Why did the snails cross the road?

Good Morning Beautiful.

Even though she never sleeps, the Earth allows us to witness her come alive in the morning. From snails crossing the road to flowers blooming next to the sidewalk close to a highway offramp. 

"Some flowers are only smelled when going down on your knees to capture them"- Piet Vermeulen

 Our busy lives make it so easy to forget things that are around us as we let the little miracles of life pass us by. In the midst of the mundane activities that sometimes fuel our existence,we should remember that there's more beauty around us, all we have to do is is stop for a second and look around.

Chasing the Sunrise

I’m accustomed to falling asleep between 3am and 4am, however I slept early the previous night and by my normal bedtime, I was wide awake, excited and peeking though the blinds with anticipation...It’s been a while since I’ve watched the sunrise over the horizon. The previous night’s rain had stopped and all concerns about walking around in a different environment alone with a camera in hand were thrown out the window. I was going to see that sunrise.

There was more than enough to keep this city girl occupied on the beach this particular beautiful morning.

I kept coming back to the beach, this was on a cloudy morning. 

 Nature has many ways of reminding us just how small we are and how grand and magnificent she really is.

Runaway Candlelight

The initial idea, inspired by the sound of the soft summer rain and crickets outside, was to create a relaxing atmosphere and read a book so I wouldn’t have to renew it again at the library. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, the burning wick drew me in...

Playing with slower shutter speed
ISO 100  f6.4  Exposure 4s

This is one of the initial shots. The flash went on and I manually turned it off after taking this.

ISO 400   f4.9  Exposure1/56

Here's one without a flash. 

ISO 800  f4.9  Exposure1/56

Balance

Have you even gone searching for something specific that the hunt becomes an obsession? I’ve been looking for a specific book. This book that will somehow improve a lot of things and make my life a whole lot better. For months I’ve been searching bookstores, kalahari.net, amazon and expos to no vail. Then last week I found a copy at the library. Hallelujah!

I read through it and couldn’t wait to start experimenting and putting all the ideas I had on paper or canvas. Then Saturday evening came, a time I had set aside to paint. Exciting...right?

2 hours later I grudgingly packed everything away and accepted that there was no colour smearing to be done tonight. As much as I wanted to paint, my heart was simply not into it. My aching body needed to rest a bit and as for my head...it was running a blank.

And I knew why. It has nothing to do with procrastination. 

My whole being was out of sync. A week (or 2) of overindulging in bar-one ice-cream, burgers, pizza, coke and other stuff left me feeling sluggish, sick and a little feverish. It doesn’t help that  I haven’t been exercising and that Morgan Spurlock’s puke in Super Size Me kept playing in my head everytime I took a bite of that cake.

My head was physically attached to my neck but I had no idea what was there half the time. As for my spirit, one can only imagine. Scraping pots instead of dipping a brush into paint seemed more interesting and fun.

As I was packing everything away I thought about balance. Black and White, Hot or Cold, In and Out. It made me realise that outside the science lab, harmonious balance is harder to reach if the lines between are rigid. Look at racial segregation for example (couldn’t think of anything else right now), its causes more problems than solutions, it limits our mindsets, inhibits progress and creates ignorance. 

Everything is interconnected. The beauty about balance is that if different elements come together and work harmoniously, then something new and beautiful can come out of it. In my case, I need to get my body sorted out ASAP so my head can clear and I can focus on deeper meaning and the tasks at hand. Once all these elements start working together  I can take control and be free of this wretched dread.

This may seem contradictory to the quote I put at the top...just start doing what you love even if the conditions aren’t perfect. However, I’m not giving up or giving in. Like the AA serenity prayer, I think I know the difference between what I can’t and what I can change at this very moment.

Hello Sunday Morning, a new day to start afresh.

In Bloom

Bensusan Museum of Photography

Situated on the top floor of the Museum Africa in Newtown, lies the Bensusan Museum of Photography which displays the history of this field and the evolution from black and white to colour photography. This part of the museum houses a wide range of cameras: from 19^th century studio cameras and Daguerreotypes to 35mm film cameras and the later 21^st century digital cameras.

Started by Dr. Arthur Bensusan, who donated his collection of antique cameras, photographs and books in 1968, the museum also houses a photography library and a collection of photographs which illustrate the vast historical, cultural and political landscape of the country.

It is definitely worth a visit for those interested in the history and evolution of the camera and a good way of passing time or spending a Saturday morning.

Tambourines are cool

I think tambourines are good to have around when needing an 'easy' and portable percussion. Couple one of those noisy buggers with a stringed and a wind instrument and you’ve got the making of a one man band.

I started this blog with the intent of documenting and sharing my photo-taking learning experiences. So, here’s a little snippet into a little corner of mine, using some of my favourite things, like the guitar again. 

This is the workstation together with a diagram of the light set-up which excluded the use of a back and a fill light:

Workstation

light setup

The folders and box files came in handy and served not only as good black backdrop but absorbed the light instead of dispersing it. Mind you, these pics were taking just a little after 2pm on a very sunny day. Most of the reading I’ve been doing has been placing great emphasis on the importance of natural light, after all the sun is a great tool and produces the best light. However, I couldn’t achieve the effect I wanted until I closed the curtain and made use of artificial light.

So, here they are:

I decided to do very little imaging editing, in fact the only thing I did with these pics was to crop them. What do you think?