Aus Photographic Workshop 2017

Silk Painting Sunset - Canon 40D, Canon 70-200 f/4 IS, 1/100, f/4, ISO 100

Once again, I was lucky enough to co-present at the Aus Photographic Workshop, together with Wicus Leeuwner and JJ van Heerden, 21 - 27 May 2017. I cashed in all my Brownie points (leaving my wife with two little kids) and headed off to the desert for a week.

Once again, I concentrated on night photography, but my favourite image is the above sunset. It was taken at God's Window (a mountain overlooking the Garub Plains), and shows the sun seen through roughly 100km of air, as it sets beyond Lüderitz. It somehow reminds me of a Chinese silk painting, hence the title.

Spirit Gull

Spirit Gull - Canon 40D, Canon 70-200 F/4 IS, 1/10, F/13, ISO 100

I recently cashed in all my brownie points and got away from my family to take part in the Overberg Photographic Workshop, presented by Wicus Leeuwner and JJ van Heerden. That's where I managed the above shot, which I wanted to share here.

Night skies updated

Cederberg Skies - Canon 40D, Tokina 11-16, 12x30sec, f/2.8, ISO 3200

I have tweaked some of my recent night sky pictures, here they are.

The above shot was taken during a weekend in the Cederberg region. It was taken during a half moon, which is nice for illuminating the landscape, but a little bright for the stars. The Magellanic Clouds are visible, but they're hiding among the terrestrial clouds low over the horizon.

Aus Workshop 2016

Tree and Dune - Fuji x100s, 1/100, f/8, ISO 200, Polarizer

The Aus Photography Workshop with Wicus Leeuwner and JJ van Heerden was a great success! It was an excellent learning experience for me, I had much fun and got some decent shots.

I suspect that my blog has in common with Playboy that most people come here for the pictures rather than the text. So I'll oblige with lots of pics below the fold (SFW, don't worry), along with some descriptions.

Nightskies with the Fuji X-Pro2

Pearly Beach Skies 1 - Fuji X-Pro2 + 16mm f/1.4, 32x8sec, f/1.4, ISO 3200

Thanks to Hein Hough from Fujifilm South Africa, I was recently able to borrow the new Fuji X-Pro2, together with the 18-55mm, f/2.8-4 and 16mm f/1.4 lenses. What a lot of fun I had!

Come join me in Namibia!

God's Window - Canon 40D + Tokina 11-16, 0.6sec + 1/6 + 1/25, F/16, HDR

Here is the big news I alluded to last time: I'm going to the Aus Photography workshop, held at Klein Aus Vista in Southern Namibia, 5 - 11 June 2016. This time, I'll be going as an instructor, specifically to teach night photography under the leadership of Wicus Leeuwner and JJ van Heerden. Read on to see what you can expect at the workshop.

Do Not Go Gentle...

...into that good night

Rage, rage against the dying of the light - Canon 40D + Canon 70-200 F4 IS, 1/30, F/11, ISO 100

Don't worry, the light isn't really dying. I just have a new baby at home, and my time behind the lens and at the blogging keyboard is seriously curtailed at the moment. I have managed a few good shots in the past months, I think, which you'll find below the fold. I also have some very exciting news, which I will post in the next week or so.

Mystery in Stone

Mystery in Stone - Fuji x100s, 1/80, f/2, ISO 3200, Infrared filter

On a recent conference visit to Europe I traveled light, so I only took my little Fuji x100s with me and left the backpack full of DSLR gear at home. One of the places I got to visit was Stonehenge, which has always been on my bucket list. It was a hot, cloudless day. The light was bad, and there were throngs of tourists, so I wasn't expecting to get anything decent, but I took lots of pictures anyway. In particular, I took a few shots with my infrared filter, which works really well on the x100s, allowing me to take handheld exposures (I had forgotten my tripod).

I felt that the stones have a more "otherworldly" look in the infrared, which increased the mystery of the place. Dialing down the "clarity' slider in Lightroom did the rest. I'm quite happy with the result.

Uluru Moonrise

Since I became the proud father of a little monster, I have had fewer opportunities for serious photography. One such opportunity arose during a recent family holiday to Australia, where I managed to sneak away from my family for a few days and head to Alice Springs in the middle of nowhere. Nearby (i.e. a mere 450km away) is a big red rock called Uluru (a.k.a. Ayer's Rock):

Uluru Moonrise - Canon 40D + Canon 70-200 F4 IS, 1/8, F/8, ISO 400

The Road to Work

The Road to Work - Fuji x100s, 1/80, f/11, ISO 2500

Life is hard. Poor me. I have to cycle to work every day, and my route takes me along the Eerste River in Stellenbosch, on a well-maintained cycle path. These are some of the vistas I have to cycle past twice every day.