Australian Travels

Canon 7D
f5.6
1/200 sec.
ISO 320
Sigma 10-20 f4 USM @ 15mm

So I haven't been keeping up to date with my blog recently.. Partly because i've been a little preoccupied with other things but also because for the last 2 months i've been living in Australia!

Whilst I have been here i haven't been doing very much photography and out of the pictures I have taken there hasn't been very many pictures that I felt happy sharing. However, the above picture I thought was quite interesting. I took this in Centennial Park in Sydney. In the middle of the park there is a large group of trees which are home to a large population of bats. I was unaware at first of the hundreds of bats hanging from the trees above me, until one flew right past me and up into the trees to join his mates.

At a point on the path there are carved wooden statues which have been placed between the trees. I overheard a tour guide saying that she didn't know the history behind them or when they had been placed there. After a bit of research I still haven't been able to find out anything about them either so until I do it will remain a mystery!

When I finish going through the photos I have taken here I will hopefully find some shots that I like and will be able to post them. Until then I thought I would upload a few from South Africa which I haven't put up yet.

Until next time...

Baby Owl - Knysna

Cape Town at night

Knysna Elephant park

Musicians in Kalk Bay

Fishing in Kalk Bay

Kalk Bay

Sunset in Knysna

A lamb on the road to Cape Town

Cloudy Skies in Lluandudno 

Wakeboarding - Misverstand River

The streets of Woodstock

Ultimate X - Cape Town

Wild Coast

A wave breaks over the wreck of the BBC China.
The Wild Coast is known for its treacherous and unpredictable weather.
Canon 7D
Canon EF 24-105 F4 L IS USM @ 24mm

On January the 15^th, 2011 during the final heat of Pili Pili big air kite boarding contest at Myoli Beach, I landed rather badly after coming down from a large jump and blew out my knee. I thought that I had just pulled a few muscles in and around or bruised it quite badly so decided to take it easy for a few days so that I could recover. When I woke up the next morning my knee was extremely swollen, about twice its normal size and looked very bruised. Unperturbed I chose to ignore it and get on with life; and so I did.

Six months down the line I was still struggling with it. Walking down stairs had become a serious issue, as my knee would buckle underneath me. I couldn’t run, walk long distances or cycle and I most definitely couldn’t kite. After listening to me moaning about it for half a year my girlfriend Joss, finally persuaded me to go and see the doctor that I had been threating to go and see for quite a while; so off I went. After an MRI and a few consultations it became apparent that I had torn my ACL and it required surgery to fix it.

Three weeks later I went into hospital and had the operation. It took over 2 hours and the doctor took two tendons from my hamstring and drilled holes through my femur and tibia through to the middle of my knee before using the tendons to create a new ligament and screwing them into place. Painful stuff! It took a good couple of weeks and a lot of painkillers before I was able to walk around comfortably again.

However, after a while I was back on my feet and I felt like I had a new lease of life. I was able to do all the things that I had been longing to do for so long, mainly kite boarding. I threw myself at it and have spent as much time in the water as possible since.

In the time since my surgery, my passion for photography has taken a bit of a knock. Partly because I’m able to do other things I love again but also because I’ve become tired and bored of shooting in Cape Town the whole time. It takes a serious amount of imagination to try to come up ideas for photographs that I think will yield beautiful pictures as well as huge determination to achieve that one good shot and after a while I started coming up empty handed.

Photography drives me crazy. There are times when I want to grab hold of the neck strap and wildly swing my camera above my head in a blind rage before hurling it down onto the concrete, smashing it into a million pieces. There are times when I want to scream until my voice becomes hoarse when I cant get the shot I want.

I really do wonder sometimes why I keep going out to shoot. Does the occasional decent picture really warrant this amount of stress? Could I not find sometime else that I enjoy that doesn’t make me want to rip out all of my hair or punch a brick wall? Probably not…

There is this feeling of satisfaction that get when I know that I just took a good shot. It’s a calm yet exciting feeling that I haven’t experienced with many other things in life. After taking a break from shooting for a few months I really started to miss it and began to get disappointed with myself for not making more of an effort to get back into it.

