Today marks the one year anniversary of that fateful day.

What day; you ask? March 17th. My last day working at the IT company whose employ I had been under for over 2 years. I'd given my resignation a month prior and this would be the last day before I embarked on the rollercoaster ride of being a full-time photographer.

What's it been like? In a word; exhilarating and perhaps terrifying. I can't think of how many times I have used the word terrifying in the last year, because it's true. Being a full-time freelance photographer (or anything for that matter is a little terrifying). It's also really rewarding. I am really happy about this leap of faith I made.

In this year I have worked for really cool clients; Terrestrial, the SABS Design Institute (South African Board of Standards). I photographed RnB singer, Loyiso Bala.

I lived in and travelled America for 5 months interning for Zack Arias, meeting other heroes like John Keatley and Sara Lando. You can go read about that here.

I worked on album art for The Ocean Doesn't Want Me, which I will be sharing in another post. I photographed the concert pianist Charl du Plessis and I have been working on an array of personal work to round off my portfolio. One of which I have already posted - The Spanish Dancer - and one that I will be teasing you with over the weeks leading up to Easter.

Charl du Plessis performing privately for me and my team whilst shooting.

To say it's been a wild ride is an understatement. I also finished my Dudes with Beards project after 2 years and 80 bearded dudes and it's been great. Thank you to everyone involved in that. Now let's make a book and have an awesome exhibition to complete the final chapter!

This post feels so frantic and rushed and I feel like I need bigger words to describe how grandiose this has all felt, but has it really? I did really small, little, tiny things that resulted in all of these bigger things happening. I wrote a letter and sent it to America, quit my job, shot a really big project for two months, went to America for 5 months, came back and started planning shoots and doing admin and getting people involved that I wanted to work with and then shooting that and now it's just rinse, wash & repeat the latter part.

I am busy trying to build a studio with a good friend of mine whom many of you know; Ett Venter. That will hopefully be up and running by the middle of the year; if we can get our shit together. I NEVER in a million years thought that I would be where I am right now. I still don't quite know where I am right now, but man, am I enjoying the ride.

Thanks for reading

Seeing as I'm on a roll here, I might as well get another blogpost out there for the world to see. If you missed yesterday's post, you can go have a read here.

I've been busy... very busy in fact. It's a blessing. I love every second of it. It's kicking my ass and I am making mistakes, but with that I am growing and learning and talking to friends and learning from them the ins and outs and trying to remember it all as I am hurtling towards the unknown at blinding speeds.

It's all one big rush. I recently finished one of the biggest jobs I've done so far and what a great bunch of people I have had the privilege of working with. One of those people is Tasos Calantzis. Himself, his wife (Anya) and their business partner Frederick has an awesome company called Terrestrial and along with the SABS Design Institute they are doing very cool things.

After all the madness of the 43 Challenge I've been busy with personal work and other smaller client jobs. Tasos contacted me last week and asked if I would shoot his portrait for an upcoming trip he'll be taking to Australia. I said yes; thinking it'd be a quick headshot and I'd be out of there. Then we had to postpone it until Monday of this week and as I was driving home Thursday evening from a thing at church; I had an idea.

He has been building this rad little boxcar for his daughter and it struck me like a punch to the throat. I HAD to get him in a suit and tie and get him in that thing and shoot his portrait. So Sunday I decided I'd email him and see if he was keen on my whacky idea. Here is his response: "Hey Bernard; that sounds awesome! It's actually great that the car is half built! The process and all that you know. Living in Beta. "

I love that slogan: "Living in Beta". As creatives/artists/creators we are constantly living in that in between of the concept and the finished product. Always striving for something better, never quite satisfied with the results and if we are, it lasts for a very short fleeting moment and then we move on to the next thing.

So here is the image: Living In Beta

Thanks for reading