Street Portraits, Malealea Village, Lesotho, Southern Africa

 ' A shop owner and her daughter '

Every year in December I endeavor to travel and photograph in the rural areas of South Africa. I have done that for a couple of years now and have build up n comprehensive photographic portfolio of the people and places of our land. 

I prefer photographing in the Karoo, an arid region in the central part of South Africa, but recently the temperatures have become unbearable hot in December, which admittedly is in our hot summer season.

So this year my wife and I decided that we would visit the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho as its on a higher minimum altitude than any other country on earth and therefore hopefully a bit cooler!  It is also relatively close to where I live in Centurion near Johannesburg in South Africa

People watching in Roma, Italy!

I love watching people! 

Here are a few of my people watching photographs made on a 5 day visit to Rome in 2015. Most of the photos in this portfolio are of the people in Rome juxtaposed against the magnificent architecture and textures of the ancient city

A short walk through the TUKS Campus - my Alma Mater

My youngest daughter is a 3rd year drama student at the University of Pretoria. Last weekend she had a dance exam and invited me to come and have a look. Long before she was born I was also a student at TUKS, as the University of Pretoria is usually called.

After the dance performance I walked back to my car and took a few snaps of the campus as I was trying to find my car...I got a bit lost and made use of the opportunity to explore the campus with my camera.....

Newtown Graffiti, Johannesburg 2016

In Newtown, Johannesburg there is a stretch of the De Villiers Graaf motorway motorway known as the 'Double Decker'.  The Double Decker is actually a bridge like structure consisting of two reinforced concrete deck superstructures, directly above each other supported on trestle like piers.




These massive concrete piers  has become a magnet for graffiti artists and many of the piers and the surrounding buildings are covered in graffiti.

Bavaria, Germany - Day 1

In July, 2015 my wife Cheryl and I traveled to Munich in Bavaria, Germany. At the airport we rented a car and drove down to Oberammergau near the Austrian Alps where we stayed for three nights giving us two full and two half days to explore the country side and then back to Munich for another two nights before flying to Naples in Italy.

We had a full program as we wanted to visit Mad King Ludwig's Castles, go to the top of Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany, walk up the Partnach Gorge and explore a few towns and villages.

This post contains at least 50 images made on the first day of our Bavarian adventure!

a Short walk in the Bushveld

Last weekend I joined my friends for a short break in the Bushveld on the farm Hermanusdoorn. Autumn is here and the veld is starting to prepare for winter. The Bushveld around Vaalwater in the Limpopo Province is particularly beautiful and has the added advantage of being malaria free. 

Amalfi : B&W Street Photography

In July 2015 my wife Cheryl & I stayed for three nights in the small town of Amalfi on the Amalfi coast near Naples. Amalfi was the perfect place to practice my 'street' photography skills with my new Eos M3 mirrorless camera.

A selection of 35 B&W images can be seen below....

A short walk in Orange Grove...

Yesterday I visited an Italian delicatessen and grocery shop in Louis Botha Avenue, Orange Grove, Johannesburg. My mission was to buy some of those little red Italian cold drinks that look and tate a bit like Campari, but without the alcohol. There are many brands that sell these cold drinks but the one I am familiar with is called 'Crodo Bitters'. 

Super Sconto sells important Italian food and drinks and to tell the truth they have as large a selection of Italian delicatessen & food as I have seen anywhere on my recent holiday in Italy...

After my shopping I took a short walk up and  down Louis Botha avenue to take some photographs. 

Colours & Textures of Naples, Italy

Naples is very different from any other part of Italy that I have ever been to. The traffic, kamikaze scooters, graffiti, grime and the dirt is an assault on ones senses. But gradually the shock wears off and one does notice some unwritten code in operation, some fleeting moments of order. 

The ancient city looms large over all human endeavors and provides a colourful and gritty backdrop against which the Neapolitans go about their frenetic seemingly chaotic business of living , working and existing..

3 Weeks in Europe - My Eos M3 Review - 3rd time lucky?

I have just come back from three weeks in Germany and Italy where I used my new Canon Eos M3 daily as a travel camera, photographing people, structures, landscapes and even some attempts at 'street photography'.

       Atrani , Amalfi Coast 2015


In this user report I will share with you my thoughts on how the Canon Eos M3 behaved as my backup compact camera and what worked and what didn't. 

Included also a portfolio of 30 images of my travel photographs of Germany and the Amalfi.

B&W 'Platteland' Structures

In December of 2014 my wife, Cheryl and I went on our annual photographic journey through the 'platteland' of South Africa. For a change we skipped the Karoo and instead decided to travel around our Southern border with landlocked Lesotho.

Our first stop was at Zastron and then we drove to Barkly East via Lady Grey. From there we drove to Matatiele and then on to the Sani Pass and finally Nottingham road. All and all we were on the road for seven days.



Barkly East, 2014

My usual goal on these photographic journeys is to make photographs of the people and the structures of the rural towns and villages. 