When I found out that my family was planning on spending Christmas on the Wild Coast in the Transkei I took it as a great opportunity to get back behind the lens and start shooting again; and so I did.

Canon 7D
Canon EF 24-105 F4 L IS USM @ 50mm

Canon 7D
Canon EF 24-105 F4 L IS USM @ 105mm

Canon 7D
Canon EF 24-105 F4 L IS USM @ 105mm

Many of the local people rely on the sea as their main source of food and income.
Canon 7D
Canon EF 24-105 F4 L IS USM @ 24mm

Cape Storms



Canon EOS 7D
f18
1 Sec. exposure.
ISO 100
EF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM @ 35mm

So it is now the 1^st of July and the 1^st day of the second half of the year! Time seems to be flying by. It feels as if it were just yesterday that I started writing this blog. To sit back and think that I am still here writing six months later is a pleasing thought and fills me with sense of dedication which I tend to lack with most things. My photography has certainly benefitted from it. The feeling of time passing quickly sometimes causes me to take note how little time we actually have in life and how important it is not to waste it.

I’ve been Knysna for a while now and although the temperatures that the area gets are similar to those of Cape Town, it certainly feels much colder here. The sun sets 20 minutes earlier here also making the days feel incredibly short with the darkness settling in around 6pm.

The weather has played a big part in dictating my activities. Mostly I have been house bound due to the rain that sporadically comes down in heavy waves from the overcast skies. The weather reports this time of the year are sketchy at best and do not prove particularly useful when planning outings for walks on the beach or into the forest. The days they show as being sunny and calm with clear skies turn out to be cloudy with icy cold winds and the occasional downpour.

During a break in the bad weather the other day and with nothing to do I decided on taking a drive and just seeing where I ended up. I thought that I would try and get some photographs of the Goukamma River mouth with the sun setting behind it. This involved driving about 30 kilometres out of town through fairly hilly, borderline mountainous terrain. As I got closer to the sea I could see that the weather was slowly beginning to worsen. I made it onto the beach just as the sun was setting behind a bank of dark storm clouds. As I shot pictures of the river, focusing on a piece of driftwood that had become lodged in the sand, the wind began whipping up spray from the waves and the rain started to fall; gently at first, until quickly becoming a torrential downpour. I walked slowly back to the car, happy to be on the beach during the storm.

Although the sky was grey and it was freezing, I was happy to be there to experience the sheer beauty of a scene that will remain in my thoughts and make me smile when I’m somewhere slightly duller than this. It is times like these that I come to just realise how precious even a few moments can be. This is time that I have not wasted.

P.S.

Thanks for reading.

Rugby in the Rain

Canon EOS 7D
f4
1/640th sec.
ISO 320
EF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM @ 105mm

The problem with blogging is that you always need something to write about. For me, I also feel as if I need a good picture to go along with my subject! So when I’m busy with college work and I have little free time, I find myself unable to find things to write about that I feel are interesting and make for a good story! So here I sit this evening and I realise that I haven’t posted in over twenty days, which makes me feel quite upset. It is as though in this amount of time, I feel that I haven’t done anything that I consider to be ‘interesting’.. The truth is actually far from it. I have done plenty of things that are interesting; they just aren’t things that are different.

I think that everyone in South Africa has noticed that winter is truly here. To me, the onset seemed somewhat delayed. I spent the month of May continually waiting for it to get cold and for the rainy weather to set in, but it just didn’t seem to come. I obviously hadn’t taken into account the fact that I had moved from Claremont to Gardens! I was really surprised to find that it was completely overcast and raining on some of the occasions that I was that side of the mountain in comparison to the clear sunny skies in town! I knew that the mountain had an effect on the local weather conditions just not that it was so drastic.

