Roddy's thoughts and pictures at the close of the day
"That’s pretty much the life of a National Geographic photographer. Days of looking to be there at the right moment." Jim Richardson Jim's got it right: if you want to get a particular composition, or just the right light, then it can take days of looking and days of waiting. Then you’ve got to get yourself in just... Continue Reading →
I've had such positive responses from my recent blog post on the Karoo that it's inspired me to put together these ten images. This time all of the pictures are different styles in black and white. They're taken from Mt Zebra National Park, which is just outside Cradock, along the R61 to Ganora Guest Farm and... Continue Reading →
Two or three times a year we make the journey west from Grahamstown and into the Karoo - often staying somewhere around Compassberg which at 2504 metres is the highest peak in the Sneeuberg and Karoo. Kate has been working in the area for many years and I've gone along too. Sometimes that's involved some... Continue Reading →
In a couple of month's time Grahamstown's Festival Gallery hosts its annual end-of.year exhibition. This year the theme is Summer in Miniatures - artworks have to be no bigger than 30 cms. I've decided to try out a submission with the idea of 'Summer Nights' and use a selection of four night pictures taken this... Continue Reading →
Without doubt the Karoo is cold in the winter months. We are just back from field work based at Ganora Guest Farm, New Bethesda and it was gray and cloudy and cold. I managed to capture the grainy chill in these pictures: particularly in the skies towering over the gravel roads twisting through the big... Continue Reading →
It's a couple of months since I posted about the book project. There's been plenty to work on: finding the right online publisher, deciding on the layout, selecting and reworking images, tracking down picture details, drawing the maps and then composing the book. Here is a preview of the covers: you are looking at the... Continue Reading →
Last week we spent a productive few days doing survey work in and around the Wilgerbos River on Ganora Farm. Kate's Masters student, Natalie, and postdoctoral researcher, Simon, were busy with channel surveys, flow measurements and laying sediment trips. I helped Kate with her erosion study on the badlands. Some of these pictures have already... Continue Reading →
It's been a while since I have had the time and space for posting anything here. We're just back from Ganora Farm in the Karoo: it was Kate's first field trip since her colon cancer operation and chemotherapy started six months ago. Everyone who visits the Karoo has a wind pump picture but I thought... Continue Reading →
Fieldwork with Kate in the Karoo usually involves lots of walking in hot dusty and scratchy places. Last week's trip to Ganora was no exception. On the way to collect data from various instruments and gadgets you find yourself dodging spiders webs and finding the most exquisitely coloured insects. They are the inhabitants of the sand... Continue Reading →
We're just back from three crystal clear days and nights in the Karoo. Excellent conditions for taking photos at night. The first picture is a long lens shot of Compassberg taken from Ganora Farm which must be about 10 kilometres from the mountain as the crow flies. It was just after sunset with a thin... Continue Reading →
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