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.
@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.
Impala Lilies are blooming in The Kruger National Park in spring.
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.
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.
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.
If this goon is in Langebaan, does that make him the #langebaanlagoon?
@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. ...
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.
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.