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

I worked downtown today, and I took the opportunity to tag the Nikon V1 along.  Unlike yesterday, where I was shooting in RAW, today I decided to try the JPEG option. Again, like yesterday, I gave up on taking photos with manual settings, and rather went with the clever auto settings that the camera seems to love.

We spent most of the day working from a coffee shop called Chalkboard Cafe.  It’s under the 12 Decades Hotel in the Maboneng District in Johannesburg.  LOVED it… apart from the long-life milk… the coffee was AWESOME and the Chalkboard bagel with ham was fabulous!! Loved that there were plenty power points for people to plug in and work… and one dude even brought his entire desktop with big screens and headphones to work with in the afternoon!! Loved the chilled vibe and we actually got quite a lot done.

And yes… each table is a massive chalkboard and they provide chalk and dusters

Just before we left, we went to the offices in the 12 Decades Hotel and then went up to the viewing deck on the roof of the hotel… and WOW!! Loved the view.

And of course, I was in my element in the city!! I’m going to be working there next week again, and I’m definitely taking my camera again and having more fun up on that rooftop and in the streets.  In fact, when I left in the afternoon, there were a whole bunch of kids on skateboards on the streets… I was wishing I’d had a longer zoom to take photos of them (with their permission of course)… so I’ll hopefully get to do that next week.

A few weeks ago, one of the mom’s in Bradley’s year asked me to take photos at their Grade 2 year end party.  Thankfully it only entailed taking photos during the drumming session that was organised, so I could take a few hours off work and attend.  It’s not often that I get involved with school things, and it was about time I did something.

What a fun morning for the kids.  The Drum Cafe came to the school with 110 drums… just enough for every child in the year to have a drum to play with.  And OMW what incredible music they made.  They got into the rhythm so very quickly (compared to the work drumming session I did years ago where it took quite a while for everyone to start drumming in time)

Because I don’t have permission from most parents, I’m only showing you a few images of Bradley and the friends that I know won’t have a problem with their images being online. I’m also using this post to try out my new MCPActions presets

If you’re one of the Grade 2 moms and you’re trying to find the rest of the images, they’ll be put into a password protected online gallery for you to download in a few days time.

Tribeca PR asked me to take photos at the Whisky Live Festival in Johannesburg this evening.  After a few discussions with them, I decided that it would also be a good idea to have someone else second me… so Alana Meyer joined for the evening too.  Thankfully I wasn’t alone for this event, because my word, there was a lot going on and such a lot to cover!!

I joined these guys at the Compass Box Art of Blending zone, where they had to blend a whisky.  They had to produce 100mls of a new blend, and write the recipe on the bottle too.  Apparently the best blend over the 3 days of the festival wins a prize.  The Thornton brothers were definitely more scientific in their blend than the Robertson brothers, writing down formulas as they went and using the calculator on their phone to work out their blend

Then I popped in a the Pick n Pay canape and whisky pairing zone

… before I headed over to the GlendDronach and Ben Riach stands to watch a bit of tasting, and for the filling of bottles from the cask containing a 21 year old whisky.

Then I bumped into Mike Sharman and Melissa Attree at the Bunnahabhain tasting session

At the Penderyn stand, Gillian MacDonald from Wales, was doing a tasting with visitors and teaching them a bit of Welsh in the process

The Whisky Live Festival is on at the Sandton Convention Centre until Friday, and if you don’t have tickets yet, do yourself a favour, and get some.   I’m not a big whisky drinker, in fact, I think I have only ever had it a few times in my life… but I must say… this Whisky Festival is awesome!!

I drove to Lenasia South yesterday morning to meet Pooja.  I’m taking the photos at her and Suren’s wedding next Saturday and I wanted to see the temple that they’re getting married in… just to be prepared.

After checking out the temple, which by the way, is just incredible, we drove around the corner to her future MIL’s house to chat about the timing on the day.  I didn’t realise that they ran a feeding scheme from their home! Once a month, they feed destitute adults and children that live in the area.  And Saturday was the day that this month’s meal happened.

When they started this 5 years ago, it was quite small…. but now it’s quite an amazing undertaking.  They feed over 500 children and a few hundred adults every month.  Not only does everyone get a good hot meal, but everyone gets to take home a food parcel!   And it’s run completely by donations from the local community and others that have heard about them!

Thankfully, I carry a camera on me wherever I go, so I grabbed my camera and the only lens I had in my handbag… my 50mm and I took some photos. LOL they thought it was quite funny that I carry a camera everywhere but hey, I’m a blogger!! I love telling stories with photos

Anyway, they’ve got the “kitchen” set up in the garage, and while I was there they had 4 of the most enormous pots I’ve ever seen, cooking the food.  Shamilaa was telling me that they cook 60 kg of rice now, and they get up at 4am to start the food, having started the food parcel preparations on the Thursday before the event.

I have never seen such a massive wooden spoon in my life…

The blue packets are the food parcels

500 packs for the kids to take home, which included chips and sweets and fruit

I was there at 10am, and the food starts getting dished out at around midday, but even knowing that, the kids had started arriving and were playing on the grass outside the house. As soon as they saw my camera they came running

I’m definitely going again.  On the 10th of December they’re going to be having their Christmas lunch.  Last year they fed 1600 kids on that day, and every single child got a gift.  Shamilaa told me that it was amazing to see the gifts arrive… and it was a miracle that every person got something to take home.  They’re expecting many more kids and adults at this year’s Christmas event… and they’re needing help.  So… if you can help in any way, please contact them via their website.