Fujifilmxe1 on The Singemonkey

May 16, 2025

Fri, 16 May 2025 19:36:46 +0000

I’m just still amazed at how sharp the #ttartisan50mmf12 is wide open at f1.2 even though I paid a chunk less than US$100 for it brand new. It’s such a great little all metal, all manual lens.

And yet it’s not a modern ultra sharp lens at the same time. You can see some weird little flares. It’s got real personality.

This is the most elegant Rolls Royce but, to be honest they were never the most beautiful cars. You only have to compare it to a Hispano-Suiza from the same era. The modern RR bricks are perfect for demonstrating that you’re an oaf with no passion for anything but power.

May 16, 2025

Fri, 16 May 2025 19:30:55 +0000

Classic Cape Dutch farmhouse at Hazendal. Netherlanders really loved stretching out in the land they grabbed here after the limited space in Holland.

May 16, 2025

Fri, 16 May 2025 19:16:28 +0000

I’ve been hit by two infections in a row that have messed up my exercise. This was a long walk between them that I took my camera on. The corner of Rondebosch Common on a misty autumn morning. I remember taking my dog Jess here early one morning which was unheard of for me as a teenager. The common is an essential reserve for rare Cape plants and a wonderful public site for exercise.

February 23, 2025

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:32:28 +0000

A couple more from Kirstenbosch the other day. This rather riotous thing is Crassula cochinea my dad tells me.

February 23, 2025

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:08:38 +0000

I overcame my trepidation and found the path up from the Blockhouse to the scout hut - most of the way to the top. I got lost and got my legs scratched up a few times. The route is very poorly marked. I can’t help thinking without other information that rescue services could save a ton of money by simply putting good markers and clear information on the paths.

Anyway. Now I’ve found the path I can extend my route even to Maclear’s Beacon - the highest point on our modest little mountain.

February 23, 2025

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:02:36 +0000

Lots of drama on the mountain today. A big fire was raging above Kirstenbosch seemingly. Throughout my extended hike the Apocalypse Now thudding of Hugheys flying constant relays to dump water on the fire. Pic 2 shows what it looked like when I first started my walk. It’s much reduced now but I still hear the helicopters from home. @johnthevudio is hard at work on the fire line I believe.

February 22, 2025

Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:53:45 +0000

The Khaya tree in Kirstenbosch is one of my favourites. I’d love to see them wild one day in Central Africa… if there are any left. On a related note the back and neck of my favourite guitar is made from this, marketed as “African Mahogany” due to the close similarity of the wood to the true mahoganies of the Americas - now under heavy restrictions due to overharvesting.

February 22, 2025

Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:33:12 +0000

More ambling around Kirstenbosch taking pictures with the old man. I thought not bringing my bird photography rig would have brought out the Orange-Breasted Sunbirds. There were certainly plenty of their favourite ericas in bloom. But not a feather was to be seen. Still a lovely morning out though.

January 14, 2025

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 19:11:02 +0000

Oh. this was the other one I meant to post. The dinosaur landscape of the cycads that evolved before there were trees or grass.

I’m planning my exit strategy from instagram which that ridiculous animated manikin, Zuckerberg, has now enshittified to the point where it’s just a place for seeing recycled stuff from TikTok and Twitter.

I see more original photos on Bluesky and I’m not exaggerating. The reverse Midases of big tech will never stop (unless they run into Mario’s brother) so I think I might scrape everything off here and put it on my own website.

January 14, 2025

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 18:50:10 +0000

Another little expedition into Kirstenbosch with my old man in his dapper explorer’s outfit. Wandering about. Taking pictures.

January 04, 2025

Sat, 04 Jan 2025 10:57:04 +0000

I went on a long walk yesterday morning after waking up too early. I took my camera. I won’t say I got any striking pictures but I’m glad I now have a document for myself of my regular running route to Rondebosch common (obviously I can’t carry a camera when running).

I’m trying to put a couple of concepts together this year. I have had some luck in increasing the consistency with which I engage in activities by documenting them in a very simple, binary way. Did I or didn’t I on a given day - no details of duration or quality need be captured.

January 02, 2025

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 18:44:59 +0000

A rather lovely and whimsical Observatory garden I noticed while out walking early.

July 04, 2024

Thu, 04 Jul 2024 14:58:19 +0000

Arum Lily 2: Lily masquerading as frozen exothermic reaction.

The lilies growing across the street seem to have come up early as I’ve seen none on the common while running where they grow in great profusion.

June 26, 2024

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 09:59:14 +0000

Caught Bun’s little fuzzy face this morning next to my old Fuzzface.

