I went to the new Vovo Telo’s at Cresta Shopping Centre this afternoon with my kids for some lunch… and to take some photos.  Oh I do like Vovo Telo’s, and I LOVE that there’s a new branch closer to my house than the other branches are… I think I’m going to be there quite often.  Especially considering how awesome their food is… their breakfasts are to die for!! Oh and Vovo Telo’s is definitely, in my books anyway, the best looking eatery in Cresta right now.

And I also LOVE that I was asked to take photos of the new store which, if you’re not familiar with it, is a bakery and a cafe.

To introduce the breads to the passers-by, they had a table at the door with various breads to try with olive oil and balsamic vinegar… yum my favourite way to eat bread!

And according to owner, Charles, he’s going to probably be putting in WIFI too… awesome for local businessmen who need a break with excellent coffee on tap!

I still haven’t eaten the lamb burger or the pastas that are on the menu and that appeal to me… I’m going to just have to go back!

PS. If you’re wondering where it is in the centre, it’s at the Pick ‘n Pay entrance.

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… and I was there to take photos of him.  I didn’t actually do the entire event’s photos, Greg Hack took those images… my role was to take the press photos.

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.

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”

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.

I haven’t shared one of my thank you’s from my clients in a long long time, and when I got this email from Marcia the other day, I just had to share it.  It really really makes my day when I get emails like this… it means that I’ve made a family happy… and that I’ve succeeded in my quest to tell their story…

Because I know Marcia quite well now, and I’m linked to her virtually everywhere, I checked out her Pinterest boards the day before the shoot.  I remembered seeing pins in my stream where she’d marked ideas for family photos.  That way I had an idea about what she liked and was looking for from the shoot.  This is one of the images that I just love… and one that I didn’t put up in the original blog post.

Anyhoo… this is the email I got when she got the couriered box containing the DVD.

Jeanette, I got it!

And I am ECSTATIC – the photos are everything I imagined and then some. I love the ones with the teddies (and they were a last-minute idea!)
Thank you so very much – gosh, I should have done this type of shoot ages ago!

I am OVER THE MOON!

 

And I’ve just checked her blog too, and I see she’s posted something there too It made me smile A LOT!