SA MENS HOCKEY SELECTIONS

Went down to Riverside Astro tonight with my boy Mike Benson to shoot some SA Mens selections for Olympics next year.
Had a bit of a dodgy time shooting as Hockey is out of my legue as a photography but always up for change....had a shweet chow at Spur with Mikey & the ballie

Came up with a pretty decent pic here

CHILLING

Chilled the whole day in my PJ's with my Craven Week rugga boys Cam Wright & Msizi Zondi and even made a couple music videos in my room!WHaaaaaat!!It will be on Youtube ASAP

Anyways,off to Riverside Astro to shoot some SA Mens Hockey with Mike Benson...Will let ya'll know how it goes!

CAN THERE BE MORE?

More good news,flip!

2 more of my photos got featured on Zig Zag's Shot Bru competition almost instantly when I uploaded them,very stoked!

These are the two the newly feature pics:

DURBAN JULY 2011

Wowa wee wow I nearly never mentioned my Durban July 2011 offer!

One of my mates Camilla's status was "Any studying photographers want a job at The July?" and did i ever reply!haha...I told that I wasn't studying but keen & relatively good.She said that was cool....she put me through to a worker that told me I would be acting as Paparazzi for models coming out of Limo's wearing Police Sunglasses.I was keen and he explained that he would forward me to the boss who would tell me how much i'd earn,hours etc.

The boss told me i'd earn (a very,very reasonable amount) for 4hours work,I get free entrance to the July,access to anywhere,free food & the pictures taken by me are solely mine & if I would like to,hand out business cards etc to promote myself.

I mean,what a deal right??Getting paid to go to The July and everything paid for to do something I love-magic....blessed I tell you!

WESTBROOK MISSIONS

So after an averagely eventful night skating evening in was time to hit the sack.

7am wake up call by boss Adam got us into gear, a quick cuppa tea and toast got us settled for a mission up the North Coast.

A slight land breeze got me & Rob a bit anxious but The Boss Adam was quite adamant that there was waves and that everything was sorted. Initially Adam suggested Westbrook so we sped in our double cab to check it out.

Nonetheless Adam was spot on with lines and swell running from Umdloti river mouth and on.With 4 okes out fast running ,clean-barreled Westbrook got us excited.An easier paddle out than Umhlanga yesterday made an arrival of others to flock (not like crowded town of course).

Barrels,barrels & more barrels was definitely the order on the Westbrook menu!Some a tad too fast yet some simply perfect for Rob & Adz ,almost like a dream or video game.

A couple hours went by and swell + some more folk to join the line-up + Adam having to get to the police station due to the damage of I quest the night before(bad oke) left the boys to come out ,chill and observe having a joll in the shore break.

A coke & change of clothes was us for the day at Wests driving and taking a squizz at some spots through dodgy La Belle along the way back to Durbs.

The exciting part of uploading the pics to the Mac had come and too came happy faces after a successful day down the N.C.

“This is what I love,waking up at sparrows to mission for an uncrowded spot,surf it,nail it and still have the rest of the day to check out chicks on the other beaches and just chill.” Robbie Waites

EVENING EVENTS: NIGHT SKATING

We decided last night i'd stay at the Waites' house and mission in the morning for a wave.We were bored so we thought we'd take on the empty streets of Glenashley at the late hours of the evening for a skate.

We drove out the driveway ready to find spots to ride along the North of Durbs until a noise that wasn't familiar to what we're used too,the sound of a Toyota Double Cab's tow bar releasing two mother sized holes in Luke's(mate)puny little Toyota Corolla........anti...climax.Adam promised he'd do all police clearancing the next day but didn't wanna choon the ma or result in not being able to surf the next day would've taken place .Camera not working due to lack of light and no space on the memory card returns us back to the house to get more memory and back again. Nevertheless we came up with some rad one's....

ROB WAITES

ROB WAITES

THE BOSS

DAYS WITH THE WAITES

Right so a couple weekends ago I asked my two sponsored body boarding mates & brothers (Robbie & Adam Waites) to search & take some pics.
Well did we?!

Yesterday Monday 28 June 2011 was an early start to proceedings,after a late night of course.7:30am the Waites brothers fetched me in the double cab to try and check out the abandoned,shark-netless Umhlanga.There's always that sense of epic-ness & intense emotion when you know a Great White could be lurking below and wondering if your board is salad.

Missioning to Umhlanga after having to go back to Rob & Adam's place to fetch Rob's equipment he definitely needed,fins - chop!Lines,banks and sizey swell was the order of the day.Change,set up camera's,checks and down to the impounding sound of barrel & bank meeting.

