Real Happy Pictures Photography

05/12/2025

21/10/2024

Have you ever considered how practising your hobby, especially when you "don't have time" can improve your mental health?
(this is a 1 1/2 minute read)

It's a stressful time of year with exams and trying to get everything done before the Christmas holidays, but that provides an opportunity. When do you get a chance to talk to your kids about healthy ways to manage this mental state?

I've been chatting to the bots, in order to get my own thinking straight, and one thing that emerged from the interaction is that we sometimes think of things that are integral as being seperate. We give stress a name, and that becomes the mental "box" that we put all things stressful into. It's a function of language, and language is a mode of thinking. Language is naming and categorising and arranging concepts into a hierarchy of complexity, but it can be quite rigid.

Art is another concept we treat as "seperate" and we think we can identify what art is, but like stress, the effects of practising art defy language. And so, if I suggest that Art can be the antidote to Stress it feels a gross over-simplification, but I'm going to do it anyway.

You can use doodling to help you think about complex problems. Picking up a pen and letting it scribble while you disappear allows your concious mind to calm down and when you do, your higher faculties kick in. There is a level of thought beyond words that you can't see or even feel. It feels like being numb, but still something is ticking over and you might even find yourself sketching out the solution to your problem.

You might not like the solution, or act on it, but you've just imagined using embodied cognition to meet the challenge.

Feels good, doesn't it? That's one of the things art does.

(the image above is a stereogram from the Getty Collection Open Content Program)

11/10/2024

Pop in at the at Atlantic Beach Lodge this afternoon for our business mixer and meet local small business owners, collect vouchers for free workout sessions and spoil it all by having some delicious Rooster Koek!

09/10/2024

Demo: my swim photography platform is me with swim fins and a Gopro. I used to have a better underwater camera, but it packed up, so I decided to make the most of what I have. I'm open to hopping into the water with you for half an hour if you'd like similar footage, and I can zoom around pretty well.

Apologies to Lindi de Jager, I just couldn't resist ...

I thought I'd cut together the best submerged parts of a 40 minute swim at Melkbosstrand beach with the ladies who are training to do long distance open water swims. This gives some idea of what the bottom of our swim spot looks like - sandy in the shallows with rocks and kelp deeper in. The drop off is gradual, getting to about 4.5 meters deep at high tide around 150 meters in from the beach.

We'll swim about 500 meters in the afternoon.

08/10/2024

This video contains a jump scare.

Disclaimer: kelp monsters are not real.

This is just sea w**d floating in the ocean, but every Cold Joy'er knows that the first thing you have to control before you go into the ocean is your own imagination. The movement of the water will cause unseen seaw**d to touch your legs.

If you're in the ocean, panic can kill you, so don't even prime your mind to see what isn't there. Keep calm and stay safe!!

06/10/2024

Akteur .lotz.79 het laas Vrydag die Breggie Nel Toekenning aan Anfra Beyes oorhandig by die se Prestige Aand by die Hoërskool Jan Van Riebeeck.

Hulle't my geboek om die fotos te neem. Dit was 'n voorreg om die aand in sulke goeie geselskap deur te bring.

Elke keer as ek so 'n uitmuntende konsert sien wil ek self weer op die verhoog klim!

04/10/2024

I photographed this hanging artwork for Escap3 Gallery's next exhibition, "More Human Than Human" - check out their website here for more news:
https://escap3gallery.com/exhibitions/more-human-than-human-curated-by-dr-moshumee-t-dewoo

The work invades your space with an aroma that reminds me of afternoons spent exploring the veld in the sunlit days of youth, when the world was not confined to the window of a computer screen.

I lit the piece to cast soft shadows, defining the texture of the grass and wool, while over-exposing the background so the borders of the images meld with the website layout. Every work of art has its own challenges, but I do enjoy playing in my studio to come up with elegant solutions.

09/09/2024

(**This works best on a cell phone, the ideal is to have the two image as far apart as your eyes are from each other, otherwise it's difficult to line everything up)

I turned this sketch by Taddeo Zuccaro into a 3D Stereogram (there's no 3D information, I had to create it as a greyscale depth map)

To see it, blur your eyes and try to get the pictures to match up as a third image in the middle. It's tricky, but you'll know once you get it.

05/07/2024

Ida came in to refresh her portfolio photos, and she brought a handsome young man who's also joining DJ's Model, character & casting Agency as a character model for TV & Commercials. We spent just over an hour in the studio, and got some lovely photographs to hlep them level up.

24/05/2024

Could you trust this man to be concerned about your needs?

Carl came in for some professional headshots to use in magazine editorials and advertising. It was a quick 15 minute photoshoot and I talked him through an easy breathing excersize that calmed his nerves and got him into a relaxed, confident state.

You can't lie to the camera, but there are some performance tricks I learned in my years as an actor. Getting great headshots doesn't have to be and ordeal.

If your headshots are out of date, consider booking a shoot with me - good, recent photos are an important tool in building trust online, especially in public facing jobs.



Studio at Blessings Coffee & Creative
Discounted rates for Melkbosstranders and members of South African Guild of Actors

22/05/2024

My first 20cm high cylinder!

It's the first stage in any bottle, vase, bowl, vessel, but you'll only ever see this one here. In the name of study, sacrifices have to be made.

I could have completed it and paid R750 for the privilege, ending up with a heavy,substandard product, but I chose to cut it open and see what I'd done.

Now I know I can go much higher with the same amount of clay.

If you're in management, remember: you cannot manage what you don't measure. That is why data collection and quality control are not optional extras. They are THE BUSINESS of ensuring value for money in any manufacturing process.