A few weeks ago I was asked to take some pictures of the rugby games that were taking place at SACS High School, situated in Newlands, between their competitors from Stellenbosch, Paul Ross. When I left it was very cloudy but the sun was managing to break through the clouds on the odd occasion. When I arrived in Newlands, the rain was hammering down. Sceptical that I was going to manage to get the pictures I was hoping for, I went out anyway under the cover of a poncho which was beginning to break apart in a big way. During the next couple of hours I managed to get thoroughly soaked to the bone but did come away with some shots that I was happy with. The heavy rain added a new creative element to the pictures I got, whereas originally I thought it might have had the opposite effect.  I spent a large part of the time trying to keep my camera as dry as possible. Fortunately, the lens I was using (24-105 L) is weather sealed which kept my mind slightly more at ease, but even still, the thought of water on expensive electronics doesn’t sit well in anybody’s mind!

One of the annoying things about photographing or filming sports and events that you find interesting is that you can’t really pay attention to what’s going on. You spend the whole time with your eye to the view finder and concentrating on capturing the moment that you actually miss the action. The irony is that, as a photographer, you are intent on capturing an image for someone else, but, in this case, you don’t really get to see it for yourself. … I guess in a sense its all worth it if you succeed in capturing that rare moment. Especially if it’s paid work!

I’m going to Knysna in a few days time for a week or so, just a little holiday. Hopefully I will find some cool things to do that I can tell you all about! If I’m lucky I may be able to manage to capture a little more of South Africa’s unique beauty.

I have now had over 1000 page views! Thank you for your interest. If anybody has any ideas or suggestions on how i can improve this page or any suggestions about things for me to write about, please feel free to comment. Your thoughts are much appreciated! Thanks again.

P.S.

Check in soon!

Canon EOS 7D
f4
1/160th sec.
ISO 320
EF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM @ 105mm

Fleeting Glimpse

Canon EOS 7D
f4
1/6th Sec.
ISO 640
EF 24-105mm f4 L IS USM @ 24mm

For the last few days I have been hearing speculation about the end of the world, which is supposed to happen today… but it hasn’t yet. Apparently, but don’t quote me on this, it has been 7000 years since the great flood which changed life on Earth. This is the same flood which prompted Noah to build an ark and save a pair of all the animals in the world. Apart from unicorns, according to The Irish Rovers they were messing around and got left behind.

Personally I hope it doesn’t end today. There are too many things I still have to do. Going out for dinner tonight with my girlfriend to one of my favourite restaurants would be one of them, winning a noble prize, having one of my photographs on the front cover of National Geographic magazine, they would be others. But even still, I’m having too much fun just being alive and living for today.

So the provincial elections are over and the DA have retained their position as municipal rulers of Cape Town. It wasn’t a particularly tough race by the sounds of it. Lets just hope the good job they have been doing doesn’t stop. I didn’t vote as I am not a South African citizen but a lot of people I know did. It is nice to see a lot of young people were voting. After all, they are the future of the country.

I was driving over

Da Vaal Drive

with Joss last night on the way to Rondebosch when I glanced over my shoulder to look back at the city. I was amazed by the sheer beauty of what I was seeing and made Joss do a quick U-turn in order to find somewhere to stop so that I could take a couple of pictures. Luckily I did have my camera with me (it usually is with me) but I had left my tripod at home not really. I wasn’t sure that I was going to get a useable shot as I was shooting handheld in very low light. When I quickly glanced at the screen I was awed by the colours I was getting of the sky but feared that they might be a little blurry. To my surprise, when I got home and looked at the pictures on my computer, only a few were blurry. The majority of the photos had come out very sharp even though I was only shooting at shutter speeds of between 1/5^th and 1/20^th of a second. Although there is motion blur, which I what I wanted to achieve, the backgrounds are sharp and crisp. I don’t think I would have managed without the amazing image stabilizer on the lens that I am using. Very, very happy with it.

One nice thing about the shorter, cloudier winter days is that you get to drive home to the sight of a beautiful sunset. Its amazing there aren’t more accidents caused by people marvelling at the view! If the end of the world looks anything like the end of Africa then hey, bring it on.

P.S.

Will be back…

Canon EOS 7D
f4
1/80th sec.
ISO 320
EF 24-105mm f4 L IS USM @ 105mm

I went to butterfly world with Joss this morning. Really awesome place. This little guy was the size of my hand!!

