I spotted these kids playing soccer at Library Gardens in the Johannesburg CBD this afternoon, and  had to go downstairs and take some photos of them playing.  It was quite funny, before I got there they were just kicking around, but after I asked them and settled on the side with my camera… they got organised and soon had quite a game going using their school bags as goals.

You can see in some of the photos, that the garden was quite busy with some people sleeping on the grass right where they were playing.  It was quite a miserable day today, and the light was rather dull… but their energy was awesome!

As soon as the tickets opened for the Tri-Nations rugby match between South Africa and New Zealand, we booked!! Lance and I went with my parents and joined the 94013 rugby fans that thronged to Soccer City aka FNB Stadium outside Soweto to watch the match this evening.

What an awesome experience!! After quite a bit of deliberation, my dad and Lance decided that, instead of parking close to the stadium and walking, we should catch the Rea-Vaya buses from Wits.  And what a win that was!! It was so painless, and quick to get in and out of the stadium.  The match finished at 7, and we got home at 8:30! I didn’t think that was bad at all!

We got stopped by a guy painting faces on the way in… I liked how differently he painted everyone’s flags

It was the first time my mom had been to watch the Springboks play.

This cool marimba band was entertaining the crowds on the way in

As you can see, our seats were RIGHT at the very top of the stadium.  I really needed a bigger zoom, but I made do

This is my favourite photo… while the anthem was being sung, and a massive flag was being passed across the crowds

There are a few more photos on my Facebook page

Unlike the excitement of Wednesday’s happenings in Sandton, today’s opening World Cup match was a subdued affair for me.  I watched the opening ceremony at my parent’s house with my parents and the boys; while Lance watched it at work.

It wasn’t completely quiet though, because you could hear the constant blasts from vuvuzelas around the neighbourhood, and, from the garden where Elaine’s friends and the boys contributed to the racket.  Bryan and friends tested out the vuvuzelas and kuduzelas before they left to spend the afternoon in a pub… and of course I had to take photos

It was actually so awesome to see and feel the patriotism today.  Almost everyone was dressed in yellow and green, and loads of people had SA flag tattoos and faces painted (Connor’s face was painted by his teacher)… and everyone was making a noise with vuvuzelas and other types of horns.

We actually didn’t spend the entire time at my parents house, and we left during the match to go to the local Spar shop and then go home to the dogs.  As we were standing in the queue at the shops, we watched Bafana score the goal on the TV that was mounted on the wall.  And the place erupted.  It was so cool to be somewhere with excitement at that time.  The store cashiers went nuts, and the store managers just laughed along with them all!  They were running around, blowing vuvuzelas, laughing, jumping, and one lady was crying.  It was so cool for the boys to experience the excitement (they were a little taken aback at first actually because it erupted so quickly).

When we got home, we carried on watching, and this time Bradley was a little more interested.  When one of the players kicked the ball and it hit the post he piped us “That’s what happens when you don’t aim”.  LOL I suppose he’s right

Even though Bafana drew against Mexico in the match, I think they did an awesome job… the made us even more proud.

I want the boys to experience more of the World Cup now… I’m going to take some leave next week and I’m thinking of taking them to a “quiet” fan park.

See the full set of 2010 photo-a-day photos on my Project 365 Flickr Set.

There were thousands of flags and vuvuzelas amongst the estimated 185000 people (and me) that stood on the sides (and the middle) of the streets of Sandton and cheered for Bafana Bafana today.  It was a blast!!

After wandering the streets for a while, trying to capture the “gees” (which means spirit for those non-saffers who have been wondering on Twitter what the G’s were for), Henti and I managed to perch on top of RMB’s waterfall for a bird’s eye view of the goings on… we froze in the process because the spot was in the shade… and in hindsight, we probably would have been better off roaming the crowds but anyhoo.

We waited forever for Bafana to actually appear on an open-topped bus, outside the Sandton Southern Sun Hotel… and I must admit that it was a little disappointing when they finally appeared and then disappeared down the street.  So much so, that a lot of the crowd actually dispersed before they came back.  I’m glad I waited though, because the atmosphere when they did eventually come back, was quite something!  It was well worth the wait.

I felt it, I was there…

The crowd got all excited when this bus arrived, only to see that it was the Netherlands team arriving in Sandton

And finally, Bafana Bafana appeared on the bus

The flags on RMB’s building are JUST magnificent


These dudes wearing masks and makarapas were leading the parade

I just LOVED the way this vuvuzela was decorated
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Captain of the team… Aaron Mokoena

Some of the players

The bus with players was filled with local celebrities, including Cindy Nel

The only problem is… I have no idea who the players are apart from Matthew Booth and the captain, Aaron Mokoena.  LOL!

I’ve put more photos in an album on my Facebook page.

That’s right, I’m mad, I’ve lost it!!

I’m actually going to attempt a photo a day for the year (and I’ll have to end on Jan 1 2011 because I missed the first day of the year, and yesterday’s maternity shoot is counting as my first day).  So, my blog is going back to where I started it… every day I’ll post a photo that I’ve taken that day.  It’s either going to be photos from a client’s shoot, or just a random shot.  I think I need to explore my creativity again which is why I’m going to do it.

I’m not going to put a theme to it, like a self portrait or monochrome photo-a-day challenge, because I know I won’t stick to it. So it’s just going to be random.  It’s also going to be a lot harder than when I did it the first time.  Then it was with a point and shoot, and it was easy to whip it out where ever I wanted to take photos, but I tend to get stopped now because of my camera with people thinking I’m a journalist.

I could have chosen quite a few shots from today, but this one caught my eye because Connor is actually just midair!

So, who’s joining me in this challenge?