Friday night, the 5th of April, saw a crucial clash for Maritzburg United as they took on Bloemfontein Celtic at the Harry Gwala Stadium. In what has become a common assurance on match day, the rain belted down over Pietermaritzburg for the majority of the day. The rain however, failed to remove the enthusiasm and focused showed by the players of the Team if Choice, as they clearly had a job to do and were determined to do it right. It is generally quite a close result when the Team of Choice and Bloemfontein Celtic take on each other, this generally causes a bit of tension between the 2 sides. However, the game started in great spirits, with the captains and officials sharing jokes and laughs before kick off, a sign of great respect for each other from everyone. The game was a close encounter all round. With both teams showing the hunger to win the game. After the first 45, the scores remained 0 0 which was a sign of how tight it was. The visitors made an early lead when the second half started, and thats the way it remained for 90% of the game. Maritzburg United, then once again showed their hunger for victory, as their star goal scorer; Allan Kateregga, grabbed 2 quick goals before the final whistle. Was a great time to be behind my camera. Heres to many more positive results!
See you at the next one. Until next time. Boogs
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This past weekend saw the first round of the PSL's Multichoice Diski Shield. This saw 2 big KZN teams clash, as Maritzburg United hosted AmaZulu at the Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg. The Multichoice series of tournaments, are tournaments where the premier soccer club have the chance for their reserve players to play competitively among one another. The result, some extremely entertaining and electrifying football, as players grasp the opportunity to show their clubs what they are capable of. It was a great game on soccer to capture, with the visitors coming away with a 2-0 win over the Team of Choice. Well done to both sides.
I will be back at Harry Gwala this coming Friday night, as the PSL returns with a must win clash for Maritzburg United as they host Bloemfontein Celtic. Until next time Boogs So, its been a while since I have been here! I have had the pleasure of shooting some amazing events since my last visit, as well as been sidelined by some personal health reasons, but I thought I would catch up on my most recent event that took place this past weekend. I had the pleasure of being the event photographer at the Cordwalles Mudman that was held at Midmar Dam in the KZN midlands. The Aquelle Mudman series, is a series of multipart based events that are hosted by various schools in KZN. The events are fun for the entire family, with an event for every age. One of the more entertaining and popular events that take place during the series, is that of the Mud Skippers. The Mud Skippers, is an event for the littlies. The race follows the same multi sport theme as the main events, but with lots of fun twists. The kids were in their element as the course took them through various bubble zones, where almost everyone took their time to enjoy the bubbles. At points during the race, the parents looked like they were having more fun than their kids, it really is a race for the whole family. The main Mudman events compromised of 2 distances; a half as well as a full distance events. By doing this the event has a race for everyone of any age. The racing was fast and thrilling, as eventual elite mens winner; Darryn Purtell, smashed the field as he won the event before the second place athlete even started the final run leg. Along with some great individual winners, the Mudman series also gives competitors to compete in the events as a team. Schools encourage their pupils to enter as many teams as possible, this gives the opportunity of some pupils who are not strong in one of the disciplines, to still take part and compete for their team in one of the other legs during the event. It is a great opportunity to encourage team work, as in life we all need to work together as one. All in all, it was an amazing event to be part of. I had an absolute blast being part of an event, and capturing a sport that's close to my heart. Well done to all competitors that took part, it looked like you all had great fun.
To view the even images on the events page, click here Until next time. Boogs Last week I made the trip down to the central Drakenberg in order to photograph something rather special. I have photographed many different types of races and events, but this was something new. The event is different to others, in that anyone can come do the challenge anytime they are available for the next 6 months. The challenge takes runners, from Cathedral Peak Hotel, up the steep rocky mountains to the top of Cathedral Peak and down again. The organisers are making use of STRAVA; a GPS based activity tracking app, in order to see what everyones times are. The night before the first day of the challenge, a select group of pro athletes had a race briefing on what they were going to expect. It was a very social evening, as most the athletes knew one another from competing with each other over various events. It was great to photograph such excitement and enthusiasm by all the runners. The challenge is a race against the clock, so your biggest rival is your watch. The athletes did take it as a race against each other, as they all started at the same time, racing one another up the steep hills. It was so awesome to see such intense racing by the athletes and also great to photograph such a beautiful area of South Africa. It was a great experience shooting such an amazing race! I cant wait to see how the challenge progresses and grows! Very exciting times ahead!
