Asides

Herbs, houses and photos.

My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.

Another glorious autumn Sunday. May the 4th – Happy birthday brother : )

I went to town this morning on a few errands. Again reminded by the massive benefits of walking. Stoics often talk about walking and it’s power. I’m not talking about walking away just about taking a walk. Instead of driving or cycling, just go on the shoelace express.

A street lined with trees. On the right side of the image a palisade fence.
Make like a tree.

A 45 minute walk does wonders for the mind and I often miss walking to & from work. It was the time when I ‘solved’ problems in my mind. Time away from people trying to get your attention. Time away from troubles. Where you just walk and focus on the environment around you. Deep breaths. Smell the pine trees. Smell the freshly mowed lawns. Hear leaves crunching under your feet. Feel the cold wind against your face.

Herbs.

Today I picked more herbs from the small garden I keep. I have some flat leave parsley, rosemary and two thyme bushes.

I enjoy the value I get from plants. The peace and (mostly) quiet a garden gives. The same as walking it gives you a bit of time away from things troubling you. And the added benefit of being able to use what you grow. South Africa has a good climate for growing with plenty of sunshine during the summer months.

A building behind a palisade fence. A door is visible behind the fence in the center of the image.
Brickwork.

In the past we’ve grown chili, tomatoes, spinach, potatoes and pumpkins. I tend to focus on the simple stuff. And this season I’m putting more focus on herbs.

The rosemary plant was grown from a cutting. It took about a month of TLC but eventually started sprouting roots and in spring time I’m planning to make a few more cuttings so I can have at least three rosemary bushes. All the herbs in the garden we use in our food. It makes a big difference in whatever we cook plus the idea of “I grew this” is pretty cool.

Houses.

I wanted to study architecture when I was growing up.

A view of a building through a palisade fence.
Fenced in.

The love and interest in buildings never waned and a few years ago I stumbled up a great channel on YouTube. I won’t like to the channel because it’s simple enough to find but I will share the website here were you can find beautiful architecture. The photographs are really good and show you the level of detail in many of these buildings.

https://openspaceseries.com/blog/open-space-the-steve-mcqueen-residence-hugh-m-kaptur-1964

In closing.

For the rest of the Sunday I tend to take it easy. With a new work week ahead I want to go in as focused & relaxed as possible. The public holiday are finished for the time being so long weekends and short work days are something of the past. If you’re interested in purchasing some of my photos you can find my storefront here.

A telephone poles with lines diverging into different directions. A few birds in the background.
Segments.

Thanks for reading : )

A personal touch.

I was at work this morning and a regular customer entered.

He comes in every few months and orders portions of biltong to be vacuum sealed. Afterwards we started talking about him calling ahead to cut down on his waiting time. He mentioned he already had one of our businesses cards.

A window with letters written on it. The business sells platters, pies, cupcakes and birthday cakes.
Window dressing.

The words personal touch came to mind. It is what sets apart a small business from a big corporation.

A big business launches a new feature: membership rewards. It personalizes the hell out of things. “Shop your regulars”. “Specialized deals for you”. I had a problem with one of my orders a while ago – they sent me an item I didn’t order.

“Hello, [mystery brand], how can we help?”

The person on the other side of the line doesn’t know my name despite it being on my app. The same business didn’t care to respond to previous complaints I had. This same retailer makes an estimated R20.38 million profit per day. It tries to solve problems with refunds. Instead of addressing issues causing the problems.

A small business who doesn’t make an estimated R20.38 million profit per day needs to approach clients differently. You stick with it and become an institution. My previous job was like this – I saw children grow up. I saw people date, get engaged and then get married. I spoke to people about good things, bad things, politics, sports, etc.

In a small business – you need to get to know your customer. You need to become one of the family. Apart from a great product this is how you survive against the R 20 million a day corporations. You’re customer service, the one to one interactions needs to be above exceptional.

Coming from a background of working for small businesses I look at customer service a lot different than the average person. Is the cashier friendly? Are they talking to other people while serving me? Is the waiter attentive to what I ordered the previous ten times I drank my regular cappuccino at the establishment?

