You know how it goes… photographers never have photos of themselves. Well, the same is true for me

The only reason I took this photo of us this evening is because Connor’s theme at school this week is “Me and my family” and I had to do something about it.  So out came the camera and I rested it on a chair (I don’t actually have a tripod) and set the timer

So now… there we all are… I think for the first time on this blog

And Connor has his photo for school  Mission accomplished!!

Ooh and btw, it’s our 15th wedding anniversary this week!!

So, you know by now that I’m obsessed about Pinterest right?

Well, it seems like it’s use is slowly changing.

When it started, people only pinned images that inspired them on their pinboards.  And that’s how I’ve been using it.

And in fact, if you pinned your own work, it was shunned and you got a lot of people unfollowing you!!

Well, now, in the last few months, I’ve noticed a slight shift.  Photographers and event people and brands have discovered how powerful the network is.  So many US photographers have blogged and tweeted recently about how they’ve been referred via Pinterest and are now getting quite a lot of clients that way.

There have been so many articles on tech and photography and marketing blogs that I’ve read recently about it’s power, and how brands should really get on the site, and be able to track how their products and images are shared.  Especially if your market is a visual market.

And all of a sudden, everyone has started boards showcasing their own work (and not just the stuff that inspires them from other people).  Not every shoot thankfully in the case of photographers, but a select number of absolute favourites.

I’m so very tempted to do the same, yet I’m feeling that I’m going against the network’s designed intentions.

As someone that’s been blogging for so many years, I can see why people are changing the way it’s being used.  Apart from the Facebook “like” button and the G+ buttons on your blog which are invaluable, you’re not getting that much feedback anymore.  Commenting on blogs has virtually stopped.  The connection with your readers (who are definitely still there) is happening on other networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google +… so this is one way of seeing what is really liked.  Because you’re connecting with your friends and your network and not the bloggers network, it seems that people are commenting on Pinterest rather… and spreading individual images rather than a whole blog post’s worth of images… and that’s more digestible for the internet generations who have very short attention spans.

Not sure… not sure… damn it’s tempting.  What do you think?

Anyway, if you’re there, hook up with me, I’d love to see your boards… I’m Jenty there too

Bwahaha I found this on Melinda’s blog, and had to share.  I can so see myself in this!!

So, you know that saying that things happen in 3′s… well all 3 (I think) has happened in the last week.  The question is… is it 3 things a week or a year… ‘cos if it’s not for the year then 2012 is going to be one EXPENSIVE year!!

The 3 things that have happened…

1. Lance somehow dislodged the bottle rack in the fridge and it broke in half.  Thankfully, I’ve managed to find a Samsung Service centre close by, and it’s only costing R120 to replace.  I had visions of buying a new fridge when this happened!!

2. On Monday I dropped my beloved iPhone… and smashed the glass.  It was well and truly buggered up.  After initially thinking I would upgrade to a 4S, I quickly changed my tune after discovering how much that would cost, and thanks to #Twoogle, I found 2 places that repair iPhones. I went on Tuesday morning to get it fixed on the way to work… R1550 later though!! And the place I used, Part Store in Honeydew, was R800 cheaper than the 1st place I tried, G Mobile near Northgate!!

3.  Then this morning, Beauty informs me that the vacuum cleaner started smoking yesterday.  Then she told me that she’d tried to clean the bedroom carpet with soap and water, and dropped the bucket and then decided to use the vacuum cleaner to dry the spill. It’s not a Wet/Dry.  She told me that she was “encouraged” when she noticed bubbles in the filter chamber.  She’s blimmen lucky she didn’t get electrocuted considering it was smoking from the cable!! Anyhoo, because of the huskies I needed another very very powerful vacuum cleaner… so R2000 we’re sorted again (I stopped at Makro at lunchtime today)

This has been one expensive week… not counting the school fees and new uniforms I’ve bought in the last week!!

There goes my idea of buying a couch sometime soon!

I’m going to open a bottle of wine tonight I think

Just a list of randomness from my weekend of slothfulness.

