Author: Richard

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Cape Town Photography Sunset

False Bay Sunset

Photo taken from Rooi Else across False Bay.
It is call False Bay because it sometimes fooled sailors of old looking for Table Bay.

A sunset photo with layers of cloud above mountains and the sea. The entire image is shades ranging from red to purple.
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Birding Photography

The mystery of the floating head

I took a photograph of a Little Grebe on a water body in Vroliejkheid Nature Reserve. There was a bit of a swell, nothing much, a couple of cms maximum. I took the photo home and processed it and found that there was an unexpected head reflected in the water. How it got there is a bit of a puzzle

a small water bird with a black head and wings, red patch on the cheek and a white rump float on water with small waves. There is a reflection of the birds head where you would expect it, but on the next small wave is another reflection of the bird's head the right way up. Not mirrored as the other reflection is. There is even a spot of light in the eye of the bird.

Categories
Birding Photography

Bees like Grapes

Specifically hanepoot or mascadel grapes which if left long enough become incredibly sweet. We have an active bee hive and a hanepoot vine which has produced a nice crop of grapes this season so we ended up sharing our grapes with the birds and the bees.

The bees are cape honey bees indigenous to the Western Cape.

A cape honey bee explores a bunch of grapes.
the bee has found a grape with a hole pecked in it by a bird and is harvesting the sweet juce.

The birds that open the berries are Common or European Starlings

A black bird with white stippling sits on a concrete wall
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Art

Scarab in Charcoal

I love the adaptability of charcoal.
The tactile experience is what is best though.

A photo of a charcoal painting showing a thumb and forefinger on either side of the top section of a scarab beetle.

A scarab investigating my fingers.

A photo of a charcoal portrait of a man with a buff on his head and holding a dog on his shoulder. The man looks to his right, the dog to its left.

My late friend Arno and his dog. I battled to get Arno to look like himself, but the dog was easy. And yes, the dog only had one front leg, I am not doing an AI stunt.

Categories
Geology Travel

Rocks with Zits

Some years ago, I was travelling though the Free State province of South Africa and came across rocks that had round lumps on them. Some were complete, others were broken. I found one possible explanation on Atlas Obscura – concretation. The images on Atlas Obscura are far larger than those I found and are not attached to larger rocks as mine are.

A photo of a mottled brown and white bolder with round objecst on it.
A photo of a rock with broken open round objects.
A photo of a rock mottled red, white and brown with more broken round attachments.
A photo of a single round object with water in it.
Categories
Birding Photography

Brown Hooded Kingfisher

A beautiful bird that posed so nicely for us just outside McGregor in the Western Cape. The bird has a call similar to the Mouse Bird so when we are birding and hear the distinctive three note call, we are never quite certain which bird we are hearing. In this case the identification was positive. This species of kingfisher actually seems to prefer dry land rather than water. An image of a mouse bird is here.

A photo of a Kingfisher perched on the cross bar of a telephone pole. It has a red beak with a dark tip, a brown head, white collar and chest. Black wings with blue flight feathers. The background is blurred.
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Insect Photography

Wasp Larvae

Some years ago my wife and I found a tiny insect. I photographed it (of course and posted it to iNaturalist and it was identified as a Planthopper. You can get an idea of how small the insect is by the arm hairs surrounding it. I ignored the dark thing on the back of the insect and I forgot about the observation. Two days ago someone saw my photo, took one look at the dark thing on the back of the insect and identified it as a wasp larvae.

A photo of a bright green insect with a white tail and red eyes. It is sitting on someones arm The larva is a tiny creature sitting on the tail of the insect. It is brown with white segments.
Categories
Clouds GIFs Photography Table Mountain

Stop Motion Photography

I have been trying to get clouds to look good using stop motion photography. This is the first time I have gotten reasonable results. I just forgot to level the camera. Next time!

A GIF of Table Mountain with filmy clouds passing over. The mountain is flat on top and occupies the lower 10% of the image. Thin filmy clouds move from bottom right of the image to top left. The sky is a cerulean blue
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Astro-photography Astronomy Cape Town Photography Table Mountain

Floodlit Table Mountain

On special occasions, the Council switches on huge spot lights and lights the front face of Table mountain. Tonight is one of those nights.

Table mountain is shown in the bottom third of the photo. I havent fiddled the white balance so the mountain is a green colour which is quite nice. The rest of the image has stars in a black background The top cable car station is visible on the flat top of the mountain
Table mountain is shown in the bottom third of the photo. I havent fiddled the white balance so the mountain is a green colour which is quite nice. The rest of the image has stars in a black background The top cable car station is visible on the flat top of the mountain
Categories
Architecture Art Deco Riviersonderend

Art Deco

Riviersonderend is a small town on the freeway between Cape Town and Gqeberha (formerly known as Port Elizabeth). The town was founded in 1922 and the architecture of some of the oldest buildings is Art Deco. The supermarket on the main road is one such building. It is not in very good state, but with a bit of judicious cropping, the beauty of the architecture stands out.

A photo of a pale beige coloured building with three seets of recesses which house windows and breather boxes.

My house in Riviersonderend is a blend of Art Deco ship architecture and Cape Dutch architecture. The builders built according to Art Deco form, then pivoted to Cape Dutch Architecture with the small gable at the top of the square front.

A photo of a blue painted house. It has a square ship architectural front with a a small rounded gable on the top. there are with embellishments across the front edifice.