Gerrie van Heerden

Ek het vandag ‘n portrait shoot met my groot musiek vriend Gerrie van Heerden gehad. Die doel was om fotos te neem vir sy nuwe website. Die lekkerte van so ‘n shoot is dat ek kon doen wat ek wil, dat daar geen pretensies is nie, maw. dat ek eintlik niks reg hoef te doen nie want ek hoef niemand te beindruk met die fotos nie en dat ek geen reëls hoef te volg van derdes en lyne wat in en uit loop en ek weet nie wat se stront alles nie.

Ek glo net aan een reël in fotografie en dit is gevoel. As ‘n foto gevoel het is hy reg en as hy dit nie het nie, al is al die belaglike reëls wat fotografie studente vir drie jaar moet leer, nagekom dan drag jy daai oulike,pragtige kiekie so vinnig as moontlik in die asblik in want hy beteken absoluut niks nie behalwe, ja daar is altyd ‘n behalwe en dit is as daar ‘n kliënt betrokke is wat betaal en verwag dat jy tegnies korrekte fotos moet verskaf afgesien of dit enige gevoel hoegenaamd besit of nie, om die waarheid te sê jy sal nog gevra word om ‘n sekere deel van die foto kleur te hou en die res swart en wit te maak en dalk om een of ander belaglike border om die foto te plaas en dit vir goed op te neuk.

Ek moet noem dat Gerrie een van die mees begaafste musikante is wat ek nog gesien, ontmoet het en natuurlik saam mee gespeel en gegig het. Jammer hy bly in ‘n land waar kommersiele musiek absoluut oorhersend is.

Thanks Gerrie dat ek vir ‘n slag fotos kon neem net soos ek dit sien.

Gerhard

Wat gebeur – 2010

2010? Wel ons is nog aan die gang en besig. Op die oomblik met al die junior swem en atletiek byeenkomste tot einde Maart. In April doen ons die Nasionale Swem kampioenskappe in Durban.

Einde April en Mei maand bied ek ‘n basies en gevorderde fotografie kursus aan. Die aanvraag is ongelooflik en ons moet reeds ‘n tweede klas aanbied vir die basiese kursus.

Met die internasionale sport en ook op provinsiale vlak vat ek dit ‘n bietjie kalmer as in 2009. Die eenvoudige rede is dat die mark vir die fotos net te beperk is in SA soos ek alreeds verduidelik het in vorige posts. Ek doen wel ‘n paar super 14 wedstryde vir  Sportzpics en Photosport in NZ in die nabye toekoms en sal dan sien wat later die jaar gebeur.

Op die trou front lyk dit baie goed en die bookings vir die res van die jaar lyk goed en tel nog steeds op.

Ons het gister Sentraal Hoërskool se Top 20 Atletiek byeenkoms gedoen en moet sê dit was ongelooflike atletiek met van die land se beste junior atlete teenwoordig.  Hier ‘n hekkie foto wat ek geneem het tydens die byeenkoms.

Gerhard

My Porfolio

Photographers – what a strange bunch

The latest post of Joe McNally is one of those that one have to share. Here is a part of it, absolute brilliant. I swear the guy can see into my soul. How did he know I do all these stuff?

“Photographers. We’re strange, right? We can’t stop. We run when others walk. We work when others relax. We have no sense of weekends, holidays, time off, time on, or time in general, except as it relates to sunrise or set. When there’s a football game on TV, we aren’t looking always at the action on the field. We’re looking at the sidelines to see if any our buds are covering the game and how much of the long glass out there is black or white. We walk around like addled sumbitches, staring at strange stuff, hovering at the edge of human activity, aching to be accepted, dying for a moment, breathless in anticipation for that which mostly never happens. Curious behavior, at best. That’s putting it nicely. Most folks would just chalk it up to damn strange and tell their youngsters to stay away from us.

