Spandau Kop

Well this past long weekend I went to Graaf-Reinet (www.graaffreinet.co.za) & Nieu Bethesda (www.nieubethesda.co.za) with my fiance and her parents! I had never been to Nieu Bethesda and was keen to visit the "Owl House" (www.owlhouse.co.za). Well what an experience! Weird comes to mind! But very interesting, I was amazed at all the crushed glass used to cover the walls inside the house.

We stayed just outside Graaff-Reinet in Ardendorp. This was the view from outside our "room"! The koppie in the background is called "Spandau Kop". It was really dark but the air was quite clear so the stars were very visible. I had never tried a long exposure using the "bulb" function on my camera so decided to give it a try to get the moving stars effect. The top picture is an 8 minute exposure, and is my favourite of the 2. The bottom picture is a 12 minute exposure, but as you can see a few light clouds started forming, creating almost a "aurora" lighting effect. It was very cold this night (+/- 5°c), but well worth the effort of standing outside waiting to see the end result!

Keurbooms Blues

Well this is a picture I took at Keurbooms on May Day last year! I am going back to Plett (www.plettenbergbay.co.za) this weekend for a short break and will be visiting the Keurbooms beach again. This part of the world is so picturesque (when its not raining). I will be visiting my Mom who is down in plett at the moment. Watch this space for more pix from Plett/Keurbooms!!

A Special Photo

This is one of my all time favourite photo's I have taken. I took it on 5 August 2008 (3rd anniversary of my fathers passing). It was a strange day, sad yet happy at the same time. So I decided to go for a walk at the beachfront to get away from it all and just be. I took my camera with just in case. So I saw this beautiful sunset and decided to take a few pics. I had just downloaded a HDR program (Dynamic HDR) my brother had told me about, so I decided to take 3 exposures of this sunset and see what the program could do. And this is the result. I was quite amazed. I hope you like it too....

Rockhopper

This is a picture I recently took at Bayworld in Port Elizabeth (www.bayworld.co.za). This is one of 2 rockhopper penguins in the enclosure. Reminds me of Madagascar the movie.

First Photo Upload

This is an HDR photo I recently took with a macro lens (wish it was my macro lens). I love the depth of field in it, and the colours are amazing!!

My First Post EVER

So, this will officially be my first blog post EVER!!

Well let me start off by telling you a little bit about myself. I am a 26 year old guy. I am engaged to a wonderful fiance, and we will be taking the big step on 10 Oct 2009. I live and work in Port Elizabeth, South Africa as an accountant.

This blog will be a small showcase of some of my favourite photo's that I have taken and will be taking. I have only been taking my photography seriously for about a year now (got my first D-SLR in April 2008). I use a Canon 400D with various lenses (though I wish I had more).

I enjoy taking various types of photo's, although macro photography is my favourite at the moment.

I will over the next few days start uploading photo's (maybe 1 or 2 a day).

Hope you enjoy it!!!