It is the Peartree Blog’s 1st Birthday today (on Africa Day of course!).  Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us … traalalaa

My lovely wife always encourage and reminds me to celebrate the milestones in life … a time to reflect, rethink (or just to think!), dream and to thank.  If you have the time, join us for a short snippet highlight journey through the Blog the past year …

May 2009 : Welcome to the Blogosphere Peartree!  To celebrate the birth, we put together a Short Video explaining who we are and about our Natural Approach.  And of course this shoot for a art piece that was blown up to 3 x 2 meters!

June 2009 : I visited the North of India for a wedding in the Himalayas.  In retrospect, I am sure I picked up Swine Flu on the way there and worked my way through it during the 3 day wedding.  India was needless to say really tough and amazing at the same time. This wedding featured on numerous blogs around the world and I believe, have established Peartree Photography as Destination Wedding Photographers.

July 2009 : I have just arrived back from India.  I had 3 days to spend with my lovely family before I was airborne again for a Friday wedding in Natal.  The very next morning I was back again in the Grabouw mountains for a wedding in the pouring rain.  The fun we had that day will stand out for a long time!

August 2009 : We took you on a 7-part photographic journey through Africa.  I did an exhibition in Esbjerk, Denmark on the theme “Instead of Ashes, The Oil of Gladness” and shared this 2004 journey in words and pictures.

September 2009 : We extended our range of equipment and redeveloped our Uniquely Fresh style in Natural Environmental Portraiture.  We can really see the difference!

October 2009 : Apart from doing loads of weddings, we covered commercial and family shoots.  Joel Potgieter is one of my son’s friends.  I had the privilege to spend some time and captured this boy as he explored life in all his fullness.  What a joy!

The last 6 months will be posted tomorrow as Part 2 / 2 of  our 100th of a Century Peartree Celebration

I have been an extremely happy Nikon user for the past 12 years.  And just like my black Kenya Top Masai home roasted coffee, I am passionate about this brand and the bright future of Nikon in SA.  The journey started with a compact Nikon at Uni, that was changed for the F60 SLR when I went overseas.  This and the awesome F100 upgrade took me on several adventures before I  switched to digital in 2006 (only).  The D200, D300 and the current (superb) D700 have proven faithful over the years.

Will I make a change in future?  Only if a Nikon upgrade counts as change!  Why go generic when you can have the real mccoy?! hehe!

Nikon International has launched its global campaign a few weeks ago.  I have posted one of my favourite videos from this compain below on the D90S.

And lastly, I have received this from the Nikon guys the other day.  Holding thumbs! ]]> http://peartree.co.za/blog/2010/04/i-am-nikon/feed/ 0 http://peartree.co.za/blog/2010/02/stop-human-trafficking-2010/ http://peartree.co.za/blog/2010/02/stop-human-trafficking-2010/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:05:46 +0000 Wil Punt http://peartree.co.za/blog/?p=1070 Every year 800,000 people are sold into slavery. That's ten times more than at the height of the transatlantic slave trade. Slavery is a cold, hard fact of our times... except today it's called human trafficking. You may have heard of it. ]]> Every month we run a new Special on Peartree Photography’s website.  This month we decided to do it differently and to give something back to a cause close to our  hearts.  We at Peartree Photography  pledge to donate 5 % of our deposit income during the month of February 2010 to STOP (Stop the Trafficking Of People).  Their new website will launch this month in an effort to raise a public awareness of this terrible modern day slave trade.  Specially with the Soccer World Cup just around the corner …

To view the new video and find out more, see below.  It is worth the 5 min watch.

2010 Human Traffic English Public Service Announcement from STOP Human Trafficking on Vimeo.

A bit more info:  Every year 800,000 people are sold into slavery. That’s ten times more than at the height of the transatlantic slave trade. Slavery is a cold, hard fact of our times… except today it’s called human trafficking. You may have heard of it.

It’s the process of ‘recruiting’ and transporting people by deception and force for the purpose of their exploitation… usually forced prostitution, but sometimes for bonded labour, body parts and domestic servitude. Approximately 80% are women and girls. Up to 50% are minors.

Across Southern Africa today, men, women and children are being deceived with promises of jobs that seem to offer life-lines, but merely mark the beginning of their exploitation. In the light of the Soccer World Cup 2010, this threat is increasing. It has been estimated that as many as a 100,000 women and children will be trafficked, within South Africa’s borders and from other nations, to meet the sexual demands of the fans streaming to the nation.

STOP’s focus is three-fold:

Awareness: Through the media; and through education of young South Africans at both primary and high school level; as well as training the police with a special protocol to adopt toward the victims of trafficking. Until now they were largely treated as criminals.
Victim assistance: STOP is trusting God for a farm on which to start a safehouse where they can begin to rehabilitate victims. Currently, there are no ‘safehouses’ for trafficked people in South Africa and this makes it hard for any raids to be conducted on brothels, as there is nowhere to take the victims once they are rescued.
Legislation: Frighteningly, although South Africa is a source, transit, and destination country in trafficking circles, there is no formal legislation in place to address it. Part of STOP’s campaign is to lobby for this legislation to be passed. This also involves actively resisting the passing of pro-prostitution legislation which paves the way for traffickers – an increase in the sex-trade means a rise in demand, which means a rise in trafficking.

Bad hey … to find out more how you can get involved with STOP, please visit their website here.

Any other photographers out there who want to challenge our giving?! Please go ahead and let me know.  Giving is better than receiving!

For those of you who are new to or interested in Peartree Photography, we’ve compiled something specially for you. Feel free to view the first Peartree Photography Promo Video below.

Thank you to John Warner for this video. I really love your work!

Please let us know what you think of our new approach.  Your encouragement means much more than you think.  And finally you can let me know that you are watching …