Until next time Boogs This past weekend I grabbed my camera gear and headed down to Cascades MTB park to cover the the Cycling SA Cup series KZN leg. It has been a while since a major event has come to the world renowned trails of the Cascades forests, so I wanted to make the most of it. Every event I cover, I always motivate myself to challenge myself by trying new things and trying new angles. It doesn't always work out, but photography is a constant learning process. I do like to photograph things differently, I want an image to tell a story rather than just take a tight shot image of a rider. I do like to see things differently to other photographers, but at the same time I love to learn from other photographers, try their ideas, or use their ideas partly to create something different. Shooting a while back on the Cape Epic with Greg Beadle and his crew, gave me a great chance to learn and see things differently. Also, over time I have come across some of the worlds leading photographers, such as Craig Kolesky, who have given me great advice on trying new things, its a great learning and teaching process. As you may be able to see from the above images, all athletes prepare to the start of their respective races differently. Sometimes its a great chance to catch up with friends, to see how they feeling for the race, or sometimes its best to relax and stay focused on the job at hand. And once the the race is done and dusted, the winner always celebrates in victory, which is very well deserved after a hard challenging race. Well done to all cyclists who raced, you should all feel like winners.
A few weeks ago, I had the amazing opportunity to be part of an amazing photography crew, to cover the 2018 edition of the ABSA Cape Epic. Being part of such a talented crew, gave me the great opportunity to learn and gain from their experiences. They say even the best photographers never stop learning, this is very true. Being a photographer on the event, we also stayed on location just like the cyclists, in small, red, one man tents. The best part of the whole experience, was getting out there, getting on the track and seeing athletes pushing their limits to achieve their goals and dreams. I am one person who always believes in pursuing your goals and dreaming big, so it was amazing to see woman and men doing just that. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes of the race. All media crews, every day have a race against time to get their various content out there. May it be videos or photos, for press or social media, there is always a race against time to get it out there! It was a privilege to work among some of the worlds leading photographers and media houses, sometimes working in some confined spaces, the great attitude and helpful nature among all media personal made it that much better! Each and every morning, at around 5:15am, the ABSA Cape Epic has a very unique tradition; some athletes love it and some, not so much. The tradition is to be woken up by the bag piper. Its a very unique noise, one that will wake you up weather you like it or not. The bag piper played a different tune every morning, with the National anthem and some happy tunes on the last morning. Its something that just made the race that much more unique to all the others. All athletes were taken to their limits over the 8 days of the Epic, this made crossing the final finish line each day and receiving your medal that much more rewarding. I have huge respect to all athletes that managed to cross the final finish line. Photographing on the ABSA Cape Epic, gave me the opportunity to go photograph in locations I have never been to before. It was great to travel around the Western Cape and photograph some breath taking places. It was quite challenging at times to get to some places, but when you get to the location, its all worth it. The 2018 edition of the ABSA Cape Epic was full of special moments, and its up to the media to capture this special emotional moments. However, technology has caught up and the spectators also love being part of the action. This is also an exciting opportunity to take photos of emotion as well as photos of photos, something sometimes challenging but fun at the same time. Its nice as you get to include the spectators in the action, after all the event wouldn't be the same without the support. In all, it was amazing to cover such an amazing event, well done to all category winners!!