Coal and Trains

Canon EOS 7D
f4
1/13th Sec.
ISO 160
EF 24-105 f4 L IS USM @ 24mm

The second term at AFDA began two weeks ago which explains and in my case, justifies my absence. The work has begun to build up resulting in many late nights in front of my computer, toiling away at essays in which most of the time I’m not entirely sure what I am actually writing about. It’s a horrible feeling knowing that you have explained what you have to in 5 lines but you need at least another 50 to adhere to the 5+ page criteria.

I went away last weekend to shoot the South African National Rally Championships with some friends of mine in conjunction with Rapid Motion productions. The rally was held in Witbank, a small town an hour and a half outside of Johannesburg which I’m guessing came into existence due to the large coal deposits in the area. I don’t think I’ve been somewhere quite as polluted as Witbank. There are signs along the roads in the valleys warning that your visibility may be impaired by smog!! I thought this was a little funny until I experienced it first hand.

The hotel we were staying in was quite a joke. I was sharing a room with a friend of mine, Sean. There was no hot water for the first two days that we were there but after continual moaning to the managers we were finally moved to another room on the other side of the hotel. Thinking that we had finally secured a room with hot water we were pretty happy with ourselves… this didn’t last long. Our new room had a broken toilet seat and a broken shower head. It was a ‘rain shower’ style head, but most of the raining it did ended up on the bathroom floor with the water then proceeding to flood out onto the carpet after it had covered the entirety of the floor in the bathroom. There were also pictures of mate antelope in our room. A very weird place indeed.

Filming for the two days was also a different sort of experience mainly due to the dust. The course took place over 11 stages and some of these stages wound their way through very sandy terrain. When I saw the first car barrelling down on me at over 120 kph, it was the car that caught my attention but rather the 20 foot high dust cloud that was being carried behind it. When it hit I literally could not see my hand in front of my face. This made filming pretty challenging as I had to keep cleaning my camera as well as trying to find different and interesting angles to shoot from. The rally went off with out a hitch apart from a small hitch which involved one of the spectators being hit by a car and very badly injured.

It was nice to get back to Cape Town after the three days in the north. I can’t begin to describe how appreciative I am about being able to live in a city where there is no smog continually hanging in the air. It only took three days in Witbank to remind me how much living by the sea means to me.

A week ago I went down to Simons Town with my sister and a friend, Bjorn, to take pictures of a steam train that operates on occasion on the line that runs from Cape Town to Simons Town. She had recently shot her 3^rd year experimental film on the train and needed to get a few shots of the train running along the line. We waited at Glen Cairn for nearly an hour for the train to come by. It was quite a sight when it finally appeared around the corner in a dramatic scene of billowing smoke and the sound of screeching metal. It flew past us along its coastal route on its way to Simons Town station where we caught up with it half an hour later.

I managed to get some interesting pictures of the inside train as it sat in the station waiting for its return trip to Cape Town. I think for me, trains are one of those fascinations I had as a child, so it was quite a nice to feel slightly like I did when I was very young and to see that there is still some of the child I once was left inside me.

Back when I’m free!

P.S.

Canon EOS 7D
f4
1/640th Sec.
ISO 160
EF 24-105mm f4 L IS USM @ 105mm

When i have managed to get some free time I have been going for short walks along the Sea Point promenade. Other than the much needed exercise it has been a good chance to test out and get to grips with my new lens. I have recently bought a 24-105 F4 L lens and am very happy with the results I have been getting from it. In this picture, a young girl stares down from the window of a small train in a childrens park.

Cold mornings and panoramics

Canon EOS 7D

f29

2 second exposure

ISO 160

EFS 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS @ 32mm

I’ve been in Knysna for the last couple of days and it is definitely feels as though winter has kicked in and is here to stay. The days are getting shorter and there is a biting cold during the nights. Since I have been here I have heard stories from people back in Cape Town of the freezing weather and snow on the mountains in the outlaying areas just inland of Cape Town.

