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. 

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.... 

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.

Blue Is The Colour...

Yesterday I went for a walk down Steve Biko str and Voortrekker str in Pretoria North...

I wanted to test my Canon Eos 6D and Canon Ef 85mm F1.8 lens. I recently bought the Eos 6D as a replacement to my Eos 5Dmk2. A few weeks later I also got the Eos Ef 85mm f1.8 lens.   The 85mm gives subtle compression, is small not to attract too much attention and is sharp right out into the corners at medium apertures

Milan, Italy

We arrived in Milan from Stresa and the contrast was fascinating...

The small almost sleepy village of Stresa lies on the shore of  Lago Maggiore, a beautiful lake with snow capped mountains in the distance and surrounded mostly by steep mountains. Milan on the other hand was a cacophony of sound & noise...especially on the Sunday when we arrived. There was some festival on with bands playing and stalls selling all sorts of things for charity. The streets near the Duomo were packed!

Review: Canon Eos M & EF 40mm f2.8 STM 'pancake' lens - Part Five

My user report of the 40mm F2.8 pancake lens and the Eos M . . .

These two were made for each other...

Read part five of my review.

                                                             

My Eos M...Some Personal Photographs

I visted some friends in the small town of Mokopane. 

There was not much time for photography but I saw this young woman at the supermarket...luckily I had my Eos M with me...

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. . .

Ultra Colour...

In the days of film we use to increase developer agitation to bump up the colours and contrast of colour negative film...today we have Photoshop, Nik Color Efex, LR, Topaz etc etc...

In Full Colour and Detailed...

This past Easter weekend we went with friends to the Ebenezer Dam in Georges Valley, Magoebaskloof . . .

Smithfield in the Freestate

After a long days driving from Centurion we eventually arrived in Smithfield at about 4h30 on  a Saturday afternoon in December last year.

Smithfield is on the main route to Port Elizabeth and a popular stopover. The are numerous b&b establishments and even a few restaurants etc. We stayed in 'Rusties place' for the night and we had a very unique two bedroom apartment all to ourselves . . .

12 minutes in Booysens

Yesterday I had to see a potential new client in Booysens, in the south of Johannesburg.

I hate to be late so I gave myself an hour and a half to get there. I stay in Centurion which is about 50 km from Johannesburg. With all the lovely 'controversial' new four lane highways I got there a good half an hour before the time. I stopped in front of the building and walked into the reception just to make sure I am at the right place...when I left the reception two minutes later I slammed my finger in the door. It was something I haven't done for twenty years or more and it was excruciatingly painful....

Molteno

In December last year we traveled through Molteno on our way to Hofmeyer...

It was a Sunday afternoon and a typically summers day. Molteno lies in the Eastern Cape and the town has some interesting architecture most noticeably the Dutch Reformed church that was build by Italian craftsmen. 

Portraits of Poverty...

This group of about 21 poor and unemployed people stay in a 'white squatter camp' near Pretoria. They all live together in a fenced off plot. Each person lives in their own 'tin shack' made of corrugated iron sheeting . . . 

Gladys...

Two minutes with Gladys

I photographed Gladys early one morning as I was walking around the small village of Hofmeyer in the Karoo region of South Africa.  I asked if I could take her photograph and took about 10 photographs in 2 minutes. I think she was a bit shy that I had caught her not quite appropriately dressed because she quickly asked her son to bring her a jersey. She was sitting on her 'stoep'  (veranda) in full view of the passing parade in any event so I am not too concerned showing her here like that...She is having the standard South African breakfast of 'oats pap'  (oats porridge)...and it almost looks like she has some traditional marking or 'paint' on her face or maybe it was just a face mask

Nieu Bethesda in the Karoo region of South Africa

Two nights and one and a half days...

Nieu Bethesda has a very small population of about a thousand people or so. The last time I was here was in 2000, and in the preceding 12 years the town has definitely taken on a more touristy flavour. The are over twenty guest houses and almost all of them were full over the long weekend in December 2012. There are at least two restaurants that are open at night and quite a few more open for lunch...

24 hours in Zurich

On my way back to South Africa I stayed over in Zurich for 24 hours.

We arrived in Zurich by train from Milan. The route by train through the mountains and tunnels were truly spectacular. Our train broke down on route and we had to run to catch the next one with standing room only for the duration of the journey...so much for legendary Swiss punctuality and efficiency...

Lucerne, Switzerland Continued...

In my previous post I talked a little about how difficult it was for me to photograph in Lucerne...

Maybe it was the weather or maybe it was just me or maybe it had something to do with the aesthetics of the place...