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of photographing Team Jowetts Cycles, a team I myself belong to. Photographing a photoshoot that I needed to be part of brought up some interesting challenges. But, luckily thanks to some helping hands and the advancement in wireless technology, we managed to get the job done. After the formalities were complete; where we all received new kit and gear for the new season, we set out in search for a place to have a photoshoot of the entire team. Luckily we were blessed to be in an area with many options to choose from. The team elected to ride to the location of choice,I however, had all my camera gear, so I took the wise move to drive there, being a cool 38 degrees I thought it was a wise move as well. The team for 2018 is mainly split into 2 categories.The athletes in the black Jowetts attire are a full on racing team with members achieving victories and podiums on a regular basis. Natalie Bergstrom is a former Masters World Champion, giving great inspiration to everyone in the entire team. The athletes in the white gear are more up and coming stars or ambassadors to Jowetts cycles; such as myself. Both teams are immensely talented and passionate about cycling and the brand they represent. The TeamThe team is a perfect mixture of youth and experience. Where the 'youngsters' of the sport can learn and gain experiences from the more experienced athletes. Overall it is one big happy Jowetts Cycles family. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank Ingrid and Wally Flint from Jowetts Cycles for all the support and effort the have done for all of us in the team. We are all excited for 2018. Looking to keep in touch with the team? Feel free to follow all athletes on social media:
Jowetts Cycles: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Natalie Bergstrom: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Warren Price: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Ingrid Flint: Facebook | Instagram Dean Wortman: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Lorna McCullough: Facebook | Instagram Ray Smith: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Sam Moore: Facebook | Instagram Daniel van der Watt: Facebook | Instagram Thomas Cheatle: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Andrew Mc Fadden: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram I hope everyone has a blessed festive season! See you all in the new year. Until Next time Boogs Just over a week ago, I was given the amazing opportunity to photograph at one of KZN more famous festivals, The Pecanwood Oktoberfest. My focus was based mainly on the trail runs, that took place on the Saturday morning. The runners really had a stunning run, with breath taking views and awesome trails, it definitely was a welcome distraction to the tough course the organisers had planned for all the competitors. No matter how challenging the terrain, all runners seemed to be loving the trails, with smiles and laughs shared by everyone. The organisers had a surprise for athletes, where traditional water stations were replaced by beer tents entertainment. All athletes seemed to have a great time and enjoyed themselves, it makes it such a pleasure to photograph such a happy event. In the end it was an amazing event to cover! And I hope to be back next year to do it all over again!
Until next time. Boogs Maritzburg United went into their clash with Platinum stars, with a winning mindset. However, their thorn in their foot was Platinum Stars head coach, Roger De Sa, who is the former coach of the Team of Choice. Davids was appointed assistant coach under De Sa when he was at the club, making them both very aware of their game tactics. But at the same time, it is an absolute pleasure to photographer, as there is so much respect shown for one another! The game was played at a good pace, with both sides having opportunities in both halves of the game, with both goal keeper's skills been put to the test on various occasions. In the end. even after extra minutes the game endless goals for both teams, and proceeded to the dreaded penalty shootout. Platinum Stars came out on top in the end and proceeded to the next round. But a very entertaining game of football was had!
Until next time Boogs A few weeks ago, I was given the amazing opportunity to do a shoot with one of South Africa's top up and coming super star; Beani Thies. I met Beani, racing bikes actually. Where she was a racing snake, taking part in her age category, I was a very much 'weekend worrier' taking part in the smaller events which happened to be her events. This gave me an opportunity to witness this talent grow, and blossom into what it has become today. It is awesome to photograph athletes that enjoy what they are doing. Beani, who started off just doing XCO events, has branched off into doing various other aspects of the sport, including Enduro as well as DownHill; having some great inspiration from local hero Greg Minnaar, which also happens to be her title sponsor, GM Cycles. Each sporting discipline gives opportunity for athletes to grow and learn new skills. All in all, it was a awesome, fun and exciting photoshoot. Always a pleasure working with athletes that enjoy taking photos. Here's to many more!