In a tight economy and customer service these small differences often helps to sell. It helps you to retain customers when you know how they like their food prepared or you ask about how their vacation was.

Food for thought.

This is a bit different from my usual writing but I often sit and wonder about these business related ideas. How do you incorporate something like this into your small business? How do you use these types of things to sell? I don’t think pushing something down someone’s throat will do the trick. Believe me I’ve tried.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on this. And tell me what you think about these business type posts? Yay or nay?

Thanks for reading : )

Support the small businesses.

It’s Thursday 1 May.

I’m sitting outside a small takeaway business in the town where I live. Because of the public holiday I only worked half-day which meant I had some time to spare.

Earlier in the week we decided to have smash burgers & chips for lunch. Double smash burgers. I have worked in the hospitality industry before and I can tell you stories about what happens in a kitchen.

I was pleasantly surprised by the food. Delicious burgers and a nice portion of chips (fries).

A sign outside a small restaurant with all the products writing on it.
A local takeaway shop.

I try to support the smaller businesses in the area. The ones which were started years ago and are now being run by sons or daughters. The ones which compete with the big corporation who earn billions a year. Who doesn’t care if they send you a bad product because they can just refund you. Or who doesn’t care if you have a bad experience with their staff because you’re just a number. You won’t be missed if you leave.

The small business tends to have an overload of customer service.

Because the small business doesn’t move the same volume they need to rely on other methods to retain customers. Yeah, good product is definitely a must but good product minus people with manners aren’t going to do you any good.

I’ve always done this when possible. Big business doesn’t need more money. They have enough and they way they treat customers shows it.

End rant.

In part inspired by Mr Werkheiser. And the other part by big business being a bunch of tools.

Thanks for reading : )

Take something from everything

One of the reasons why I enjoy autumn / winter so much are scenes like this.

A beautiful tree covered in a mix of yellow & green leaves. The sky at the bluest blue. Sure, summer skies are blue as well but not like this IMO. And on the ground, dead leaves waiting for be walked through. Crunching underneath your feet as you move over them. Dancing in the wind finding their final resting places.

I had my phone with me so this was the shot I took. Not high on the details but the colors are spot on. Tomorrow when I head into work I’ll take my compact camera with and see if I can get a better photo.

A tree covered in autumn leaves.
Yellow and blue.

I’m currently working on two interviews. This is something I have come to enjoy. I’m also planning to talk to a few more photographers on Google Meet.

Over the past year I’ve done about ten (or nine) interviews.

I thought about it one day and said fuck it. At least I tried. And then I got a yes. Then another. Rinse repeat.

But I also got a few no thanks. And a few people who ghosted me.

It’s cool though. Not everyone has the time. Not everyone is interested in it. Not everybody likes to talk about themselves. I’m not a popular interviewer. I get it.

But I do take something from the yes and the no.

And this transcends my newsletter and interviews. It teaches me to take something from everything. Instead of thinking why everything is against you ask yourself what can you learn from the ‘defeats’. Change things up. Try something new. And it pushes me to do thing. Even if they don’t work out.

JUST DO IT.

Even if it doesn’t work at least you won’t be wondering about the outcome and have any regrets on it.

Thanks for reading : )

Taxis.

When you hear the word “taxi” what do you think about?

Perhaps a yellow New York city Ford Crown Victoria. A black cab in London. Or maybe the Toyota Comforts zipping around in the traffic in Shibuya.When it comes to a South African taxi, the phrase “ride of your life” is something many people will say comes to mind.

The South African taxi, minibus, is a different beast. The drivers aren’t loved by other drivers. For the most part they treat road rules as suggestions. They will stop on the side of busy roads to pick up passengers, often without indicating of any sort.

But I’m not here to bash the taxi.

It’s part of the South African culture. There are jokes about it. There are more serious aspects to taxis and the taxi business. It’s become a part of South Africa like a braai or the Springboks.

A taxi on the side of the road before pulling into traffic.
Taxi.

