hello.

i’m not big into lists of “best of <whatever>” for 2008, or resolutions for 2009. resolutions always seem to be forgotten by january 3rd anyway. i always say the same thing around this time, “where has the year gone!?”. every year seems to rush by faster than the previous one. every year seems to get away from me. sneaky bugger – time.

i have promised myself to spend more time with my camera in this new year though, which is always a good thing. a redesign of apparently nothing is in the works (sneak peek below), with a second (more personal/less critical) photoblog just for a daily photo throughout 2009.  those photos are likely to consist of pelei a lot, and perhaps my desk, but it will be an experiment to see if i can keep it up and hopefully keep me close to my camera at all times.

i can’t really complain about 2008. it’s been a mixed bag of good and bad, as expected. i really have a bloody good life though and here’s hoping i can appreciate it, and do some good with it, in the new year. wait, was that a resolution? ahh it’ll be forgotten in about 3 days, like my diet

happy new year!

yes, i’m agnostic (leaning closer to atheism really) and i “celebrate” xmas. by celebrate of course, i mean i celebrate spending time with loved ones, i celebrate the good-feeling of having given gifts i hope people will like, i celebrate the idea of being merry and joyous for a day just because, and i celebrate enjoying good food and wine and fun, feel-good movies.

so, merry xmas! i hope everyone enjoys themselves over the next few days as we say cheers to 2008 and welcome in 2009.

• National Geographic Photography Contest 2008 winners.
• The Year in Photographs from The Big Picture: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

I’m proud to be an utter bookworm. I love books and I have a pile of them waiting to be read, with an even longer list of books I still want to get my hands on. Below are some of my recent reads which I’d recommend. For those of you on Goodreads, let me know.

The Outsider by Albert Camus. Camus is most widely associated with existentialism although he apparently did not care for this label. The Outsider is, basically, the story of a man put on trial for murder, but judged by society according to his overall personality and response, or lack of response, to his mother’s earlier death. Very interesting and thought-provoking. The main character can be absurd (in it’s purest sense) in what you as the reader expect, but that is really part of the whole story. Ultimately, it is a story about one man refusing to pretend to be something he is not, and facing the high consequences of this.


Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips. This is a really fun and quick read. Phillips has a great sense of humour and really is able to bring you into this idea of a different, yet familiar world. The Greek gods (Artemis, Apollo, Aphrodite, Ares and others) are living amongst us in the 21st century but they are no longer the powerful Gods of the past. They continue to run the world on their diminished powers, and as expected, in their own selfish games, end up meddling with the lives of mere mortals. Some meddling goes too far though when Apollo is made (by the arrow from Eros) to fall in love with a meek girl, Alice. Things get out of hand and gods and mortal must work together before the end of the world.


Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett is my favourite play. I’ve read this a few times but picked it up yet again this week since we just got our tickets to see a performance of Waiting for Godot with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in May. I’m thrilled and can’t wait to see these two exceptional actors take on the roles of Vladimir and Estragon. The play itself is about these two characters waiting for a man named Godot. Saying anything more is not really in keeping with the point of the play…or pointlessness perhaps. Worth reading.


Persuasion by Jane Austen is not one of the more widely known novels by Austen, but is is just as good. What else would you expect from her? It is Austen’s last completed novel and a real gem, especially for anyone who has enjoyed her other more popular novels. She continues to tackle the ideas of society expectations and personal desires with wit and humour, strong female characters and of course, love. There also seems to be a bit more of a “bite” in some of the main characters lines. Perhaps a little bitterness that has crept into Austen herself. Beautifully written and at all times, engaging, I couldn’t put Persuasion down.


The End of Faith by Sam Harris. Provocative, insightful and daring this is a book I wish more people would read and consider. I don’t agree with all the viewpoints – especially the more dooming ones – but Harris brings many ideas and ideals to consider and reconsider. It is a powerful read and extremely timely. No doubt many people will hate it as it attacks certain ideals that many hold dear – and in fact hold above life itself – but I feel this is worth reading to, at the very least, gain a different perspective.

it’s been awhile since i’ve felt inspired to take photos. i went through, or am going through, a bit of a slump i guess. i haven’t kept my photoblog up-to-date as i should. i have photos sitting, waiting to be processed. just recently though, i started to feel that familair (and missed) urge to pull the camera out and capture something. something beautiful or intriguing or haunting. something that says something – anything – to the viewer.

this all started after watching zerkala (aka: mirror) by andrei tarkovsky. a beautiful and extremely personal biography with powerful, and sometimes surreal, imagery. the story interweaves dream sequences, past memories, current events and real soviet footage from the time. almost every frame could be a photo. the visual impact is haunting and beyond anything, inspiring. just watching it, i wanted to be able to capture images that evoked such powerful responses or intriguing questions.

this reawakened need to pick up the camera was emphasised today when browsing one of my fave saffa blogs, south of the sahara, and being reminded of an exceptional photographer – jurgen schadeberg – who not only had a great photogaphic eye, but made an impact on south african history.

i realise now that i started to think too much about the photos i took and posted. i started to feel i had to shoot to post to the photoblog, rather than because there was something worth shooting. i guess, i ended up making photography, and my photoblog, a chore when the whole point of it was the exact opposite. i’ve decided to go back to basics. to start over. to start fresh.