The Adventures of Puppy

I've had puppy for a good number of years and I decided since I take him everywhere, we have traveled SA and crossed a border or two. The idea came to me beginning of October when I looked at all the places I've traveled and realized that he was there with me wherever I went. So now I decided to take him out of my bad and get some shots of him in various places.

The first shot I got of him was on the bus. As seen below



To date he has crossed 4 borders (Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe and RSA). Something else is that I will take pix of him supporting people, brands & towns. Like below



Our latest trip was to the Victoria Falls



If you've got any ideas on where puppy should be next for a pic... let me know

The longest but most beautiful 8km ever!

This past weekend saw now the bus from Mthatha to Kokstad on Friday afternoon and back on the bus from Kokstad to Mthatha on Sunday morning...

Why all the travelling???

Well my sistet - Hamida and her friend decided they want to take a trip up Sani Pass on Saturday - 9 October 2010.

The trip started off Saturday morning having to wake up at 6am to drive up to Underberg where we switched cars and started our journey with our tour guide. Our trip was in the comfort of a Land Rover Discovery 4... by far the most comfortable car I've been in. We were a small group, just the 3 of us, a elderly couple and Luyanda (our tour guide).

There are honestly no words to describe how beautiful the scenery was. There were endless mountains (before the Lesotho boarder, baboons, green grass and not forgetting clouds! There was a point where we got to an out look point where the wind was so strong you could see how the clouds were being pushing against the mountains then disperse once they meet with the breeze from the top of the mountain.

Sani Pass boasts one of a kind animals which include a ice rat, mohair sheep and a tiny little bird which I've included a picture of below.

Here's a little geography and history: It is the gateway to the ‘Roof of Africa’ scenic route that links the spectacular scenery of the Drakensberg with the mountains of northern Lesotho. The Sani Pass is the only border post between Kwazulu-Natal and Lesotho. As you cross the boarder of Lesotho you standing at the height of 2,873m above sea level, for those of you who don't know Table Mountain is 1,084.6m above sea level which means Sani Pass is almost 2 times higher than Table Mountain. Problem is when you get to the top your lungs almost feel like they going to collapse because of the high altitude. So you have to take a moment to literally catch your breath!

In Lesotho we met with a family where we were introduced to the Basotho culture and got to eat home made bread prepared by a friendly lady who opens her home to tourist and welcomes you with a smile. One of the coolest things I learnt from this experience was how people live without electricity, water, cellphone coverage and how they have to travel many hours just to get to towns... We were 5 hours away from Maseru and 2 hours from Underberg... which is their closet town for food supplies.

Lunch was served at the Highest Pub in Africa followed by our descend back to South Africa. As you can imagine I took hundreds of pictures to capture every moment of our trip. Oh and the reason of the name of this blog-post is because it took us over an hour to drive 8km up the pass, the road was crazy which only a 4x4 can climb. Two words sum up the experience... breath-taking!







P.S - More pictures will be uploaded to my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ayesha-van-Staaden-Photography/138756376153287?ref=ts

Update

Hey hey!

So its been over 2 months that I last posted an entry. Over the month of Ramadaan (the month of fasting for Muslim people) I decided not to post anything.

Well here's a catch up of all thats happening and thats going to happen over the last 3 months of 2010

2 months ago (3rd Aug)I took school pictures at a pre-school called Crafty Kids. It was my first school shoot. As expected some kids has a mind of their own and just refused to sit still, then there were those few who just sat down and gave a perfect smile.

When I started photography one of my missions were and still is to have every parent have a perfect picture of their little ones.

BEN 10!!! Spur hosted a fun day for all kids and Ben 10 was the star attraction, kids were taken and just wanted to see Ben 10 do his thing! lol. However all of them got a picture next to Ben 10 or on his lap. This and Crafty kids was perfect practice for next year when I take school pictures at the various schools

Couples Photoshoot... So the winners for the FREE Couples Photoshoot were announced last week Monday (20 October 2010) CONTRATS TO Caryn Walker and Wayne Barton

Whats Next??? Well next will be Caryn and Wayne's photoshoot next weekend then its off to capture Usula and Tony's beach wedding in Port St. Johns the 23rd Oct. After that its family shoots and more weddings in December! TONS of pictures will be coming soon on my blog, my website http://ayeshavanstaaden.com/ and on my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ayesha-van-Staaden-Photography/138756376153287?ref=ts

Exploring the Wild Coast

24th July 2010

My sister and I kept seeing this board that leads off to a place called Oribi Gorge and decided that we want to hit the road and head on down and see what we could get up to.

So there we were Saturday morning early off the Oribi, at first we weren't sure what to expect but upon our arrival we decided that we will be brave and put on our poker faces and take on the Big Swing. For those who don't know Oribi Gorge has the highest and biggest Big Swing in the world, you jump about 55 stories down and swing 25m from the ground. So obviously my sister - Hamida goes first and takes that huge leap off the gorge and goes flying into the open air. Watching that had me shaking in my All Stars (lol).

Then... it was my turn! All nervous and still not sure why I wanted to do this absolutely crazy activity... I jumped on the jump masters count. The experience was amazing, there is honestly nothing like taking that leap of faith and trusting a green rope thingy to hold you and not let you hit the bottom and splat like gel to the rocks at the bottom. I admit... I was scared... but with reason of course!

The adrenaline was well worth the fear I had in me but erm... thats a once in a life time thing and never to be repeated again. After that scare that we now have on video as well as we received a certificate for, we decided to go horse riding which was very relaxing. The sight seeing is awesome as well, there were some really breath taking out-look points and walking over the suspended bridge was cool as well. For all those who are adrenaline junkies and who just want to feel very close to death for a split second... go for it!

After all that madness we went to St. Michaels on Sea to book in, supper in Margate and a movie (Twilight - Eclipse) in Shelly Beach then off to bed. The next morning Hamida woke me up in the whee hours of the morning so we could go watch the sunrise in Margate and take a long drive along the beach. All that was topped with breakfast in St Michaels and Shopping in Shelly Beach then back to Kokstad to rest. What a jam packed weekend! Next I think we will be heading off to Namibia ;)

Brauns Family

This photoshoot was suppose to be done on Sunday - 11 July but because of the bad weather we had to postpone it. I bumped into Shane on the 14th (Wednesday) at the plaza and he suggested we do the shoot that afternoon.

I've known Shane for over 10 years and found it perfect (in my time of need) to ask him if I can take a few pictures of him, Tracey and Tatum Li for my family portfolio... and he said YES!

So we all met at the Mthatha Golf Course just past 5 (after work), we were presented with a stunning sunset! Because the sunset disappears behind the hill at the golf course, we didnt have much time to savor those few minutes. So off we went snapping away def shots, a few with the whole family, a few with Tracey and Shane and then with Tatum alone and obviously mom and baby and dad and baby.

After the shoot I found myself sitting at home going through photo's of my sister when she was little, she had a professional picture taken of her and I came to realize how special those photo's become. I mean you can have 10 thousand pictures taken of you but its those that you look really good in that you pin up and show everyone and not those bad hair day/ no teeth/ rotten teeth photo's.

This was my first family photoshoot where I can proudly say that Shane, Tracey and Tatum owned the sunset! I loved every minute of taking pictures of this amazing family!