June 21, 2024

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 12:27:24 +0000

The Mouse is now firmly ensconced in my dad’s house. And she’s living up to her name/job-title as no mouse has been seen within since her arrival. She’s got to explore the outdoors for the first time in her life and is already in a feud with a squirrel that swears at her from a perch in the white stinkwood tree my folks planted when they moved in and now towers over the house.

June 21, 2024

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 12:06:01 +0000

Arum Lilly. Past its best but still worthy of a photograph. This one’s for my dear friend @sophdex today.

June 15, 2024

Sat, 15 Jun 2024 19:37:46 +0000

@joydemillar has organised another cracking #subwaysessions at our undisclosed location. Here’s Ilse holding everyone spellbound or in stitches between songs that you instantly feel like you’ve known for years.

May 09, 2024

Thu, 09 May 2024 12:18:47 +0000

I’ve had a cold this last week but poor @kanesnaps came down with a dose of the ‘flu in the 35 degree heat of #africaburn He’s mostly recovered and doing great work with that Mustang bass as always.

April 28, 2024

Sun, 28 Apr 2024 14:41:29 +0000

Last night was perhaps the best non metal rock show I’ve seen in South Africa. Just killer bands, great sound, enthusiastic crowd. Pictured is Beast with two great bass guitar players, a rock solid drummer and an operatic, dramatic singer. The Tasers from Jozi were probably my highlight with a great tension between absolute wildness and tight control. Headlined by Spiral Drive from Germany. The show is coming to Jozi in a few days and people up there should run not walk to get tickets.

April 26, 2024

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 09:20:23 +0000

I was with my dad while he got his prescription filled at Noyes Pharmacy in Kenilworth which still amazingly has a film autolab. You can see the diamond grid where they once had many brands and types of 35mm film for sale and now there’s just one - and only about a dozen in stock plus some disposable cameras.

They used to have a collection of vintage Leicas - MIII’s through M6s I think. Maybe 20 or so. Not even for sale. I believe the old owner sold them quickly when digital moved in - not realising like most of us that their value would recover in time I think.

April 22, 2024

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 14:41:50 +0000

His current favourite autumnal spot for taking his daytime zizz with the advantage of being able to see his rivals from the balcony.

August 06, 2023

Sun, 06 Aug 2023 12:07:45 +0000

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.

August 06, 2023

Sun, 06 Aug 2023 11:59:32 +0000

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.

January 27, 2023

Fri, 27 Jan 2023 11:49:02 +0000

Surprise guest. @withoutaleaf found this bunny while shooting at Wynberg Park. It may have been born there among feral rabbits, but it’s super friendly, so it may have been abandoned. Luckily a person nearby us with an eight-year-old daughter is coming to take it to its forever home this afternoon.

January 21, 2023

Sat, 21 Jan 2023 10:12:30 +0000

The Boi in one of his brief spells of wakefulness.

Watching lens reviews can sometimes be useful. I discovered this ttartisan 50mm f1.2 is quite a bit less sharp and contrasty focused at its minimum distance at f1.2. So stopping down to f2 makes quite a big difference when focused close like this.

January 21, 2023

Sat, 21 Jan 2023 10:05:21 +0000

Bun’s current top-favourite spot. We call it her tube.

January 12, 2023

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 12:43:27 +0000

@jason66c at a show we went to for the day back on December 11. We gathered intel and experienced the rare Cape summer thunderstorm.

November 20, 2022

Sun, 20 Nov 2022 17:44:07 +0000

Bunday morning.

November 14, 2022

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 09:25:09 +0000

The Magician. @kanesnaps larking at the back of The Elephant’s Eye - against the mossy retina. It’s a tall, temple-like opening in the mountainside in Silvermine Nature Reserve.

The last time I was there, maybe when I was ten or twelve it seemed a Herculean feat to get there. Kane and I found it such a quick and gentle saunter that we went on to the Hout Bay overlook - which seldom disappoints.

October 31, 2022

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 10:03:53 +0000

The place we live in faces the rising sun. So morning coffee-time is one of the sunniest of the day.

Bun likes this part of the house where she can hang out on my loudspeakers or on the windowsill and watch other cats safe from bullying.

October 10, 2022

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 20:53:48 +0000

Leucodendrons, @kanesnaps tells me. A very pretty and delicate protea that looked quite spectacular in spring profusion, painting the entire mountainside yellow.

October 10, 2022

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 20:44:57 +0000

@kanesnaps and I went heroically up the mountain by a new route (for me) and found that rock that looks like a camel from certain angles.

