The tree of LIFE. Autumn has come and gone faster than I have thought this year. Although many still argue that we do not have 4 seasons, but rather 2, I completely disagree  Johannesburg is the worlds largest man-made forrest so the urban fabric is densely populated with all sorts of beautiful indigenous, but mostly exotic trees. This is the view from my boyfriends apartment. It is magical. I have watched this tree now for the past month, morphologically change from its bright summer green leaves to the burnt amber red in the already dry dusty environment. Its fellow yellow leaves scatter the floor golden, never to be seen again in its life. With this tree I am reminded the beauty of life, and that there is a god out there somewhere... how else could all this happen with no cause? 

New Website

So after a year of procrastination, my website is finally up and running. For now it just has photo's that I have taken - but more of my work will be updated there shortly. 

Please visit -----> www.stefelino.com 

Flower Time

These beautiful "stone" succulents, or lithops are flowering. They are the size of your thumb nail, yet flower this incredible crisp yellow flower. They constantly split or divide in 2, each time flowering, and multiplying. Supposedly you can save the seeds from the flower - but somehow I have never managed to ever find them! For now I can stare at their beauty and watch them open and close as they sleep and wake up each morning. God is in the details.

Be Big

life is a crazy messed up thing, but there are beautiful times that come along with it. We just have to remember those and not let the bad 'fuzzy' things get in the way - however, we need to learn from them, and progress forward. Cést la vie.

Telling Stories

Telling Stories by Caitlyn Fay Smith is an amazing inspirational photographic exhibition at Velo Cafe, The Grove in Braamfontein. She tells her stories through the amazing journey she had throughout her travels in India, Nepal & Indonesia. The exhibition is open till 24th March, so do try and visit. Her beautiful photos are both eye-catching, original and powerful with detail. "Telling / adjective: having striking or revealing effect: significant, 'A telling story.'" 

Visit her website: www.caitlynfaysmith.com 

Peter Magubane

Last week was the opening of the photographic exhibition of the legendary South African photographer, Peter Magubane at the FADA Gallery. His photos are of "Child Labour" captured through his brownie camera back in the 1950's. The photo's are of children who, willingly or non-willingly worked for money. As some of the photographs explained, were that boys in the city, generally willingly went out in search of work. They wanted to get away from their families and earn a living for themselves. Why? Most probably because of the genes imprinted within us, the 'man kind' instinct of fending for oneself? 

The boys working on the farms, or coal mines, were almost forced to… Peter Magubane went out in search to capture photo's for his country, through reading Drum, The Times, and Life, he wanted to be apart of history. When searching for these children working, he often offered them a place to stay, a better life than what they were currently living in. Those who did want a "better" life went with him, and he would take them home and feed them with a 1/4 load of bread and a carton of milk. This is the reach and extent Peter went to help these children where possible. 

Ït doesn't matter how expensive the camera, even if it is R20… because its not the camera that takes pictures, it is you. You are the one that chooses what picture you want to capture." Some amazing words for a amateur photographer like myself. This wise, eloquent man is remarkable. Not to forget is how through his photography did he become Nelson Mandela's personal photographer through the apartheid regime as well as through his presidency. 

Some amazing advice from the master himself, "Taking photo's is like a woman giving birth, it pushes you for more, 'I want more of this' is what you say" it becomes the next best addiction. "Today is the day to start working… Work hard - now!"

In & Out…

In & Out of Time - Maya Angelou

The sun has come.

The mist has gone.

We see in the distance...

our long way home.

I was always yours to have.

You were always mine.

We have loved each other in and out of time.

When the first stone looked up at the blazing sun

and the first tree struggled up from the forest floor

I had always loved you more.

You freed your braids...

gave your hair to the breeze.

It hummed like a hive of honey bees.

I reached in the mass for the sweet honey comb there....

Mmmm...God how I love your hair.

You saw me bludgeoned by circumstance.

Lost, injured, hurt by chance.

I screamed to the heavens....loudly screamed....

Trying to change our nightmares into dreams...

The sun has come.

The mist has gone.

We see in the distance our long way home.

I was always yours to have.

You were always mine.

We have loved each other in and out

in and out

in and out

of time.

"I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life

does go on, and it will be better tomorrow." (M. Angelou) Yet life is still has those unpredictable curve balls that it throws at you. Some you dodge, and others just smack you right in the face. But if its one thing that I have learn, is stand tall and proud, and have persistence. It will just get 'easier' along the way - and do not forget to have faith in Him... He is my strength, my light & my Savior.

Of Pride

The neighborhood of the Game Reserve and the presence, outside our boundary, of the big fame, gave a particular character to the farm, as if we had ten the neighbors of a great king. very proud things were about, and made their nearness felt.

The barbarian loves his own pride, and hates, or disbelieves in, the pride of others. I will be a civilized being, i will love the pride of my adversaries, of my servants, and my lover; and my house shall be, in all humility, in the wilderness a civilized place.

Pride is faith in the idea that God had, when he made us. A proud man is conscious of the idea, and aspires to realize it. he does not strive towards a happiness, or comfort, which may be irrelevant to God's idea of him. His success is the idea of God, successfully carries through, and he is in love with his destiny. As the good citizen finds his happiness in the fulfillment of his city to the community, so does the proud man find his happiness in the fulfillment of his fate. 

People who have no pride are not aware of any idea of God in the making of them, and sometimes they make you count that there has ever been much of an idea, or else it has bee lost, and who shall find it again? They have got to accept as success what other warrant to be so, and to take their happiness, and even thor own selves, at the quotation of the day.

They tremble, with reason, before their fate.

