Observatory on The Singemonkey

May 16, 2024

Thu, 16 May 2024 18:15:28 +0000

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.

May 27, 2023

Sat, 27 May 2023 08:22:09 +0000

Dawn breakfast walk in my little urban village.

January 20, 2023

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 12:08:21 +0000

Another perfect day in Africa.

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.

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.

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.

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.

June 24, 2021

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 19:41:43 +0000

A mendicant’s moon in observatory.

June 15, 2021

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 08:45:59 +0000

Huge day for me. First time I’ve ever seen a wild otter. And it was here, fifteen minutes’ walk from my house where the city thinks it’s ok to bulldoze everything to put up offices for Amazon. The Cape Clawless Otter is thriving in this little bit of urban paradise.

April 15, 2021

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 12:05:22 +0000

This joint has never been more important. One of the few live music venues left in Observatory. Closed during COVID but then reopened under new management.

Ever since the first juke box and then the first disco back in the 50s, the eons old practice of live music recitals has effectively been rendered obsolete. But by making a big show out of it, that death has been postponed. But it’s often quite a hard sell against the very flamboyant and immersive forms of entertainment it now has to compete with. But for those of us who love it and do it, there’s no real substitute.

April 15, 2021

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 10:56:39 +0000

Astonishingly, some suburban houses in Cape Town have retained their original low walls without their inhabitants being murdered nightly, presumably.

Though I also know it’s a relief when people don’t regularly hop into your yard. Cape Town is a cruel city. And being “middle class” here (actually being in the top 5% nationally) puts you in a weird place in terms of how to react to the countless people struggling at the margins. There’s a lot of ignoring, pretence, occasional sympathy, and the ever-popular blaming-the-poor-for-their-poverty.

April 15, 2021

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 07:27:24 +0000

Nataraja dances in the dawn light coming in our bedroom window.

April 14, 2021

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 16:48:25 +0000

More Autumn skies.

April 11, 2021

Sun, 11 Apr 2021 19:55:06 +0000

Observatory begins to settle into winter.

August 04, 2020

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 21:13:18 +0000

Not a single pic posted in July. Well, I’ve not gone more than a handful of kilometres from home. I’ll probably be one of those people with no pictures of this time that anyone in the future could recognise as being from the pandemic. But then I suppose there’ll be no shortage of pics of empty streets and masked faces. I’ll be pleased to look back at a picture of Trinket spotted through the kitchen window getting up to sneaky shenanigans.

October 23, 2019

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 13:53:27 +0000

On the way back from the shop, I stopped to talk to this handsome cat who was watching the world go by.

October 03, 2019

Thu, 03 Oct 2019 12:30:42 +0000

Skitten loves its new house. The upstairs carpeting is a neverending joy to it. And the balcony, especially now that it’s spring, is its pure delight.

August 06, 2019

Tue, 06 Aug 2019 11:43:44 +0000

The shuttered remnants of Gandalf’s - for about 20 years the main place for undergrads and other young people to go and enjoy cheap booze, crowds jacked up on youth hormones, and rock ’n roll music. Ian McKellan was once photographed hanging off the sign while shooting something in the area. I played a couple of good shows there though even when the place first opened I felt like a teacher chaperoning at a high school dance. Rock ’n roll is now on its last legs as a mass youth movement.

August 06, 2019

Tue, 06 Aug 2019 11:36:50 +0000

Off Lower Main Road Obz yesterday. Not much is holding out against gentrification now. The city is content for the few who weren’t already pushed off to distant wastelands by Apartheid to be pushed off to distant wastelands by rising rents and redevelopment. At top right is a mosque that I didn’t know existed. The daily call to prayer is emblematic for me of our diverse city and the history of that diversity in building it. Islam in SA began with Indonesian and Malaysian slaves being sent here by their Dutch colonists. Political prisoners too. The first book ever written in Afrikaans was the Qran, translated by a political prisoner from ‘Dutch Batavia’, Tuan Guru.

July 27, 2019

Sat, 27 Jul 2019 13:33:25 +0000

Trying out new jpeg settings on my little Fujifilm XE1. Never used a digital camera I liked this much. Straight out of camera jpegs can be tweaked to look so great.

July 22, 2019

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 10:25:35 +0000

Alarming how denial of Stalinist, Maoist, Cambodian etc.

July 16, 2019

Tue, 16 Jul 2019 17:02:01 +0000

Rush hour at the bird hide in the South African Astronomical Observatory.

July 11, 2019

Thu, 11 Jul 2019 10:11:45 +0000

One more from the hockey. Just because I like the mist.

July 11, 2019

Thu, 11 Jul 2019 10:05:37 +0000

At the hockey stadium. Not many walk-ins at this early, misty time. But the players, coaches, and parents were already fully getting into it. It’s an international tournament, apparently.

