Archive for 'Photojournalism'
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We spent the day in Newtown, Johannesburg, today… at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre. It’s like a science museum only cooler… way cooler. It’s 3 floors of stuff… packed with coolness and loads to keep the kids occupied.
It was easily the most fun we’ve ever had for R30!! Seriously, that’s all it cost to get in, because Connor was “free” ‘cos he’s under 6. We got there at 11:30am… and I managed to drag them out of there at 3:30pm!! And they were complaining that they didn’t want to go home yet.
I was in two minds about going to Sci-Bono. The only people I knew that have been there, have got little kids. I was worried that Bradley would get bored. Well, I’m not actually sure who was more engaged by the centre actually. They definitely got different things out of the day. Connor was just interested in getting things to work. Bradley would intently read instructions to get them to work right… but he’s not yet interested in why it works like it does… and I’m sure older kids/teens would be… so it caters for all ages. And it’s under cover!! Perfect for a rainy day! And for those worried about going to “scary” Joburg 
the parking lot is right outside with a guard.
And now for the photos… ‘cos that’s what you came to my blog for anyway
This Lego soccer stadium was at the entrance… isn’t it amazing?
Love the concentration
They had to use the paddle to create music and find the pipe that had the highest note.
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The highlight of the place was definitely the Murray and Roberts construction site. The boys kept coming back here. There was a “site office” where they had to get kitted out with hard hats and bibs. There was piles of foam bricks and cement to build walls between steel structures…
… there was a crane that worked on a lever and pulley system…
I managed to tear them away to get them to a science show at 12:30pm. And on the way we got sidetracked by this machine that showed pressure in a chamber when you used a lever to spin a soccer ball
The science show was fabulous. They used chemicals to produce fires and all sorts of cool things for the kids to see… in this experiment she blew cake flour out of a funnel and lit it… I did not know that flour could burn like that!
Then she made bubbles with liquid nitrogen and I can’t remember what else
Bradley’s reaction after seeing the balloons filled with hydrogen explode…
Then it was time to see the dinosaurs. They were awesome, and roared and moved when you pressed a button. Really cool for the kids! And Bradley was amazing… he just looked at them and named them without reading the signs… he still remembers all those dino encyclopedias he used to read.
Both boys loved the Eskom section where they played with circuits and currents… this one used batteries to get a train to move around a track.
This was them running to get back to the construction area after being through all 3 floors of magnetic, electric and musical fun….
The toughest thing about today was deciding which blog to blog about it on! The Jenty blog which is about me and parenting… or this one… but in the end I decided that this is mostly about photos and my life in photos. I’m having a bit of a dilemma with this blog at the moment… should I keep it only for clients? But my story about photography is so important to me.
So this story has to be told here… partly because all the images were taken without flash… and I only used my 50mm again. I’m in love with the 50mm at the moment for my personal photos and it just makes my camera so much lighter and smaller to carry… FTW!
And as far as the Sci-Bono centre goes… we’ll definitely be back. Connor wants to go there again tomorrow… LOL! And I’vedefinitely decided that this is a definite party venue for one of them this year!
Recommended Reading
2
Remember the photos I took at the Johannesburg launch of Richard Branson’s book “Screw Business as Usual”? Well, some of the images have been published, and I just have to show you!
Last week, the photo of Richard Branson and Cleo as well as a few images from Friday’s day with the Virgin Media Pioneers were published in the Times in the UK… and Jim was kind enough to buy the newspaper that day and put a photo of the page onto Facebook for me to see. I was not very happy to see that I wasn’t given any credit for the images, but anyhoo, nothing I can do about that!
And then on Friday morning I got a call from the Sunday Times. They were publishing an article about the Cleo Filander video that was played at Richard Branson’s daughter’s wedding, and they wanted to use my photo. I was thrilled when I got the newspaper yesterday (the newspaper came out a day early because of Christmas) and saw the size of the image that they published… and that the article was on Page 3… this time with my name underneath 
)
And if you’re wondering about the video that was played at the wedding, here is it… hasn’t she got an amazing voice? And the video was shot by the videographer who joined me on Friday with the Virgin Media Pioneers…
“Proud” performed by Cleo Megan Filander from Brett Michael Innes on Vimeo.
Recommended Reading
10
After the entrepreneur event held at the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, Sir Richard Branson held a gala event at Randlords in Braamfontein last night to launch his new book, Screw Business as Usual
So, lucky me, I got to follow Sir Richard around the whole evening… I had NO problems with that at all.
But first, a photo of the magnificent view from the venue… Randlords is just amazing!
Louis Janse van Rensburg got to shake his hand It was actually fabulous finally meeting Louis too, after speaking to him for so long via Twitter only!
Jane Tewson, one of the co-founders of Comic Relief in the UK, was also there, and actually, that T-shirt that Sir Richard Branson wore in the afternoon at the Branson Centre (see previous blog post) was one of her designs.
