Archives
Categories
Blogroll
Pages
Calendar
January 2026 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Meta
Expressions of Cape Town
Expressions of Cape Town was a photographic exhibition organised by a group of Capetonian Flickr members. Each of us was able to submit up to thirty photographs, which were judged by a panel of five professional photographers. The best five photographs from each photographer, or fewer if five were not deemed worthy, were printed and placed on boards (one per participant) that were displayed on easels in the Clock Tower shopping centre in Cape Towns V&A Waterfront. It ran frm 12 to 21 October 2007.
Posted in Photos
Tagged Cape Town, Clock Tower, exhibition, Flickr, Photography, South Africa, V&A Waterfront
Desperate Measures
It is said, that “Desperate times call for desperate measures”. When there is a water shortage, water prices are high and you have no garden fence or wall, it is time for desperate measures to protect your garden tap from being the target of those who would steal your water.
Covers like this one are fairly common in South Africa where home owners have their garden taps used by those passing by, who sometimes leave them dripping or even running, wasting water and costing the owner money.
Fire on Helderberg
There is a bad fire raging on the slopes of Helderberg above Somerset West. I took this shot from my front garden in Strand, approximately six kilometres away from the mountain.
Posted in Photos
Tagged Cape Town, fire, forest, Helderberg, mountain, Somerset West, South Africa
Houston, We Have a Problem
People have been asking how I did this and I should probably have explained when I first posted it, so I’m editing the post now to add a description.
In order to achieve an effect like this one simply needs to use a zoom lens and make a long exposure, zooming out during the time the shutter is open. In this case I used a five second exposure and zoomed in tightly on the green spire. After tripping the shutter I counted four seconds and then zoomed out during the last second. As the lights below were much brighter than the spire, the result is that there is little or no visible light from the spire captured while zooming, leaving the top of the frame nice and dark and getting light trails below.
Posted in Photos
Tagged Cape Town, light trails, lights, long exposure, night, South Africa, V&A Waterfront, zoom
Nedbank ATMs join the stupid club
Many years ago I worked for the Perm, who were pretty forward thinking in terms of information technology. As far back as the late 1970s Perm ATMs were able to immediately use your language of choice because it was encoded on your card and could be read as soon as you inserted it. Other banks and building societies required your first action to be choosing a language. In the 1980s Perm was swallowed bymerged with Nedbank who inherited all the clever IT people from Perm, so Nedbank ATMs could also tell your language as soon as you inserted your card. Admittedly they may have already had that behaviour before the merger. Yet, even today, some other banks’ ATMs still require you to choose a language when you insert your card.
Today I went to draw cash and found that Nedbank have rolled out new ATM software. It looks nice, with shiny graphics and even “cool” little audio feedbacks when actions take place. But, they have regressed 30 years, joining the ATM stupid club, by requiring you to choose a language when you insert your card. What’s next? Reverting to bank books and over the counter transacting? Come on guys, is there anyone awake at 105 West Street?
Rhodes Monument
Rhodes Monument is a popular Cape Town spot for wedding photographs so it is quite busy on weekend afternoons.
I Think I’m an Introvert
I’ve never really given it too much thought before but reading this article I found much of the description of introverts to apply to me. So if you know me and think that I am “too serious”, aloof, arrogant or rude, please go and read the article, paying particular attention to the part that says “Remember, someone you know, respect, and interact with every day is an introvert, and you are probably driving this person nuts. It pays to learn the warning signs.”
craniac's place 