Swimming at Menlopark High School–2014-10-25

Back on 25 Oct 2014, Menlopark High School had a swimming competition with about 6 schools participating. My son’s school was one of the schools. It was a piping hot day. So, there I was with my camera, etc., ready to take some pics.

Here they are:

Hardware

Camera: Sony SLT-A37

Lens: Sigma DG 150-500mm 5-6.3 APO HSM

Photo settings

Aperture: f/5.0

Shutter: 1/2500

ISO: 100

Focal length: 150mm

 

Hardware

Camera: Sony SLT-A37

Lens: Sigma DG 150-500mm 5-6.3 APO HSM

Photo settings

Aperture: f/5.0

Shutter: 1/2500

ISO: 100

Focal length: 150mm

 

Hardware

Camera: Sony SLT-A37

Lens: Sigma DG 150-500mm 5-6.3 APO HSM

Photo settings

Aperture: f/5.0

Shutter: 1/2000

ISO: 100

Focal length: 150mm

 

Created with flickr slideshow.

I hated the 2014 Photo & Film Expo

I attended the 2014 Photo & Film Expo yesterday (1 Nov 2014). I arrived there about 08:35, meaning that I had to wait in line for the doors to open at 09:00. When the doors opened it took me another 15 minutes to actually get in.

Still in line, but almost there

Once through the doors, it went fairly quick to get down on the expo floor. There were so many different products of all kinds on display, it was  hard to decide where to start. So, I started right where I entered the floor.

What really took so long to get in to the expo was caused by Samsung and their #DITCHtheDSLR campaign. The deal was that you could bring your fully working DSLR kit and dump it at the Samsung stall, and then receive a Samsung NX30. The terms stipulated the first 100 on the day, but it seems to me that the container they had there had many more DSLRs in it than just 100. I first thought, who would be nuts enough to do it, until I saw the old DSLRs that were dumped there. If I had old stuff like that, I probably would have done the same. It was a brilliant marketing campaign.

People in line waiting to ditch their DSLRs

I moved from stall to stall through the day. I attended one workshop, which really wasn’t a workshop, but more a demonstration of how fast external flashes could be used to freeze action in a fun way. People could volunteer to be shocked and then these pics would be taken of their responses. It was funny, and volunteers lined up for the experience.

Using my phone, I took these pics of 3 guys (shown on a big screen) being shocked

There were only 3 things I wanted to get at the expo, in reality. An 86mm variable ND filter, a monopod and a grey card. No-one there had an ND filter of that size, and I found no monopod I liked. I walked away with a grey card.

Oh yeah! You probably started reading this blog post because of the subject line!

Ok, I hated the expo, because their were just too many cool things, and I didn’t have the budget for any of it since I recently bought myself a Sigma DG 150-500mm 1:5-6.3 APO HSM lens for my Sony A37. That was expensive, and so the expo was just a field trip for me.

So, there you go! The expo was great and I will definitely return next year.

Austin Roberts Bird Sanctuary - 20141005

As I promised in my previous post, here are some photos from a previous time out at Austin Roberts Bird Sanctuary.

 

This Blue Crane decided to take a stroll through the water

 

Two doves in flight

 

This duck was just floating about

 

Duck swimming into the sun. The water looks green from the reflection of the trees around here.

 

Duck coming in for a landing

 

Duck enjoying the water

Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve–18 October 2014

I realized, as I was preparing for this blog post, that I haven’t created any posts between my last post (of Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve - MKNR), and this one, even though I have been taking pictures all over in between. I will have to rectify that some time!

Anyway, MKNR is one of my favourite places to visit for 4 reasons:

1. It is free to visit the reserve;
2. You can walk through the reserve (many come to do some jogging here);
3. You essentially get much closer to the animals;
4. It is only 7km (4.35mi) from where I live.

So, here are a few of the pics I shot in the 3 hours I spent here.

The pic above is of a Cardinal Woodpecker

 

Impalas checking me out, wondering what their next move should be.

 

Zebra having breakfast.

 

Created with flickr slideshow.

Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve - 28 September 2014

I popped into Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve today to take a couple of photographs. For some reason the animals were nowhere where I was. I only saw one Springbok. There are many zebra, springbok and gemsbok there. I somehow missed all of them.

