We are very excited! We have upgraded to our new website with our blog inside the site.
That means that you now have access to content about our Style & Stories Portrait Portfolio, professional portraits, event and product photography located on our website.
We will therefore not be posting any more content on this site.
Please add our MVNP blog to your RSS feed and stay up to date with our latest projects and information that will help us help you to present your company's and your personal brand in the best possible light.
See you there!
Tuesday, 9 September 2014
Monday, 8 September 2014
BUSINESS PORTRAIT # 7 : Angela Greyling of VisionWorx at Xtraordinary Women, Somerset West
BY ERIKA
Feel the fear ... and do it anyway!
That was the message of guest speaker Angela Greyling of
VisionWorx at the Xtraordinary Women’s Somerset West chapter September
breakfast event last week.
In this manic society we live in, we often confuse success
with being busy.
The way to test whether that which we keep ourselves busy
with, is if it is making a real impact on our own lives, the lives of others and the
world around us. Life is not about being productive, it is about being of
value.
She quoted author of Success Intelligence, Robert Holden to
not confuse:
- speed with progress
- urgency with importance
- adrenaline with purpose
It's not about working harder - It's about
removing the obstacles.
And our busy-ness is based in fear, those scripts /
assumptions we have been brought up with and have assimilated throughout our
lives.
Angela
presented participants with four practical ways
of how to ‘hold’ their fears from a place of self-power:
- Stop talking yourself into fear
- Act as if you are not afraid
- Reframe your picture of fear
- Make a point of remembering the last time you were brilliant
Angela explains that she has been drawn to people, their
behaviours and emotions, and a desire to develop individuals. She studied a BA degree in Industrial Psychology at Rhodes University before working in the
distance learning environment as a student advisor, then as a recruitment consultant.
She eventually became a business woman, first as the owner of a training consultancy
and then a florist shop.
Her interest in psychology also led her to being trained as a
Life Line counsellor and more recently completing a Neuro-Linguistic
Programming (NLP) Coaching Practitioner Certification Course.
Saturday, 6 September 2014
THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR STYLE STORY DURING WOMEN'S MONTH 2014! #MVNPStyleStory
Desiree's choice of option 2 (when in doubt, follow designer Bill Blass' advice and wear red!) has won her a three-hour Style and Stories Portrait Portfolio shoot including make-up by Candice Harker worth R2 500.
We look forward to telling Desiree's story soon.
As usual, we will post the images on the blog so add us to your RSS feed.
Thanks to everyone who entered our competition. We really enjoyed learning more about you through your style story! And now we are very keen to also tell your story in style.
Call us to book a Style and Stories Portrait Portfolio shoot!
For more information and prices write to office@shuftipics.co.za or call 072 3553 264.
We look forward to telling your story in style!
For more information and prices write to office@shuftipics.co.za or call 072 3553 264.
We look forward to telling your story in style!
Monday, 1 September 2014
SPRINGTIME, SEPTEMBER 2014
Style & Stories Portrait Portfolio: Marnelle
Photographer: Martin Van Niekerk Photography
MUA: Candice Harker
Friday, 22 August 2014
WOMEN'S MONTH PORTRAIT # 3: Diana Rankin - Fascinated by Fragrance
BY ERIKA
If there is one thing Diana Rankin,
perfumista en Somerset West business owner, seems to understand intuitively, it
is arte-vita or how to imbue life with art.
Early
in the previous century, an Italian art and social movement called the
Futurists 1) had appropriated this phrase, art-life, for the sensory
revolution they envisioned. They wanted to empower and liberate society by infusing
art into everyday life and into everyday practices. The leader Marinetti, believed that we think, dream and act according
to what we eat and drink. Food should engage every sense and stir the
imagination.2)
THE ART OF FRAGRANCE
For the Futurists it was food and for
the owner of Perfume Power South Africa, it all starts with the art of
fragrance.
Diana has had a lifelong fascination
with everything to do with perfume and as so often happens, the desire to share
her passion and knowledge, grew into a business.