Love the pride of God beyond all things, and the pride of your neighbor as your own. the pride of lions: do not shut them up in zoos. The pride of your dogs: let them not grow fat. Love the pride of your fellow-partisans, and allow them no self-pity.

Love the pride of the conquered nations, and leave them to honor their father and mother. 

Blixen, K. Out In Africa. First Published 1954, Penguin England. 223, 224.

Faith

I'm sitting on a moss covered bench in a secret garden at the 111 year old St. Peter Anglican Church in Melville. I feel so at peace. The door to the church is locked - that is fine, perfect - I would have not found this secret bench. There is music blaring in the distance - something that would have irritated me much, but the water trickling down the fountain behind me is calming. EXCATLY what I need. It's year end. My head is in a complete spin. Much change has happened, and I think I have finally lifted my heels that are so pain-stakingly digging in the dry earth everyday. I feel close to Him. At home. Beas, insects, buzzing, birds, pitter - patter, vroom... 

The air is fresh from the newly wet garden. So fresh I can smell the jasmine, the voluptuous roses, the soil and some other sweet smell I cannot think of right now... It will come.

Lord I pray for guidance, hope and humility, as I sit blissfully here upon You. 

Tropical Summer

This past weekend was a crazy one. Filled with tons of emotions, fun, laughter & tears. Something that I was not expecting, because all that I longed for was just reading in my bed. It was a surprise to be summoned out of bed by my mom… I took her to one of my (our) favorite pizza places in the whole of Jozi - Ant Cafe on 7th Street, Melville. We shared a delicious Italian pizza, and gobbled it before it even hit the table. The scene inside was just perfect. The moodiness in the air, the light, the time of day, and the atmosphere. We will be back my mom has demanded. And with that so will a bottle of wine beside us :-)

Room-mate

I wake up to this sight every morning - bliss. I especially love that it is summer and that by the time i wake up the sun is beading through my blinds, just asking me to open them. I love my space - my room. Its a 'pokey' 8 x 5m space, but it is something that I could live in the rest of my life. I do not need more than this. The past few years i have seen a transformation in myself. Moving from this crazy obsessed materialistic world, to something which is more grounded, down to earth and simpler. My priorities are much different now. I'm a big boy, so I keep getting told… But life is still hard, and this space is what I admire, I love. Theres nothing here. Almost symbolically like myself. Theres bricks, motar, plaster and paint. Nothing fancy. Just bare, plain, naked. What you see is (almost) what you get…

Random signs...

Got to love the random signs that are put up around a city! This one is in Rosebank.

Slice Chair

Danish-born Mathias Bengtsson (b. 1971) created the Slice chair concept,
which weds organic shapes with cutting-edge technology, in 1999. Slice began
as a hand-modelled clay form that blurs a chair's distinction between
armrests, backrest, legs and frame. The organic shape was sliced into
horizontal layers, digitally manipulated, formed again by a laser cutter,
and then hand assembled and polished.
Bengtsson is known for cutting edge designs made from industrial and high
tech materials. Slice is constructed as an assemblage of horizontal
cross-sections that stack together into a distinct lateral profile. The
designer chose aluminium for its reflective quality, and each of the 125 3mm
thick laser cut layers is hand waxed and polished. The 3mm thickness
provides both structural integrity and sufficient reflective edge surface to
enhance the overall effect of a shimmering object. The limited edition Slice
has also been produced in plywood, cardboard and foam. Milwaukee's version
was produced by the artist for the Museum in December 2010. [From Cubeme].

Try to Be Alive

The most solid advice . . . for a writer is this, I think: Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell, and when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.

-WILLIAM SAROYAN-

I think this applies to anyone! Love each day, for tomorrow might be your last...
I Love You...

Swoosh

There are something's I miss like playing around with my camera at random
moments through time. There is however one thing that I do not miss, and
that is standing in the dark, inexperienced, lonely, afraid. Now I am a
warrior of light... the light which I shall try to seek - constantly &
forever.

De La Creme Cafe

Coffee addicts of the world unite! I love it when a great coffee come with an even more great homemade cookie.

Amazing Photography

Photographer Bence Máté snapped this amazing shot in Costa Rica. He writes, “I was photographing hummingbirds when I heard the sharp, alarming noise of the birds reacting to the presence of a predator. Sixty feet away from me this green-crowned brilliant was fearlessly attacking a small viper. The long shutter speed and shallow depth of field made it difficult to make an image with both animals sharp. This encounter was one of the most interesting ones I had ever seen, and I quickly set up two flashes to increase the light and shutter speed, using one flash fired from the background and another from the camera.

This image was among the winners of the 2010 Nature’s Best Photography Competition. It and other winners will be on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. starting in April. From cubeme.com

MTN Advertising

It is by far, MTN that has some of the best mobile network advertising out
there... had to chuckle with this one.

Words

Sunny.Rosebank.park.walk.see.smell.feel.touch.experience.talk.smile.sit.flip
-flip.mobile.snap.pic.order.sip.gulp.taste.fingers.pizza.bite.chew.crunch.sl
urp.bill.pay.cash.coins.slip.push.turn.cloudy.thunder.wind.ticket.slot.inser
t.drive.slow.cool.chat.home.

Blackle

I came to a realisation that my older blog was wasting up energy. Energy in terms of watt hours – so I decided to change my blog to black, as this uses less energy than coloured or white screens. Having done this, I found a search engine, powered by Google called – Blackle.

How is Blackle saving energy? Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. "A given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen." Roberson et al, 2002

How can you help? Set Blackle as your home page. This way every time you load your Internet browser you will save a little bit of energy. Remember every bit counts! You will also be reminded about the need to save energy each time you see the Blackle page load.

Visit: www.blackle.com and start saving energy now! So far 2,372,227.614 Watt hours have been saved!