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.

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.

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.

Spending time at the sea...

Another World - Canon 40D, Canon 17-55, 60s, f/9.5, ISO100, ND filter

I have just returned from a week at the sea with family, and for the first time in quite a while I have been able to spend some serious time photographing (see my previous post for the reason). It turns out that most of my keepers where made with a strong ND filter on my lens.

Why I've been quiet for so long

Mira - Fuji X100s, 1/80, f/2, ISO 500

A new star is born - well, actually she was born three months ago. My life has become a lot busier since then, especially because we have moved from a flat into a house (kids need a lot of space!). This also meant that I didn't have internet access at home for about a month. And with all the baby stuff, renovating and moving, I haven't had much time for photography.

Nevertheless, here are a few recent pretty images (don't worry, I won't show you any more baby pictures).

Shoot the moon!

The moon is watching - Canon 40D, 70-200 f4 IS, 0.3sec, f/22 ISO 100

On 15 March I joined a bunch of photographers to photograph the moonrise over Theewaterskloof Dam. The Helderberg Photographic Society does this thing about once a year, and this time Tafelberg Photographic Society wanted in on the act; it was fun shooting with a bunch of new faces.

Minor success at the WPO

Smoke on the Water - Canon 40D, Tokina 11-16, 20x30sec, f/2.8, ISO 3200

The above image of the Theewaterskloof Dam was commended at the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards. I had renamed the image, the old title being somewhat less inspired.

I was a bit luckier last time, when my Quiver Trees by Night 3 was shortlisted, and Quiver Trees by Night 2 was commended. Still, I'm very happy with the result, especially as 2013 really wasn't a good year for me, and this was one of very few decent images that I produced.

I'm Back!

Giraffe Portrait - Canon 40D, Canon 70-200 f/4 IS, 1/350, f/5.6, ISO 100

 I'm back after a three-week road trip to KwaZulu-Natal province with family. I won't bore you with the details, but I got to photograph beautiful landscapes, especially in the Drakensberg Mountains, as well as animals in the Addo Elephant National Park and the Ithala Game Reserve.

See below for some of my favorite shots.

Holidays!

Boulders and Clouds - Canon 40D, Canon 17-55mm, 1/60, f/5.6, ISO 100

Here is just a quick post to mention that I'm off on a road trip tomorrow morning that will take us to the Addo Elephant Park, the Drakensberg and Ithala Game Reserve. I'm really looking forward to this, and will hopefully get some nice landscape and wildlife shots.

Print orders

I will probably have sporadic internet access in the next three weeks, so I cannot promise that I will be able to process print orders in time for Christmas. I will be back on 5 January, however.

Infrared Photography

Acacia - Canon 40D, Canon 17-55, 61sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600, IR filter

Infrared photography has been around for a long time, and is always good for unusual and sometimes disturbing images. Being something of a geek, I have been drawn to it for quite a while, and now I've finally gotten around to writing about it.