I arrived four days ago, it has rained almost continuously. I found last winter to be quite mild in comparison to the Cape winters I have experienced in the previous years. Weeks went by without rain and although there was a chill in the air, the skies were blue and the sun was shining. Although on occasion, a large front would roll in over Table Bay and drench the streets of Cape Town for a few days. They never stuck around for long and after washing clean the streets of debris left by city goers, the sunny weather would quickly return. Everyone seemed to agree on the idea that a warmer winter was not such a bad thing at all. I don’t think we will have the same luck this year; it’s going to be a cold one, big-time.

One of the nice things about winter is that you don’t have to be awake at half past 4 or 5 in the morning to catch the sunrise. I woke up at ten past six and drove to the beach yesterday morning to try to get some long exposure shots of the water in the morning light and when I arrived there at 20 to seven, the sun hadn’t even begun to rise yet. Walking across the small car park with no shoes on reminded me of how cold it actually was and made me thankful that I had worn 3 jackets. The cold sharp stones of the loosely tarred floor bit into my feet making them sting until they became too numb to feel. The sand was freezing from the cold water and the previous night’s rain but the refreshing smell of the sea air and the sheer beauty of the beach I was standing on made it all worth it.

I got a few shots before it got too light and hurried back to the car for the comfort of the heater. My jeans were soaked from kneeling on the wet sand and I still couldn’t feel my feet. I didn’t get the fantastic pictures that I had been hoping for with pink and orange skies and huge thundering waves, but I did enjoy myself; and at the end of the day I suppose that is what photography is all about.

I thought I would put this other picture up... It’s another of my Photoshop attempts in which I have blended 3 pictures I took on top of lions head into one. Thought it looked quite nice. Nearly died climbing down in the dark though with only one small torch between 3 people. Haha.

P.S.

Looking forward to winter! And getting a new lens tomorrow!!!



Canon EOS 7D, 3 Photographs

f7.1

0.8 sec.

ISO 160

EFS 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS @ 18mm

Spider in the Garden

Canon EOS 7D

f5.6

1/1600 sec.

ISO 160

EFS 18-135mm 3.5-5.6 IS @ 135mm

When I started writing this blog I didn’t actually think anyone was ever going to see it, let alone read it. However, just 3 months down the line I’ve had just fewer than 580 page views from countries around the world. This may not be a massive number but it’s made me pretty stoked about it! It is quite a rewarding feeling to see that people are looking at the pictures I take and reading about my experiences and opinions on things. I think that for me this blog has just become something of a hobby. I really enjoy posting on it when I get the chance, although I must admit that lately I have been a little lazy and also really busy. It’s hard to find the time to get out and about and find interesting things to photograph that I can also write about. After about 10 days of not posting I get really angry with myself as I always say that I’m going to do more and rush out with my camera on the look out for something cool. I must say that it can be really irritating!!

So last Wednesday I went off to Kirstenbosch Gardens with Joss for a walk and a change of scenery. Cape Town really is amazing for that. The hustle and bustle of the city can easily be left behind with a twenty minute car journey out towards Kommetjie, Hout Bay, or any other direction in fact. It’s something that I love. Kirstenbosch is a closer option but a great one none the less.

Although it is a little pricey to get in, it really is a beautiful place. Once entering you are greeted by lush gardens and sprawling lawns which stretch out across the park. A maze of pathways guides you through different areas of flora and in some cases fauna. We came across a mass of spider webs all stitched together in one shady corner under some trees. In the middle of each web hung what are called Golden Orb Spiders. Joss naturally felt uncomfortable as girls seem to do when faced with huge crawling insects. Female Golden Orb Spiders can grow 15 to 30 cms apparently… pretty big for a spider. Whilst Joss took cover I got closer to try and get some good shots of them hanging around; continuously waiting for insects to fly into their webs of death. The sign said that although they were big, their venom does not have any effect on humans and if you do get bitten it’s more of a scratch than a bite.

