I can kick myself...

When I walk out of my house and I see a sunset like this then I can kick myself for not being on the beach at that moment....

Another Cape Town Sunset

I am back in Cape Town from my trip to Chad. My son wanted to go camping tonight, but when we reached the "Ou Skip" (Old Ship) camping grounds we were told that we cannot go in after five if we haven't reserved a stand. After we've convinced the lady at the gate to break the rules a little, we changed our minds when she told us it was going to cost R155, plus R50 deposit for the key. We only had R150 on us and I was thinking that spending that much money only to pitch a tent for the night was a bit too steep. On our way home with a very upset little boy in the back, we saw the colour of the sky change in a matter of minutes. I quickly rushed to the beach and grabbed my camera. Yet again not pictures that would win any National Geographic awards, but the little boy completely forgot about the camping that didn't happen and was very keen to enjoy the sunset with his mom and dad. Definitely one of the best sunsets we've had in the past few months.

Sunset over Dar Es Salaam

Sunset from my hotel room in Dar Es Salaam.....Sorry, another point-and-shoot attempt.

Sunset on the Ilha

I was invited for dinner at the Ilha in Luanda and happened to be on the beach while the sun was setting. I only have my little point-and-shoot camera with me and knowing my history of bad sunsets with this little camera I thought that I might make it a bit more interesting if I placed my beer on a rock and making it look like a real laid-back scene. I should've taken pictures without the beer as well, because I have to admit that this beer without foam and bubbles might as well have been an urine sample in a glass. So, sorry for spoiling the picture with that thought, but that was the first thought that entered my mind when I saw the picture on my laptop. Angola also has beautiful sunsets, but you need a good camera to capture it...and make sure your props look like the real thing if you want to spice up the setting a little.

When everything goes wrong....

I was watching how the Springboks got a beating by the Scots yesterday and decided to go take a walk in the garden to see if could find something to distract my mind from what I would think is nothing but a humiliation. I am a Bok supporter, but when they play like they did yesterday then I don't want them to lose by 3 or 5 points, I want them to be thrashed completely. Maybe then they will wake up. But then again, so what if they lose, life is not about winning and losing for me. Besides, in a week's time yesterday's beating would've been forgotten in any case. And at the rate they are playing one game after the other, I can image that at some point they will have to lose as well. But well done to Scotland's team, they showed character yesterday after their previous game against New Zealand. I can image how they must've felt after the game. very pleased with themselves. And they obviously deserved it. Let's see if the Boks can feel the same next weekend.

Anyway, to make matters worse, when I walked in the garden I saw the bright orange sky and decided that I would feel much better if I could drive down to the beach quickly and maybe get a good picture of the sunset. At least this would give me something to feel good about about, seeing that the Boks didn't allow me that pleasure. By the time I got my camera and got to the beach, needless to say the bright orange had also disappeared, leaving me with a bleak orange that was comparable to the Boks' bleak performance. I took some pictures nevertheless, but when I looked at them on my laptop I decided that a black and white version would do it more justice. So let's just keep it gloomy, seeing that nothing else was going my way yesterday...

Another gorgeous sunset in Cape Town

I was thinking of sitting at the beach every afternoon and take pictures of the sunset until I get it right, it is just so beautiful (even though I prefer sunsrises to sunsets). I still cannot seem to capture the real beauty though, but I guess the atmosphere also plays a role...and then of course who you share it with....I don't receive much advice from anyone on how to get better pictures, so I will just carry on and see what I can come up with. I think my next step would be to use my tripod, maybe the pictures will be sharper. You are welocme to use my pictures for your wallpaper if you'd like...hahahahaha.

