Chelsea Art Show

While I am still busy sorting through the business issues left over from December, I received the great news that a selection of my canvasses were selected and approved for the upcoming Chelsea (UK) art show in May 2014.

Hope to see you there !

2014 ..... Here we come!

So the holiday season in South Africa has come and gone.  As normal, great summer weather was had on the South Coast.  Great for vacationers, not so good for landscape photographers.  With the blessing of our South African sunlight and skies, comes the frustration of harsh light and the lack of clouds, especially in the mid-summer days.  At least it got me, eventually, to start experimenting with astrophotography.  We have very little light pollution in this region, but it will still take a while to identify the right landscape features in relation to the "milky way" as I envisage to take.  First attempts, not to bad, but definitely not the final results one would hope for.  As with all the different aspects and subjects of the photographic craft, one will have to "walk the road" to gain the experience, "feel", technical capability and vision for the specific task at hand.

With  all of the summer vacationers gone, 

I am left here, practically alone in our little holiday village of Cape Infanta.  Good time to get one's mind around 2014, some contemplation, some planning and some "quiet" time .  Sounds strange to do this at the beginning of the year, and not the end ?  Well, in my life, November and December is normally chaos and kitting up for the family vacation.  We are all tired and trying to close the various "chapters" of the preceding year.  Following the wise management principal of 2 thirds planning and 1 third execution, I treasure these quiet times at the beginning of the year, planning and contemplating on whatever scale is needed. 

On the photography side of things, an exciting year lies ahead. Since June last year it was a hectic ride to create substance to the joint venture "PhotoSpace", which offers large scale canvass prints of a selection of my more "arty" photographic images.  Aimed at the interior decorating home and corporate markets, we had a hectic six months to develop marketing and delivery structures.  We had great exposure and sales at art exhibitions and markets, particularly on the West Coast of South Africa, and was even featured in a travel and lifestyle magazine (check out the Media gallery at www.africanskiesphoto.net).  This has made me think,  how many phototogs out there realize that capturing great images are only a part of what is needed to be able derive your income from photography ?  So many new entrants into the industry, some extremely successful and some extremely creative phototogs being left in the cold (as far as monetary results are concerned).  It is a long slog through a mine field, but its a case of "Aluta Continua ".  My own elected direction within photography is somewhat in the middle of Landscaping and Fine Art Photography, but definitely very much on a dynamic and changing development  process.  The results in the Art Lounge on my website is a result of this. 

Summer Update

Wow,  it's already November and I have clearly not updated the blog for a while.  This does not mean we have not been busy with the roll-out of the Photospace venture.  Ok, here goes, .....

My MM Collection have been expanded, and some good images are waiting in the wings to be added to the collection.  Most attention have been on the roll-out of representation in the Western Cape (South Africa) and we are proud to announce that we now have agents appointed in Melkbostrand, Port Owen/Velddrif and Hermanus.  This is in addition to our main representation in Gauteng.  Internationally we now have representation in Majorca and am working on London and Madrid.

Because the West Coast is a major part of the normal content of my images, we will launch with a range of exhibitions in this area in the coming December holiday season.  Be on the look-out for these in Yzerfontein, Velddrif, Langebaan and Paternoster.

This summer collection of 35 images is also due to appear in the glossy travel magazine West Coast Escape - Summer Edition, due out in the beginning of December.  I also wrote an article for the same magazine.

I am writing this update from the West Coast, being lucky enough to have made a trip to look for new material, as well as visiting old haunts and logged "must-do" potentials.  Glad to say some new material were captured in Langebaan and Laaiplek. It needs to be said that this area remains a firm favorite photographic haunt.  The "big skies" and colors are just awesome for any "scaper" willing to get out of bed early in the morning.

Joint Venture with Photospace announced

Some exciting news this morning. An agreement was reached with Photospace,  whereby the group will receive the marketing and printing rights to a limited selection of images by Marius Martens.

Photospace is a joint venture between Marius ( as the photographer ), Roservaire Marketing  and Sharpline Printers. A new collection of images ( The MM Collection ) have been made available for non-traditional printing and marketing,  and will focus mainly on the production of large scale canvasses for the interior decorating market.  

The MM Collection can be seen as a cumulative process of the photographer's experience and drive to create a different and unique look to landscapes, wildlife and seascapes.  In addition, this joint venture was born out of the frustration that all long term "scapers" know so well,  of those favourite images gathering dust on hard drives, memory sticks and forgotten internet galleries. With this collection, MM has employed non-traditional processing of his photographs, pushing the envelope to blur the edges  between traditional painting effects and photography.

According to Keith Roservaire a non-traditional and hybrid marketing approach will be followed,  aiming to provide large canvasses at low cost to the international market. Keith and his team have designed a cost structure aimed at including independent marketing agents according to geographical areas as well as the traditional approach of showing via photo and art galleries. Keith and his group are already hard at work to create an international marketing representation in South Africa,  Spain,  the UK and USA.

Sharpline, and it's CEO,  Dave Underwood,  are well for known be hung up on the printing  quality  of their products. With state of the art equipment, and a zest for quest to create new and different products,  Sharpline is the ideal printing partner and you can expect some very different printing surfaces and products from Photospace in the future.

The collection of images are receiving positive reviews but will  the  MM Collection be a commercial success?  Judge for yourself by clicking on Art Lounge on the website - www.africanskiesphoto.net

African Skies launches new website

Thanks to the folks at Smugmug, a new look engine room and templates made the updating of my old website a relatively painless affair.  Some really exiting stuff is happening and the "new-look" website will form an integral part of my photographic activities.  

Watch this space for updates, and have a squiz at the new website - www.africanskiesphoto.net.

This is also the first post of my new blog, and I hope to see you back soon.  Content will center around my photographic adventures and misadventures.