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!

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In this post I want to dwell on my B&W architectural images and how they were made and also the 'old' outdated camera I used....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

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 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...


                                                     

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

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 . . .

       

The Owl House, Nieu Bethesda

I am currently busy with my ongoing 'review' of the Canon Eos M. But I thought I would take a break and post some images of a remarkable house in Nieu Bethesda...

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. . .

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 . . .

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...

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

Kalk Bay near Cape Town

Kalkbaai lies between Muizenberg and Vishoek near Cape Town...

My wife , cheryl and I just spend a couple of days there. We rented a holiday cottage on the mainroad across the beach. Well, it not quite a beach, more a rocky coastline with a tidal pool and a short stretch of sand . . .

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...