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…
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 …
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…
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…
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…
“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…
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…
I started losing my hair in my early 20’s and started shaving my head just before my 30’s- over 20 years ago. I think I can honestly say that I started the trend of voluntarily shaving heads to which the likes of Bruce Willis owe me a debt of gratitude. ;). Due to my lack…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
(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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
Wake up, smell and drink the coffee and only then can the day begin. That’s my philosophy on life. Filtered coffee with milk and sugar is the way I like it. Deprive me of these two pleasures and I’m not a pleasant person to be around. So while enjoying my first cup of coffee in…
If drinking filter coffee was illegal I’d be a criminal, no doubt about it. I’m addicted to the rich aroma of the brew that fogs the air, the dark thick liquid filling the cup and the fantastic kick that jolts me awake. But I have a secret… , I know nothing about coffee, I’m nothing…
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…
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…
22 August 2008. Hey Guys I hope you’re all sitting down because I have some VERY big news………. I’m getting married! Can you believe it at the age of 31 there is someone out there who actually wants to marry me? But more of that later. I’m back in Laos, in the south, as I…
7 August 2008. Hey Guys I hope you’re all well. I’m in Cambodia and I know it’s been raining plenty back home, but the rainy season has seriously hit here and it’s WET!!. I think this must have been one of my brighter ideas coming here in the rainy season….very well done on my part….
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…
5 June 2008. Herroh from Vietnam…… !!!!!! I hope you’re all well I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Sa Pa (Suppa) where I’ll be for the rest of the day as I had to check out of my humble abode at 9am and have to sit around until 9pm until the overnight train back…
Howdy Bevironi Man I am so loving Louong Phabang I was here for about 5 days and now I’m back for another 4. I have just added you to my mailing list but here is a story for you. I went up to a village called Muang Ngoi which is about a 9 hour trip…
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…
I’m dropped off outside a Wat…what? A temple. If the temple hadn’t been there I would have thought I was in a scene from “Rambo 1-9″ “Hmm, maybe I’ll speak to my yet not found agent about this place. I could see a movie here.” The area is amazing. Trees all around, plenty of water,…
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…
Sitting by myself waiting for the train that is going to take me to Chiang Mai I realise that this is where my adventure begins. For the last week or so I’ve been staying with a South African friend and her Thai partner and if any time I felt like it, or was feeling lonely,…
Hey Maja I hope you’re well. You’re going to love this After a long day walking around Kho san road, bartering with store owners and eventually buying nothing. I do think I left a lot of pissed off store owners in my wake and will never be welcome back even if I really wanted to…
Just before I left for Thailand my friend Loren, who has been living in Bangkok for the last 6 years, sent me an email saying that when I arrive at the airport there are two things that I must do. One, when I change money I must get small change and two, when taking a…