Some Things About Being A Tog

I've been doing Photography for a number of years now and if someone tells you that being a Photographer is about holding a camera and clicking a button then i give you the permission to take the closest blunt object and hit them over the head with it.

Being a Photographer is hard work, it's a lot of fun but extremely hard work because you have to read the light and adjust your gear accordingly but thats not all.

This blog is not about me preaching to you about what to do and what not to do, this is merely me sharing some images with you.

For some time now I've been thinking about doing my own Photo Book but not only with pictures, it will be something that can help you take better images because i will explain how i took the image and with what settings.


Photography is not something you stumble upon one day when you are bored at home and you play with your camera. Photography is a passion, if you don't have a passion for it then...well...you can just put your camera back in the box and leave it because you will get frustrated. Most people see a picture in a magazine or they see the Pictures me and my Photographer friends post and they wonder "how did they do that?" and most of the time they get inspired by our work and take out their cameras and go mad, thats all good and well but most people get frustrated because they don't get the same quality image as the one they saw.

Let me tell you, most Togs take up to 500 images at once and only about 50-100 of those are workable. Its easy taking the image, any fool can do that, but the settings you use and post production is the most important part of Photography. You cant go into post production using a crappy image, you will fall flat on your face if you do. I always say, the most important thing is taking a great image first and then you make that great image an amazing one in post production.



The above image is one of the first images i took as a Photographer waaaay back in the day, it was take just as the sun set in Gordon's Bay.

Now most people will look at you as if you are an idiot when you rock up at a spot with camera, lenses, trigger and tripod in hand. Most people will not bother you but the majority will come over and ask to see what you took pictures of. If you are scared or shy then Photography is not for you because Photography is about sharing with the world what you see. People want to see what you see through that little view finder because most people go through life not noticing their surroundings. Photographers notice every single thing, it doesn't matter how small it is, we have the eye for taking an image that might be silly to you and making that something you will want as either a background or a print in your house.



This image was done in my house, all i did was i shut off all the power, it was like 11pm and i really wanted to test some Light Photography out. I used a normal little LED hand held torch. I put my camera on a tripod, i used a trigger and in manual mode i just kept the shutter open so it would catch and keep the light falling on the sensor. You can basically go crazy when doing this, you can paint a name or just do some shapes.

I remember when i took my brother and his girlfriend out for a night shoot in Strand. We were standing there, they did their poses and i just took pics of them and then some images of just cars passing so i could make trails with their lights, this one family came out of the restaurant and they wanted to see what i was taking pics of, they could not believe, or should i say, they did not believe that the images on my camera was of the town they lived in. Thats why you cant be shy when being a Tog because people will engage you at random times.



Being a Photographer is dirty work, no really it is, you have to crawl around, climb onto stuff, lean over stuff and thats just to get the perfect angle for the image. The image on the left was taken in Franschhoek. I was literally lying flat on my stomach in the middle of a busy sidewalk where people had to climb over me, they didn't moan because if you carry your gear around with you then people know you are working.

If there is one thing I've learned is that you cant just be a tog and put your camera down when you don't feel like taking pics. You have to practice every single day, it doesn't matter if you are a Pro or if you are just starting out, you have to practice, it doesn't matter what you take pics of as long as you go out there and shoot shoot shoot.

You can't be scared to take chances. The first rule of being a Photographer is to know ALL the rules and most Photographers do know all the rules but we just choose to break them all, thats what will set you apart as a Tog, its what will make you stand out from the rest....


These are just some more images to look at, hope you enjoy.