1.  No photoshoots meant that I spent the weekend like I did pre client-shoots… just with the kids… and afternoon naps

2.  I did do some editing and finalising of albums though no rest for the wicked.

3.  Yesterday, we went to Fiona’s little Zoe’s 3rd birthday party.  I had a ball!! The kids loved playing with their friends in the pool, and around the pool, while I drank homemade ginger beer and sangria Was just divine to sit and chat to people I haven’t seen in ages.

4.  We got a skip (those huge big rubbish bins thingies) for random rubbish that we needed to get rid of, as well as a few trees that needed removing.  Andrew is the most incredible gardener that works magic, and he managed to finish chopping both trees down (and don’t moan… the conifer was diseased and the lemon tree wasn’t bearing fruit anymore and I’ve already replanted new shrubs ) and mow the lawn and tidy the garden yesterday.  Anyhoo, the skip was quite something.  We put our household rubbish (you know, old boxes, old broken see-saw and slide, old poles and random scrap metal etc from cleaning up the garden and the left over carport pieces that were mangled) in the skip on Thursday, and then more on Friday… and yet more on Saturday afternoon.  And every time, within an hour, it was magically emptied.  We even heard someone rummaging at 1am on Saturday morning! It worked out perfectly actually, because then there was enough space for the trees!

5. It was hot, the pool isn’t exactly sparkling at the moment, but we swam a lot.  I told Bradley it was like swimming in a dam, he needed to get over himself. The pool is actually clean, but not blue.

6.  I took the dogs to Walkhaven this morning, and they had a ball.  I wore my new wellies so for once I didn’t get my flip flops stuck in the marsh area.  Aren’t they cute!?! They’re covered in jelly beans! It was beautiful there, and I forgot to take my camera… huge regret!! I would have loved to take macro photos of the veld flowers today.

7.  One of my resolutions is to be in more photos this year… I would love to have a shoot in the veld at dusk… in that beautiful light with the gorgeous flowers that are around at the moment.  For now, my wellies are in the photo from earlier today when we had a massive thunderstorm… on Connor.

8.  We have a bowl of nuts in the diningroom, with a nutcracker on hand for snacking.  Kimo got hold of a few nuts this afternoon, and had a bit of a feast by himself.  Silly dog!

9.  I really need to sort the house out this year, we need so much, and it’s going to cost ever so much money

10.  Lance broke the drinks compartment in the fridge… and he can’t fix it.  So this week, in addition to looking for an electrician that’ll actually pitch to do this work (there’s a crap load of work that needs to get done), I have to find a Samsung parts place… or buy a new fridge.  I wish we had a bigger space for a fridge in the kitchen, but one thing I’m considering doing is buying a fridge, and then a small seperate freezer.  Or buying a new fridge, and keeping our current fridge in the garage for extra drinks etc for when we have guests.

And now, I’m going to pour myself a glass of red. Get the kids to bed, and hopefully finish editing a wedding!

So instead of whittling down my list, I’ve added 2 things to my list today!!

1. Capture a birth.

I’ve done newborns and there’s only so much of a story to be had in a newborn shoot, and you know I’m all about the story.  Earlier today I read a blog post by an Australian photographer who captured a birth last week.  And that’s what I want to do this year… just one.  I think it would be an amazing experience.

2.  Do a photo project capturing suburbs of South Africa.

I’ve been completely inspired by another Australian photographer who is travelling the world this year taking photos of 52 suburbs around the world.  She happens to be missing Africa, which I think is a travesty… but anyhoo, now that’s something I’d love to do.  Go around the country and take photos of real South African life and textures and views.

OK, this is sad, really sad, and if you’re a softy like me then you’ll cry…

I found a video made by Ben on Alex Beadon’s blog this morning. It was the first thing I read in my reader. The original videos were made by Ben on 18 Dec, which happened to be a week before he died. He died on Christmas night.  I’m going to share the original 2 videos he posted onto Youtube.

They’ve gone viral since his death and I can see why.

I did a bit of Youtube surfing after watching the videos, and this dude was quite incredible.  He had his own Youtube channel too, and I’ll leave you with that… you can go and look at his older stuff…

Did you know that Baa Baa Black Sheep and Twinkle Twinkle are in fact the same tune?

