Victory

Perhaps some of you will remember the lyrics of the song Butterfly, “wait for me don’t fly away”. Well, it was in a completely different context that I was saying something very similar at Kirstenbosch Gardens last weekend :-). I wanted to try out a new close up filter I’d just bought, and headed off to Kirstenbosch to see if I could find something interesting to shoot. Well, I stumbled upon this butterfly, who seemed to get a bit of stage fright as the camera made its appearance.:-). Working with a very small depth of the field was a challenge, that was complicated further by a gentle breeze. Nevertheless, I was very determined and waited for the moments when the butterfly settled on the flower, and the breeze abated so I could carefully focus and take a few pictures. Maybe not as sharp as I would have liked, but it was a victorius challenge for me anyway :-). Victory is the prompt on the Weekly Photo Challenge this week, and images of the butterfly are my response to the prompt….

………….the journey continues…………………….

Victory

Flower Season

The Postberg Flower Reserve, at the West Coast National Park, North of Cape Town, open for Public Access during the months of August and September is host to what appears to be a carpet of flowers draped over the landscape.
These are some images of the flowers when I visited there last week.

……..the journey continues ………………

Weekly Photo Challenge : Today was a Good Day

Spring has Sprung. Here in the Southern Hemisphere, Spring is very much in the air. Days are getting longer, and warmer, and one can sense the end of Winter is near. It hasn’t been a particularly cold miserable winter, but I suppose one tends to forget as evidence of better weather patterns start emerging. Yesterday was forecast to be one of those good days, which provided the perfect opportunity to visit the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens outside Cape Town’s city centre. I arrived there shortly after sunrise, to take advantage of the early morning soft light, that does so much to highlight Nature’s wonders, and went back shortly before the sun disappeared behind the mountain. Today was a good day, is this weeks prompt on the Weekly Photo Challenge, and images of my Good Day at Kirstenbosch are my response to the prompt.

click on a single image to enable a slide show that will enable browsing of all images..

…………………the journey continues……………….

Today Was a Good Day

Weekly Photo Challenge : Spring

Spring has a lovely ring to it :-), though its Autumn here at the Southern end of Africa, with a hint of winter already this weekend:-(. Nevertheless, to add some warmth and colour, these images of the King Protea from the Fynbos family are my response to this week’s Spring prompt on the Weekly Photo Challenge

……………..the journey continues…………

52 Photos Project : Starts with the letter “C”

It’s Canola season in the Western Cape, so its commonplace to come across large fields of yellow on the farms a short drive away from the City. Bella’s prompt this week on http://www.52photosproject.com is “starts with the letter C”, so these images of the Canola fields are my response to the prompt.
………the journey continues……….

Weekly Photo Challenge : Inside

I wrote in a recent post about the arrival of Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, so a perfect opportunity to post some close up images of wild flowers of the Fynbos kingdom in response to the ‘inside” prompt on the Weekly Photo Challenge                       …………. the journey continues………

mellow yellow……….

A few days ago, I posted about the Canola Fields, not too far outside the City. This is the second post which is really a continuation of the images that were attached to the earlier post. As it turns out, at venues like this, the shooting possibilities and the opportunities to try differnt things are endless. So these the second in the series of images of these wonderful “mellow yellow” fields………………………….the journey continues”

yellow fever…………….

A few years ago, I was driving out of town heading off to a little village about an hours drive from the City. The road is fairly wide, and winds its way through residential areas, until eventually, the concentration of residential becomes quite diluted and the surroundings become more country like. As I watched the last residential area fade away into the distance in my rear view mirror, I noticed these undulating yellow fields in front of me. What a captivating sight, a sea of yellow contrasted against the green foliage and the blue sky. These were fileds of Canola, which are processed to make cooking oil, as far as I know. I hadnt been shooting very actively then, so on that occasion I did not have my camera with, yet still marvelled at how incredible the scene was.

I suppose I made a mental note of where it was and that some time in future it wuld be good to get out there with a camera. But, life happens and we dont always remember all the little mental notes we make. Those that have read some of my previous posts would be aware that I am shooting more actively nowadays, and seek out opportunities to shoot whenever I can.  I posted about the coming of spring, and the flowers recenty, so I wondered if the Canola fields were also in bloom. Determined to find out, I set out last weekend, this time with the camera, and as I cleared the crest of the hill, I noticed the familiar yellow undulating carpet  :-). Maybe a few years later, but still very much as impressive and radiant.  

As you can imagine, numerous shooting opportunities, and different things to try, these were some of the shots I took, I’ll post a few others in the days to come……………..the journey continues………………………… 

spring breaking out………………

Those of you that have read some of my previous posts may remember the post about always taking the camera with, and how you actually see so much more when you do. Of course, each one of us, sees different things, and what appeals to one may not appeal to the next, but I guess the point I was making is that shooting opportunities just seem to present themselves in all sorts of circumstances.

This happened to me a few days ago, I had to meet some officials on a building site, not too far from the City. As the traffic is unpredictable, I left a little earlier and reached the destination before the person I was meeting arrived. Yes, I did have my camera, with me, so I walked around looking for opportunities to shoot. I momentarily looked up, and noticed the trees against the cloudy blue sky. What was pretty significant was that the trees were completely barren, almost skeleton like, except for what appeared to be some new leaves that were just emerging. The coming of spring is kindof accepted as being the 1st of September in these parts, so I momentarily wondered if this was Spring breaking out :-). We’ve had an unusually mild winter thus far, so was this a sign that spring was here?

Well, my ignorance around birds and trees has been mentioned here before :-), so I couldnt provide an educated answer :-), nevertheless, what I saw appealed to me, and these are some of the resulting images

It wasnt long after that the person I was meeting arrived, and it was business as usual …..:-)   ………………the journey continues……………….

early spring??……….

I wrote in a previous post about the wonderful weather we have been having in what is normally our winter season. Yes, there have been cold and wet days, which is very characteristic of our winter, however its been few and far between. Some people you talk to say its normal, but somehow I dont recall there being so many good day’s in any winter. The negative of all this good weather is that we have not had anywhere near the amount of rain we normally have in the winter season. The obvious consequence of this is likely to be water restrictions :-(.

The beginning of September is often referred to as the beginning of spring. I was walking out of the driveway the other day when I noticed the sun just highlighting what looked like pretty new leaves on the huge oak tree in our street. Is this a sign of early spring? I’m afraid I dont know, I’m a self -confessed unclued up on birds and trees person, so I wouldnt ask me :-). Nevertheless the sight of these crisp green leaves immediately made me think of Spring. Perhaps this is when Oak trees start to show their new leaves, two weeks before the start of spring, pehaps not, I wouldnt know. Either way it was a pretty sight, and fortunately the camera was close at hand :-), so I could capture a few images.  The journey continues……………………………