Here is a slideshow of the pics I shot.

Created with flickr slideshow.

Waterkloof Airshow - 21 September 2014

I visited the Waterkloof Air show here in Pretoria at Air Force Base Waterkloof just down the road from where I live. I first went on Saturday, 20 September 2014. I arrived there just after 06:00 and was inside at about 06:15. I set up my tripod with my camera on top. Just that week I bought a Sigma DG 150-500mm 5-6.3 APO HSM for my Sony A37.


After sitting for a while and chatting with the other photographers around, I decided to take a couple of shots of the aircraft standing there. For some reason, I could not get the lens to go into Auto Focus mode at all. Even though the camera and lens were both set to Auto Focus, the camera reported that it was in Manual Focus. And, indeed, it was. I had to manually focus on moving targets!


I really didn't feel like battling with that the whole day, so, I packed up and went back to the camera store where I bought the lens. They had a look at it, and then brought out 2 other lenses like the one I had, and they all did the same. Between each lens fitting I would first put on my Sony 55-300mm lens with no problems. So, one of the guys there who keeps all the equipment there in tip-top shape asked me if he could clean my camera body's contact pins and the lens' contacts. At the time I had another Sigma lens on (same as above but with in-built Optical Stabiliser). Once he was done, I tried it again, and everything was fine, and has been ever since. I headed back to the air show the following day. I was there even earlier, before the gates opened.


Air Force Base Waterkloof is at coordinates 25° 49.695'S (LAT) and 28° 13.496'E (LONG). This air show is a biennial show, so it is quite big. Two years ago they had an F-16 from the U.S. there and it was simply thrilling to see and hear that machine fly by. Sadly, this year it wasn't here.


Anyway, here are some photographs from the day.

Here is  slideshow of the rest of the pics.

Created with flickr slideshow.

Faerie Glen Nature Reserve

Way back on 31 May 2014, I paid a visit to the Faerie Glen Nature Reserve (25°46'29.82"S, 28°17'29.71"E), not far from home. I decided to add another place to my list of places to visit around Pretoria. Unfortunately, it is mostly just plants and some birds. I didn’t see any animals at all. So, if you are interested in a little hike, you can visit here and you can hike to the top of the hill from which you can see a fair distance. From here you can clearly see the Menlyn Shopping Mall (25°46'58.69"S, 28°16'30.66"E).

Created with flickr slideshow.

Visiting Voortrekker Monument

Together with my photographic club, I visited the Voortrekker Monument (25°46'35.40"S, 28°10'33.06"E) in Pretoria last Saturday, 19 July 2014. The idea was not so much to take pics of the monument, although we took a few, but rather to get some landscaping pics and also some night photography of the monument and the city of Pretoria. We took some photographs from the top of the monument, but then just before dusk we drove over to Skanskop (25°46'38.24"S, 28°11'4.55"E), which is on the monument’s property. From here we took photographs of the monument and the city as the sun set and we also did some night photography. All in all it was a lot of fun.

Created with flickr slideshow.

Back at Rietvlei, a favourite haunt

A couple of weeks ago (17 May 2014), I once again visited the Rietvlei Nature Reserve. It is one of my favourite places to visit, especially for wildlife photos. I didn’t stay long this time. I have visited the reserve many times, as it is only 6Km away from home. Yet, this was the first time I was able to photograph a jackal! Shortly after I took the sunrise shots, I could hear the yelps and screams of the jackals, but they were too far into the bush. But, as I drove slowly along, I came across one that crossed the road right in front of where I was.

I arrived before sunrise so I could take some sunrise shots.

I took one of the shots and converted it to black & white. My wife says it looks eerie!

To see the rest of the pics, see the slideshow below.

Enjoy!

Swartkops Airshow 2014

On 10 May the Swartkops Airforce base held their annual air show, which included almost everything that could fly. Unfortunately, I did not get a very good spot to set up and I had to deal with all the human bobble heads in front of me. Something else, which they did at the airshow, that I don’t think they did in previous years, was to park a host of planes right in front of the audience, so when other planes took off or landed, the view was obstructed by the planes parked right in front of us. Anyway, here are some pics from that day.

You will find more photographs from the day in the following slideshow.