In 2011 she launched her company to educate, entertain
and make uncommon fragrances from all over the world available to men and
women.
The
vehicles she uses are Perfume Power SA's e-commerce website, presentations
at workshops and at private and corporate functions as well as exhibiting at
network events (Diana is the chapter leader of the Somerset West chapter of
Xtraordinary Women), conferences, expos and wellness days.
One
of the very special services is the three-hour personalised Signature Scent Session where you are guided to blend your own masterpiece.
SCENT ROOM
But it is the recent launching of
The Scentroom in a quiet cul-de-sac in Somerset West that reminded me of the
Futurists’ ideas of arte-vita and their notion of sensory elaboration and
combination to create
a
feast of sensory awareness.
As with the Futurists who made olfaction the ‘star of the gastronomic experience’ 3), every sensation
in The Scentroom brings your focus back to fragrance.
The
sound of running water in the beautiful garden, the tactility of fabric and
bead work, the colours chosen for the walls, the reflections of candle light
from the exquisite perfume bottles displayed on glass shelves, the feeling of body
and soul relaxing in the easy chairs, the touch of perfumed oil or wax on the
skin. It all has one objective only and
that is to enhance your smelling experience and by implication your emotional
experience.
The relationship between smelling and memory is a very special one.4)
While it is impossible to recall a smell
without the source of it present 5), smells, more than any other sense, triggers memories of situations, contexts and people.
And the memories evoked at The Scentroom have to be special.
“Rather
than a sleek and shiny sales room, I wanted to create an airy, peaceful and comfortable environment where people can have an
emotional experience but also receive accurate product information so that they
will find their perfect perfume match! “ says Diana.
So if you are looking to buy
something special for yourself or a friend, if you can get together up to 10
friends to join you for a Signature Scent Workshop, or even if you just being
in the moment in a beautiful space, give Diana a call and make an appointment
for a scentationalist encounter at
The Scent Room.
NOTES
3. Playing to the Senses: Food as a Performance Medium by Barbara
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
4. Ibid
5. Ibid ‘The paradoxical objectivity of smell is that it is more intruding,
more immediate, than any other sensation, and at the same time essentially
fleeting and elusive. Its presence is never permanent. Not even when that which
emits it is present in its materiality is it possible to remain attentive to
the smell…. Smell does not permit the continuous examination and enrichment of
the first impression which we take for granted, when it comes to the other
senses…. The nose must continue to act incessantly, without being able to store
the impression. The impression does not become more dense, it is not solidified
as when we concentrate on a tone or a color. It is always
evaporating.' Ruin, Hans (198?) Smell--Notes for
a Phenomenology of Olfaction, Kris:138-41
- WOMEN'S MONTH 2014 PORTRAIT # 1: Faith Solomon Helps People Have Better Stories
- WOMEN'S MONTH 2014 PORTRAIT # 2: Merissa Slingerland's Art From The Heart
See also:
Monday, 18 August 2014
STYLE & STORIES PORTRAIT PORTFOLIO: Daneel
BY ERIKA
She can dance, she can
sing, she can act ... and she can organise.
Not only is Daneel Van
Wyk the current secretary of the Hottentots Holland Dramatic Society, she has
also directed (Bevange in 2013) and
worked as the production secretary for the HHDS’ most recent and hugely successful
production of Annie.
And always with a
smile on her face!
Daneel who grew up in
Kimberley, studied drama at the University of the Free State before finding her
way to the Western Cape and the Playhouse Theatre, the home of HHDS.
Watch this space!
Daneel’s talent and her dreams are as big as her smile.
This is definitely not the last time you will
see her in the spot light!
Friday, 15 August 2014
WOMEN'S MONTH 2014 PORTRAIT # 2: Merissa Slingerland's Art From The Heart
BY ERIKA
Martin
and I would often walk past a lovely old house in Diaz Street in Strand North.
It is
a real old-fashioned strandhuis which
has grown in a higgledy-piggledy manner as the need for more space arose until
it now consists of a brick and mortar core with several wooden lean-to structures.
