Thinking Aloud: south africa in pictures

Showing posts with label south africa in pictures. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Cupcakes... and more ....

Go on admit it... are these not the most beautiful cupcakes you have ever come across??

These gorgeous creations are made my Lindie of "The Bread Bin" - I met Lindie

briefly whilst taking photographs at the recent Irene Kamersvol Geskenke event.

As I walked around, I was drawn to this stall, by the vibrant colour and texture, and a

certain pretty lacy detail....

My curiosity piqued I hovered closer. I could not believe the beauty of

these cupcakes .... In fact too beautiful to eat, I think ....the fine rose petal detail

and vibrant colour, all simply displayed

on a cake stand and a wonderous lace covered "dome"nearby ...

and then to top it off, they also had an array of fresh breads, displayed in true

European style - bread baskets and little chalk labels ....

This stall completely filled my senses, and in fact for an instant, I felt transported

away to another place, another time. What bliss to photograph.

Wishing you all the best Lindie and Johann

Lindie and Johan of the "The Bread Bin" can be contacted at lindie.crumpton@gmail.com

Previous posts on this event here and here

and a full photographic "journal" over here

Sunday, December 12, 2010

"Topiary" creations for Christmas

As I've blogged about before, I recently attended the Kamersvol event in Irene,

Gauteng (click for previous post). It was haven of creativity and gorgeous things ...

so, whilst there I chatted to a numbers of the vendors who had amazing items on

display. Andrea Topiary creations was one of them. Andrea and Kate run a business

making wreaths, topiary balls and other festive items, all from an Elgin based farm.

For those who don't know, that means it's based in the wonderful Cape.

I simply adore the texture and overall look and feel of these products ... so much nicer

than the fake, tinsel things you get in most stores .....

L-O-V-E.... even words are available - just perfect for that xmas table or other event ....

and lovely reindeer, which are bound to delight any little one.....

Andrea or Kate can be found via their website on which you can view more

product information - here

Saturday, December 11, 2010

On the road ... again ....

We're on the road again... well not literally. I was recently writing a post about time -

that fact that at this time of year it appears to be such a "big issue" - I have a few

perspectives on that thought, but that's for another post.

The reason time came up, was that in looking thru my archives (in fact whilst

"cleaning" out), I came across a folder with photos taken from a road/ country trip we

did exactly a year ago (you see, I told you time flies!!). As I've not blogged or posted

much about this trip and since there are some really scenic shots, I decided, now is as

good a time as any.....

So, we were on the road to Nelspruit (a main town in the Eastern Transvaal, now called

Mpumalanga) and the largest town before heading out to Mozambique. These pics

were of our first stop on the way to Nelspruit, at Milly's just outside Machadodorp. The

area is renowned for it's trout and trout fishing, and it's truly gorgeous, so Milly's was

the place we chose to stop at. The picture above and below give a very good idea of

what the surrounds look like ....

Blue skies, rolling hills of green, lots of water .... to top it off a wonderful mud house

and nguni cattle - this has got to be one of my favorite pictures of rural south africa .....

after lunch we continued onto our destination and stopped by an old friend for coffee. He happens to live high up on a hill, and these two images

are some of the wonderful views he enjoys on a daly basis. There was a storm coming in so clarity was not at it's best. Still scenic nevertheless.....

WelI I hope you enjoyed that ... I'll be posting more of this trip over the forthcoming weeks .....

A skywatch post

a LATSOF post

Scenic Sunday post

Gena D Images and {Gena D Photography} for thinking aloud

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Kamersvol Geskenke started it's adventurous journey about 8 years ago, with a focus on handmade, art and crafts and enabling people to
come together to sell their wares to the public. This is now an annual event in the Cape.

This year, Kamersvol Geskenke (translates Rooms Full of Gifts) had it's Gauteng debut event in Irene, a few weeks back.
They opened their doors, and no sooner than they did, were they overwhelmed with people.   I had made arrangements
to go through and enjoy the sights and sounds, but also hoping to capture images of the detail, the vibe, the look and feel of this awesome event.
Quieter is was, but the vibe was still very apparent.

Let's set the scene ... a gorgeous property with loads of texture (cement, stone, metal, glass), a wild indigenous garden,
loads of handmade artefacts and other goodies on display throughout (indoor and outdoor), wonderful music, wine tasting,
cupcakes, coffee..... Okay - you get the picture?