This is the latest image uploaded to my storefront. The full size image and a full size image with a white border is available for sale online.

If you’re interested in checking it out, you can find my Paystack store front here.

As always, thanks for reading : )

My first photo for sale.

The idea of selling photos didn’t originally fit into my photography ideals.

I used photography to escape. To get outside. To step out of the comfort zone. I can say with a fair degree of certainty I have ticked all those boxes. Starting with photography coincided with a time in my life where I went through a patch of depression. Hence the escapism.

Over the last year or two I got pulled into and ground up by the gears of capitalism. And I realized having options available gives you more freedom. Gives you more options.

Gives you more time.

I’ve tried selling photos before on Etsy but it didn’t go as I hoped it would. Many things weren’t in place. Most importantly my mind and my heart. This isn’t a small endeavor. It takes time. It takes effort. In a way, if you monetize the thing you enjoy doing it becomes a job.

Enough suspense for the moment. Below is the first image I am offering for sale on my Paystack store front. You can find the image for sale here.

An image taken through a fence. The scene in the background is a traffic intersection with shopping mall signage to the right of the image.
Through the fence – sometimes we decide what we want to see.

I am hoping this first image gives me the impetus I need to keep moving forward with this project.

I now understand the time, the effort and the sweat which goes into getting something ready to sell. Finding people who are interested in what you sell and the continuous process of marketing yourself. Putting yourself out there and being patient.

As always, thanks for reading : )

D&D, a Sunday well spent.

It’s Sunday again.

Today is slightly different. It is a public holiday and in SA it means the next day becomes the public holiday (the day off I mean). I’m unsure about other countries and their amount of public holiday but we rank fairly high in terms of public holidays, I think.

A more chilled vibe than the usual rush to finish everything and get ready for the next day. I’m working tomorrow but only half day. Until two o’clock.

A tree in a misty morning. Behind it a telephone pole and the side of a house.
I like photographing this tree.

I spent the day with my brother and some friends around the D&D role playing game. Breaking from my normal routine on a Sunday was worth it. Saw a really cool games room (will take more photos next time around) and this inspired many thoughts in me.

No website.

For all the power of the website it is still at the mercy of servers and a hosting company. I had an unforeseen outage and couldn’t access mine until earlier this morning. Thanks to the people working behind the scenes to get everything back online but it made me think:

If my website isn’t guaranteed to be online always, what are my options?

A question which might not need an answer really. But if you’re not doing the social media thing or even the newsletter thing but you’re focused on your website as your main “base of operations” if you will; what happens if it goes down?

Perhaps a combination is best – website, your newsletter platform of choice and one social media channel [where you don’t scroll to death but merely share and then logout].

Also, make your website your home page [if you haven’t already]. This way you see what your community sees and if it’s down you’ll know about it quickly.

Photos to sell.

I’ve narrowed down the photos I’ll be adding to my online store. Most of them are from my first few years doing street photography. Once they are online I’ll share the link here & on Substack.

In closing.

It’s all I’ve got for now. Looking forward to more writing tomorrow, half day at work gives me a few extra hours in which to do this. Hope you’re having / had a great Sunday.

Thanks for reading : )

The moon.

It’s the first morning in a few days which wasn’t overcast.

As winter approaches the moon flips on it’s back. Waning Crescent is the proper astronomical term.

A black and white photo of the moon and a star.
Cold autumn morning.

No phone. No book. No podcast. No computer. No paper. No instagram. No X. No substack. No music. No one. Just me & Acre, a coffee (and a camera), listening to the birds, sitting in the sunshine. This is part of every day lately and in many ways the best part.

– Lawson Chapman

Read on Substack

Sometimes you have to break away from tech. I used to sit in front of my computer before I went to work in the mornings. Then I decided “let’s skip today”. Which turned into I don’t sit in front of my computer in the mornings.

Am I missing out on some free time where I could be productive? Perhaps.

Do I have to compress each available second of time into a hobby or a passion project?

I don’t think I should.