ADAM WAITES

ROBBIE WAITES

A heavy paddle out left two other boarders to admire the view from the beach yet the brothers tackled this problem,took awhile but with a bit of luck & a huge wash eventually landed them at back line and traveling rapidly with the wash.Angles were hard to find with constant washes making it impossible for the boys to keep in one place.
Nevertheless pictures were captured and some hopefully featured in Billy Thiel's mag!

SWELL

Right,today Wez & I went down town.....literally.....and the surf was absolutely crackers!Don't get me wrong,it wasn't ride-able but when you see waves breaking atleast 5km's out from sea,then you know bru!!


Was unable to get some pics today as we went to Ushaka & made it virtually impossible for Wez to surf!But got some fun ones's rolling through....

BIG UPS

I must 1stly give a huge thanks and big-up to my man Wezo Lewis who hooked me up by featuring my stickers on his boards & getting me to take pics at his compo.This opened many doors as you saw in Blessings...so thanks my boy!

Another to my teacher's Ant Hoyer and paul Lichkus!Ant for letting me use his housed cam fro over a month without fear and Lichkus fro using the school's equipment,without you guys my pictures and knowledge would not have been possible

Awesome ness

Good news is that 6 of my photos have hit the Top20 leaderboards on Zig Zag's Shot Bru compo with 3rd being the highest,so in desperate need of cracking 1st place!

Keep praying folks

BLESSINGS

It is truly amazing what I have been blessed with.But it’s what we do with these blessings is what counts.

I’ve been doing photography for my high school (WBHS) since 2009.I caught on,loved it & never looked back.We’re extremely lucky at Westville Boys’ to have such an organized and sufficient Art Dept.With our wide range of mediums pupils are able to basically do whatever medium they choose.I,lucky enough am able to do graphics & photography with the latest equipment such as Mac desktops to a range of Canon camera’s,memory cards,batteries,monopods,flashes & not to mention the extent of our lenses-WOW!

It’s here where my teacher taught me everything I know up until now & been nothing but supportive toward me & my work.Since the beginning of this year i’ve gone on a project to design & take pics for my surf mag of Durbs which will in turn be used for one of my finals.The mag is called “The Bru’s” as i’m doing the mag solely on my mates & the things/people that surround me in Durbs.The story line is “I SHMAAK DURBS BECAUSE…” This will be used as a question whereby my mates have/will give the explanation as to why they love Durbs so much travelling from Ballito,North Coast, to Amamzimtoti,South Coast interviewing my local mates.

I posed a question to my teacher as to maybe getting an underwater housing for one of our Canon’s?He was reluctant yet takes some time to import etc.As I got into bummed mode the next day my art teacher had asked one of our teacher’s if I was able to use his housed camera,and the answer?YES!!!!!WHATTT?! I’d only dreamed of using a housed camera!And this is where my journey begins…

I started taking pics at various place; Umdloti,North,Wedge,Dairy…and came up with some stunners!!And of course some dead awful ones,but I learn from it & the next time I shot was even better.Needless to say after a couple uploads on Facebook,MagicSeaweed & Zig Zag I started to get some comments.Blessings to lead from one the next & keep coming.I got asked by one of my father’s good mates if I want to shoot at The Mr Price Pro 2011,a prestigious 6 Star WQS Surf event held in Ballito,North Coast (only if he could get me certified etc to work there).I went bonkers!

As my surfing mates saw my pics on Facebook my mate Wes Lewis wanted in on the action,as he landed a small sponsor.So we made a plan to get down to his final KZNSSA Surf trial at Wedge flippen early one crispy & cooker Durban morning.Taking pics of sponsored lightees leads,sometimes, in grabbing some dosh as they good and expose their sponsored rider & ultimately my name, so Wes thought it was a swell idea.Well was it ever!I got some belter shots.Some of free surfers,sponsored,small big all kinds.Plug in the memory card in,download,check ‘em out,edit,upload to various sites & …..wait.2 days later I an email from Shot Bru (Zig Zag) to say that 2 of my photos taken at Wedge;one of my mate getting lakka barrel and the other of sponsored Rip Curl rider Frankie Oberholzer cutting his wave to shreds was ecstatic!Rated 5/5 stars only to find the next day it was 15th on the Leaderboards.”Shot Bru” is a compo on Zig Zag mag where anyone can upload THEIR pics.The best get picked into the mag,the winner of the months grabs and Olympus underwater cam and 2nd gets a Quik,not bad for taking simply pics huh??

On the same day I got an email from a guy that I took pics of free surfing at Wedge wanting to know how much i’d charge not just fro one but 5 images of him!!Well that was me fist pumping to the heavens,smiling from eye to eye!

It just shows what you can do with your talents;how you can expand with them and have fun doing so.I have Jesus to thank for what he’s given me & no on else!Even if it’s something small,your talent can influence something bigger.

                           

My mate Keagan Wright tubing at Wedge                                 PHOTO©WALKER

WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR BLESSINGS?