The Ripple Effect

Finally! A new blog post! I have to apologise for being so slack on the posting front. The busyness of life has recently got the better of me. But I'm calling this my comeback post. September and October have been strange months in terms of surf. There hasn't been too much around, probably signifying the changing of the seasons again. But this past week the beautiful South East wind started to rear its head - a strong signal that Summer is literally around the corner. This post is called "the ripple effect" because of the wave size recently. But who says you can't make a beautiful photograph in small conditions? I hope you enjoy and I'll be back soon, I promise.

The Sky's on Fire

One of my favourite things about Winter in Cape Town are the sunsets. At the end of a calm and clear Winter's day, the sun goes down and sets the sky on fire. Here's just one of the many beautiful sunsets I've witnessed over the past few weeks.

Shipwrecked

In the early hours of Saturday morning, a 50m long Japanese fishing trawler (the Eihatsu Maru) carrying fish and fuel, ran aground in thick fog. It's new harbour being none other than the upmarket Atlantic seaboard suburb of Clifton. Now for any international readers, homeowners pay a fortune to buy property in this affluent suburb, which offers breathtaking views of the Atlantic and it's coastline below - a rusting Japanese fishing trawler is definitely not something they would want on their beachfront. There have already been attempts to refloat the vessel, all of which have proved unsuccessful. Upon my visit last night it appeared to me that she isn't going anywhere soon (unless they can try on a spring tide perhaps). Surfers have been quite excited about the new arrival hoping it will generate a new surf spot, but that too looks unlikely. There was actually a surfer in the water last night who obviously wanted to be the famed first to ride the new wedge, but all he got was a lot of pounding on the head by ruthless shorebreak. A lot of questions are being asked as to how, with today's sophisticated navigation equipment, can an experienced fishing vessel run aground? Some are skeptical and think it's all in a bid for a fat insurance claim; others blame it on the fog, which was unbelievably thick on Saturday morning. Whatever the reason, she sure is drawing a lot of attention and I doubt she'll be leaving our shores anytime soon.

 

 

Treasure Hunting (Part 2)

Here are the rest of the surf shots from last weekend (5 - 6 May 2012). You can see Part 1 here.

Treasure Hunting (Part 1)

Cape surfers were spoilt for choice last weekend. I don't think there was an Atlantic spot that didn't have a decent wave. The boyfriend and I went treasure hunting and this is what we found. Part 2 to follow later this week...

Friday Favourite - Stepping Stones

Here's today's Friday Favourite - a once-off shot from my archives posted (almost) every Friday. Titled 'Stepping Stones', this was a spontaneous shot that I took back in 2008 of a friend of mine, Lauren, crossing a stream of water on the beach. I desaturated it slightly to give it a more muted & moody feel (especially because the weather was overcast and grey), and added a vignette. This image has special significance to me because it reminds me how far I've come as a photographer. Pursuing photography as a career definitely entails numerous 'stepping stones' along the way and when I look at the images in my archives it's always great to see the progress I've made along the way.

If you have any questions about my photographs, please feel free to ask me.

Surf City

Met up with very talented surfer girl, Tanika Hoffman, to shoot last month. Landed some decent swell at a spot that seldom breaks. Not the easiest spot to shoot from the land, especially with the really harsh afternoon sun but I'm always up for a challenge. Nikita Robb was also out (last two shots) - the girls really dominated, and call me bias, but it was nice to see ;)

Check out Tanika's personal website here and view a profile recently done on her with more awesome pics from Chappypix.

A Great White Encounter (Part 2)

For those who didn't see my first post (A Great White Encounter), I've been lucky enough to land a job volunteering with African Shark Eco-Charters for a couple of weeks. They're a Great White shark cage diving / breaching tour operating out of Simons Town. We went out both days this past weekend but yesterday was the best trip by far. We had a 5m Great White Shark breach out of the water on a natural predation about 20m from the boat, and had at least 5 big sharks up at the cage. On our way back we were greeted by a pod of about 200 dolphins swimming alongside us and in the boat wake. It was the most incredible moment. We ended the day after sighting a Bryde's Whale... our oceans never cease to amaze me. I feel very blessed to live in Cape Town after this weekend.

 

  

 

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A Great White Encounter