A quick shot with the new lens amidst the dunes of Suiderstrand this last weekend. Yes, I know it needs some work. Thanks.
I’m no expert on toadstools – I have so much trivial knowledge in my brain that there’s not mushroom for anything else – but my best guess is that it’s an Amauroderma spp. And the only problem with that guess is that this was sitting in sand and not on a bit of decaying wood.
I will (possibly) follow this up further in an effort to positively identify this fungus.
Let’s be honest about this: mine is nowhere as big as some people’s. And I doubt that it will ever get that big.
But size isn’t important – it’s how you use it that matters, right?
Right?
Anyway, that’s why I popped my small one out earlier in the back garden and pointed it skyward. Right at this little fellow.
Here’s a bigger version. And here’s a different angle.
He’s a Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura) and that ridiculous tail is his way of attracting Mrs Pin-tailed Whydah. And wow – doesn’t he just like to flaunt it?
He’s backwards and forwards across the neighbourhood hoping for a bit of nookie from first light through to sunset, and he’s a chatty little bastard as well. I’m not sure if his efforts have yielded any success yet, but if they have, then it’s very clear that he would like some more success please, Ma’am.
He’s even more spectacular in flight with a stiff… breeze blowing, but that wasn’t happening today. If I do spot him in those conditions, I’ll whip my small one out again and give it my best effort.
And I’m not talking about the front right suspension unit of Gavin Watson’s Toyota Corolla at OR Tambo this morning. More to come on that story, I would imagine.
No. The changing of the seasons is upon us and the butterflies are plunging into the pool in celebration.
Sadly, the swimming stroke is a misnomer, as butterflies are completely rubbish at swimming, as the one above is painfully demonstrating.
Not much to do with this one, although I completely stand by my gentle vignetting. The background was ready made, the contrast in colours there from the start and the dust on the water just adds to the grainy film look.
It could be the poster for an early 1990s art house movie, but it’s actually just a dead butterfly on the surface of our swimming pool.
ICM. Intentional Camera Movement.
Usually, you try to avoid camera movement when you take a shot. But it turns out that there’s this thing called ICM, where you – are you ready for this? – intentionally move the camera when you take the shot.
They should mention that in the name.
It takes a little bit of practice to manage your exposure (careful now) and other settings*, but when you have ‘togged a location to death, it’s something a bit quirky and the results can be… “interesting”. And because you are not paying for film, you can experiment to your heart’s content.
Here’s one I did earlier (last weekend):
I know it won’t be to everyone’s taste. I’m not even sure it’s really to mine, although I do like the simplicity and it really does provide a rather different take on a very familiar place.
The white line is hugely important and perhaps I should have made more of it.
It’s not really Rothko, but can I see something of a background of a Turner there somewhere? Maybe.
Maybe not.
I’d like to see a bit more structure in my next efforts.
* for example, this was f/36.0 and 1/4″ – barmy numbers!
Draft night tonight, so I’m getting in early with something of a quota photo. And after our last two football matches being postponed due to adverse weather, I’m hoping for some sunshine. Hence this pic:
This is the Touwsrivier Solar Electricity Array, just off the N1 near… well… Touwsrivier.
It’s big. Check out the foreground in that shot of mine up there and you’ll note that there’s a full size railway line running in front of the CPV systems. Dwarfed by the panels behind it. Dwarfed.
The plant cost R1 billion to build back in 2014, covers 470 acres (190 ha), has a nameplate capacity of 44MW and a capacity factor of… er… 23%. Eish.
Inefficiency can like to be solar energy’s middle name.
Let’s hope for some decent weather today, not just so that Touwsrivier can make some much-needed electricity, but also so that we can actually get a match in before I choose some iffy EPL players to ruin my fantasy season.
Again.