It was Jamie and Cara’s batmitzvah last night at The Venue in Melrose Arch.  And as you can see from the photos, it was a nightclub themed event.  The Venue was teaming with 250 of the twins’ friends and family and they all had a blast!

I’ve done photos at The Venue before for a few corporate events and a fashion show… and it was awesome to see it as a party venue… filled with loads of people having so much fun.  And in the process I had a blast, playing around with flash vs no-flash to get the colours and smoke and vibe captured… telling the story in the best way I can.

The guests signed photos of the girls (portraits that were done by a family member)

After the speeches, the guests started using the stage as another dance floor

Mazeltov to the Drobis family.  It was a party that the girls will never forget

There are more images in an album on my Facebook page.  If you were at the batmitzvah, you can tag yourself in the photos once you’ve “liked” the page.

Last night was Daniel’s Barmitzvah party that was held at the Capri Hotel in Savoy.  It was also my first big event for the year

Daniel’s friends and family joined him for his Japanese themed event… partly inspired by his love of origami!! I love listening to the speeches given at Barmitvahs by the kid’s friends, they always give so much information about their characters

Venue and catering:  Capri Hotel
DJ and Photobooth: JK Productions

After the benching, Daniel danced a bit with his father, grandfather and the rabbis… so special!

There are also a few more images in a Facebook album.  If you were at the party, “like” the Facebook page and you’ll be able to tag yourself in the photos.

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 attended the opening of the new bigger and better premises for the Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship in Johannesburg this afternoon (after taking photos of Lesego’s studio for the centre).

The Branson Centre was opened in 2006 in Johannesburg, and they’ve just moved to bigger premises on Melle str in Braamfontein (right in the heart of where all the regeneration is taking place).  It’s going to be a gorgeous place once it’s been properly kitted out, but you can already see the potential with spaces ready for an internet cafe and meeting rooms and training facilities.

The event was also held to introduce the new CEO, Tracey Webster, to the entrepreneurs.  After listening to her talk, and the talks given by her team, this is going to be one exciting place to be a part of in the coming months.

All the entrepreneurs were given baby indigenous trees to plant… as take home gifts.  LOVE that idea!

Tracey Webster, the new CEO of Branson Centre and Virgin Unite Africa (she’s the ex CEO of the Starfish Foundation), spoke about the plans for the centre in 2012.

This guy, Yashwin Mohan, owns a company called Game Over, and he’s developed new games arcade machines… and he was telling me that his new dance machine for kids is going to be installed in the Virgin Active gyms!!

Blessing is also quite amazing… he has his own clothing label and also manufactures a range of soft home furnishings

This lady, Lorcia, owns an events and catering company… and she organised all the food and drinks for this afternoon’s event.  During the presentation we watched a video about her, and she lives in Meadowlands in Soweto and is involved with a group that are trying to organise a tourism route in Meadowlands.

There was such a buzz of energy in the building, with all these people with wonderful ideas and plans… and they’re actually living their dreams.  Such an inspiring bunch of people.  As for the new location… it’s absolutely perfect and is so close to the new markets and redeveloped parts of the city… this is going to be a place that everyone will want to be.

If you were at the event, these photos and a few more have been put into a Facebook album.  If you “like” the Facebook page you’ll be able to tag yourself there.

I went to a Girlguides event tonight hosted by Sony.  It was held at the Ten Bompas hotel in Dulkeld… what a stunning venue and the little snacks were awesome!

It was awesome to meet up with the Girlguides bloggers again, and meet some new faces that I’d only conversed with on Twitter before… and to combine that with finding out about the cool new gadgets on offer by Sony!! I particularly liked the digital frames (especially the 10 inch frame which also played video and music!) and the point and shoot cameras on offer… and was most impressed with the digital HD camcorder with built in projector!! What a cool toy that would be!!

You may think that this photo isn’t in focus… but actually… the TV is a 3D TV attached to a 3D video recorder… in which I did a self portrait.  LOL what fun.  I did like this gadget!

This digital frame actually has a built in printer! Very cool! Although, I did ask whether you’d be able to remove the printer from the frame because I’m not sure I’d like the printer on display in my house all the time… and apparently it could be.

And you know I mentioned the food being so good… please note how Jessica was hogging the desserts again…

More of my photos will be on Girlguides in a while, so I’ll update the post with the link when they’re up.