In this latest episode of the Createfulness podcast, the tables are turned as the usual host, Gary Hirson is interviewed. For 20 days he was trying to raise funds via a crowdfunding platform so that he could get to see his photographs that are to be exhibited in the Swiss Museum of transport. In this…
Photography
Pink Biscuits and Bubbly
On a recent trip to France, I visited Reims, the capital of the champagne region. A city with history, art and culture, champagne (of course) and pink biscuits. all making for a delectable story that has just been published in Bidvest’s Premier magazine. “It all started 2 months ago at the kitchen counter while I …
Breaking Bread with a President – Food/Travel story published in SLOW Magazine
I like the ritual of “breaking bread” with someone – it’s welcoming and has a tinge of warmth to it. This is my thought while eyeing the golden croissant poised between my fingers. My girlfriend and I are at a café in Paris. Helene-Marie prefers a morning baguette and I prefer a croissant, and this…
Why I’m no longer a photographer…
I’m no longer a photographer… I’m now a visual, content creator and storyteller… because visual content is Royalty!!! Back in the day when I first became a photographer, meetings with clients whether an agency, magazine, business or a Corporate the discussions would be around campaigns and single or double-page spreads. Now the most common discussion…
Do you want to write travel stories?
As someone who has written, photographed and had travel stories published in magazines, quite often people say to me, “I’ve got a great story.” My response is usually, “well why don’t you write it?” To which they respond, “I don’t know how to…” The thing about travel writing is that editors are always looking for…
Dim Sum 101 – the best in the world…?
“Do you have a reservation?” was the abrupt question in broken English mixed with a strong Chinese accent. “Uh, no,” I replied meekly. “Then you can go sit in the corner!” The 4 of us shuffled slowly, heads down to our designated seated area in the He Sheng Chinese restaurant that sits on the edge…
Why you must photograph events.
I finished up assisting international photographers in London and returned to South Africa as a budding fashion photographer. Very shortly after returning I was taken on by Storm agency who started to represent me as a fashion photographer. As you can well imagine I was feeling great, I believed I was on the road to…
Cool Hairstyles in Africa
A restaurant where you can push your girlfriend over the edge and she’ll be pleasantly surprised.
It’s been said that we judge and are judged within the 1st 3 seconds of first meeting someone. I’m not sure how this relates to my story but I’ve passed the latest restaurant on our Sea Point Main Rd eating-out- adventure, many times – and I’ve judged it quite dismissively with never before ordering from…
A restaurant where coconut milk is the least bland thing we tried – but then again I could have just been in a bad mood…
Our 3rd venture of our eating out in restaurants lining Sea Point Main rd started off in a very subdued mood. Helene had a knee operation last year and was bravely limping along trying to combat the pain. I’d just returned from a trip with the return leg taking 26 hours, including an 8-hour layover…
A restaurant where you can wear a little black dress and red, suede stilettos!
Our second destination of our restaurant exploring adventures was Aris Souvlaki- the legendary Greek eatery that’s decorated Sea Point Main Road since before I arrived here. I’d survived the burping incident after the 1st restaurant. (See the previous blog post), but I was told in no uncertain terms that it would be the first and…
A restaurant where you can burp in your girlfriend’s face!
There’s something cool about Sea Point Main Rd. Forever busy during the day, over the weekends and the holiday season with minibus taxi’s, car guards, hawkers, shop owners, locals and tourists – hooting, selling, chatting and passing each other by. Even the ocean plays its part. When the wind is right the sea air wafts…
How to raise funds for a coffee-table book
One of the real challenges of being self-employed or a freelancer is being able to raise funding for projects. The tight grip of the banking world only seems to tighten when nothing can be secured, and for some, dreams die before they can even begin to try and fly. Ever since becoming a professional photographer it’s…
Why you should always hold onto your old photos and negatives.