Afternoon at Eden on the Bay

Sunset in IJmuiden

Today I took my first sunset scene with the SLR. We arrived in IJmuiden and went straight for a beer and a TV to watch the Spain-Portugal game. After dinner I fetched my camera with the plan to walk to the beach, but only when I got out of the building I actually saw the beautiful sunset. Because the yacht club is in front of the hotel and in between myself and the sun, I had to literally run to a place where I could take a proper picture without too many things in the foreground. While running I had to change lenses and looked like some war reporter in Afghanistan running to get the best action photo…or running for his own life not to get shot himself. Four girls on Vespas drove past me and cheered me on like I was about to win the Comrades marathon. They obviously figured out why I was running with a camera while the sun was about to disappear…or they were just happy that it was such an awesome day. By the time I found a spot the sun had already sunk lower and was about to hit the water. Fiddling to get the right settings didn’t help much either, and by the time I took the picture I was out of breath and shaking. So yes, the final product was nothing to rave about, but this was one of the better ones. The bloody yacht that was coming in was also not giving me much time, so the more he moved into my pictures, the more desperate I became to take the bloody shot. After that I couldn’t wait to get back to my PC to check out my first sunset shots. I was a bit disappointed to be honest, but I am sure if I have more time on my hands to set up and even use a tripod I might get a better shot. I can just see me sitting at the beach in Cape Town waiting for that perfect sunset. I have one concern though….TIME! If I start this new hobby that is really got me hooked right now, when will I get time to do my other hobby stuff? I was thinking of taking the bike and go to a spot where it is really beautiful and then just spend the day there taking pictures until I get that prize winning shot, but where will I find time to fit that in…?

Wish you were here

A lot of my friends from overseas ask me which time of the year is the best time to visit Cape Town. I always say anytime is a good time. The weather in Cape Town is predominantly dry and windy in summers and cold and wet in winter. But I guess as the climate is changing so is Cape Town's weather and you can expect anything at any time of the year. Last year the wind hardly ever blew strong enough to do a decent bit of kite surfing, and had someone landed on Cape Town International yesterday they would never have believed that it was in fact winter in Cape Town.

Yesterday after work I took a ride to the beach to go have a look at the waves. Not that I really expected to find any, but the weather was just awesome and I thought of having an ice cream before I went home. When I got there I just knew that such beautiful day could not be wasted, so I called my wife and told her that we are having picnic at the beach. All she had to do was get home from work, fetch our son from school and get something to eat. Needless to say, by the time we eventually arrived at the beach, the sun was about to go down. I guess this is the only sign of winter that will never change, the setting time of the sun. In summer you can stay on the beach until 9pm before it gets dark, but in winter after 6.30 you have used up the last bit the sun has to offer. I yet again tried to take some pictures, but this time I didn't delete it. BTW, I'm looking at getting a better camera.

The water was flat, there was one surfer trying to catch a wave or two that came through with the sets. He managed to stand up, and I always say, catching that one wave is much better than sitting on the beach catching nothing, so I wish to believe that he was appreciating those small waves on my behalf too. The Seli 1 looked like it was glued into the ocean floor. On board you could see people cutting the ship up into pieces. I guess by next year this time it will not be there anymore. After the sun went down the clouds turned into this beautiful orange glow (or "mango" as my son calls it). It was such an awesome day yesterday, and according to the weather forecast, we are in for yet another awesome day today. Wish you were here.

How to kill a beautiful sunset

There are some things in life that I really suck at, like singing. Having three guitars and the ability to press a few chords does not make you a good singer. When you complain about your own voice and your wife suggests singing lessons in stead of saying no "man, it's not that bad", then you know for sure. Although I've been playing for 15 years or more and have used my 30-minute morning sessions as some sort of meditation to destress and relax, I cannot say the people around me reaped the same benefits from that. So I will not refer you to my home made unplugged and unphased videos on Youtube either. Another thing I suck at, is photography. My pictures never justified a decent camera before, so I have been taking pictures with the simplests and cheapest cameras on the market. But somebody ones told me that taking good pictures with a simple camera is possible and some good photographers only uses them. Besides, the ability to see a good picture before you have actually taken the picture is already an art that some have and I don't.

A friend recently send me this picture of her son (I am sure she won't mind me posting it) and I realized that I really like the picture. Don't ask me why, some critics might not even think it is good, but to me it is like my opinion on "good" wine...the best wine to me is the wine that tastes the best at that moment. This picture brought something out about the little boy, the surroundings, and had me looking at it for a while trying to find out why I liked it so much.

Anyway, to get to the point. I would love to take good pictures of places in South Africa to post on my blog, but when I look at my own pictures I always think...boring! Last night I went to the beach to take pictures of the sunset. I deleted all of them, did not even thought it necessary to keep them. Maybe this was just a case of the camera that couldn't do it rather than the operator, because it looked like my lens was fogged up all the time and the sun was smudged. Definitely not the way I saw it through my own eyes. The other people with their telescopic lenses and tripods seemed like they were snapping happily along and were very pleased with their shots, while I had one boobee after the other. I guess next time I will just go watch the sun set without struggling with settings on my camera while the sun is disappearing and maybe just experience the whole essence of what sunset watching is all about..not to get a good picture, but to appreciate the beauty of our planet.