In this post I want to dwell on my B&W architectural images and how they were made and also the 'old' outdated camera I used....

Some of my favourite Eos M Pictures

The Eos M received a lukewarm reception at launch...mostly because of the pedestrian AF speed. A firmware update did improve the AF but it is nowhere near the speeds one can get from some of the other camera brands.

Last year with a price drop interest suddenly picked up. I even bought a black one for myself with the fixed 22mm lens and EF lens adapter. This year I added a white paired with the standard IS zoom lens...I didn't really want another camera but I got the whole package for the same price as the lens alone would have been...

Swakopmund, Namibia 2014

Recently there has been some rumors of a new Eos M camera. I certainly hope that my 'dream' mirror less might be announced although I am not crossing my fingers. My dream Eos M would have a build in or add on view finder, and a  Eos 7D mk2 sensor.... 

My Namibian Adventure! - 5 Nights in Sesriem

On the 3rd day after leaving our home in Irene near Pretoria we eventually arrived in Sesriem. We had just enough sunlight left to be able to pitch our tent and get the camp organized before the darkness.




    Above: Deadvlei about 60km from Sossusvlei...

The next morning we took it slow as we were still recovering from the long drive through Botswana and across Namibia. On top of that we also experienced the infamous 'South Easter' on our first night, it is a very strong wind that howled around our tent the whole night. The wind was so strong that I thought it was going to blow our tent over with the result that I had to get up numerous times throughout the night to check if the tent pegs, ropes and things were still in place.  The wind was so strong that it blew the fine desert sand right into our tent and every now and again and I got a face full of find sand as a bonus..the joys of camping! ( I have also been told that  under the 'right' conditions the South Easter can sandblast the paint off ones car! )
So we woke up later than usual had breakfast and eventually entering the park we had driven so far to reach. The Namib Naukluft National Park is one of the most spectacular places to photograph landscapes and I can strongly recommend it, not just for the photography but also for the whole experience of it...

My Namibian Adventure! - The Journey to Sesriem

During July and August 2014 my wife Cheryl and I journeyed through the central part of Namibia via the Trans Kalahari Highway 'short cut' through Botswana. 

We visited the Namib Naukluft Park at Sesriem where one can find the famous Namib Dunes as well as Sossusvlei and Deadvlei etc. From there we went to Swakopmund, Hentiesbaai, Spitzkoppe and finally Windhoek before returning home. 




       Dune 45, Namib Naukluft near Sesriem.


We left our home in Centurion, South Africa on a Saturday morning and arrived at Sesriem in Namibia three days and 1700km later!

Vosburg, again!

Many years ago I stayed over at the Vosburg hotel for a night...




My girlfriend at the time ( now my wife Cheryl ), and I had been on a holiday in Capetown. On the way back to the 'old Transvaal' we decided, on a whim, to visit my grandmother who lived in Brandvlei.

Welcome to Strydenburg !

I don't have much to say about sleepy Strydenburg, except that on the day we were there it was very hot and dusty.  But the town is neat & clean and the people are friendly!

Welcome to Murraysburg !

Murraysburg is far from the main road to Cape Town...We drove through it on our way to Nieu Bethesda from Victoria West.

Our first impressions were rather sad as the first thing we saw as we entered town was the cemetery...

                                                           'God is love'

Eos 6D Review - Part 3 ( Homage to Tri-X with my Eos 6D )

Intelligent Life has an article in its March/April edition on Tri-X, the iconic Kodak b&w negative film. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Tri-X. The article is well worth reading and explains things from a photographers perspective, but of course we photographers must remember that the viewer knows none of what goes on behind the scenes and in the photographers mind, and can only judge what he/she sees in front of them. The viewer sees only the final product and doesn't know or care what camera was used, whether it was digital or film or if it was a modern Japanese 'plastic' camera or a German luxury metal one...

So in a moment of inspiration and homage I thought I would convert some of my very recent 'street' images from the also iconic Longstreet in Cape Town using the Tri-X filter from my Silver Efex 2, Photoshop plugin. 

Btw, the e book version of 'Intelligent Life' can be downloaded to I Pad,  available for free  from the I Store.

Eos 6D Review - Part 2 ( GPS & The Garden Route Portfolio )

Well I have had the Eos 6D for about 4 months now and I have come to really appreciate some of its unique features...and unfortunately some disappointment in others...


                                                     

My Canon Eos 6D Review - Part 1 ( Image Quality & General impressions. )

What better way to test my new Canon Eos 6D than on a 4500km three week journey through the Karoo and on to Cape Town... and back?

This is exactly what I did over this past December and January. My wife and I made a slow six day photographic journey to Cape Town via the Karoo. My three children drove to Cape Town on their own and then we spend another two weeks in Cape Town with them before the two day, 1500km drive back to our hometown of Centurion near Johannesburg.

For this journey I used the Canon Eos 6D and the Canon EF 40mm f2.8 pancake lens as my main combination, plus 24mm, 85mm & 70-300mm lenses. I also brought my Eos M as a backup camera.