To see more images from the shoot, click here Until next time Boogs A few weeks ago, I was given the amazing opportunity to cover the ROAG awards, that took place at the stunning Wingrove Valley venue. The entire evening was filled with endless activity, from awards to games to a buffet supper for everyone who attended. There was always something happening, which is always a pleasure as a photographer. But the prize most athletes were competing throughout the year for, was the overall ROAG series winner. This was the last award handed out on the night. It went to one female and one male rider who achieved the most amount of points over the season in a selected few races. This year the woman's title went to Natalie Bergstrom and the male's title going to Stuart Marais, who both had an amazing season. All in all it was an amazing event to capture, so many happy memories for everyone that attended the event. But like all events, things do not just happen, so thanks to a special group of people who made the series such an amazing success. All in all it was an amazing event to cover, I hope to be back there again next year!
Until next time. BOOGS It already feels like a life time ago, but a few weeks back I was given the amazing opportunity to be the official photographer for the UCI(International Cycling Union( Para-cycling World Championships that took place in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. But before the games officially got underway, Para Athletes representing South Africa, thought was important to educate and talk to various schools around Pietermaritzburg about the champs, as well as about being a paraplegic. I was fortunate to be involved at talks that took place at Merchiston, Carter and Athlone schools respectively. The talks were very educational and motivational for all pupils. The games official program started with the opening ceremony, that took place at Midmar Dar, also the location for the time trial. There were various speakers that took to the podium, as well as various performances from locals to get the international crowd into the local fever. It was great to start off with something simple, as it gave me the opportunity to shake off the nerves that I carry before any event. I believe nerves are a good thing. First event on the program, was 2 days of time trials. This was something new for me, I have photographed able body time trials before, but never a para-cycling time trial. All I can say, its enough to take your berth away and put a tear in your eyes. All athletes that took part are winners, it takes real heart to compete in such a challenging event. But for the few, the had a real reason to celebrate. After 2 days of the brutal time trial, it was time for riders to head down the hill; into the heart of Pietermaritzburg, for 2 days of exciting road racing. Just like the time trial, there was a road event for all categories. It made photographing athletes quite tricky and challenging, as not all categories did the same amount of laps, but I enjoy a challenge. The road race route was a mixture of everything, all I can say is that I'm extremely thankful I had a motorbike escort or I would never have got around in time. There was some amazing racing by everyone, and it was such a pleasure to capture the event! Well done to all medal winners, and special well done to Team Germany, for dominating the podium during the entire event. It was an absolute honor to capture such a special event!
To see my album from the event, please click here. To view the office album, click here. Until next time BOOGS As the good old saying go's, if you fail to prepare, prepare to fail. I generally take this quite seriously when it comes to preparing for events. I generally make sure a few days before and then the day before that all my gear is in perfect working order and ready to go when asked to. Luckily to my advantage, I am blessed with some pretty reliable equipment. Nikon cameras are generally quite robust; not that I would ever recommend dropping them, but my gear generally takes quite a beating but it always comes back fighting for more. However, its not only the physical damage you need to repair and prepare for, making sure my cards are empty and my batteries are charged and ready. I have once or twice in an emergency forgotten to do just this, there is no worse feeling than arriving at an event with all your equipment and a set of dead batteries, its a feeling never to be repeated! I am fortunate enough to be backed by Overboard Africa, who provide me with various accessories that help me protect and keep all my gear safe. From their underwater cases that give you complete confidence in the pool, to their simple clips and straps that keep my gear on me at all time. Their products make everything such a pleasure, making everything more available and convenient to use. That being said, I'm am prepared and ready for a very exciting few days ahead of me, concluding with being the official photographer for the UCI Para World Champs that is taking place in South Africa.
Until next time Boogs This past weekend, I had the pleasure of once again capturing this amazing event. BOOGS Photography has been at the Dargle Trail Festival for the past three years and its an event I will always get excited for every year! The event got into full swing before the sun came up, with ROAG making sure all runners have entered and registered into their various events that they will be taking part on the day. Being part of the event crew, gives me a great opportunity to understand the amount of effort and hard work goes into putting an event together, something that should never be taken for granted. The event kicked off with the various trail runs. The organizers managed to put together a beautiful route for the runners! Maybe not the easiest of routes, but by far one of the more beautiful! It was awesome to travel around the beautiful Dargle valley and capture athletes passing through these amazing places. The trail run was followed up by the MTB events. Much like the trail run, the MTB events had a stunning route to ride through. Passing through all different forms of vegetation and awesome scenery. The Trails festival is a family orientated event and this is made very clear as they have racing options for all members of the family, just to make sure everyone can have an amazing day out. Being a family orientated event, the Trails Festival has a variety of unique events in which you can take your favorite family member for a walk or run. The days events finished off a traditional polo match; between Dargle and Lions river, as well as a Kids doggie dash where they had the chance to run a short dash with their dogs. Overall it was an amazing event. It is so awesome to see how a community can all come together to make such a special event possible! Here's to many more years of this amazing event!