Sometimes it is good to do nothing. Keep it super simple. Drop the phone somewhere. Set it to silent for a few minutes. Or an hour. Technology is really good. It has a lot of applications. Good and bad. But what did we do before the internet? What did we read before newsletters? What did we listen to before podcasts?

Many of us grew up without the internet to guide us in our formative years. We turned out alright. We didn’t spend hours with a phone glued to our hands. Time away from tech should be an important thing for anyone trying to get away from the fast paced rush of modern life.

Thanks for reading : )

Night time photography.

58F. Chilly.

Another autumn evening mimicking winter.

I decided to capture a few photos for my Apartment series. With colder nights being clearer it stands to reason for me to get crisper photos.

It was an interesting thirty minutes. Cold evenings also tend to be much quieter. Fewer people on the street. Less cars, although I got one or two good light trail images which I plan to edit and add for sale in the next few days.

An apartment block at night.
What are the neighbors doing?

The image on top has been run through Photoshop Express. I didn’t see them at first but the good thing about this image is the shadows of the tree against the walls. There is a house just opposite with a massive light in the drive way which is causing these shadows.

And when I thought it wouldn’t get better there was a fog rolling in about an 3o minutes after I took my last photo. This (obviously) prompted me to head out again and take a few more photos.

An apartment block at night in the mist.
Foggy.

I shot with the same settings, F/2.0 and a 2 second exposure. I’m using an XE2 and if you put it in T mode on the dial it is supposed to give you the option to change the time the shutter remains open. I’ve tried it by rotating the command dial but it isn’t working as I expected it to.

The lens I am using is a XF35mm and it’s probably the sharpest lens I have.

What are you thoughts on shooting at night? Any interesting projects in the works? I’m looking for inspiration and interesting reads.

Thanks for reading : )

Rainy days.

52F. Cloudy, rainy. Cold.

This morning was a great day for photography. Rain. You know those rainy day shots where the reflections of the road is just wow. The people with their umbrellas just all over the show.

It sucks if you’re walking in the rain and your raincoat decides to imitate a sieve. So there I was walking in the rain while the thunder rumbled around the sky.

I managed a few photos after I reached my usual hangout before work.

First photo is of the outside of a fruit & vegetable shop. The woman who works there arrives a bit later and opens the store for business. Sometimes we talk for a few minutes before I head to work. The lights, the orange / red from the wall and steel posts made a good composition. I did a b&w version as well but it doesn’t really capture the mood in my opinion.

The outside of a fruit and vegetable shop.
Still closed.

Next image are two school children and their father walking to school. I see them each weekday morning and they often go into the shop, buy a few things and go on their way. I might try and capture a few more photos of them in future – as they leave & enter the store.

Walking in the rain.
Going to school.

This is the opposite corner of where I stand. While I’m here I can often see the extent of stupidity in some road users. Speeding or just skipping the stop sign. Even seen an accident on this very corner.

I like this image because of the motion blur of the car. When taking a photo with the standard camera app I don’t always catch the blur. 9 out of 10 times I’ll freeze the car in the photo. No blur. The blur, the red car, the lights and the sign make this a interesting image for me.

A car driving past a traffic sign.
Stop.

I’m busy working on a few things at the moment:

  1. Getting a few more interviews ready. I enjoy the process around this – find out more about the photographer / writer / artist, looking at their work. Putting down a few questions to get some insights into them and their process. I’ll probably do this more in the near future.
  2. Working on a post for me website. You might be tired of reading this but my time management is not good. The few hours I have after I arrive home gets divided up between a few things. I want to squeeze in “write for an hour” somewhere in there but at the moment I’m super tired so most evenings I don’t write. (I’ve forced myself to sit down and breath live into this post).

In closing.

A bowl of instant noodles with curry vegetables and a cup of coffee is waiting for me. I’d like to hear your feedback on these photos. Which one is your favorite? How do you spend your time after you arrive home from work, if you have a day job?

If you’re interested in supporting my work, consider a small donation on my Paystack page. One of the things on my to-do list is to setup a subscription plan via Paystack. I’ll link to it once it’s up and running.

As always, thanks for reading : )