I have always adored handmade items, crafts and things with an old world, vintage feel. It appears that I have
quite a nostalgic side to me. To top that I adore texture, pattern, colour .... Well needless to say I was in my element - everywhere
I looked there was something else to see, to touch, to enjoy .... oh and by the way, loads of really friendly people too!!!

The vendors really excelled at creating and displaying their wares.... All in all it was a resoudning success leaving the local people wanting more.

I look forward to next year's event ..... In the meantime, I will be blogging about some of the vendors that I interacted with ..... so watch this space!

Link to their facebook page : http://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages&ref=mb#!/Kamersvol

as well as the link to their website : http://www.kamersvol.com/

Article adapted from a post on {Gena D Photography} - click here

Friday, November 26, 2010

On the way home ...

Late afternoon on the way home from the country .....

a Skywatch post

a LATSOF post

Scenic Sunday post

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Simplicity .....

Today's title pretty much sums up this post .... just simple images taken in the

country ... they truly speak for themselves .....

An Outdoor Wednesday post

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

A Wild Garden at Sunset

These are a few images from a garden photoshoot that I did earlier this year.

The garden is massive and was landscaped to encompass a predominantly
indigenous (African) look and feel ....

I adore these glimpses taken during late afternoon - they are truly african ...
the sky, the golden colour, the grasses, aloes, and more ....

A My World Tuesday post

Friday, November 19, 2010

A Sky post

Lone trees and endless sky...

A Skywatch post

LATSOF post

and Scenic Sunday post

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Country Farm Scenes

I cannot believe how many posts I've managed to get out of this one single country trip!

Okay granted it was a whole weekend, but in essence this indicates what a diverese

and truly beautiful part of the country this is (Mpumalanga, South Africa). We were in

Chrissiesmeer in particular, on this trip, and there alone, we had a wonderful guest farm

to enjoy, numerous lakes, endless landscapes, original stone homes (see yesterdays'

post), and so much more .....

I was reading today's post of Nature's Notes (Michelle's blog - Rambling Woods) and

thought how, somehow photography has the ability to open up our eyes, to really see,

even when the weather is dismal, or we are in the less appealing (to most) seasons,

such as winter. So in a way Michele's message echo's my thoughts, that yes, some

places are pretty, some places or seasons have loads to photograph, but in reality you

just need to look and really see to find that there is something beautiful, something

interesting, just about everywhere you look - you just have to see it....

This selection of images is from the Florence guest farm itself.

A Nature's Notes post

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Stone Houses of Chrissiesmeer

one the original Stone houses of Chrissiesmeer, with a newer addition

(note brickwork) and other detail below ...

these are mostly abandoned - at the time I visited I was unable to ascertain

what is intended with these old homes, which surely

qualify for heritage status. It would be wonderful to see them restored and used.

I have soft spot of old homes, buildings, structures - so am inclined to want to a

capture their beauty, even though they look worse for wear - it's as if feel I need to

record a memory in their honour!? These just spoke volumes, still standing

proud and steadfast, with their weathered detail and colours -

amidst wild grasses and solid large oak trees ...

An Outdoor Wednesday Post

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

More Travel shots

Images from a road trip - wonderful country scenes with endless views

My World Tuesday post

Friday, November 12, 2010

Country Road

A country road and woolly sky.

It's late autumn, lovely colour tones, hazy sky with woolly clouds building in

anticipation of an impending storm. Note how part of the landscape is in shade

and the rest in sun.....

A Skywatch post

LATSOF post

and Scenic Sunday Post

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Snippets of Farm Life

Over the last few weeks I have been catching up on some old photoshoots ... these are

from our trip in May 2010 to the South African Lake District, Chrissiesmeer. Literally,

snippets and glimpses of farm life .... Enjoy!

A nature's notes post

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

In honour of a great old building

I decided to go with architecture today and creative digital manipulation, so the first
three images are all the same, just different effects.

These are some of the photographs I've taken of the facade of the old Post Office
Building in Johannesburg. It has a very interesting history - built in the late 1800's

and situated in the first market square of the then up and coming city.   It's built in
various architectural styles and has had some structural changes through the years,
including the change from bell tower to clock tower (see images below).

It was declared a national monument in 1978 and continued to be used as the Post
office up until 1996. The idea was to restore the building and continue to put it to
good use. Sadly it remained empty and was subjected to extensive vandalism.
Then about a year ago it burnt down and it's future still remains inconclusive.