I didn’t get bitten so I can’t vouch for the sign declaring them to be non-lethal spiders. They certainly looked dangerous. There wasn’t much light in the bushes so I ended up using the sky as a background and opening up as much as possible to create a nice shallow depth of field. It kind of worked but has finally proved to me that I need to invest in faster lenses!

This spider was about the size of my hand. If you look closely, or enlarge the photograph by clicking on it, you can see flies and other insects trapped in the web. The spider scatters their bodies, wrapped in its silk around the web to make it visible to birds so that they do not fly through it. Very interesting.

Anyways I have a few ideas in my head for future posts which I think will be fun to write about, just have to get out there and get the pictures now.

Until then!

P.S.

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Life changes

Canon EOS 7D

f5.6

1/1600 sec.

ISO 320

Sigma AF 150-500mm f5-6.3 APO DG OS @ 200mm

Well it’s been a seriously busy couple of weeks for me and things have finally calmed down. I had my first 5 minute film to shoot at AFDA which went pretty well. We shot for over 20 hours which was pretty intense but a good test of endurance. I was quite happy with what I shot and hopefully things can only get better from here on upwards!! I also did an edit which went okay but caused me to spend some very long days sitting in front of a computer, an activity I’m not particularly fond of.

Other than that I was part of a team shooting a wakeboarding expose revealing the river lifestyle and showcasing some of South Africa’s most talented riders. There have not been any high quality videos from South Africa about wakeboarding so this is what we were tasked to do.

We were shooting on the Misverstand River which is about 120 kms from Cape Town on the N7. By the time I arrived with a friend of mine it was already night time and pitch black out in the country side. Navigation isn’t the easiest task in the dark when you are driving along dirt tracks not knowing which on earth you are and only being able to see what is visible in your headlights. My tiny car managed to overcome the bumpy tracks and needless to say we eventually made it to the house in which we would be staying and unloaded all our stuff. We had apparently passed part of the river on our way but I didn’t see a thing… driving the same road in the daytime I saw that it was right next to the road at some points!

We were two of the first to arrive and whilst we chilled by the fire people started to slowly turn up. Meeting everyone was really cool and everyone was super friendly and amped to be there which is always a good vibe in the beginning of a shoot. After a good chat and some food we all went to grab some sleep. Every morning would be an early start as we wanted to be on the water filming during sunrise and whilst the sun was still quite low in the sky.

The mornings on the river were pretty cold and flying along at 60 kmph in a boat didn’t help. For the first day and morning of the second day we filmed from the shore capturing some awesome footage from a lot of different angles. One of the main factors of the video was footage from the RED shot at 120 frames per second so turning 1 second into 5. We shot in the mornings and in the later parts of the afternoon until the sun went down.

Watching the guys out there riding and pushing each other to improve was really cool to see. The enthusiasm to create this video was awesome and was clearly shown by the level of riding and the drive the riders had to land seriously difficult tricks.

The nights were spent chilling and laughing as people recalled funny stories and chatted about the days events. We also reviewed some of the footage that had been shot on the day and everyone was pretty stoked with what was going to create an awesome final product. Look out for it - Tropical Roast!!

I left a day before the end of the shoot because I had to get back to Cape Town to do some more editing but was pretty bleak to have to go. I had such an awesome time over the couple of days and will hang on to it for a while to come. Really was amazing and was super stoked to meet everyone who was there!! Cant wait to see the final cut!!

The shot above is one I took on the last day that I was on the river. I got a chance to take some pictures and was lent a longer telephoto lens by one of the photographers there which allowed for some awesome pics. I filled a 16 gig card in less than an hour! I was only shooting from one angle and whilst on a boat moving pretty quickly so it was quite a challenge especially with such a big lens. In this shot Nick lays down a solid grab with a smoke canister taped to the tip of his board.

The holidays have begun and I have little to do now which is a really blessing as it gives me time to focus on myself and do the things that I enjoy the most. As winter draws steadily nearer I look forward to the change of season and what it may bring. I’m usually bleak when I think about winter but for some reason this year I am looking forward to it and the changes that it will bring. In terms of photography the seasons are extremely interesting to capture and allow for different feelings to be captured in places that they normally wouldn’t be. It is the feeling the photograph creates that is the most important thing about it. I say all this now but in a month’s time when the rain is pouring I will probably feel very differently! Haha.

