Archive for March, 2012

CCFM Rise & Shine Open Day – 2012, Mar 02

For years I’ve been listening almost every day to the CCFM Rise and Shine morning show, and have always wondered what happens in studio, and what the presenters all look like.

Of course, in today’s world, with the internet & social media and the likes, it’s not that hard to follow the presenters online, if you like me have given up trying to imagine what they look like based on the sound of their voice, and ended up ‘searching online’ (i.e. googling, ;) ) to find these wonderful and humorous folk who share a part of their lives with people like you and me on a daily basis, you almost feel like you know them so well and yet you’ve never even met them.

So to finally meet the crew I’ve been listening to for years was a surreal experience, as there I was in studio chatting to people I ‘know’ so well, yet they hardly even know me (Besides the odd SMS my wife & I sometimes send in for odd trivia :) )!

When I arrived, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. After I signed in at the front desk, I was lead through to studio A, where they walked me straight inside the room where the show is broadcasted from! I must admit, I thought we were going to sit outside the studio and watch through a window, but there I was slap bang in the middle where the magic happens.

My first time in a radio station, and I finally got to meet the effervescent Helga van Niekerk, who is the main presenter of the Rise & Shine morning show. I remember seeing Helga at a Focus on the Family event last year, where my wife (Crystal, about 5 months pregnant with our son Micah at the time :) ) & I went to see Gary & Barbara Rosberg at the Marriage Experience in Rondebosch. In person, Helga is still the same bubbly personality she is on air, and I was super amazed at all the controls and buttons she flicks and whizzes through with effortless ease during the show.

And of course, I got to meet some of the show’s other co-presenters, the infamous Wayne Turner & cheerful Lynwen Romen. I often laugh at Wayne’s wacky sense of humour on air, but off air the banter continues, especially between these two (Gotta love Paris :) ). For those of you who wonder what happens off air, it’s actually quite informal. Best part for me though was being interviewed on air, hehe, but of course it’s a little weird because you’re not really sure what you sound like, but it was loads of fun in the end.

It was great to meet the other guys who joined me at the open day, Alec, Richard & Marlené, and I sure hope this won’t be the last time I join the show.

So here are the photos, as I’m sure you know I had my camera with me, in fact some of you who were listening to the show that day may have heard me clicking away, hehe…

So enjoy the peak inside the CCFM Rise & Shine show.

Loving the Light…

Wayne Turner in action!

Helga van Niekerk on air :)

Richard & Alec!

The back of Wayne's head, haha! #Reading through the SMS messages.

Lynwen Roman, dreaming of Paris, hehe... Wayne just LOVES Paris, LOL!

Overexposed! Underestimated the flash off the wall! And yes, that's Wayne with his manly pink glasses!

That's me & Helga :) !

Helga's not actually sitting in this pic, & was trying to keep her balance while semi-squatting with her legs all wobbly, LOL!

That's me taking a photo of Wayne, taking a photo with his iPhone. Managed to blind him good & proper with my flash, hehe!

Yip, that's the one & only phone you can call Helga on in the mornings :)

Green means we're 'on air', so we had to keep quite :) ! I wonder if my camera made a noise during the show, hehe!

Coffee break!

Wayne being his usual self :)

The coffee was nice & strong, almost swallowed Alec in whole, LOL!

That's the look Lynwen gives Wayne when he's teasing her, hehe!

Richard on air!

Marlené on air!

Alec on air!

Carlin reading the news ;)

Richard's gift to Helga :)

Saying our goodbyes, until next time!

The Wedding Anniversary of Gabriel & Joan Biggs, 2011, Dec 28

Wowser!!! 43 Years is a long time! My wife & I will be married for 4 years on the 29th of March this year :) , still a long way for us to go! The deepest regret I have is not getting married sooner, but hey, so glad I ended up with my best friend for life :) .

My mom & dad (in laws) are such an amazing example to us, I’m really glad to have learnt so much from them and still learning! And of course, the usual suspects were there to celebrate the day with us (Aunt Katie, Uncle Salie, Dellmaine, Tash, Clive & a special appearance by Faith & her daughter Rachel), it’s great to have such awesome family who you just can’t get rid of, especially that noisy Biggs clan, hahaha, only playing, love you guys all to bits.

So of course, the evening was taken over by our little miss pwetty & her karaoke show, followed by Evan on the dance floor (looked more like wobbling, hehe) and Rachel with her crazy big smile who showed us how to do the ‘shuffle’ (Apparently looks like something called the running man from my days, hehe). It also included Evan & Carlo opening Christmas gifts that were still lying underneath the Christmas tree :) .

But the biggest surprise of the evening for me was the Roodt clan and their new hairstyles :) !!! Bleached blonde highlights & Nike swoosh styled shaves, LOL!!! What a great evening, will always treasure these family get together’s. Without further ado, here are the photos, a little bit late, ;) , enjoy!

Loving the Light…

Mobile Wireless Flash Lighting Setup – 2012, Feb 03 Saturday

Progress! I managed to put together a fairly sweet mobile wireless flash lighting setup! :)

So I spent Saturday morning with my little co-pilot, Micah & my wifey Crystal, comparing the new soft box vs the umbrella setup. These images are all test shots, in fact the photos have not been edited. That’s right, in the raw…hehe… Really can’t wait to do some location shooting to really put the setup through it’s paces. :)

Enjoy!

Loving the Light…