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. 

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...


                                                     

Greylingstad...

I stopped in Greylingstad on my way to an assignment at the nearby Sasol Impumulelo mine. 

This is what I saw in the short half an hour or so . . .

       

Surreal moment in Rouxville...

Rouxville is in the Southern Freestate Province of South Africa.

We arrived there on a Sunday morning just after the end of the morning Church service. All the farmers were in their Sunday best having a chat in front of the beautiful 'klip kerk'. On the other side of the church there was loud traditional music blaring from a house with the front door wide open and no one to be seen. . .

B&W Freestate Landscapes

In December 2012 my wife, Cheryl, and I went on a four day road trip through the Freestate and Eastern Cape.

We left our home in Centurion, Gauteng early the Saturday morning with the idea that we would motor without stopping until we reached Bloemfontein, the Freestate capital. From there we would take a slower drive until we reached Smithfield, where we would spend the night . . .

Nature with a Small Camera & Close up

Last weekend I joined some friends at a resort called Millstream close to Dullstroom.

I only took one camera with me,  my small Leica X1. Whilst my friends try their hand at fly fishing I try my hand at photography...I got ten 'keepers' and they got two...which they had to release...

Mozambique Landscapes

The landscape on the Mozambique side of the Kruger National Park is mostly bush veld. 

Two weeks before our arrival a massive veld fire had crossed from the South African side into Mozambique and to say the least the veld looked bleak. I was a bit worried that I might not get any good landscapes photographs...

Thompsons Beach, Natal

My wife and I stayed in Ballito on the Natal north coast for a weekend at the beginning of February this year.

We managed to get a one bedroom apartment a block away from the main beach in Ballito. Ballito is a very popular holiday destination especially for matriculants after writing their final exams...and apparently there is one huge party in Ballito at the beginning of December.

Lake Maggiore, Italy

Isola Pescatori , or Fisherman's island lies just off the shore of Lake Maggiore between  Stresa and Baveno and is part of the Borromean island group.

The people that live on the island are shopkeepers, restaurateurs and fisherman. It is quite easy to walk around the island and it doesn't take long either. Lake Maggiore is surrounded by majestic mountains and with the lake in the foreground makes for a dramatic backdrop...

click on images to enlarge...

The first image posted here is a photograph made from Isola Bella towards Isola Pescatori. One can see that the island is very small. In the foreground is a fisherman rowing which looks like a toy rowing boat to me and he is probably rowing to the other side of the lake....quite a distance away....!

This island forces one to slow down and absorb its atmosphere. Life is slow and measured here and one can just sit all day long watching the passing parade, and always there is the backdrop of lake and mountains and the pleasure of knowing that you are sitting on a tiny island in this great lake that stretches all the way to Switzerland.

All the images were made with a Canon 5D2 and a 24-105L lens. This combination, although a bit on the heavy side makes for a great travel camera. The lens has a good spread and with IS can be used almost anywhere and at anytime....

There is a tourist office at the harbour in Stresa where one can get all the info and tickets for the excursions to the islands. They have a very comprehensive website that helped us a lot in planning our trip, not just to the islands, but the whole area around Stresa. The website can be found here....http://www.visitstresa.com/

regards, Ivan...

Centurion to Weppener.

At 0km...,

In December 2011 my wife, Cheryl, and I took a quick three day photographic journey to Philippolis via Bethulie. Both these towns are in the southern Freestate. The area is quite arid and flat with of course the 'mighty' Orange river flowing into the Gariep dam.

We stayed in Bethulie the first night and then drove to Philippolis for our 2nd and last night. On the third day we drove back home. We drove  a total of about 1600km over the three days.

I wrote about this journey in my blog starting at the end and working my way back to the beginning.

........this is the beginning.....

At 210km's...

We left Centurion early the morning and drove as much as we could to get out of the City environment and to reach the 'platteland' as quickly as possible. Our first stop was at 210km where I was attracted by the row of bluegum of trees on the horizon and the ubiquitous watermill that is found all over our country.

click on images to enlarge...

At 334km, just outside Welkom where we stopped for breakfast,  I saw this typical farmgate with the names of the farmer and his wife written in red on the white gate. ...'Jan' en 'Koekie'...I always wondered why we Afrikaners name so many of our woman after a biscuit......opposite the gate on the other side of the road was a lone telephone pole assisted by another pole with the flat Freestate landscape behind

At 416km's...

Because of roadworks on the main road to Bloemfontein we took a detour through Brandfort. We stopped and stretched our legs in front of this beautiful and well preserved old Dutch Reformed Church...

At 511k's...