At the
back, even a caravan has attached itself to the house like a barnacle as if it had once come
down to the beach for a holiday and just never left.
And every
time we walked past we would mention how great it would be to spend time exploring
the huge, overgrown and rather old fashioned garden with its magnolia and
mulberry trees and ivy climbing up and over the perimeter walls built from smooth
river stones.
And so
it happened that the wish was granted last year when artist and teacher, Merissa Slingerland moved her art school there.
Since
then I have spent many a summer evening in this magical garden, or otherwise inside
the old house, making art, drinking wine and enjoying the good company of a great art teacher and other creative people there.
Rather than a very
formal set-up, art classes with Merissa is more like a social event where you
also learn to get better at something we all love doing – being creative!
The classes cover
all media including drawing, panting, sculpture, printing and pottery.
You don’t need any previous
experience to join and although everyone starts off drawing, later you choose
whatever medium you prefer and you develop at you own pace.
From time to time
Merissa prepares a formal lesson e.g. on different styles or art forms, sometimes she organises
a model for live drawing but mostly she helps, guides and cajoles us in her
gentle way, to try new media, techniques etc.
And once or twice a year we all exhibit our works at a gallery or tother appropriate venue.
And once or twice a year we all exhibit our works at a gallery or tother appropriate venue.
ART FROM THE HEART
Merissa, who has
been teaching art to people from all ages in the Helderberg area for eight
years and before that in Rustenburg for three years, is herself an accomplished
artist having exhibited upcountry and locally at Rialto in Strand.
She studied fine art
at the Vaal Triangle Technikon (now the North-West University Vaal Triangle
Campus) and worked as a graphic artist in London, Edinburgh and locally.
“I
enjoy working with a variety of media and I love using expressionistic colours
and images to take the observer into another world,” she says.
Her artistic style is a
combination of media in earthy and bright colours. Rather than directly representing
the world in a naturalistic manner, her work expresses an inner experience
through a variety of organic textures, lines and forms.
Merissa also enjoys the technical challenges
of printing media.
Interested in viewing Merissa’s
art? Want to commission a work for your home or office?
Feel like joining her art classes?
Call 084 548 5441 or email her at merissaland@gmail.com
Visit her Facebook page and have a look at the activities Merissa Singerland Artist & Teacher offers adults and children including the popular art parties in the garden.
Saturday, 9 August 2014
WOMEN'S MONTH 2014 PORTRAIT # 1: Faith Solomon Helps People Have Better Stories
BY ERIKA
It is never easy going for a job interview, not the first time and not any time thereafter, even if you have done it a dozen times before.
It is never easy going for a job interview, not the first time and not any time thereafter, even if you have done it a dozen times before.
And with the current job scarcity and large numbers of people applying for the same positions, how do you stand out from the crowd? How do
you prevent your nervousness from destroying your chance to make the right impression?
Faith Solomon of Intelligent Placement in Gordons Bay’s can
help.
PREPARE AND GAIN KNOWLEDGE
Faith’s mission is to make it easier, particularly for first-time job seekers, to be better prepared and to know what to expect from that dreaded job interview.
Faith’s mission is to make it easier, particularly for first-time job seekers, to be better prepared and to know what to expect from that dreaded job interview.
While her objective is to contribute to the success of the
business that is hiring new people by matching the right person to the right position, she is
sees it as her mission to also assist work seekers, both experienced and those new
to the world of work, to achieve their
career goals.
The Intelligent Placement team pays a lot of attention to
fine tuning job seekers’ CVs, cover letters and honing their interviewing and
networking skills to start building their career path.
Instead of only assisting people answering her ads, Faith actively invests in the Helderberg
community by regularly presenting interview skills workshops free of charge to underprivileged
young people.
She also hosts a 15
minute programme called Your Brilliant
Career on Paarl’s local radio station, Radio KC during which she shares her
knowledge about building a career rather than just finding a job and offers
advice on how to search for work and how to market oneself during an interview
FAITH'S STORY
Faith was born in Boksburg, Gauteng but grew up and completed her schooling at La Rochelle Girls High in Paarl.
