Gentle Tides

I captured this beautiful sunset on the West Coast in the little fishing town of Velddrif. This old and broken peer made the perfect subject to match such a stunning backdrop.

History in the Arderne Gardens

Wondering around Claremont this weekend I stumbled upon the Arderne Gardens. These beautiful gardens date back to 1845, and have some magnificent old trees, as well as beautiful ponds and bridges. You can check out their website at: http://www.ardernegardens.org.za

A Storm Is Coming

This was a beautiful but rare sight watching a storm approach in the Karoo desert.

Karoo Storm

One place I'd really like to spend more time exploring is the Karoo. On a quick trip through it I was lucky enough to catch such a dramatic, stormy sky, especially considering it is a place that doesn't get a whole lot of rain.

At The End Of The Road

If you look carefully at the horizon you will see a flat rock with a hole in it. That there is the Wolfberg Arch (don't be deceived, that small hole is at least 25 metres high), and this scene was a very pleasing sight for me, knowing I was almost at my destination. It had been a long day hauling up heavy backpacks and camera equipment, and to have the end end in sight was a great feeling. It almost seemed fitting that the clouds were gathering at the 'end of the road'.

Cederberg Mountains

Lost In A Fantasy World

I think every aspiring photographer has those experiences where they've messed up taking a special shot, but there are elements of that shot they still really like, and so they don't want to just disregard it.

I kind of felt this way with this photo. I was with a group of photographers at buddhist monastery, and everyone was starting to pack away there equipment, and out of nowhere this one monk came out of the temple and started to perform a ritual outside. I was the only one with my camera ready, and so I quickly snapped away, unconscious of the brightness of the sky behind.

I thought to myself, Wow... I've captured a fantastic moment!

But later, when post-processing the shot I realised it was a horribly over exposed photo. I had that bitter-sweet feeling of wanting to chuck it, but hoping something could still come of it. So I decided to give it a try.

I am quite pleased with the end result. It is a single HDR shot. and it sort of feels like a fantasy world. Almost as if it came straight out of the old fighter games Tekken.

A monk performing his morning ritual prayers

A Hungry Leopard

This has to be one of my favourite animals to see when I go to a game reserve. The thought of seeing a leopard excites me. But to see a leopard, with its kill, in a tree, that is something special!

I actually took this shot as a 3-bracket HDR. This is not the conventional way of shooting wildlife, and I wouldn't normally do this. But since the leopard was in a tree with lots of shadows across its body, I thought I'd use the opportunity to extract as much light as possible.
I think it was a good choice

Leopard eating an impala