It was lovely up there, where the traffic noise suddenly disappears and you’re in this magic park in the sky filled with the astonishing diversity of plants in the fynbos botanical region.

Kane almost got bitten by a very unfortunate young puff adder that had been run over (almost certainly by accident since it was so well camouflaged on the road - such that Kane nearly didn’t see it too). Luckily some guys working up there arrived in a truck and ended it’s suffering with a sharp spade since it was way too injured to possibly survive.

August 27, 2022

Sat, 27 Aug 2022 12:51:01 +0000

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.

August 23, 2022

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 14:15:36 +0000

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.

July 26, 2022

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 11:59:11 +0000

This scene again. It was a three kingfisher day today - Pied (which we see most days), Malachite (we see these little jewels maybe every three counts or so), and Giant (seen more rarely - although this lady has a fave spot in the willow so maybe we’ll see her again next week). This in a place that shills for the developers love to pretend is a ruined, lifeless dump.

July 26, 2022

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 11:54:25 +0000

Terna as I found him soaking in the dawn by our river confluence bird count. In summer I really miss the late dawn that invites you to enjoy it without too much bother. This project is partly what inspired my newfound love for daybreak.

July 24, 2022

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 18:40:15 +0000

This is from a few days ago when @withoutaleaf and I were up on Plum Pudding Hill. I just wanted to post this to remind myself of this handful of mature silver trees that survived the fire. The trunks were scorched but they came through unlike most.

I mentioned that silver trees are hard to photograph. It’s because the top side of the leaf has a gorgeous metallic shine thanks to a profusion of fine hairs. But the underside is a deep green. In photographs this usually gives the impression that they’re a kind of grey green tree. But up close and personal, they’re just spectacular.

July 24, 2022

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 18:30:52 +0000

Second mountain expedition of the day. Kane (@kanesnaps) led Junko (@junko28a) and me up Kalk Bay at a blistering pace. I worked out it must be over twenty years since I last went up this route. And that’s a shame because it’s so lovely. The vegetation and landscape transforms so quickly - you’re rapidly surrounded by the most varied and beautiful fynbos - and the contrast between the white sand and the acquamarine of False Bay is a balm for the soul. And so lovely to share the mountain with much loved people. Second time in a week!

July 07, 2022

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 08:48:18 +0000

We went for breakfast at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens yesterday. Wow. Winter in Cape Town sure is terrible.

We actually got to spot the elusive Sombre Bulbul a couple of times - the call of which has been obsessing me for a year.

July 07, 2022

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 08:44:03 +0000

At the same location as the previous pic we came across these #cursed proteas. They only grow on the sites of necromancer’s towers.

July 07, 2022

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 08:40:40 +0000

A couple of #latergrams. Got to meet up with these ever delightful people a few weeks ago when we went to go see an Irma Stern exhibition. The knitter made us cute octopus plushies that we shall treasure.

July 07, 2022

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 08:37:01 +0000

Early morning Trinket, aka Bun.

With the rolling blackouts due to our corrupt and negligent state power provider we’ve been using candles a fair bit. Bun can’t seem to learn that these lights are too spicy 🌶 for her and keeps singeing her whiskers.

June 18, 2022

Sat, 18 Jun 2022 12:37:30 +0000

Newlands Forest was mighty damp after the huge amount of rain we had last week. To cross the streams with dry feet I had to do some tricky hops on slippery rocks. I amazed myself by managing to cross three of these rain gorged torrents without falling in.

A second mountain biker alerted me to their presence with a bike bell. That makes two… ever. It’s such a tiny, inexpensive object but it conveys so much respect to the other mountain users. Most of them though, are not well-loved by the rest of us. I have a bell on my bike just for getting myself around, let along tearing down narrow, twisting tracks. Sport riders in Cape Town need to be better.

June 11, 2022

Sat, 11 Jun 2022 10:18:49 +0000

The memorial to ruthless imperialism and capitalism. Even sharks respect power - it’s a really basic thing to revere. It’s much more appropriate to a sophisticated primate to revere kindness and cooperation.

Well, at least people can enjoy the free public space and every generation of kids can ride the scaled down imitations of the Trafalgar Square lions - none of them thinking for a moment about a dusty old Victorian narcissist.

June 11, 2022

Sat, 11 Jun 2022 10:10:53 +0000

Despite having some expensive sunglasses ruined by the wind ripping them off my shirt and skidding them - lenses down - for 50m across a tarred road, the irritation I woke up with couldnt stand up to Table Mountain Park at dawn. This has to be among the best city parks on Earth.

