Tankwa Karoo National Park is an amazing place. Our chalet overlooked not much really, just lots and lots of nothingness filled with low scrubby bushes.
The image above was shot with a telephoto into the light. Being an environment with lots of glare means light and dark and not much in between during the day, so here’s a black and white image that I like very much
Porto is surprisingly hilly. Built on both sides of the River Douro, the river banks prove to be a challenging walk as you move away from it. This necessitates the need for bridges and tunnels. This was one of them filled with afternoon rush hour traffic.
Well, selfies are what they are… We thought we’d take a different route to displaying ours
Hope you like it!
I’ve written about Porto before, but it’s truly an amazing place. It dates back to 300BCE having been settled by Proto-Celtic peoples. It became an important trading hub on the Iberian Peninsula being on the Douro River. This allowed trade both up and down the river but also out to sea.
Nowadays, it’s showing signs of the global economic crisis and many stores and buildings are closed and boarded up. This hasn’t stopped a growing number of gentrification projects, and these appear to be thriving, and it’s great to see.
The riverside (shown above) remains a thoroughly enjoyable place, whether is to see, be seen or to eat and drink.
The Grand Basin
Above is an image of the Grand Bassin of Castelnaudary at sunset. It’s a magnificent sight to behold.
A few outside cafes had left their tables out while a short shower fell. Polished surfaces make was form amazing shapes as surface tension pulls the molecules together.
Traveling out of Africa is generally interesting. Stockholm was no exception. We were there in early September and the angle of the light throughout the day was totally foreign to us. It gave a surreal feel to the experience and even at midday the sun was at an angle, softening things up nicely. Of course, being ‘summerish’ days were long, with the sun rising early and setting late. However, even while being bright, we were wearing fleeces and jackets as it was a bit chilly. One can only imagine winter in this place.
The above image is one of the many waterways that crisscross the city.
We never noticed it at the time, but on closer inspection with a bit of post processing, but wide-angle shot of Stockholm at night, also with a 4min exposure shows the Northern Lights. They’re pretty faint (it WAS summer after all), but you can see the green tinge in the sky above the city at the right. Amazing!
Previously, I noted how water plays such a role in Stockholm’s daily life, and it becomes a bit of a photographer’s playground. Doing a long exposure, I smoothed the water and brought out something new. This was taken just after midnight (it was chilly even in summer) and I think exposure was around 4min!
Largely car-free, Gamla Stan is the “Town between bridges”, and is the old town of Stockholm. Tiny streets, cobble, hidden squares and archaic architecture characterise Gamla Stan. Build using North German architecture styles, it features a large square at its centre and is surrounded by old merchant houses. This square was the site of the Stockholm Bloodbath, where Swedish noblemen were massacred by the Danish King Christian II in November, 1520.
For such a small, cramped place, it’s surprisingly steep in parts. One can only imagine what it was like 500 years ago.