To view more photos from my favorites collection, please click here To view all the photos from the day please click here Until next time Boogs A few weeks ago, BOOGS Photography got approached to cover a very special sponsorship conference, where Aberdare Cables(One of the largest cable producers in South Africa), was sponsoring an awesome education program. It was really awesome to capture such excitement and entertainment at such a special event. Among the top executives from Aberdare been at the conference, local top political representation was also there. But it wasn't all just serious talk and budgets, the Aberdare kids provided some awesome entertainment. From singing the South African national anthem, to dancing some traditional dances, there was entertainment for everyone, and it was awesome to capture! It was great to capture something different and it was even more special to photograph an event thats going to make a big difference in peoples lives! Until next time...
Boogs Over the years of doing certain activities, you learn things you wish you had known from day one! One thing I have learnt, is always be prepared and ready to go! Much like cycling, photography is no different! In cycling, a clean bike is always a happy bike. Making sure your bike is always clean, in tune and mechanical free, is always vital to just jump on and ride! No one wants to spend time fixing a previously problem in a hurry because you forgot last time. This allows to you just get on and ride when the mood dates you, or when your friends call you at last minute to join them for a ride! Photography is exactly the same. I have been called out in a hurry where I forgot to charge my camera batteries and arrived at the event and was in a pickle, or you forgot your memory cards at home! This can happen to anyone, the key is to be prepared, think a few steps ahead, prepare yourself to be ready to go at any moment! Always pay attention to the smaller details as well when getting prepared. There is nothing like dust on your front element getting in the way when shooting into the sun, or a sticky camera that puts you in a bad mood when everything sticks to it! Bikes like cameras also have elements that go with it, your Garmin(if you have one), should be charged and ready, and he gears should always be in tune!
If you battle with camera or bike maintenance, make sure you Visit Nikon to get your camera gear serviced, and if you in PMB, visit Jowetts Cycles for the friendlies bike service you will receive around! Happy shooting and keep riding! Until Next time Boogs On Tuesday morning, Maritzburg United invited the media to a special press briefing where they were expected to unveil the much anticipated head coach. The club and chairman, Farook Kadodia, had answered the calls from the club supporters to finally appoint interim coach Fadlu Davids to the Head Coach position. Davids, who took over as interim coach on various occasions after the departures of former head coaches Roger De Sà and Ernst Middendorp, had driven the club to much success to the delight of the Harry Gwala faithful. Davids helped deliver the club to a record breaking 7th place finish on the PSL log at the end of last season. His goals and mandate for the coming season have been made pretty clear by the chairman, who wants an even better finish from the new Head Coach and be in a position to compete for some silverware. Davids addressed the press with quiet confidence, he emphasized his excitement at taking the top job, where he was eager to lead by example and hopefully achieve his and the clubs goals set before him!
