Trying to grow an organic garden is pretty rewarding. It comes with some drawbacks, though. Like regular plant-scoffing visitors. I was amazed to discover how many bugs I have in my garden. This is not so good for the basil and the roses, let alone the lettuce, but it does give my macro lens and twinlight flash some air.

I discovered that my elegant lady is covered in canaeus carnifex, commonly known as red bugs or fire bugs. They seem to mate a great deal, and the hundreds of teeny babies in the seed heads of my shrub will attest to that.

Cenaeus carnifex, also called red bugs or fire bugs

The green vegetable bug is almost impossible to detect. All you see is brown curled up leaves left in its wake.

Nezara viridula, or green vegetable bug

Nezara viridula - you don't want to squash these guys. There's a reason why they belong to the stink bug family

The sunflower seed bug decimated my tomato bush – pride and joy of my garden, and producer of a rather fine harvest. There is now a bare patch where she once stood.

Agnoscellis versicoloratus, or sunflower seed bug

Amazing how creatures so destructive can be so beautiful. I don’t have the heart to kill them, so I’m hoping some big bird will come along and have them for breakfast before my garden is a desert wasteland!

The World Cup Soccer is drawing near, and this weekend the final draw was held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. My friend, Ron Gaunt, master sports photographer, was there to record the glamour.

Very late in the day, when the festivities were pretty much in full swing, and by the time 50 000 people had gathered in Long Street to watch the draw on the big screen, be entertained by our local bands and to dance in the streets, I made my way downtown to see what’s up. And it was simply incredible!

Those sadsters like myself who had wandered into town too late to be allowed into the main festival area thronged at the gates, and pleaded with security guards and policemen to be let in. At that stage, the fellows had been on their feet for about eight hours, were hungry, tired and fed-up, and had heard every story imaginable. They were buying none of it. Not one more person was getting into the festival.

And so I meandered back down the road, and back up again, and back down, looking for some semblance of festivity to photograph for Ron. More and more people started arriving, excitedly making their way to the festival end of the road, where they would be sorely disappointed. All they would find were policemen on horseback and a mass  of people all trying to catch a glimpse of the party on the other side of the fence.

And then the mood changed. You could feel a shift in energy. A whole new party started on the other side of the fence. People made their own music, honking their vuvuzelas, drumming, chanting and singing, and they danced to their own beat. Laughing people with their arms around each other, all wanting their picture taken, danced and ran down the street. A crowd of people would suddenly stampede down the road, coming straight at me, singing at the top of their voices, waving flags and making a noise.

It was an amazing experience. People of all nationalities and all races were united in celebration. Everyone was everyone’s friend. On my own in the middle of town, carrying my camera, I felt completely safe. We were all looking out for each other. It was a great day in South African history. I am very grateful to have been a part of it.

For more of my pics, take a look here, and for Ron Gaunt’s full story, as well as his sports photography, take a look here.

Another few pics from a recent boudoir shoot. I love the glam of these shoots – the make-up, the dress-up, the giggles … it’s great fun.

The most satisfying for me, though, is when the women see the photos of themselves – like they say in the advert ‘you, only better’!

I did a portrait shoot on Sunday and, as much as every woman I photograph is simply beautiful, there are some faces that the camera just loves. Often it has nothing to do with classic beauty. It’s something else. That something else that Marilyn Monroe had – although she had incredible beauty also, so she’s probably a bad example, but you know what I mean.

This model had had no previous experience and was quite nervous to start. The camera didn’t care, though.

These were studio shots, with two lights illuminating the background, and one light with a softbox at about 45 degrees to the model and and slightly above her.

Here are some images from a recent boudoir shoot.

These shoots are such a wonderfully positive and affirming thing to do – a celebration of your body, irrespective of its age, size or shape, and sometimes a gift for a partner. I love that the women take the time to have make-up done, select some outfits, and spend an hour or so in my studio so that I can light them fabulous! We go for massages, manicures, pedicures and therapy, all to make ourselves feel better. Why not add a photo shoot to the list? You’ll start out nervous and a bit timid, and walk out feeling confident and sexy. And when the pics arrive, you’ll feel supermodel awesome all over again!