I’m not quite fit enough to run up the steep mountainside to the “King’s Blockhouse” (a grandiose name for a very tiny little fort) so, since I was scrambling anyway, I could take my camera. I was remembering how this seemed like quite a big hike even as a teenager. I was clearly very unfit then.

June 08, 2022

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 09:31:17 +0000

Last Sunday we went to the Paarl Arboretum. I’ve never been before. It’s a wonderful place - a huge park divided into continents for its collection of beautiful exotic and local trees. This is the lovely Cedar of Lebanon (celebrated on that nation’s flag). It looks like it’ll be a great place for lazing around reading and picnicking in summer. I was actually surprised how few people were there on a sunny day in winter. Wonderful birds too. We saw four African Hoopoes pottering about on the grass - a lovely, iconic bird that I don’t think I’ve ever seen this close to Cape Town before.

June 08, 2022

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 09:26:09 +0000

The date palm at the confluence stands on a tiny island. About the only thing on that bank spared destruction by the diggers and dozers. A good thing too as the willow beneath the palm seems to be a nesting site for Night Herons. Hopefully the cranes will be hauled away as they begin to rust.

June 08, 2022

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 09:19:49 +0000

Dawn light on the confluence of the Liesbeek and Black Rivers where we do our bird count. Egyptian Geese fly by. The cranes behind the little undamaged island stand silent, hopefully haemorrhaging money into bankruptcy for a company that sought to wreck the place with the collusion of the city that ignored its own environmental impact assessment which declared that it was wholly inappropriate to build on this environmentally sensitive floodplain.

May 28, 2022

Sat, 28 May 2022 18:01:45 +0000

This ruined cottage was an irresistible moonlight attraction when we were teenagers. And the wall was a seat where we could climb up and pretend we were vampires.

May 28, 2022

Sat, 28 May 2022 17:58:02 +0000

The pines have their own charms though. When you’re raised on European culture and JRR Tolkien - and our spectacular African scenery is just the backdrop to life - it was easy to romanticise this slightly exotic landscape. But it doesn’t really belong here and as such it lacks the intense diversity of our native biomes. The one upside though is that it provides a living for fungi from Europe which extrude bizarre fruits out of the ground and bark after rains.

May 28, 2022

Sat, 28 May 2022 17:51:23 +0000

The native forests of Table Mountain. Dense and ringing with the calls of forest birds - unlike the bare alien pine forests that still linger on some slopes.

May 28, 2022

Sat, 28 May 2022 17:47:18 +0000

My camera battery charger has been rediscovered. So I took it for a long walk in the woods on the mountainside this morning.

It’s really striking how many more birds you hear when you leave the alien pines and enter the indigenous forest. Now that I recognise the eerie, jaunty call of the Sombre Bulbul, I can hear that the forest is lousy with them.

I also spotted a Cape Batis.

April 17, 2022

Sun, 17 Apr 2022 13:48:10 +0000

I’ll take a ‘plain top’ Les Paul over a veneer top any day. The mystery of maple’s fungal growth patterns is that it changes depending on the angle of the light and how you look at it. Every slab of wood is completely unique. In just the right light, the faintest hint of flames becomes visible on the top of my 2010 Tokai LS150. And patterns that mean that it’s completely identtifiable - like that odd little curl and the deeper flame near the toggle switch. This is a workhorse rock guitar. It’s been banged up and played hard. But it’s still the best guitar I own against some pretty stiff competition.

April 17, 2022

Sun, 17 Apr 2022 13:39:41 +0000

So I ran into this in Pinelands in March…

April 17, 2022

Sun, 17 Apr 2022 13:00:50 +0000

Had to relearn how to take pictures when we went to a heavy metal show last night up the street with @sad_ivan and Tanya. @withoutaleaf and I aren’t really metal people so we dressed as tourists. We bumped into the organiser of this 200 odd people event and she can be seen wearing my fly glasses. Absolute blast. Metal heads are the best people. The band, Abaddon, were cracking. Tight as a drum. Thundering sound. A fine night out.

February 14, 2022

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 14:11:30 +0000

This fella has been feeling like the house is the siege of Stalingrad since the painting began. But he seems to gradually be accepting that he’s not in mortal danger.

February 13, 2022

Sun, 13 Feb 2022 12:06:24 +0000

Some #latergrams from Xmas in January. Omicron put a hold on our planned Christmas lunch and led to it being @withoutaleaf and my folks at their place for a slap-up lunch with a more modest roast chicken standing in for a turkey.

