have already taken most of the employees who work with me and taken many of the animals and plants surrounding my office. I was busy strolling through the wild grasses running my hands through the heads of seeds and then it hit me, this would make a fascinating photo. While my head was in the grass so to speak, I noticed the ant. Perfect, a bit small but just there where he is supposed to be. All in its rightful place and time. Now is the time that I need a good macro lens.

Arriving at the canteen later than I wanted to, I found Kabelo and Lawrence trying their hand at food pax shots. I remember my time working at the late David Bruan’s Photographic Studio doing pax shot after pax shot on the light table for many a clients. Memories from a distant season.

And there you have it my wild imagination, memories, an ant on a stalk of seed grass, and the two aspiring food bloggers.

For he comes, the human child to the waters and the wild with a fairy, hand in hand from a world more full of weeping than he can understand.

Lawrence and Kabelo

With Nkokhelis’ Imbizo tomorrow, a lot of setup has still to be done. On my side, I have to setup a photographic studio in one of the side boardrooms’ off the banqueting hall. Now I am more of a street photographer with not much experience working in studios so here goes.

Thanks go to eKayaMedia for their studio lights and equipment. To Mark for the loan of his Speedlite 430X II and 580EX II. And not least, thanks to Lawrence and Kabelo, for assisting me in setting up plus they made perfect photographic subjects. Oh my studio photographs need much more work and are causing a stink, thanks Lawrence, but I am up to the challenge.

Feeling Groovy Kabelo

It is a bummer Kabelo can't wear all his psychedelic clothing to go with his Apple work station. Here is cool daddy Kabelo, the assistant to Des in the upstairs studio loft. Yes as you can see he is one gnarly dude!