Category: this is south africa

When is a photo-expedition not a photo-expedition?

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From the blogroll, this gem from Brian Micklethwait:

…I went on a short photo-expedition.  It was short because I forgot to take my camera.

It was just thrown into this post, which was more concerned with the antics of his new hard drive than anything else, but I love the idea of a photo-expedition with no camera. Can such a thing actually even really exist?

When do you find out that you have no camera? If you’re lucky, maybe it’s as you’re walking towards your destination. Logic suggests that it can only be as late as when you try to take your first photo. And presumably then you go through the five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, the last being marked by the need to make something of your trip out: maybe grab some bread and milk at the corner shop and make it a shopping expedition?

But as requirements for photo expeditions go, I’m sure that Brian would agree that a camera is right up there under “essentials”.

Tenuous link time, because I also went on a short photo-expedition on the long weekend. I did have a camera. Mine was short because I wasn’t really sure what I was doing, and it was dark. It being dark was pretty much the point of the timing of the expedition though, since this was my night photography project take two. You can see the images here (c.f. take 1 here). Be nice.

Yes, different ways of playing, but the moon was too bright on Monday for a proper long exposure. Also the moisture in the air and the dew was a real issue: the camera needed a wipedown after every 20 second exposure: it would have practically drowned with a half hour effort. I’m hoping that maybe some of the “noise” was due to that phenomenon and I can find a drier evening as we head towards summer.
So yes, lots (and lots) more work to do to make nicer photographs, but I feel I’m getting somewhere, at least. And each clear evening that I spend in Agulhas, I will tweak a little further until I can produce something lovelier and better every time.

But hey, at least I took my camera along. 🙂

More photos from the weekend here.

Summed up

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Because tomorrow is a public holiday, and because today was a school holiday, we skived off work. And I was up late this morning. Nice.
Since then, I’ve got close to very little done. If I was looking for a photo to use an analogy for the day, then this would be it.

It’s not often that Colin and I see eye to eye, but this pretty much sums up my attitude to Monday 8th August 2016.
Unashamedly so, too.

Later, because of the clear skies, and fueled by Castle Milk Stout and some (or more) Klipdrift, I intend to continue Project Night Sky Photography.

Watch this space for spectacular results, or, more likely, save your time and don’t.

Just a day

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I nearly didn’t get to blog today. One of those days when it feels like you’ve done nothing, but equally like you’ve not stopped all day. And then suddenly, it’s dark and you wonder, through a Black Label induced haze, where all the time has gone. 

In retrospect, maybe it was something to do with the genie in the brown bottle. 

Sitting in front of a roaring fire (or as near as we can get with damp wood) with a glass of red wine, it actually doesn’t seem to have been a bad day at all.  

Just unfeasibly short. 

Internet has got me on EDGE (literally), so if you want photos, go to my Instagram.

Done

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I’m finished. Someone call a doctor. My sides have split.

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This then, is the response of the official ANC twitter account to their defeat in Port Elizabeth and their utterly dismal showings in Johannesburg and Tshwane.

If you don’t laugh, you have to cry. It’s either hilarious or it’s tragic. It’s both.

For the other parties, this seeing the ruling party adopting this stance must be like manna from heaven. If this seemingly blind obliviousness continues towards and into the next (general) election in 2019, the ANC is not just going to be beaten, it’s going to be obliterated.

However, for the people, with another 3 years to go before the start of any possible change in government and/or attitude, it’s pretty galling. I don’t think (and the election results do kinda support my view) that things are going well here at the moment. There is a massive amount of dissatisfaction, irritation, anger. I’m not saying that the ANC is solely responsible for this, but nor do I see their current, rather apathetic approach doing enough (read “anything”) to combat it.

Incidentally, I’ve left JZ in the background there on the screenshot because his imperious, somewhat sour, face seems to me to be the perfect analogy (and possibly the biggest reason) for the ANC’s – and therefore South Africa’s – current woes.

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It’s stuff like this that makes me wonder if they’ve actually seen the results…

It’s Election Day

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Oh joy! The Municipal Elections 2016 to be exact.

And, for just about the first time since 1994, we could be looking at some big changes.

election

Always a politically active country, South Africa is not a particularly happy place right now and this has been a bitterly fought campaign. But with big cities like Johannesburg and Tshwane, and villages like Port Elizabeth (Nelson Mandela Bay) virtually neck and neck in the opinion polls, the previously all-powerful ANC looks set to incur significant losses.

Quite how they will take that remains to be seen.