February 13, 2022

Sun, 13 Feb 2022 11:46:44 +0000

Our Liesbeek bird counting group had an away day this morning at Strandfontein Sewerage works. Jane and Terna looking out at the thousands of birds in every direction. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the place so dense with avian life. As we drove down the tracks, Barn Swallows swirled around the car stuffing themselves with unseen bugs - to fatten up for their long journey back to the summer of Europe. We saw so many different ducks - Cape, Red-Billed, and Blue-billed Teals. Cape Shovelers. Spur-Winged Geese, Egyptian Geese, Southern Pochards, Fulvous Whistling Ducks, and Yellow-Billed Ducks.

November 09, 2021

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 17:47:13 +0000

A second of quiet dignity among quite a bit of camera-inspired hamming.

November 09, 2021

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 17:42:52 +0000

What @sad_ivan once called, “The cheap showiness of nature.” That blorange Cape sunset taking things over the top.

November 09, 2021

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 17:40:30 +0000

Sunday fun draws to a close chez @goflow42 and @jason66c. Old friends met. New conversations were held. @withoutaleaf cooked up great troughs of mussels in wine and garlic.

November 09, 2021

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 17:35:59 +0000

Sophie is an old lady now but still full of beans. Enjoying riding in #eljaguarazul avec @sophdex who deigned to let @ezlemoen pilot the sapphire chariot.

November 09, 2021

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 17:31:00 +0000

This little South Indian place in Newlands was great for lunch at the end of our river walk. But their claims to sell real Nepali momos were a bit exaggerated. Tasty dumplings they were. Nepali momos though? Nah. There’s a real gap in the market for a Nepali restaurant in Cape Town, I think.

November 09, 2021

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 17:23:49 +0000

A very long time ago they made a little walking route from Rondebosch through to Claremont along the Liesbeek. Even though most of it here is canalised, it’s still a very lovely walk from Observatory to Newlands for lunch on a summer’s day - especially because the locals all along the route have planted up a storm of flowers. Although it’s a domesticated section of the river, there’s still no shortage of life, such as a pair of African Black Ducks with a small swarm of ducklings.

October 30, 2021

Sat, 30 Oct 2021 22:20:10 +0000

Perched where she can see who goes up and down the stairs.

October 28, 2021

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 13:53:28 +0000

My boy is apparently now completely unfazed by the vacuum cleaner. Trinket, on the other hand, has once again gone into deep hiding. She still thinks it’s Stalingrad.

October 28, 2021

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 13:36:41 +0000

This guy asked me to take his pic when he saw me with my camera this morning near the Observatory station. He’s a local and I used to know his name, but was all thinking about camera stuff and forgot to ask. So there’s a weird thing with digital cameras: people are usually satisfied just to see themselves on the back of the camera. Now I’ve got a bit of a scheme. I want to get one of those Instax printers so I can make a print on the spot from the camera. Unfortunately it won’t be this one. The XE1 came out in 2013 and doesn’t have any wireless connectivity. But it’s something I plan to put together in the future because so many people don’t have any pictures of themselves - for memories or to pass on to loved ones. Pics on phones often end up disappearing with those phones. And few people ever have their picture taken by anyone who’s learned much photographic technique. So I’d really like to be able to make a small but high quality print when I take a picture of a someone I’m not in digital contact with. The instax printer uses a photographic printing technique so the quality is a lot better than that of other portable printers - but the prints are about $1 each. So I’d still have to be sparing.

October 28, 2021

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 13:28:25 +0000

@withoutaleaf and I had breakfast @rust.coffee.bar this morning. It sure is nice to be able to do some quasi-normal things during this lull in the pandemic now that we’re fully-vaxxed. I even got to be in a room with my whole band - six people in total - on Monday evening for two hours. It felt very good indeed after nearly 20 months.

October 28, 2021

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 13:23:51 +0000

If you’re ok to completely abandon any hope of ever owning your own home, the smashed avocado on sourdough toast @rust.coffee.bar here in Observatory is really damn good. That’s a joke, of course - based on some inequality-justifying hack’s ludicrous argument for why millennials don’t own homes. But not joking about the yumminess of this toast.

October 25, 2021

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 09:39:18 +0000

More experiments with retro wildlife photography. These are plains zebras - the more common of the two species of zebra in South Africa. This one is widespread throughout the continent South of the Sahara. There is one more species that is deeply endangered that survives only in small, protected enclaves in Kenya and Sudan.