July 11, 2019

Thu, 11 Jul 2019 10:02:29 +0000

Misty morning in Observatory - looking down from our balcony onto the neighbourhood cult compound. Took the opportunity to take my #pentaxmx out in the mist, down to the international hockey tournament happening just a hundred meters away.

June 27, 2019

Thu, 27 Jun 2019 12:24:30 +0000

It’s turning out a classic Cape June. And that means very chilly mornings - for which Mr Crumb has found ways of compensating.

June 27, 2019

Thu, 27 Jun 2019 12:22:01 +0000

Morning Trinket.

June 11, 2019

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 11:51:52 +0000

I don’t know the name of this, but there’s a lot of it around near our new place. Sure looks good against the blue skies first thing in the morning.

June 11, 2019

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 11:49:46 +0000

Lovely light on the way up to coffee in Obz this morning. Winter in Cape Town is not the non-stop downpour many imagine.

June 06, 2019

Thu, 06 Jun 2019 17:33:10 +0000

Anbaric Towers. Taken from the one end of my new street looking down towards the river.

June 01, 2019

Sat, 01 Jun 2019 15:21:56 +0000

It’s a perfect day for moving house after twelve years.

May 22, 2019

Wed, 22 May 2019 12:31:48 +0000

Painters in Obz on my lunch acquiring expedition.

May 08, 2019

Wed, 08 May 2019 17:46:12 +0000

Some great undulating topiary on my way back from voting in the 6th democratic elections in South Africa. Let us hope our path straightens out now.

May 08, 2019

Wed, 08 May 2019 17:34:03 +0000

My neighbours have been doing a top job mosaicing cinder blocks to decorate a little garden along the the fence of the railway line.

May 08, 2019

Wed, 08 May 2019 17:29:52 +0000

A South African delicacy that is refreshingly honest in a world of fake news.

May 01, 2019

Wed, 01 May 2019 20:02:00 +0000

Obz is still Obz on a Wednesday night. Warm lights and lots of merry noise on Station Road on my shop run.

April 23, 2019

Tue, 23 Apr 2019 11:31:13 +0000

Colours and contrasts in the early morning shop run. The XE1 is small enough to take anywhere with me. That’s a HUGE advantage over modern SLRs.

January 15, 2019

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 15:01:49 +0000

Back home in Obz. We’re tired. So #tacotherapy .

December 09, 2018

Sun, 09 Dec 2018 14:21:56 +0000

Here we are again. Linko’s Sichuan 🌶 beef soup. The hottest thing I’ve tasted in Cape Town. And it’s low carb if that’s your deal.

November 15, 2018

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 14:37:18 +0000

#tbt It couldn’t have been more obvious that ‘bar mooda’ was a front for organised crime. Expensive décor. No one in it. The police did nothing for reasons that are easy to guess. It took the staff being tied up and the place being firebombed to finally drive this particular blight from Observatory. This was taken on the morning of the firebombing.

August 18, 2018

Sat, 18 Aug 2018 14:49:59 +0000

To me the Red Winged Starlings eating Syringa berries in the tree outside the Cape Mental Health Society as I cross the railway bridge in Obs have the feeling of a child’s story book illustration. Especially when there’s a whole bunch of these super-smart black starlings among the yellow berries. Just a really pretty winter scene on the way to breakfast @hello_sailor_bistro on Lwr Main. Oh. This is a girl Starling btw. You can tell by the grey head. The boy’s is shiny black.

July 02, 2018

Mon, 02 Jul 2018 16:42:35 +0000

A classic rain-drenched Cape Town winter is cold and inconvenient. But now we can really appreciate it as we read how the dam levels are rising all the time.

June 15, 2018

Fri, 15 Jun 2018 10:25:29 +0000

And now it’s belting again.

June 15, 2018

Fri, 15 Jun 2018 10:17:48 +0000

After four years of drought it takes mere days to get annoyed by the inconvenience of a proper Cape Town winter. But when it does clear enough to walk to the shops it can get really pretty.

May 28, 2018

Mon, 28 May 2018 11:51:07 +0000

Folks. @hello_sailor_bistro now has this game! Who’s up for it? @sophdex @withoutaleaf @sad_ivan ?

May 22, 2018

Tue, 22 May 2018 14:44:44 +0000

On Station Road a minute ago waiting for my tacos locos. I can recommend. Maybe not actually locos, but plenty tasty.

May 22, 2018

Tue, 22 May 2018 13:57:28 +0000

The City of Cape Town keeping our rivers healthy by removing the build up of alien plants.

May 15, 2018

Tue, 15 May 2018 12:59:04 +0000

It’s a new Observatory generation down at the Two Rivers Park. Egyptian Geese (in truth they’re ducks) and their fuzzy new brood.

May 14, 2018

Mon, 14 May 2018 11:50:18 +0000

Or this one?

May 14, 2018

Mon, 14 May 2018 11:47:34 +0000

The pretty lady. I wanted to show off @withoutaleaf’s latest lilac hair. But my high contrast background concept doesn’t show it off that well. But I still like the pic. Or is the next one better?

