Capewinter

@withoutaleaf heading off to work the whole night through. Night shoots are pretty brutal. We’re finally getting some rain and cold weather after our Indian summer. It was beautiful yesterday when I went to vote 30 years after my and South Africa’s first time voting in a democratic election. While we have many political problems, our electoral system isn’t one of them - it’s far more robust than those in many lauded democracies. Hopefully its strengths will eventually lead to better governance. ...

Another one. Can’t get over how sharp this Nikon 1.4x teleconverter is on the 200-500mm. This is a heavy crop (I didn’t get any stunners today) and I could have gone further because all the detail is there.

Today was another perfect winter’s day in Cape Town. The end of May had absolutely no business being this hot and sunny. My dad and I went to Kirstenbosch for lunch and lugged big lenses to photograph sunbirds because - to top it off - the aloes were flowering in blazing Technicolor, making a feast for the wee nectar suckers. It was simply too hot… in May… to stay long photographing them in the sun. ...

More jpeg experiments. I’ve loved “blue hour” since before I knew it was called that. But this is the first time I think I’ve ever photographed it. I just used to think of it as that time when the interior lights matched the intensity of the ambient light. Per my previous post, I backed off the saturation on the “Vivid” Nikon picture control setting from 3 to 2 - although the full kazoo might have worked here. It’s really only on green foliage that I find it too lurid to stand.

I dropped @withoutaleaf off at the harbour to take the Hogwarts Express. Some of us work from home and see and do the same things everyday, and she has so many adventures she begins to find some a nuisance. It’s not long ago she was spending the working day watching lions eating a giraffe they’d killed.

It’s the first time I’ve done this walk since March. So much going on with the cat boi going missing and then getting injured. I decided to take my camera. I just can’t get good results with a phone although some people can. I’ve also changed laptops and still haven’t sorted out my photos again. So I edited these on my phone.

I meant to post this before our show. But my phone’s been missing wifi at home leading to unexpectedly depleted data. Fine times out of the winter funk in the warm interior of the Striped Horse on Surfers’ Corner. With @macawbandsa, @jason66c , and @joydemillar, Melissa, and a wonderful host of characters.

Boi has finished his eight weeks of isolation and is hanging out on the couch while I read Tintin. Bun’s in a sock drawer. There’s a fire.

I feel like Observatory’s going through a bit of renaissance as covid winds down. @withoutaleaf got ice-cream from @_tapi_tapi - and it’s really good. Lots of African ingredients are used. It seems like not long ago tourists would struggle to find anything African to eat that was accessible to them in Cape Town. But now there’s a lot on offer. Can definitely recommend this place. Great, unique ice-cream and super friendly, informative people working there.

Doing some technical reading on the balcony with this chonky chap. It’s the first warm weather in a good long while and he’s here for it. 27 degrees according to the weather app. No doubt there’ll be plenty more cold weather ahead. But this is a nice break. I’ve had a nasty cold for a week. Did a great show on Friday @noongunbrewery in Muizenberg. Thank goodness we do a lot of instrumentals because I couldn’t croak a note.