It finally arrived and we’re busy sending it out to all of those that pre-ordered. Should be with you in the next week or so.

If you’d like a copy or are just wondering what it’s all about, head on over to The Focal Plan. There’s even a free chapter where we turn Alvina’s rocking wedding photo into a serious Hindi Rockstar image in lightroom. Look Ma, no presets.

wedding presets for lightroom, wedding presets lightroom, presets lightroom wedding, wedding preset lightroom, lightroom wedding preset, preset wedding lightroom, lightroom preset wedding download, 

In the 2 main arenas expect to be wowed by the biggest line-up of speakers yet, from international guest speakers such as the world renowned Rufus Deuchler flying in from Italy to top local photographers like Roger De La Harpe, Kevin Shoulder, Dror Eyal, Lou Coetzer, David Larsen, Brett Florens, David Rogers, Deryck Van Steenderen, David Oosthuizen, Ian Mitchinson, Darryl Van Niekerk, Sean Nel, Mia Ziervogel, Mike Tippett, Anton Van Niekerk and many more…

See full schedule once completed at www.photofilmexpo.com

UPDATE: looks like we’re on the main stage on Sunday afternoon – http://www.photofilmexpo.com/WORKSHOP_MAINSTAGE.pdf

I’m going to be giving a talk at the Photo & Film Expo (with Ian), it will be about inspiration, getting better at photography and developing your brand – come say hi.

On another note, if you want me to come speak at your club, to your group, class etc, drop me an email.

wedding photography workshops cape town, anton van niekerk -stellenbosch -verkrag it -drive, 

I was invited last week to talk to the third year photography students at the Tshwane University of Technology, it’s been a long time since I’ve been on a campus. Glad to report that they still look the same (campuses, not students, although the students looked the same as well), and have the same feel about them. So we grabbed some coffee and I started talking. It was actually a very cool experience, the students were on the ball technically and it was nice to be able to talk about the zone system and reciprocity and all that and have people following.

The photography program there also looks very organized and covers some serious ground, a lot of stuff there happening with 4×5 view cameras and digital medium format. Definitely recommended if you want to get a good solid grounding in commercial photography (and they bring in cool guest speakers).

It seems a lot of people are talking on their blogs about shooting with film, going on about the tones and colors and all that. I really don’t get it. My take on it, if you have to tell people that you shot an image on film for them to know that it was shot on film … {fill in your own ending} …

It was kind of sad saying goodbye to the RE.INVENT series of workshops, I really enjoyed doing them and meeting so many new photographers, but it’s time to move on. So a couple of months ago the last group of photographers attended a sold-out RE.INVENT III. Serious business talk coupled with some creative out-of-the-box thinking. We were at Moon and Sixpence, it was looking like rain, big rain, Africa big, was coming, we were pointing out the edges of the wedding photography box and showing people where we cross it and how to look at a venue like the Moon and Sixpence with fresh eyes.

We also hatched some marketing plans, dissected a few pricelists, cast an SEO eye on some websites, our favorite wedding coordinator was on hand to give some tips on how to work with the venue on a marketing level, and V, Andrea and I shared advice and tricks on how to create a brand.

More info on future workshops and mentoring.

kuthaba photographers, Re invent, wedding rain, 

We saw Phillipe the other day and he gave us a bottle of The Dog and Fig Alternatiewe Alt beer. The Dog and Fig is a microbrewery near Parys, which is on my list of places to visit soon (really wanting to try some of their Baldadige Buchu). Anyway, beer packaged like champagne seemed like a pretty good subject for the new Speed Graphic’s test drive.

Got to love that old-style beer … also not bad for a camera that’s almost 70 years old.

V and I missioned down to Red Ivory on Sat. James and his crew throw quite a mean open day – kind of an end of winter start of the wedding season event. Rough estimate about 300 odd couples came through, with bridesmaids, parents etc, so it was a pretty busy day for us. I smiled a lot, I smiled at the people photographing my photos at our stand, I even smiled at the woman who went to fetch her mom to look at the bowl we had brought to hold our business cards, I was still smiling when she photographed the bowl (the bowl? really?).

It was actually really nice to meet all the preferred vendors at Red Ivory, and to see the new Red Ivory display book – the first page of which is my face staring at you almost larger than life size, and kind of made me very self-conscious as a barely rehabilitated photo-dodger. Let’s see, we got to meet Patrick who is a rockstar in person, and Dylan who lives a block away from us (You live where? In Radiokop?) and a shoutout to the saxophonist (whose name I didn’t get, but was really cool).

Thanks to James and his crew for a great day, to all our clients who showed up and came and chatted, and to the waiter who kept on coming up and offering me food and coffee, you’re a life saver.

Almost a month and no RE.INVENT post! it’s coming I promise.

red ivory, red ivory wedding venue, red ivory lodge wedding venue, red ivory photography, 

‘What’s this you’re writing?’ asked Pooh, climbing onto the writing table

‘The Tao of Pooh,’ I replied.

The how of Pooh?’ asked Pooh, smudging one of the words I had just written.

‘The Tao of Pooh,’ I replied, poking his paw away with my pencil.

‘It seems more like the ow! of Pooh,’ said Pooh, rubbing his paw.

‘Well, it’s not,’ I replied huffily.

‘What’s it about?’ asked Pooh, leaning forward and smearing another word.

‘It’s about how to stay happy and calm under all circumstances,’ I yelled.

‘Have you read it?’ asked Pooh.

tao of pooh,