Ever since becoming a photographer, beginning during the days of film, I’ve always kept my pictures. Yip, past girlfriends haven’t always liked the boxes and cabinets of negatives, contact sheets, and prints…..but hey, they soon came to understand that they were references to my work. About 10 – 12 years ago I was in the…
A Mountainous task – ensuring the safety of Table mountain summiters. Published by Sawubona – SAA’s in-flight magazine
One can only imagine the amazement and awe of those first inhabitants of the Cape, and the settlers who came after, on rounding Table Bay and laying eyes on Table Mountain. Subject of myth and legend, this ancient massif has been a symbol of Cape Town ever since. Before 1929, the only way to get…
Xtra Virgin Olive oil is the only way to go – Travel Opulent Box Ezine
(This story was used in Travel Opulent Box’s Ezine) To me weekend getaways should be sun-filled, lazy and idyllic. But here I am, bundled together with 3 others, in a rented country- cottage in the Riebeek Valley, waiting out the most brutal of storms. The pounding water on the tin roof is deafening, drowning out…
The Sweet Sultans of Istanbul – The Blue Train Magazine
With limited time to see the sites, I negotiated my way through the warren of cobbled streets of this ancient city. Side-stepping tea carrying waiters, I window shopped past rows of curio displays and fended off enthusiastic carpet salesmen, before my interest was suddenly arrested by the most succulent, vivid and artistic display imaginable. I…
Big City Vibe or Small Town Living? – The Blue Train Magazine
Growing up in Gauteng, the Karoo was nothing more to me than a flat wasteland to be endured while driving towards Cape Town for the summer holidays. From the still furnace of the car, dreams of lying on one of the Mother City’s beaches seemed as much an illusion as the mirages of heat rising…
The Zen of Hiking – Toyotazone Magazine
I just don’t get hiking. What is it about carrying a chafing rucksack loaded with dehydrated food, being harassed by mosquitoes, and sweating profusely in the midday heat while plodding from point A to point B. I mean come on, we live in an age where we have TV to watch sport – usually just…
What’s in a Plate? – Horizons – BA In-Flight Magazine
“What to do today?” I pondered upon opening my curtains and taking in a perefect early morning Sunday. My energy levels jumped a gear as rising in front of me and seemingly suspended from the rich blue sky, stood the most colossal sandstone sculptor overlooking and guarding the city. I would have loved to be…
SMOKIN’ POT – British Airways in-flight magazine
When I’m depressed I need to eat! So after visiting the “Killing Fields” and Prison S21 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the two of the many places where Pol Pot interrogated, tortured and murdered anyone that he and his party, the Khmer Rouge, thought were counter revolutionary, I really needed to eat. I’d heard of a…
Rise and shine in Cape Town – Abbout Time magazine
As the first spring days stretch out like a purring cat the more active Capetonian ready themselves in anticipation for the energetic feast that lies ahead. As the spring turns to summer and the rising sun encroaches more boldly into the very early morning night-time, the winter woollies are discarded and replaced with lighter more…
Laos – a coffee country – Freshcup magazine USA.
A Coffee Revolution – Toyotazone Magazine
Baboon Matters – Abboutime -1 Time Airline’s in-flight magazine
Baboons for me have always been the animals that taught Tarzan to swing heroically while yodelling, through the dense jungles of Africa. As I’m ignorant about primates, I could be mistaken, and it could’ve been Monkeys, Gorillas or Apes who were Tarzan’s tutors. Baboons, according to me, are dangerous, just sit in trees and steal…
Absolute Rubbish – Vuvuzela Magazine
For the third time in 3 weeks I’d noticed that my recycling garbage bag had been ripped open and all the recyclables had been mixed with the non- recyclables. I’d spent the whole week separating my recyclable, consumable waste, placing it in the special plastic bags supplied by the garbage collectors. I felt I was…
Southern Laos
Cambodia
Happy Ending
17 July 2008. Heya All I hope you’re all fine and dandy, especially after the Springboks finally beat the All Blacks and South Pacific Islanders on their home soil. Schweeeet. Since my last e mail I’ve left Hanoi and I started heading south towards Saigon. My first stop was about 90 km south but took…
Hanoi
French Explorer (With A Jewish Surname) – Muang Noi
Lazing Down To Louong Phabang
12 June 2008. Hi Guys. I hope you’re all well. I’ve crossed the border into Laos and following is the story of my trip down the Mekong. I hope you enjoy. Gary Growing up watching Vietnam movies like Apocalypse Now, Deer Hunter and Platoon had left me a deep fascination of the Mekong River, and…
Second home – But thankfully I still have my first – 5 June 2008
The Road To Enlightenment – 2 June 2008
After wandering around Chiang Mai for a few days I picked up a flyer that advertised – Come and visit “Second home”. A place where you can come and stay for as long as you like, learn about and practice Buddhism, meditation, organic farming and authentic Thai vegetarian cooking. All meals included. Don’t pay, donations…
