A recent fire destroyed much of the vegetation on the slopes of a portion of Table Mountain. The route for the 2018 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon Trail Runs traversed this area. I was out there shooting some images of the race and noticed the green shoots of the new vegetation emerging out of the charred landscape.
More than 11000km separates Iceland from South Africa, so Volcanic Craters and Glaciers are very much outside our World, and being amidst them on a trip earlier this year made it so much more apparent. More images of this memorable trip are featured on my Instagram feed – 4otomo.
Out of This World
Travelling around Iceland in Winter, one soon realises that signage recommending wearing of crampons, is actually excellent advice. Parking areas, access paths and even walkways to popular sites like Waterfalls and Volcano craters are more often than not, covered with snow and ice, making walking without crampons extremely challenging if not dangerous.
………the journey continues ………..
Iceland is often referred to as the Land of Fire and Ice, add to that Geysirs, Waterfalls, Geothermal Lakes, Black Sand Beaches, Northern Lights, Breathtaking Landscapes etc, enough to fulfil any Wanderlust that may be lurking within you :-). I’ve often read about Photographers saying, that travelling around Iceland takes a long time, because you have to stop all the time, there’s a picture around every corner ……… how true that is. On a visit to this incredible Country earlier this year, I had the opportunity to shoot some of these images, but will definitely have to go back to fetch a whole lot of others that I left behind :-):-).
……….the journey continues ……………
Table Mountain was lit up in Blue Light on Wednesday 15th February to commemorate International Childhood Cancer Day. I was out there last year to take some shots of the occasion, so when I heard the mountain would once again be lit up in Blue this year, I was keen to go again. Last year, I shot some images of the blue mountain from the approach road, with red light streaks of cars leading into the shot. This time I wanted to do something very similar, yet different. Only problem was, a large component of my plan was out of my control.
The plan was to try and get the light trails to be higher up in the image than last years image, this would require something larger than a car, not exactly easy to organise after 9pm on a weekday, along Table Mountain Road, which is mostly deserted other than the few people coming off the last cable car down the Mountain. I set up my camera on the tripod, worked out the angle I wanted, and waited for something large enough to arrive. Due to bright lights from oncoming traffic, shutter actuation had to be carefully timed, to prevent overexposure. The odds of getting everything sequenced, large vehicle driving past slow enough, with high level lights illuminated, no oncoming traffic, releasing shutter on time, shutter open duration, waiting for all pedestrians to pass etc was proving to be an extremely tall order. After numerous attempts that I was not happy with, I decided to call it a day. Shortly before I packed up, I heard something that sounded like it was larger than a car, so I figured perhaps just one more exposure! With fingers crossed 🙂 I pressed the shutter shortly before the bus entered the scene I’d set up for, there were no pedestrians or oncoming cars, high level lights and interior lights were on, and the bus was travelling at a decently slow speed. The shutter closed, I glanced at the rear screen, and there it was :-):-). Against the Odds is the prompt on the Weekly Photo Challenge this week, and images of the Blue lit Mountain, together with my Final shot are my response to the prompt.
……..the journey continues………
The Merkja river in Iceland has several waterfalls along it’s length, Gluggafoss (Merkjafoss) in Southern Iceland near the town of Hvolsvöllur was one that I had an opportunity to visit. Gluggafoss meaning Window Falls, derives its name from the series windows that appear in the tunnels and grooves formed in the rock by the flowing water cascading gracefully down a series of steps totalling 120metres. Graceful is the prompt on the Weekly Photo Challenge this week, and images of the these falls and abstracts of it are my response to the prompt..
………….the journey continues……….
I’ve been away, so have not had an opportunity to wish one and all a Happy and Peaceful New Year, fingers crossed 🙂 its going to be a wonderful year for all of us. Thank you to all followers, commenters, readers, and all others who visit my blog from time to time, without you, this blog would have no purpose……….
I had an opportunity to observe the Northern Lights on a visit to Sweden and Norway a few years ago, it was an overwhelmingly amazing experience, which I hoped to repeat in future. Well, I was hoping another opportunity would arise on my recent trip to Iceland, and lo and behold after a few days of cloudy skies, the lights came out to play :-). Ambience is the prompt on the Weekly Photo Challenge this week, and images of the Northern Lights in Berunes, Iceland are my response to the prompt…….
……the journey continues…………
The City of Cape Town announced designated sites for discharging Fireworks for Guy Fawkes day. One of these was Maidens Cove along the Atlantic Seaboard. Hundreds of people gathered to view the spectacle of a large variety of Fireworks, large and small, very loud and not so loud, bright and colourful. Onlookers gathered around the parking area, whilst others who were discharging the fireworks, stepped onto the parking area briefly to ignite the fireworks and step away quickly. It all appeared to be very uncoordinated and chaotic, with fireworks ranging from loud bangs and ground based roman candle type fireworks to a variety of skyrockets being set off by people at random, some ending up dangerously close to spectators A strong wind added another dimension to the apparent Chaos. Thankfully, there were no incidents by the time I’d left, and hopefully it remained that way. Chaos is the prompt on the Weekly Photo Challenge this week, and images of the fireworks, and associated activity are my response to the prompt.
…….the journey continues………….
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Nestled at the foot of and in the shadows of Signal Hill, bordered by the Waterfront development and the Harbour, the tallest buildings of the Inner City of Cape Town are confined to a relatively small footprint. Largely unchanged for many years, there have been a few newcomers, including Portside, the tallest of them all. Local is prompt on the Weekly Photo Challenge this week, and images of the Inner City of Cape Town, are my response to the prompt.
……..the journey continues………..
The routes for the 2016 Sanlam Cape Town 22km and 11km Trail runs allowed runners to rise above the urban environment and immerse themselves in the sights and sounds of nature along the trails of Signal Hill and Lions Head. These are some glimpses of both these events. Images will be added incrementally.
High resolution versions of all images are available for ordering on request by emailing 4otomo@gmail.com
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More images to follow..
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