I personally can not wait for this coming season, and it would be a great honor to capture the Team of Choice for another season of entertaining football! Until next time Boogs The Cycling SA cup took place this past weekend(17/06/2017) at Cascades MTB Park. Cascades, being cascades, was a recipe for some interesting and intense racing. The first major element of the eventful day came in the ladies elite race, where current South African Elite Ladies Champion, Mariske Strauss(OMX Pro Team), was beaten to the finish line, in a tough and exciting battle with fellow South African, Amy Beth McDougall. The racing was tough from the gun, with Mariske setting the initial pace, before a change on lap 3 where Amy took the lead and never looked back. The 2 created a great spectator friendly race where everyone was kept on their toes and wasn't able to predict the outcome. Well done to all ladies that took part, was great capturing the exciting racing! It then came the turn of the Junior men's event; which is always know for its tough and exciting racing, but had added excitement as ex South African Champ, Cameron Wright, who now resides in Australia and is the Current Australian u19 champion, flew over to take part and hopefully get his hands on some valuable UCI points. The race did not disappoint the initial hype and excitement, there was some extremely tough and exciting racing that took place, however, all the tight racing took place well behind Cameron, who opened a massive gap on lap 1 and he never looked back. Cameron eventually finished the race with a convincing victory and some valuable UCI points that he will take home to Australia. The final event of the day, the Elite Mens event, also did not disappoint. Much like the junior race, it was dominated from the gun by Alan Hatherly (Team Spur), who opened up a massive gap that just kept growing by each lap, and left the others to fight among each other. Behind him, there was some really intense racing unfolding; with for the majority of the race, 3 athletes fighting for 2nd to 4th. But former Cycling SA champion Philip Buys(Team PYGA Euro Steel) threw a spanner in the works. Philip, who had a puncture on the opening lap, which left him pretty close to last position, fought back lap by lap to catch up to the leaders. No one could predict the outcome, until the very last meters of the race. The victory was pretty predictable, baring any mechanical issues to Alan Hatherly, but what unfolded behind him was less predictable. Again the odds, Philip had fought himself back into second place, which in my eyes was the story of the day!
It was a really awesome event to photograph, and I couldn't of managed it at all without all my Nikon gear. It managed to perform like a dream in some of the toughest conditions, I'm really excited to be shooting many more events behind this awesome camera! To see more photos from the event CLICK HERE Until next time BOOGS This afternoon, I grabbed my Nikon and I headed across town to photograph something a bit different. Team Spur are in town for the Cycling SA cup and they were putting Alan Hatherly's Specialized race machine together. It was really awesome to photograph a different element of the sport, and to capture the great detail JP went into making this machine run like a dream! Such focus and attention went into this bike build and it was really awesome to capture the process. At the same time, it was really awesome to push my Nikon D750 limits in the low light situation. Being the middle of water, the sun disappeared before we could even blink, and having a lack of lighting, it made some very challenging conditions but I was extremely impressed with how the camera performed!
Its all about being prepared! I always make sure all my Nikon gear is all ready to shoot for every event I do, no matter how big or small. By going through everything, I minimize that element of surprise when you realize you have either forgotten to pack something, forgotten to charge some batteries, or something just does not work.
Its better to just take those extra few minutes to make sure all is in order! Im getting prepared for this weekends Cycling events happening in Pietermaritzburg, but before that, I'm getting ready for a quick photoshoot with Team Spur before the event itself! It should be a fun shoot, a nice way to get behind the scenes and see what many don't have the chance to see. Heres till next time Boogs I had the awesome opportunity the other day, to grab my camera and go shoot in some challenging conditions at Coffeeberry Cafè in Pietermaritzburg. It was my first proper shot using my new Nikon D750, and I was excited to see how it would perform in the low light. I had a great afternoon, photographing staff and customers. The restaurant was a buzz, a full house of customers, giving me a large range of subjects to work with. I was blown away by the Nikon D750's image quality in the low light situation. With the restaurant being quite dark, I managed to stretch the camera's legs by taking it to its far end of its ISO range, and it performed extremely well. Photos were sharp and clear, with the camera providing a great amount of detail. The day was aided by having some very happy and enthusiastic staff to work with. The team at Coffeeberry are always wearing a smile on their face. It was really fun to capture everyone in action and working hard. It was also great to capture the interactions between staff and customers, showing how eager the D750 is to capture photos. All that being said, I had a great time capturing the ins and outs of the restaurant. Putting my camera and my skills through its paces and trying new things. Its always great to capture a happy environment, and I thank the Coffeeberry crew for the great hospitality. Excited for the adventures to come behind my camera! Until next time.
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