4PBO Shoot | Stop Hunger Now SA - Mandela Day 2013

On Mandela Day the 18th of July, Stop Hunger Now Southern Africa hosted a food packaging event where 67 companies sponsored 67 volunteers to package meals in 67 minute long shifts. 

As part of their 4PBO (Public Benefit Organisations) program, Ubuntu Help Portrait got together a number of volunteer photographers to assist in documenting the events of the day. The energy was intoxicating and the other photographers were kind enough to assist this first time speedlight (not mine) user get a handle of using an external flash.

These are some of the images and moment I captured:

More photo's from this event can be found on flickr through this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ubuntuhelpportrait/sets/72157634646969535/ 

My first encounter with Ubuntu Help Portrait was last year through the Johannesburg Photowalkers group but I only got to understand what they are really about when I attended their launch this year. Basically the idea is to take a portrait of someone who needs it (school kids who don't have their photos taken, elderly etc), print it and give it back to them. Here's a video that best describes what they do. 

The best part of this is that the focus is purely on the person on the other side of the lens and not the photographer meaning that the images are not watermarked nor shared anywhere but go straight to the person whom they belong to. 

You have nothing to lose.

These words have resonated deep within me so much that I can’t fool myself to think otherwise. It is with this mindset that I stopped hiding behind the guise that I am still building a portfolio, learning, gaining experience...bla bla bla and just went for it and created a place for sharing my photographs. This place is not only open to my friends and acquaintances, but everyone else too. Scary stuff huh...or not.

So here it is, a link to the Facebook page for this aspiring photographer.

Portia T. Photography

I’ll admit, I owe this jump to a lot of people: my better half and my sister for their many words of encouragement, people who’ve been asking where they can see my work, acquaintances who believed in what I wanted to do and friends who’s been urging me on.

My trusted compact.

New shiny Nikon.

One major thing that happened this year was that I got a DSLR camera, yay. Hello manual setting and shutter speed control. Suddenly I could go boker crazy. Nice. I still use my compact, it’s a great camera and we’ve been through a lot together since the days of chopping up tomatoes and onions.

This is a photo of my friend’s partner and their son. It happened purely by chance and ended up being one of my favourite. I asked my friend if she would allow me to practice my portrait skills (white figuring out the many dials on this camera) on them and they happily agreed. I’m really glad we did this shoot, I learnt so much from it.

I guess the point of this entry is to share this: Our lives are made up of experiences and memories we create: from missing the start of an event because the GPS on your phone froze, losing friends and loved ones to stupid accidents and illnesses, celebrating birth and toasting to triumphs. Anything can happen anytime, it’s important to make everyday count. 

So here's to learning and creating memories.

Thanks for reading.