South Africa
-
1–2 minutes
Cheryn & Justin
It had been a while since I did second shooting at a wedding, so when our friend Kez of Hello Pictures asked me last year if I was keen, I didn’t think twice. Here are some of my favourite pics that I took that day.
-
3–4 minutes
My 2017 in books
In 2017, I watched a lot less series and movies than the year(s) before, and by consequence, I started reading a lot more again. Next to reading a lot online for both work and pleasure, I finished 29 books and read just below 10,000 pages. What were the highlights and why did I read those
-
1–2 minutes
Karoo National Park
A few weeks ago, we went to the Karoo National Park. I’ve seen a lot of South Africa, but I’d never been further than Worcester on the N1, the biggest road in our country. With visiting the Karoo National Park, I at least went a bit higher up. The Karoo The Karoo is South Africa’s
-
4–6 minutes
Introduction to Sass
In a previous post, I’ve introduced using Sass through the WordPress Customiser and Jetpack. In this post, I want to quickly explain what exactly Sass is and where to get started. Sass stands for “Syntactically awesome style sheets”, and is basically CSS with superpowers — or “CSS on crystal meth” as I described it in one
-
1–2 minutes
Propaganda, DJ Eazy, Kurt Shröder, Puno Selesho (Cape Town)
South Africa is out of the way for a lot of artists, so it’s always exciting if musicians I admire visit our country. Since the early days, I’ve been following the record label Humble Beast and it’s been an absolute pleasure to welcome Propaganda shortly after we saw Sho Baraka here in June. After a
-
1–2 minutes
Sho Baraka, DJ Eazy, King Smasher, Lux Kent (Cape Town)
Several years ago, I first heard about Humble Beast, the record company hosting amazing artists like Beautiful Eulogy, Propaganda, and Sho Baraka. The latter was in Cape Town this weekend and performed together with Good Hope FM’s DJ Eazy. The evening was opened with a rap battle and short performances of locals Lux Kent (feat.
-
1–2 minutes
Knysna
Until recently, I had only driven through Knysna while road tripping through South Africa. We decided to spend the long Easter Weekend in this peaceful coastal town. Our B&B was situated on the central Thesen island. The long drive was worth it. We enjoyed exploring the nearby forests, venturing in the local harbour, visiting the
-
3–5 minutes
Syrian refugees & selective memory loss
There I was, sitting at a B&B, having breakfast. The other guests were a French elderly couple living in Durban. So the host and the guests started talking about Syrian refugees. “I had a chat with someone high up the ranks in the South African government,” our host explained to them. “We were supposed to have
-
3–5 minutes
The worst reply to mentions of white privilege
“I’ve worked hard my whole life.” That’s it. The worst reply.* And yet it’s one of the replies I’ve heard the most from white people here in South Africa. What’s so bad about it? #1: Wrong topic By pointing to your working hard, you’re not addressing the issue that the words “white privilege” address. White
-
1–2 minutes
The Justice Conference (Cape Town)
South Africa is a country in pain, the wounds of centuries of colonialism followed by the brutal system of Apartheid have left deep wounds that are only now starting to scar before they can start to heal. Questions The Justice Conference tried to address some of the questions our country is grappling with from a
-
2–4 minutes
Zwarte Piet and My Own Racist Blind Spots
In 2011, I met my South African wife in Belgium. Her friend Crystal was visiting the town where we both lived in late November that year. Both of them were absolutely shocked when they saw Zwarte Piet (or Black Pete). Blind spots Up until that point, I had never ever considered the racist implications of
-
1–2 minutes
Oude Kraal
Yesterday, we went to Oude Kraal for the first time. It’s a very nice place next to the Atlantic Ocean, owned by South African National Parks with great braaing spots next to the water. Stunning way to end the day. Here are some pics of the evening.
-
1–2 minutes
Beaverlac
Last weekend, Kim and I went to Beaverlac, one of the best camping sites in South Africa. It’s about a two-hour drive from Cape Town – not including a dirt road that’s quite rough on our ’98 Corolla – and the perfect weekend getaway. It was the first time I tried my new (second-hand) Sigma
-
1–2 minutes
Betty’s Bay
Once a week, we gather with about 15 people from church to discuss the Bible and share our lives. Going away for a weekend together is always a great way to get to know each other even better. This weekend, we went to Betty’s Bay and had an awesome time together.
-
1–2 minutes
August Burns Red, Facing The Gallows, Zombies Ate My Girlfriend (Cape Town)
Last week, August Burns Red came to South Africa for the first time (or Africa for that matter). CULTURESHOCK was able to get press tickets and I got the photo pass for it. It had been almost two years since I last did some proper concert photography, but I’m happy with the result. Hope you like
-
1–2 minutes
Mischa & Jonathan: Colour
As I explained yesterday, I made two separate series of the shoot with our friends Mischa and Jonathan. Here is the colour edit. Mischa and Jonathan liked the idea of having a vintage look in an urban setting, so added a metallic blue tone to the pics, while trying to preserve the beautiful orange and
-
1–2 minutes
Mischa & Jonathan: Black and White
Recently, our friends Mischa and Jonathan got engaged. I got the honour of taking a few pics with them. They wanted to go for an urban vibe. The nice thing with Cape Town is that the surrounding mountains are always lurking, so in several pics, you can see them peeking in. In case you haven’t
-
1–2 minutes
World of Birds
I had passed by World of Birds a few times before, but never entered it. World of Birds is the largest bird park in Africa and hosts over 400 birds and small animal species. It’s a sanctuary, so of course the animals are caged in, but they’ve tried their best to give them some decent
-
4–6 minutes
Ethical Consumption in South Africa: Chocolate and Coffee
When I arrived in South Africa about three years ago, fair trade was not really a consideration here. Very few brands were offering clear information about their supply chains and the control or transparency of those chains by external organisations. In the last few years, there has been quite a big change. Why should you care?
-
1–2 minutes
Scaling Support by Educating Customers
At ScaleConf 2016 in Cape Town, I was invited to speak in front of a large audience of developers. I focused on one of the biggest passions of most developers (not): support. However, while devs might not get excited about support, they all understand the importance of it. With having WooCommerce active on 1+ million