Faith was born in Boksburg, Gauteng but grew up and completed her schooling at La Rochelle Girls High in Paarl.
“My parents sacrificed many things to afford me an education,
she explains, “In many respects this has shaped my personality.
“I am tenacious in achieving success in all aspects of my life.
I live by a philosophy of integrity and honesty and I get excited about empowering
people and particularly, the youth to achieve their dreams.
“I want to give people a chance to have better stories.“
INTELLIGENT PLACEMENT'S STORY
Faith, who is married and has two young children, completed her International Travel and Tourism course in 1999 with a fully sponsored bursary.
She started her own career working in the hospitality industry including in niche market hotels in Franschoek, then as a tour operator until she joined the reservations department of Relais & Chateaux, Grande Roche.
Faith, who is married and has two young children, completed her International Travel and Tourism course in 1999 with a fully sponsored bursary.
She started her own career working in the hospitality industry including in niche market hotels in Franschoek, then as a tour operator until she joined the reservations department of Relais & Chateaux, Grande Roche.
“Throughout my career
I have been involved with training and development and later I branched out
into recruitment and project management, still in the hospitality industry, for
about five years before I was retrenched and I was forced to become a business
owner.
“After a day of crying and feeling that the world has come to
an end, I did the normal thing of updating my CV and starting the work seeking
process. But I just could not get myself to apply for any of the positions,” she
recalls.
“I came to the conclusion that the time has finally arrived
for me to do what I had wanted to do on so many occasions before - become an
entrepreneur! “
This was June 2013 and by August of that year, Intelligent Placement was up
and running and Faith needed a professional portrait and images for her website.
That is when we met this dynamic woman with the big heart
for her community!
So when we decided to tell the stories of some of the
remarkable women in the Helderberg area for Women’s Month 2014, Faith was first
on our list.
Thank you Faith for bringing knowledge and with it hope, to
young people in our community.
Thursday, 7 August 2014
BUSINESS PORTRAIT # 6: Xtraordinary Women, Somerset West, August 2014
BY ERIKA
The Xtraordinary Women chapter of Somerset West celebrated Women's Month by inviting human strategist and entrepreneur, Simon Hurry to talk about The Power of YOU: Why The World Needs You to be You!g
His presentation explored why being unique is a good thing and why the world needs individuals who understand who they are and understand what it is they wish to contribute.
We shouldn't search for who you are, Simon says, we should live who we are.
- Be unique in a way that is authentic, affirmative and encouraging.
- Be useful by crafting our meaning or purpose into something useful.
- Be remarkable and be really good at what you do as a way to be happy and fulfilled.
Tuesday, 5 August 2014
STYLE & STORIES PORTRAIT PORTFOLIO: Marnelle
Thursday, 31 July 2014
SHARE YOUR STYLE STORY #MVNPStyleStory & Win During Women's Month 2014
Fashion changes, but style endures, said Coco Chanel, and she would know!
What a StyleStory she could tell.
But we want to hear all about your Style Story (#MVNPStyleStory) and then we want to help you tell your story in style with a photos shoot and a portfolio of portraits.
From 1 to 31 August in celebration of Women's Month 2014 we offer you a chance to win a Style & Stories Portrait Portfolio photo shoot with 15 images on a CD worth R2 500.
All you need to do is:
- to go to our Facebook page
- Find the StyleStory Competition app
- Choose an image and quote combination that best describes your personal StyleStory
- Type in the number in the allocated field and you could be the lucky winner.
To increase your chances:
- Share with your friends through Facebook, on Twitter with #MVNPStyleStory or email and
- Get another opportunity to vote
Tuesday, 29 July 2014
SPOTLIGHT # 4: Sleuth at The Playhouse Theatre, Somerset West
BY ERIKA
Two leads in Somerset West's The Playhouse Theatre production of Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer, David Bullard and Christoan Smit. Director is Bettina Horvath.