October 24, 2021

Sun, 24 Oct 2021 11:59:51 +0000

The Cape Buffalo - or African Buffalo. It has a far more violent reputation than most of its Asian cousins - especially the Water Buffalo which has been widely domesticated and provides mozzarella for your pizza. This buffalo has never been domesticated. It’s simply too strong and fierce. Of course they start off pretty cute.

October 24, 2021

Sun, 24 Oct 2021 11:53:38 +0000

Looking at some of my ‘B’ selections from our recent Kruger Park trip. This was more experimentation with my ultra cheap ttartisan 50mm f1.2 on my Fujifilm XE1 - shooting wide open to get a mid 20th C bushveld look. You can see the vintage lens design in this brand new lens in the slightly odd character of the out-of-focus parts of the image.

October 18, 2021

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 19:28:49 +0000

A day yesterday with long tall Jay. His kids were very kind and let us watch our Velvet Underground documentary as long as we were quiet. After my comical series of mishaps, I finally made it out to Noordhoek only by [smartphone taxi-service] but it was well worth it. The leafy hide of the peninsula is on display out there. And the spring clouds were fierce and judgemental.

October 02, 2021

Sat, 02 Oct 2021 13:17:00 +0000

A #latergram of an Indian takeaway feast in the Jozi home of our dear friends @sophdex and @ezlemoen with parents, Jill and Pierre, and collies, airedales, and cats. Johannesburg doesn’t look nearly as welcoming in spring compared to summer. But get indoors and the citizens (not just our friends) are as friendly as ever.

Shooting scenes like this in available darkness is a big part of what makes having a fast wide-angle lens such a pleasure.

October 01, 2021

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 08:56:26 +0000

Pity about the shadows. But a very rare picture of these two eccentric gents in the wild: Gareth and Marcus (with beard!). I’ve quoted Hunter Thompson with regard to Gareth before, but it goes for both of them: “Too strange to live. Too rare to die.

October 01, 2021

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 08:52:37 +0000

I took many hundreds of pictures of Skitten since 2007. But this was the very last one. When we first got it home from Maatjiesfontein, I was convinced that we didn’t need a third cat. I took the cutest pictures I could of it parading about to make into a collage to advertise it… and in so doing it tricked me into falling in love with it.

It liked to sit on windowsills and contemplate the world going by. A most philosophical animal.

September 30, 2021

Thu, 30 Sep 2021 19:39:31 +0000

My old man. He’s a lot less stern than he sometimes appears. I got to see the Prof of cardiology ask him some niche questions about ECGs today - still a valuable font of knowledge on his lifelong arcane speciality many years after retirement.

September 30, 2021

Thu, 30 Sep 2021 19:24:26 +0000

@withoutaleaf queueing for one of her many, many, COVID tests outside a studio in town. I’ve managed to avoid them altogether (by not having any need to interact in person and not having any major symptom scares) while she’s had dozens and dozens from having to work safely on set. There’s very little pandemic on my Instagram in general. I was mostly at home and then tended to point a lens at things that were a break from the pandemic. There’ll be no shortage of documentation of this strange, history-bending time. But it is good to have a few images that show the thing actually happening in your own life even if you don’t interact with it directly - as I’ve been very lucky not to have to do.

September 12, 2021

Sun, 12 Sep 2021 18:58:55 +0000

Impala Lilies are blooming in The Kruger National Park in spring.

September 09, 2021

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 18:24:38 +0000

I don’t think this works great as an Insta pic, but it’s the kind of photo I’ll enjoy having hanging somewhere to remind me of this place when I’m not here. And bushbuck. Because I love bushbuck.

September 09, 2021

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 18:07:46 +0000

The savannah woodland in the morning - also the world’s largest land animal.

I experimented a bit today using my Fujifilm XE1 and the fast manual focus 50mm f1.2. On full frame that’s a 75mm focal length and roughly an f1.8 aperture in terms of depth of field wide open. I was trying to go for a bit of an old-fashioned look like if you were in the bush in the ’60s with a Pentax Spotmatic with a Takumar 85mm f1.8.

September 06, 2021

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 08:14:28 +0000

It’s a party in Jozi to see @cara.stacey announced as the Standard Bank Young Artist Of The Year! It’s an amazing achievement. I was very glad to be “there” with @sophdex, @ezlemoen, and @withoutaleaf to take it in in style.

August 23, 2021

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 10:29:55 +0000

If this goon is in Langebaan, does that make him the #langebaanlagoon?