Anyways I have a couple of cool things lined up… Will share them soon!!

P.S.

Posting more often from now!

Sea Point Stroll

Canon EOS 7D
f7.1
1/200th sec.
ISO 400
EFS 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS @ 30mm

So every now and again, what I can only describe as a serious lack of creativity turns around and kicks you really hard. Coupled with the fact that I have been suffering from a strange bout of migraines and a serious college workload, I seem to have lost my artistic vision and drive to take photographs. Fearing that it may have been a permanent thing was actually pretty stressful. However, as the headaches subsided and the college work eased up I have been finding myself with a little more free time on my hands which has been a nice opportunity for me to get back out and start taking pictures again without the nagging in the back of my mind that I should be at home completing assignments.

I took a walk along the promenade in Sea Point the other night and was amazed to see how busy it was. There were so many people running, walking, throwing balls for dogs, pushing babies around whilst at the same time a huge swell repeatedly hammered at the sea wall. All this comotion was highlighted against a beautiful backdrop of orange, pinks and blues thrown out by the setting sun. I must admit that it is a really nice way to wind down after a hard day at work.

When you live in Cape Town you begin to take the beautiful scenery for granted after a while, forgetting how lucky you are to live in one of the more beautiful cities in the world. I have travelled pretty extensively and can say that there aren’t too many places in the world quite like it. I mean COME ON!!! It is seriously beautiful here!! How can I live here and feel so uncreative? I would hate to feel how bad it would be if I was in a flat, inland concrete jungle rather than surrounded by majestic mountains and two oceans. But like I said, it’s easy to become complacent. So when I get out and start to walk, climb a mountain or take a drive down the coast, at some point I am guaranteed to get that shaky excited feeling when I look out and find myself surrounded by this beautiful city and landscape. It is all I need to to regain that creative drive within me.

I took this shot as two young women walked past me on the promenade. Silhouetted against the colourful sky I felt this described the perfect evening. Why would you want to walk anywhere else?

P.S.
Hoping to get out more!

Music and Polo

Canon EOS 7D

f7.1

1/800th sec.

ISO 200

EFS 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS @ 135mm

Over the weekend I attended the MK awards with Joss. The event showcases the top South African artists in the music industry. Basically, the MK awards are the local version of the MTV awards. Unfortunately for me the majority of the talk was all in Afrikaans. I don’t speak any Afrikaans at all but luckily Joss managed to translate most of what was going on to me. It was an interesting evening and it was nice to see some of the more unknown local artists winning awards as well as the more popular ones.

My younger sister was in Cape Town over the weekend with her school on a water polo tour of the Cape. She is 14 and goes to Oakhill in Knysna. Oakhill is pretty small by anyone’s standards, having only about 250 students in total. I completed my last two years of schooling there but was pretty shocked upon arrival when I found out that there were only 25 or so people in my year in comparison to the 150+ in my previous school!

I managed to go and watch a few of the games they played against Herzlia, a school in Oranjezicht, very close to where I live. However, the games started at 8 in the morning on a Sunday! I’m not really one to sleep in late but I don’t particularly enjoy waking up at 7 on a Sunday. Haha, anyways I arrived on time with Joss and my other sister Kiera, who is 21. The games lasted the good part of the morning and by the end we were all cheering them on and shouting at the refs’ stupidity! All in all it was a lot of fun and a pretty interesting morning. I managed to get a couple of shots of one of the 1^st team boys’ games. So I will leave you with one of those.

I also thought I would add on this picture of a cheetah from the Tenikwa cat sanctuary. Its one of my favourites so I thought I would post it for you all to see.

Hopefully I can find a few more interesting things to do!!

Until then! P.S.

Nikon D40x

f7.1

1/200th sec.

ISO 200

Nikon AF 70-210mm f3.5-5.6 @ 210mm