Sleuth is a top-class thriller set in the 70's with twists and turns in the plot is keeping audiences riveted.
Show times:
Thursday 31 July 2014 at 8 pm
Friday 1 August 2014 at 8 pm
Saturday 2 August 2014
Book with Computicket Friday 1 August 2014 at 8 pm
Saturday 2 August 2014
Review in the Cape Times with our image |
Wednesday, 23 July 2014
STYLE & STORIES PORTRAIT PORTFOLIO: Lelanie
BY ERIKA
Strand / Somerset West business women, Lelanie
Roberts-Baxter is the owner of Angels Creations, an e-commerce supplier of:
underwear, lingerie, adult toys, clothing, accessories and more. Most of the clothing & shoes products retail
outlet cancelled orders/stock overruns - no rejects.
We first met her when Martin photographed Ronel modelling the lingerie
on the Angels Creations website landing page.
But we this time it was Lelanie’s turn to tell her own story in style.
Angels Creations website: www.angelscreations.co.za
MAKE-UP BY: Candice Harker http://www.mobilemakeupartist.co.za
Tuesday, 22 July 2014
Saturday, 19 July 2014
STYLE & STORIES PORTRAIT PORTFOLIO: Bettina Horvath
BY ERIKA
I met
Bettina Horvath only about a year ago when I attended a social media workshop she
presented in Somerset West.
But in this year she has become such an integral
part of Martin and my life on both a professional and personal level, it feels
as if we have known her forever.
What I
know about marketing a photographic studio on social media and using email, I
have learnt from Bettina.
When I
joined Xtraordinary Women there was Bettina, ceaselessly supporting inspiring
and teaching.
And
then we collaborated with Bettina the actress, marketer and director and self-confessed ‘drama
queen’ at the Playhouse Theatre in Somerset West.
As a master facilitator, Bettina has given Martin
Van Niekerk Photography the opportunity to photograph the people and
productions at the Playhouse, a job he thoroughly enjoys.
But now
Bettina is leaving.
After
17 years of marketing, selling, training and shaking up the inbound marketing
scene in South Africa, she and her son are going home to Vienna, Austria to do
the same there, of that I am sure.
We wish
you all the best Bettina, and we will miss you but if there is one person who
will use all technology has to offer to stay in touch and to continue inspiring,
it is you.
Auf wiedersehen!
PS: Bettina's STYLE & STORY
Typically Bettina style, her leaving will not happen quietly, no, she is going out with a bang!
Amidst packing up and organising her new life thousands of kilometres away, she is still managing to direct Sleuth, the classic thriller by Anthony Shaffer which opens on 24 July.
Book your tickets via Computicket today!
MAKE-UP BY: Candice Harker http://www.mobilemakeupartist.co.za
Monday, 14 July 2014
BUSINESS PORTRAIT # 6: Maree Steyn of Travel With Me, Somerset West
BY ERIKA
Maree Steyn is the owner of Travel With Me, a personalised service selling holiday experiences, corporate travel, group travel as well as golf packages including arranging airfares, accommodation, tours, cruises, insurance, car hire and foreign exchange
Travel With Me is situated in Somerset West.
Maree can be contacted at maree@travelwithme.co.za or telephone 021 8515226 or 072 364 2972.
Monday, 7 July 2014
Friday, 4 July 2014
BUSINESS PORTRAIT # 5: Xtraordinary Women, Somerset West
BY ERIKA
A group of extraordinary business women from the Helderberg and surrounds, meet every first Thursday of the month at Erinvale
F.l.t.r. Gwen Kloppers from Xtraordinary Women, July guest speaker and consciousness coach Ann Baret Solot and Somerset West Chapter leader, Diana Rankin of Perfume Power SA.
Xtraordinary Women is the brain child of Gwen's passion to create a community and platform for Xtraordinary Women doing extraordinary things.
More images can be viewed on the Xtraordinary Women Facebook-page.
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