August 23, 2021

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 09:11:07 +0000

@goflow42 nearly stepped on this beautiful lady just outside the Geelbek restaurant in West Coast National Park as we were walking towards one of the bird hides. This is only the second time @withoutaleaf and I have seen one of these beautiful cats in the wild - they can be spotted anywhere between here and Iran. Caracals are expert bird-ambushers. They can leap to extraordinary heights to pull down birds trying to escape by flight. This one was only slightly bigger than a house cat, but full grown males are considerably larger.

August 22, 2021

Sun, 22 Aug 2021 18:58:13 +0000

The next morning, as soon as the sun was up, they started on their way, and soon saw a beautiful green glow in the sky just before them.

“That must be the Emerald City,” said Dorothy.

August 21, 2021

Sat, 21 Aug 2021 17:30:32 +0000

My folks have had a pretty tough year. But things are starting to look up a little. Not really the right kind of pic for Instagram but this is a visual diary for me as much as anything else.

August 18, 2021

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 08:45:47 +0000

Morning Trinket.

Do people only still make black and white photographs to seem cool and sophisticated? The answer’s a little complicated. Knowing why you’d prefer a picture in black and white means you’ve spent a little time thinking about photography - which makes you a more ‘sophisticated’ appreciator of photographs. So then, in a sense, yes. But I can give you that ‘sophistication’ in not many words: Eliminating colour makes you more conscious of form, light and shadow, and detail. So, like any abstraction, it shows you things that that the full set of information may conceal. It helps you see the trees for the wood.

August 14, 2021

Sat, 14 Aug 2021 22:14:58 +0000

@withoutaleaf merrily teaches T to break the laws of God and men on our outing with @goflow42 and @jason66c to Kirstenbosch for a bit of apocalypse relief.

August 11, 2021

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 16:42:36 +0000

Having the house thoroughly cleaned is a deep joy for us but a nightmare for Trinket for whom the vacuum is a combination of the devil, Godzilla, and Voldemort. She’s fled the house for most of the day.

August 10, 2021

Tue, 10 Aug 2021 16:56:35 +0000

Kane pauses to punch some navigation data into the hyperdrive.

July 31, 2021

Sat, 31 Jul 2021 10:23:16 +0000

We were in Walmer Estate yesterday to pick something up. It’s such an attractive neighbourhood - #notaninvitationtogentrifyit This hair-dresser, corner store is a reminder of the vanishing corner stores that used to be ubiquitous in Cape Town. We call them Cafés for some reason - although we often pronounce it ‘Kaif.’ I have no idea why. You couldn’t buy coffee in them usually when they were everywhere when I was a kid. This hairdresser has supplemented its advertising with a graffito of a very strangely proportioned young man.

July 31, 2021

Sat, 31 Jul 2021 10:16:51 +0000

@withoutaleaf enjoying some well-deserved time off after over a 100 days shooting long hours. Convenient being able to stay home during the SA third COVID surge too. We’re both half vaxxed now though.

July 28, 2021

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 09:26:23 +0000

Our little dawn bird-counting team. Jane and Terna plus me. A lovely misty morning by the Black River. Commuters rushing to work on the M5 behind us. It’s very much an urban wild space.

July 25, 2021

Sun, 25 Jul 2021 17:46:46 +0000

Saw my dear friend Marcus with my own eyes for the first time in nearly a year and a half. Got filled in on his major plans and events - the way this COVID time seems to have swept everyone’s personal history along like it’s swept global history along.

I rode out to meet him in Keurboom Park and then we hung out on our old high school fields. When we were kids, the only thing we liked about that shitty old fashioned school were the vast, luxurious grounds.

July 24, 2021

Sat, 24 Jul 2021 15:17:36 +0000

In the queue at the Cape Town International Convention Centre for my first COVID shot yesterday. It’s a huge, well-managed, friendly operation. With the current dominant variant, it’s a long way from a guarantee that we won’t get the virus. But there’s a much better chance, and an even better chance that the virus will pass mildly and leave no long term effects. It’s not a castle. It’s a shield. But a critically important one that would be impossible without the dedicated efforts of thousands of independent, university-based scholars and masses of tax-payer funding globally.

July 21, 2021

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 19:54:48 +0000

Rainbow over the street.

One downside of this 50mm I realised… focuses past infinity. Not a major problem, but not ideal.

July 20, 2021

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 12:52:29 +0000

Across the road is a vast contiguous property with massive security. We call it ‘The Cult Compound.’ @withoutaleaf once took an interview with Gwyneth Paltrow’s brother in there and has glimpsed its secret interior. Today this huge load of soil was dropped off. With a bit of internet sleuthing, following up on the truck, getting to the manifest - some hacking was required - I discovered this soil originated in the Transylvania region of Romania and is described as ‘Vintage Funereal Soil - 1,200kg’ What could they want with over a ton of grave soil? And what does it have to do with the four crates that were delivered yesterday afternoon? Maybe just some very exotic gardening?

