Dirty old town?

I’m parking outside our house at the moment, because there are so many vehicles from local builders all over the road that I will get blocked in unless I assert my authority by grabbing a parking space before they steal them all. Yes, it’s annoying, but it’s better than having to struggle to get out of your own driveway when you’re in a hurry.

And as I got out of the car (outside) this morning, I spotted this shot through a little “window” in the trees.

The “window” is always there, but the smoke and the low lying smog over the Cape Flats made it a bit more noticeable today.

And honestly, if it wasn’t for that branch hanging down in the middle there, this wouldn’t be a bad photo. Sadly, that branch is hanging down in the middle there, so it’s actually a terrible photo, but when you switch on the footy highlights, you expect to get the near misses as well as the goals, don’t you?

This was a bit of a near miss.

I could remove the branch hanging down in the middle there in Photoshop, but it’s literally right in the middle of the image and it would surely be noticeable.

Or I could zoom in and crop it a bit (ok, a lot), butthen it loses the magic of the “window”…

…and it ends up looking like some dystopian Soviet petrochemical town in mid-winter.

Honestly, it’s not that bad a place, and it’s not that bad a day.

I guess that the message here is that you can’t always get the photo that you want, even if you can “see” the photo that you want in your mind’s eye. This seems to happen to me a lot, and I put it down to the limitations of my talent with the camera.

The upside of this is that when the shots do work out, it’s so much more fulfilling knowing that you spotted it, planned it and then executed the plan as well. In the meantime, I need to climb the tree down the road, and lop off that branch, so that it’s not hanging down in the middle there next time I want to get this image.

I might have to go and light a fire somewhere in the middle distance, as well.

Up, up and away

A really great night last night, but more on that later, because we woke up to thick fog this morning. And while thick fog doesn’t really make for great photography conditions when you’re in it, if you can get over it, then suddenly, everything changes.

And so I grabbed the drone and headed out, and I did manage to get over it, all 80m of thick stuff lying over the Southern Suburbs, and what’s more, I managed to do it just as the sun came up over the Hottentots Holland Mountains out beyond the Cape Flats.

Looking first that way:

And then turning to see the Mountain sitting like some majestic island emerging from the low clouds:

Glorious light. Horrendous rush hour traffic.

Cape Town showing off, if you could only get to see it. Anyway, always nice to slip in an impromptu photoshoot before I get on with my very busy day.
Which, having done, I must now do.

Up the mountain

Nice little 9km morning hike on the mountain yesterday. I don’t usually get up early on a Sunday, but this was definitely worth the effort. What a pleasure.

Lovely sunrise, and great views across the misty Cape Flats before coffee and breakfast on a rocky outcrop near Rooikat Ravine.

Then back for a few jobs at home (including editing the photos: nothing too strenuous) before an evening braai.

What’s not to like?