These pics were taken at Dance4Fitness, as part of the Flirt Shoot partnership I have going with Nicky, the owner of Dance4Fitness.

I’ve had the pleasure of photographing the sweetest babies of late. I try to keep the light as soft as possible, and so use bounced flash – bouncing my studio lights off the white polyboards and off the walls. The white floors help to further minimise shadows, and keep the light soft.

I shoot all my pics in RAW (and so, obviously, in colour), and then open each one individually to create the photoshop effects, or convert to black & white and sepia.

This little fellow had the most beautiful eyes

Irrepressible curiosity!

This photo shoot stuff is thirsty work!

Baby smiles, like baby gurgles and baby kisses, are heaven-sent!

A flying cherub

This little newborn had little interest in being photographed. So many tears from one so small!

The pics were done on location, using only window light and a bit of reflector.

All this growing is very tiring

Safe with Mommy

My portfolio of baby, kiddy and family portraits is at http://dhewitson.ifp3.com

I know I waxed lyrical about my Canon 100 mm macro lens a while back, and I do still love it more than almost anything else. But I now have something to love equally as much: my new Canon Macro Twinlite MT 24EX.

Struggling to get a high depth of field and a fast shutter speed (at the same time) in low light are now a thing of the past. I’m turning into a hunchback, and wearing out the knees of my jeans shuffling about gardens trying to find tiny things to shoot.

First there was the lobelia to inspect and illuminate right up close:

Then the lobelia and alyssum looked so good together that they, too, needed a mini studio and lighting director:

The rosebush revealed this rather annoyed fellow sporting a drop of water on his head (I had just watered the garden):

I love the way the reflected rosemary stalks make it look as if it’s wearing some kind of tribal headgear. It’s face is reflected at the bottom of the drop. On Flickr I have called this ‘Mantid with updo and reflection’.

Then it was time to inspect the yellow flowers of the tomato bush, dangling from furry stems:

Which then led me to this dilemma:

I mean, how cute is the little fella?!

You have to be really quite heartless to want to squish something so tiny. Okay, it’s going to grow to the size of Big Daddy alongside, but that guy’s just too big to squish.

So I decided that the big guy had done all the damage he was going to do, and was probably going to cocoon himself pretty soon. With a bit of luck he’ll show his wings in my garden for a while, as a ‘thanks for all the greens’ before fluttering off to gardens beyond the wall. The little guy I tried to transfer to the nasturtiums, but dropped him, so he’s probably scoffing my tomato plant from the bottom up. Him and his little brother, which I also dropped.

But back to my Macro Twinlite MT 24EX: quite a bit more to learn, as it can operate on different ratios, the flashlights can be moved into different positions, and can operate either both at the same time or one at a time, creating some more natural looking side lighting. It’s a really great little strobe. Well worth aquiring!

Cold fronts and big swells are on show in Cape Town again this week. And it’s freezing! Of course, not freezing by, say, Chicago standards, but pretty chilly nonetheless.

I headed out with camera and tripod at around five-thirty yesterday evening, and caught some wild, brown seas chasing towards the coast. It was blustery and icy cold … but worth it!

Recording moments in our family’s history is far more important than we realise at the time. Looking back at raggedy pics of the kids when they were little and you were young, one always feels that there should have been just a few more, and maybe just a few better.

So why not book a session with a professional photographer and get some great pics of the family for Father’s Day? It’s as good a reason as any to go and have some fun in the studio. And one day, when you’re sitting in your rocker on the porch, you won’t be sorry that you had those few extra pics taken.

This fellow is just so photogenic. Chef Peter Ayub of Sense of Taste.

Shot with one flash head to the side and using the flame as the fill-in light, we made this pic for their new billboard, which apparently is up at the roadside for all to see (except I have not done a drive-by to see it yet).

The image below was the other option I gave them, but somehow the first pic I took has the connection; the success of an image almost always has more to do with the moment captured than it has to do with anything else.