July 19, 2021

Mon, 19 Jul 2021 17:57:13 +0000

Poor Skitten has been wheezy and needed vetting. It’s going in tomorrow morning to check its larynx again. But at least its lungs are fine. Skitten is not a fan of automobile travel.

July 17, 2021

Sat, 17 Jul 2021 16:55:46 +0000

I realised I’ve never owned a fast wide-angle lens before. And I’ve gotta say, I like it. Mr. Crumb was assisting me by totally destroying the corner of the bed as he likes to do.

One thing no one’s mentioned about this fantastic little ttartisans 17mm f1.4: it has a screw-in metal lens cap. Everyone talks about how inconvenient that is. But in this case it screws tight with a half turn - making it in some ways easier to manage than a clip-on cap. The 50’s cap takes multiple turns and is totally impractical as a working lens cap. But this one on the tiny front element of 17mm is actually great.

July 15, 2021

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 17:21:41 +0000

My lenses arrived. Literally the best customer service I’ve ever experienced. They suggested I cancel my initial purchase to take advantage of their sale that was coming up in a few days. When Aliexpress wasn’t cooperating on giving the promised free shipping they gave me a discount for another portal to the value of the sale - and then stayed in touch via whatsapp through Fedex’s idiocy until I had the lenses. @ttartisanofficial is a company that can be proud of its customer service and it speaks well of Chinese customer service in general.

July 14, 2021

Wed, 14 Jul 2021 12:48:22 +0000

Another dawn by the Black River, looking to the confluence where the Liesbeek joins it. I’m still waiting for my new lenses because Fedex is a garbage company. Hopefully soon though. If I’d had the wide lens I could have included the full rainbow that went along with this scene.

July 08, 2021

Thu, 08 Jul 2021 11:55:54 +0000

I just wanted to visually record my first successful mutta roast - a Keralan egg curry - before I ate the leftovers for brunch. For some reason I was intimidated to make it although it’s actually really easy. Like a lot of not very Instagrammable brown food, it’s super tasty.

July 06, 2021

Tue, 06 Jul 2021 11:44:27 +0000

No otters down by the river. But great flights of ibis - including two flocks of Glossy Ibis; about a dozen each.

Might be getting new lenses for the little XE1 today. Excited about that.

July 01, 2021

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 17:02:56 +0000

They were having some mid-afternoon madness - usually reserved for the late evening. This chap is getting chonky again in defiance of my meal planning.

The box behind him is an extremely rare Gibson lap steel guitar from 1967 belonging to @sad_ivan (who was supposed to collect it after I discovered that fewer than 50 were known to have been made and hence they were a chunk more valuable than we’d suspected… but COVID).

July 01, 2021

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 16:56:23 +0000

The world has been too long deprived of Trinket! … or Bun as she’s known around here. I recently saw that a Youtuber I enjoy calls their cat, “Pigbunny,” which is a perfect cat name.

My camera seems to be working fine with a different memory card. I’d already decided if it packed up, I’d just get another ‘obsolete’ model like it. This sensor apparently has quite the reputation for getting analogue-looking results. I’ve ordered a pair of native TTartisans lenses for it - a 50mm f1.2 and a 17mm f1.4 (cheap as chips at <US$200 for the pair despite very good reviews - which I think will be a super-versatile pair. It makes photography difficult - manual focus lenses shooting at fast apertures with very little depth-of-field to nail the focus. But it’s exactly like the film camera I’ve used for so many years. And when I do get a sharp picture at f1.4 and 1/60th it makes me very pleased. It’s a big chunk of the experience of shooting film without the cost… or the tedious scanning.

September 22, 2020

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 11:50:51 +0000

@withoutaleaf in her office with her colleagues, Mr. Crumb and Trinket, doing script timings.

August 29, 2018

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 10:45:04 +0000

I’ve bought my first ’new’ camera in years and I’m excited. Ok. It’s 5 years old. It’s not the latest and greatest (it only cost me R1,500 or about $100 US though). But it’s got the same size sensor as the D200 I shot this on, but look how tiny! Hugely better low light performance. All kinds of modern bells and whistles. And yet pocketable with the right lens (I don’t have any yet and nor do I yet have adapters for all my Nikon, Pentax, and Olympus lenses - ALL of which I can use with this camera). I’m more excited to start using this well-loved little darling than I have been about a camera for many years. .