Zuraida Jardine and Mongezi Mtati (he’s also an entrepreneur from the Branson Centre) introduced the speakers for the evening
Jean Oelwang from Virgin Unite
Tracey Webster, from the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, wore a magnificent dress made by one of the entrepreneurs, Lesego Malatsi (who you may remember from a previous shoot)
And then… this little girl came up on stage, and stunned us with her singing. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house while Cleo Filander sang… she was amazing. She’s only 11 years old
After her performance, a few things were auctioned off to raise money for the Branson Centre. This lucky couple won time with Sir Richard Branson, including flights to London!! How AMAZING!! You cannot put a value on that!
And then… Tony Banks beat off stiff competition to win a tea date with Desmond Tutu. WOW!!
And then Cleo got invited back on stage to sing again, and Richard gave her a gift of a dress, which will be made for her by Lesego
Then Sir Richard went up to the top deck and spent time with the entrepreneurs who had displays on site.
It was such an incredible evening, and I cannot thank the Branson Centre and Virgin Unite for giving me the opportunity to take the photos.
Recommended Reading
3
I had the most incredible day today at the Branson Centre in Braamfontein, and because I cannot possible do it all justice in one blog post, I’m going to split it into 2 parts.
I was privileged to be asked to take the photos at an event hosted by Richard Branson at the Branson Centre for Entrepreneurs today. It was aimed at helping local entrepreneurs, and took the form of a speed dating session where a whole host of local and international businessmen and entrepreneurs mentored a few Branson Centre entrepreneurs. It was amazing to walk around and listen to the conversations. What an incredible opportunity for these young guys, as the advice was readily forthcoming, and in some cases really good business connections were made.
Tony Banks with the guys from Afropark
Jean Oelwang from Virgin Unite
Steve Bailey from Virgin Mobile and Vinay Padayachee from Virgin Money
Richard Branson with two of the Virgin Media Pioneers from the UK
Maakaplan from Soweto Internet Radio listening intently to some sage advice
And we could not miss out on a photo opportunity with the whole Virgin team and the entrepreneurs from the Branson Centre next to their new signage
I can only see magnificent things coming from these meetings today
… and then we all had to dash to the launch event at Randlords, where Richard Branson launched his new book “Screw Business as Usual”
Recommended Reading
1
I had the most amazing day today. I got to take photos of some extraordinary and very energetic and inspiring people today as they met and travelled around Johannesburg and Soweto. 3 Virgin Media Pioneer entrepreneurs from the UK came to South Africa this morning and met up with 3 South African entrepreneurs associated with the Branson Centre in Braamfontein.
The Virgin Media Pioneers are Ashley-Rae Tapping (creator of Loud Culture clothing which was launched this year and already has a celebrity following), Amman Ahmed (creator of a7records and his labels include EasySleepMusic, RelaxingRecords and Relaxmydog) and Jade Carlisle (founder of Global Moguls who focusses on promoting and developing emerging artists across various genres between the UK and SA). The Branson Centre entrepreneurs are Lesego Malatsi (Mzansi Designers, and he’s just come back from showing his clothes at London Fashion Week), Freda Sebolai (who designs beaded jewellery) and Maakaplan Mchunu (creator of Ouleik Records and Soweto Internet Radio)
They were joined by people from Virgin Media, as well as a Times journalist, and presenters from Pioneer TV and SBTV.
Everyone met up at the Branson Centre in Braamfontein and told a bit of their stories…
… before we headed off to Lesego Malatsi’s studios in downtown JHB.
By then we were running late, which was a huge pity so we didn’t have time to stop at the Walter Sisulu Square in Soweto, and instead we went straight to Sakhumzi on Vilakazi Street in Soweto where we had lunch. I think the noise in place was a huge shock to the visitors who only arrived this morning… LOL!! It was loud and very very festive in there!
We then did a tour of the Mandela house. I’ve actually never been there before, and it was so very interesting!! Hardly any of the South Africans on the trip had actually been there before, and we all commented about how much we enjoyed it. The memorabilia in the house is just amazing, and the stories told by the tour guides about the bullets and walls and how the house had changed was interesting. I did however leave feeling that it was too clean… by this I mean that the structure of the house is there, but everything else around it has been upgraded, and it’s a pity as I felt they’d stripped the character and the story out of it.
And then we went to Maponya Mall to visit Lesego’s shop
And tomorrow is even more exciting… I’ll be taking photos at the Branson Centre again, where Richard Branson is speaking to entrepreneurs and launching his new book, Screw Business As Usual, in South Africa… and then there’s a gala dinner that I’m also attending.
If you want to follow the day on Twitter, the hashtag is #sbau (Screw Business As Usual)… and I’ll be posting there and on Instagram as I go along. I’ll be tweeting as much as I can between taking photos