Bloemfontein was a big disappointment, not that we wanted to stop and take photographs, but it just looked so tatty and dirty, and this was just before the 100th anniversary of the ANC which was held there a few days later....I hoped the city council made an attempt to clean up the city..

After we had left Bloemfontein we drove through the townships adjacent to the city for a very long distance before we reached open and clean landscapes. It is quite nerve wracking driving through the township areas as the normal rules of the road don't apply. The are no more fences next to the road so one would have cattle and goats casually strolling across the road in front off incomming traffic, pedestians walking all over the place and taxis doing what South African taxis do.....

Once we had left the city behind we were in the typical Freestate landscape again were there are only yellow grass land, clouds and telephone poles....

At 558km's ...

On the road to Dewetsdorp we saw this typical rural bridge over a small river. The bridge was painted white and reminded me of my youth. In those days we didn't have any highways and we always traveled on roads just like the one we were on now.....narrow roads through an unending flat grass landscape with the only points of interest the telephone lines, black tar roads and every now and again the little white bridges.....

regards, Ivan...

Weppener

At 599km's...

Weppener is a small Freestate town named after Kommandant Louw Weppener. It is a very sad looking town with one part of the once beautiful Town Hall burnt down...and with no sign of any activity to repair the fire damage. Once again, unfortunately, proof that many of the small towns are very poorly managed by mostly uncaring, unqualified and incompetent ANC councillor's.

It must have been a beautiful town in its hey day and there is even an arch across the main road signalling the pride that was once here...

click on images to enlarge...

I met a local mechanic, Stefan and he graciously posed for me at his mothers very color full house and garden. His mother complained about constant water shortages and Stefan said that there was nothing to do for the youth in town. Once again the local Dutch Reformed Church was in a relatively good condition which is remarkable if one takes into account the dwindling number of the people attending the churches on the platteland and as a result a shortages of funds to pay for the upkeep of the structures and salaries of the dominie's.

Just another once proud little town just off the beaten track on its way down...

regards. Ivan...

From Weppener to Bethulie...

At 671, 738, 769 & 783km's...

We left Weppener after a picnic on the lawn of the Dutch Reformed Church and looked forward to the last leg of our journey to Bethulie. The areas we drove through were quite remote with few things to see except windmills dotted all over the landscape.

click on images to enlarge...

Bethulie Landscapes

At 789km's...

Just before we reached our final destination for the day we saw, from afar, on the horizon a symmetrical 'koppie' or hill . . .

Bethulie to Venterstad

At 820, 821 & 839km's...

After leaving Bethulie our first stop was the bridge over the Orange river just outside Bethulie. This bridge is the longest road and rail bridge in South Africa. From the main road there are no satisfactory views of the bridge itself and I left a 'good' photograph of the bridge for another time. The are large sandbanks here and in the distance I could see fisherman, and eland grazing on the river banks. The Orange river is our biggest river and it certainly looked large standing on the bridge and looking down. We crossed the river a few times on our journey and it didn't always look this impressive...our rivers are rather small by the rest of the worlds standards.

Click on images to enlarge...

Venterstad to the Gariep dam

At 870km's...

The road from Venterstad to the Gariep dam  was rather uneventful and the only interesting scene was the gate to the Gelykfontein Stud, owned by SW vd Walt . . .

click to enlarge...

Gariep Dam

At 915 and 874km's...

The Gariep dam is our largest dam and is situated almost halfway between Johannesburg and Capetown. Its always a nice stopover as the countryside is quite arid so its almost a bit surreal to see all this water in this sparse country side. The dam wall is massive and its quite a sight to lean over the ledge and look down the side of the concrete slab. The town is very modern and thus quite ugly from a photography point of view, but the sight of this expanse of water always makes me want to stop and take out my camera for a few photographs . . 

Karoo Cloud Landscapes...

at 1000, 985 and 979km's...

The stretch of road between the Gariep dam to Philippolis via Colesberg, was uneventful. We were tired and hot and bothered and just wanted to get to Philippolis for a rest. We stopped anyway because we found some great cloudscapes and the landscape was really desolate with  fine yellow grass on either side of the road as far as the eye could see.

Between Jagersfontein and Bloemfontein...

at 1158km...

I am going to start at the end and work my way back to the beginning...Why? I thought it would make it easier reading the whole blog when its all finished, as blogs have the last entries first......and just to be a little different.....

Freestate Journey 2011

In the next few post I will be telling you about my journey to the Freestate in December 2011.

A Farm near Standerton....

The Landscapes of an African Farm near Standerton, South Africa......

On Thursday I travelled to photograph a farm near Standarton. Initially the owner asked me to photograph his Bonsmara stock. The Bonsmara breed is a local one that was specially bred for South African conditions.