Maybe the word is hinky. We shake our heads, punch buttons on expensive cameras, eyeball perfect strangers, ask odd questions, and wait for light. What an odd thing to wait for. We also have restive, restless, roaming eyes. Eyes that don’t shut down. Eyes that often feel hemmed in or framed by a 35mm lens border, eyes that correspond to a 24-70, or a 200-400, depending on what they encounter. Eyes that curse the dumb conglomeration of plastic, brass and glass we place in front of them, asking that mix of pixels and wiring to be surrogate vision, supple as the real thing. Hah! We might as well ask a fucking toaster oven.” – Joe McNally

Ruben Kruger

Image of Ruben Kruger against the 1997 British Lions.

Gerhard

Basic Photographic Course – April/May 2010

Nikon F5

Last week i painted the reception of my studio and had to took off my Nikon F3,F4 and F5 from the cupboard where they were used as a display. It’s a pity that the only use now for a lovely machine like the F5 is as a doorstop or in SA even as weapon.

I even put some batteries in the F5 and fitted my old Nikon 85mm F1,4 manual lens to it. The sound of the shutter bring back many memories. It’s the same as you would listen to Tell Me and Satisfaction of the Rolling Stones. When listen to songs like these you all of a sudden think about school parties in garages in Ladybrand 30 years ago

I look through my old files and came upon many images that i took with the F5 and with my old 600mm F4. I used the F5 from the end of 1996 till around 2001 when the digital era started.

From 2001 till the end of 2007 when the D3 came out was a really bad period for me in photography. I knew i had to turn digital to keep up with technologie but there just wasn’t a good enough camera on the market at that stage, well not good enough comparing to film cameras and one that performs the same way as the F5 did.

I must admit the D3 is a brilliant piece of equipment that out performs any camera that i used in the past any day. It’s just that sound of the shutter. I wish they can build a D3 that sound like the F5. Only the true Nikon users will understand this.

Here a few images that i found in my archive that i took with the Nikon F5 and Nikon 600mm F4 lens.

Alex Criville during the 2000 Moto Grand Prix

Lance Klusener during a one day test between South Africa and India in 1998.

Andre Venter during a Super 10 Rugby match between the Cheetahs and the Blue Bulls at loftus Versveld in 1997

The Haka – 10 August 1996 at Newlands Cape Town

Till Later

Gerhard

Stones Guitars

On 30 October 2009 I put a post on my blog about my brother Stones building me a guitar. Well the good news is I got it now for about two weeks already.

It is an absolute master piece and the sound is out of this world. It has a well balanced sound and a very nice tone. Definitely the best sounding guitar I have ever played on.

Specs:

Spruce top – Indian Rosewood Backs and sides – Gotch Tuners – Fishman Pickup – Indian Rosewood finger bord – Bone nut and Brigde – Tambotie Bridge – Ebony Scratch Plate – Ebony head stock.

To find out more about Stones Guitars go to this link.

Gerhard

Mathys

Foto van Mathys my Boerboel kind. Weeg in op 80kg plus met ‘n verskriklike groot kop en ‘n baie klein hartjie. Seker maar goed so.

Geneem met ‘n Nikon D3 en ‘n Nikon 300mm F2.8. Sekerlik my gunsteling lens as dit kom by portrette.

Settings;

Shutter: 1/250

F-Stop: 3.5

ASA: 400

Gerhard

Heroldts Bay

Took this image of Heroldts Bay on 30 December 2009 with a Nikon D3 and a Nikon 20mm F2.8 Lens. It was 8H20 pm and my Exposure was 15sec long at F – Stop 11. ISO setting was at 800 and the Picture Control on Vivid. The Noise Reduction setting for long Exposure was set at normal.

Gerhard

www.supermedia.co.za

Shaun Joubert – 29 December 2009

Ran into SA top junior surfer, Shaun Joubert at The Point in Mosselbay.  Though the light was great the waves were not the best i have seen but i got away with a few nice images anyway.

I used my Nikon D3 and the Nikon 400mm F2.8 fitted with a 1.7 converter.

Gerhard

www.supermedia.co.za