Can you believe it’s been 12 years since this steam train ferried tourists and locals for 67 kilometres between Knysna and George, choofing across broad estuaries, rattling through pine plantations and dappled indigenous forest, huffing and puffing alongside cliff edges, and skirting shimmering lakes? It was in August 2006 that the train ground to a…
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Just when I think I need to venture beyond the familiar to find things exotic, out of nowhere I get a bump on the nose. It’s been taking me a little while to find my feet again after being on the road communing with wild and untamed creatures … 7,400 kilometres later … I mean,…
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So here’s a story… inspired by a recent lion encounter in Kgalagadi and the way its image mirrors an exquisite ink drawing I purchased on an interesting coffee stop not so long ago. There’s a really cool artisan coffee shop sitting slap-bang on the thundering-truck-ridden N2, at Riversdale in the Western Cape (what?! In this…
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Stimulated by my friend Clare’s comment (she, herself, is an accomplished photographer with an excellent eye for an unusual composition), I’ve done some experimenting with sepia on a few textural photos from Kgalagadi. Simply love the shapes of the collapsed camel thorns, gnarly limbs splayed out like giant tarantulas The term “sepia” is inherited from…
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Benches at Okaukuejo’s waterhole A leafless pod acacia at Halali’s waterhole which is a bit of a trek into the thornveld and clambering over boulders — luckily so, as the sound of revelling campers travels pretty far! But look closely at those beautiful striated rocks …   Sections of the park are immensely dry, but…
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       Shapes, lines, symmetry. Texture and contrast. That’s what black-and-white photography loves. A non-distraction of colour promotes a clarity of line. And without distraction, the tonal shades and shadows in-between begin to play mind tricks on you … creating optical illusions. Above: design flair in Provence.   Nuclear warfare? The Apocalypse? A warning against…
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I just can’t leave Valensole without doing justice to the 101 lavender pictures I’ve taken … . . . and, oh, we will be so happy to say Au revoir to les mouches!
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Hirsh is earning his stripes as a local and has learned to drive like a Frenchman. He now takes sharp curves at speed, pulls into curbsides without any warning and a whooping “Allez-oop!”, and can execute a three-point turn on a highly trafficked road. Which served us well on the one-way, single-lane roads around Moustiers-Ste-Marie….
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     I loved the tables in the café with its delectable pain au chocolat.   Vivid colour followed by shades of grey . . . And this zebra simply stole my heart!
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