Category Archives: South Africa

Wine under the Stars: Photo Essay of the Stoep Wine Tasting Weekend, Graaff-Reinet

by

0

Our second experience of the Karoo Wine Club’s excellent tasting weekend in Graaff-Reinet didn’t disappoint. We went last Friday to find some wines cheap enough for the opening of my fringe exhibition ‘Metamorphosis’ at #NAF18. For the price of a R250 ticket you get to sample wine from some 30 different estates: there’s craft beer, gin and liqueurs too but I failed dismally to get the right product!

Tasting Stoep Wine
Wines to taste
Karoo Wine Club Sampling Glass
Sampling Beer at the Stoep Wine Tasting

We also took along my portfolio to discuss possibilities of exhibiting in the Drostdy Hotel at the lovely Imibala Gallery and had a couple of very positive and helpful discussions. I’m hoping that a return trip is going to happen later this year when I’ll be carrying some of my metal prints with me.

Friday evening was spent sampling the different clusters of wineries to find a safe place to take pictures on Saturday night. I quickly discovered that Graaff-Reinet’s motorists treat random photographers as fair game to flatten – especially after dark – and finally found a nice spot outside the Reinet House on Murray Street. I wanted to catch the stars above the fine historic building and the wine tasting going on outside as cars drove by.

Early Evening Stoep Wine Tasting outside Reinet House
Stars, wine and cars outside Reinet House

The Fountain Court, 1820 Settlers National Monument, a Photo Essay before #NAF18 takes over

by

0

As #NAF18 draws closer the 1820 Settlers National Monument gets busier and busier. So I took a chance yesterday that there would still be some peace to make a photo essay of my favourite part of the building – the Fountain Court. It’s quite a challenge being a central atrium that’s several stories deep. There’s natural light spilling in from two sides and down from the top but artificial light on the other two sides. I settled on my tiny 9mm fisheye body cap lens to pull in as much of the space as possible. The rectangular shapes of the famous yellowwood scaffolding sculpture, the many long pillars and banner-like Skotnes murals all help make dramatic shots. The fisheye lens does a great job of curving them round the Millstone Fountain and sunburst roof decoration.

Fountain Court 5, 1820 Settlers National Monument
Fountain Court 4, 1820 Settlers National Monument
Fountain Court 2, 1820 Settlers National Monument
Fountain Court 3, 1820 Settlers National Monument
Fountain Court 6, 1820 Settlers National Monument
Fountain Court 1, 1820 Settlers National Monument

 

The N2 by Night – Festinos’ delight?

by

0

The N2’s not an easy road and I don’t think many festinos’ would think it’s a delight: but most people will come to #NAF18 along it. Whether from Port Elizabeth or King William’s Town it snakes its way across a whole sequence of deep valleys. I just love the names of the rivers. On the PE side you leave Grahamstown through Howieson’s Poort and must cross the Berg, Palmiet, Assegai, Kariega and Bushman’s before the long dry stretch to the Sunday’s River at Colchester.

N2, Grahamstown, Howieson's Poort, #NAF18

N2 by Night: Howieson’s Poort

To the East of Grahamstown it’s across the Belmont Valley you go and over the Kowie River before the long climb up to Governor’s Kop. You’ve still got the Great Fish and Keisakamma to cross before you reach the Buffalo River bridge entering King William’s Town.

N2 by Night: Grahamstown
N2 by Night: Belmont Valley

The N2 at Night makes a good photo essay. From the radio masts on the western end of Mountain Drive you can catch the car headlights coming up Howieson’s Poort. At the toposcope you can look down over the N2 bypass to the town’s lights. Below you is the Port Alfred road and the N2 weaving across the Belmont Valley and up through the cuttings beyond.

The Howieson’s Poort picture is one of this year’s Grahamstown series that I’m showing in Metamorphosis, June 28 – 8 July, at the Johan Carinus Art Centre during #NAF18.

 

 

 

Starting off with a flash and a bang – 55 days to go to #NAF18

by

2

This month certainly started with a bang – we had a spectacular storm last night that’s given me another picture for #NAF18.

Grahamstown, Lightning, #NAF18, Metamorphosis, Night Photography

Autumn Storm over Grahamstown

I shall add it to the three night pictures in the Grahamstown Series I’ve already printed for Metamorphosis. You get such cool colours and effects in night photographs whether it’s a moon rise, car headlights or lightning. But they’re quite tricky to take. Then there’s problem of just how to print them. This time I’ve selected something a little different – Ilford Metallic Gloss.

Blue Moon over Grahamstown
N2 into Grahamstown
Lightning over Grahamstown

The prints have a slight metallic sheen with rich contrasts and plenty of detail.  They’ll be on sale at the exhibition and also through my online portal later this month.

More metal – 71 days to #NAF18

by

1

We collected another eight metal prints from Orms Print Room in Cape Town last week. They’re going to be showcased in Metamorphosis, my fringe exhibition at the Johan Carinus Art Centre during the National Arts Festival 2018. The four monochrome prints are pictured here. They’re unusual because they don’t have any white. Instead the brushed aluminium shines through and the grain from the metal gives a great texture.

Dragon Tree
Balanites Tree
Misty Road
Breathing Trees

 

Metamorphosis – 81 days until exhibition opening

by

0

Metamorphosis is my theme for this years’s exhibition on the Arts Festival Fringe at the Johan Carinus Art Centre. I’ve got 50+ images and more than 40 are new so with less than three months before opening I’m in constant communication with printers in Cape Town (Orms Print Room) and Port Elizabeth (Walker Digital).

I’m  also really excited about my online store for digital downloads. All of the images from Metamorphosis will be there in low resolution (suitable for web sites) and high resolution (suitable for print) versions. There’ll be an announcement here once it opens for business.

My popular series of Grahamstown landscapes will be a feature in the exhibition and the first batch of these prints have just arrived. I’m using different photographic paper this year:  Hahnemühle German Etching.  I really like the texture and print quality that the paper gives.  You can’t really see that in this slideshow so you’ll just have to come along to the Johan Carinus Art Centre for the full experience!  The exhibition’s open from 9am to 5pm for the duration of the Festival from 28 June to 8 July.

Rain in the Lushington
Rhodes University
Belmont Valley
Winterberg
Lower Albany
Featherstone Kloof