April 29, 2018

Sun, 29 Apr 2018 12:15:46 +0000

BACK HOME NOW: she just popped over the wall 3 days later like nothing had happened- back to our emotionally wrecked husks. #Observatory #capetown #cats #catsofcapetown #kittensofcapetown #hartleyvale #uct Missing since yesterday in Observatory.

April 28, 2018

Sat, 28 Apr 2018 14:02:53 +0000

One of my favorite meals in Cape Town. Linko’s Hell Hot Chili Beef Soup 🌶 .

March 22, 2018

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 16:14:02 +0000

Observatory pit stop. Listening to @danharmon expressing imposter syndrome and people generally being confused who Asterix is #americanproblems. @hello_sailor_bistro in that quiet pre rush hour calm that makes you feel that Cape Town life. Then practice with Sister Ray - our band that only plays Sister Ray by The Velvet Underground.

December 19, 2017

Tue, 19 Dec 2017 00:04:51 +0000

He’s not the messiah, he’s just a very silly boy.

December 13, 2017

Wed, 13 Dec 2017 10:17:52 +0000

Mr Crumb is a bit of an anxious boi. When he’s scared like now (there’s a jackhammer doin him a concern) he snuggles up with Skitten.

December 10, 2017

Sun, 10 Dec 2017 14:37:26 +0000

from in with in

December 10, 2017

Sun, 10 Dec 2017 14:36:21 +0000

from in

November 07, 2017

Tue, 07 Nov 2017 14:20:59 +0000

It’s another super windy day in the blooming spring.

October 18, 2017

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 18:20:14 +0000

It’s been a long day involving a frightening vacuum cleaner.

October 18, 2017

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 08:20:09 +0000

Morning Skitten. The willful creature moved before I could get a better pic. A souvenir of the start of summer though.

October 15, 2017

Sun, 15 Oct 2017 19:48:08 +0000

Summer twilight. The last brush of cool dusk light on suburban blossoms and the warm splashes of electricity.

October 13, 2017

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 00:44:55 +0000

Everyone’s sleepy.

October 10, 2017

Tue, 10 Oct 2017 11:50:32 +0000

You are the first to get a tiny teaser of our new song, Calypso - named after the Sea Witch from the Odyssey. I shot a little bit of video of @sad_ivan and Kane recording some demo tracks at my house and put a very early rough demo of the song as soundtrack.

I’m starting to take Instagram a little more seriously, as some of you might have noticed. I’ve been meaning to learn to edit video for years. But this is the first piece I’ve ever shared. Trust me, it will get better! This Cack-handed attempt will be my benchmark (it would have been awesome if I’d managed to post it in wide rather than square format for starters)

October 06, 2017

Fri, 06 Oct 2017 12:30:13 +0000

Some Assam tea in the pot for a nice post-coffee treat.

October 02, 2017

Mon, 02 Oct 2017 13:06:03 +0000

If it gets too hot though, a smart Crumb cools off with a refreshing raid on an unattended watering can. 💦 .

October 02, 2017

Mon, 02 Oct 2017 12:48:00 +0000

34C (93F) here in Cape Town. Trinket’s loving it.

September 11, 2017

Mon, 11 Sep 2017 15:29:28 +0000

Great white #pelicans on our #walk the way to #lunch. Like #galleons under #sail. We also saw a #malachite #kingfisher - our little #jewel with #wings.

September 06, 2017

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 11:42:48 +0000

Strolling to the #recordstore to sell all my #cds on a #spring #morning. It’s a #medicineday, I had the #13thfloorelevators in my ears and #observatory was #perfect.

September 01, 2017

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:09:23 +0000

#springtime for #observatory on #trill and #lowermain.

July 24, 2017

Mon, 24 Jul 2017 11:27:03 +0000

I’m always #proud to play in #southafrica’s longest running #surf #rock #band, Krakatoa, with @sad_ivan and @joydemillar. #friday at The Armchair in #observatory #capetown. A #fridaynight that will #speed the #pulse.

July 13, 2017

Thu, 13 Jul 2017 14:13:23 +0000

Lower Main Road #observatory #victoriana in #colour.

June 14, 2017

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 13:49:11 +0000

The #hottest #meal in #capetown.

May 08, 2017

Mon, 08 May 2017 19:33:28 +0000

It’s like this.

March 13, 2017

Mon, 13 Mar 2017 14:58:49 +0000

main on an

January 27, 2017

Fri, 27 Jan 2017 18:20:16 +0000

January 22, 2017

Sun, 22 Jan 2017 17:26:31 +0000

Wut?

January 20, 2017

Fri, 20 Jan 2017 12:49:40 +0000

Keeping you updated on #famousskitten and its #sleep training. Catching some hard Zs here.

January 19, 2017

Thu, 19 Jan 2017 10:34:17 +0000

#breakfast at #hellosailor in #observatory #capetown.