I didn’t!!

Just another useless fact I found on my twitter stream today

OK, I’m a little behind with my bucket list project but today I accomplished another thing on the list…

I jumped off a building.

And I managed to get almost my entire family to come along with me, and we made it a bonding exercise! LOL!

We went to the Orlando Towers in Soweto and my mom, Elaine and myself did the power swing and Bryan did the bungee jump… while Lance and my dad watched the kids and took photos from the ground.

I have a few things about today that I just have to put down… and this blog is the best place I can think of doing that… considering this bucket list item was actually all about fear and the unknown and trust… let me talk about just that…

- Elaine is generally scared of heights… and I’m so pleased she did it in the end And she looked a lot braver than I felt I looked just before she jumped!

- It’s freaking high up…. 100m into the air.

- The only thing that really worried me up there, were the cables.  In the photo of me just getting off the ledge, you can see the 3 cables that connect to the towers… I was convinced I would swing into them!!

- I would have prefered to go first just so I didn’t have to wait so long, but I love that my mom did… and she seemed to thoroughly enjoy it

- It’s a pity I wasn’t able to take a camera up there.  The view was incredible.  Absolutely amazing!!

- I think one of the reasons I was so frightened, no, I know, was trust.  I wasn’t sure that I could trust the cable, even though they told you so many times about the checks etc… and I’d watched my mom and sister do it… it was scary to trust it.

- That free fall of 40m before the cable took the strain and swung me out… took my breath away completely. I only screamed when I started relaxing when the swing started.

-The R100 extra charged for the photos was well well worth the money.  I’m so glad I have close-up proof of how inelegant I look jumping off something!!

- While I was waiting for the swing to come up again, I sat down, and I must’ve looked scared shitless, because the one dude came and sat next to me and asked me what I was thinking.  I didn’t tell him.  I was actually visualising myself swinging… yip… I do that.  I get through things by visualising them.  In fact, I was at that moment, visualising getting over the railing and swinging… not from the platform. In my mind I’d done it… and that’s why I didn’t chicken out in the end.

- It felt really surreal up there.  I kept looking ar0und to drink it all in… and willing myself to remember all the details.  Without a camera on me, I felt naked and had just my memory to remember.

- I’m glad the boys were there to see me do it.  Bradley very proudly told Ouma on the phone this evening that I jumped off a building in Soweto. She must’ve had a heart attack… more because we were in Soweto though and I can’t think that she believed the rest!! LOL!

I’ve put all the images onto my photo blog, so hop on over there to see…

The only thing I regret about the day, was that the restaurants in Vilakazi street were all closed because of the public holiday… I would have liked to have lived out the rest of the planned day, and taken my family around Soweto… I just loved that part of the city Instead we went to my parent’s house for pizza and a swim.

It was an amazing day, and one that we’ll never forget.

It feels like it’s time to post this.   I wasn’t going to.  I hate making resolutions, and if you’ve been reading my blog for a few years, you’d know that I don’t do them.  They’re a waste of time.

But in the same breath, this year, I feel the need to think about the future.  I feel the need to dream a bit and expand my realm of personal reality.  I don’t feel the need to reflect, possibly because I think this was a hard year, and I can’t say I’ve accomplished all that much.  Well, I’ve done a lot of stuff… but not accomplished anything that’s long term KWIM.

So, this is my wish list for the next year.  I’m not calling them goals… I’m too chicken to do that.  Call this a whisper of wishes… whispering them into the interwebs.  A bit of dreaming.  Not in the hopes of making them real… but in the hopes of just recording my wishes today…

- Sleep more

- Create art

- Find my voice

- Get energy back into my soul

- Be recognised and respected

- Earn enough during the year to pay off our debt

- Finish my Project 40 bucket list project

- Reconnect with friends properly

- Have time to myself without feeling guilty that I’m stealing the boys’ time with me

- Get balance back in my life

- Love more

- Laugh more

- Be brave

… and maybe, just maybe, I’ll accomplish some of it…