Wishing all of you a splendid day with your fathers, children, partners, friends, or even one enjoying your own company.
We went looking for Vusumuzi, a lifeguard at Durban North Beach., but he was not there… no doubt already busy with the Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 Durban – good man!
Canon G3X, ISO 125, F5.6, 1/320 sec, Marine Parade zoomed down to promenade, handheld
— in Durban, South Africa.
“I do hope you are remembering lately that those challenges, self-doubts, and insecurities you have, everyone has. And that by design, you are greater than whatever scares you. And that for your ancient, supernatural lineage, you will prevail, triumph, and rise above them, just like you always have. And that those dreams you have are actually peeks at future versions of your life that will all but inevitably be reached, unless you change your mind. And that your friends, known and to be known, chose this lifetime, in part, because you’d be here” ~ Mike Dooley
F5.6, 1/160 sec, ISO 320, flash, Canon South Africa 6D, 24-105mm L lens
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“Your heart knows the way to Heng Mountain. You are not afraid; few people go there. Inside the boat, you still hear birds and temple chimes. At the river’s source, you dry your monk’s robe in the sun. You had a family, but left it when young; Now there is no temple that would not welcome you. Managing to find a shelter in the cold, You do your usual zazen as snow fills up your door” ~ Chia Tao (779-843)
Last night (7-7-2015) I did my “virgin” run at luminosity masks using the Raya Pro Panel (test) by Jimmy Mcintyre. It’s being released in less than 11 hours (http://www.shutterevolve.com/raya-pro-the-ultimate-digital…/) and only costs R 375.54.
I tried LM’s once before via another platform some months back and couldn’t fathom it. However, I was able fairly easily understand Jimmy’s video and use the panel quite easily.
Yes, I have a long way to go and the accompanying photo is not a good example of the potential of the panel. It was more my experimental photo to work on while I tested all the other features of the panel – there are so many other features; LM’s is just one!
The upshot: I got my varying selections as needed, the ants were marching as asked and I painted in shadows / highlights with ease – in most cases just the push of a button – no big technical stuff.
Canon South Africa 6D, Canon EF 17–40mm lens, F14, 1 sec, ISO 320
— at Thompson’s Bay
“Making decisions is a hard thing to do. But magical things start to happen once you make hard decisions. Hard decision after hard decision after hard decision. Of course the decisions lead to actions which contributes a lot to the magic but what’s going on in the background is more important. You’re learning to trust yourself. And with that comes that elusive magical ingredient that just seems to make everything click. Confidence” ~ Brian Kim
Canon 6D, 17-40L, F14, 1/2 sec, ISO 100, 6 vertical images, full-size JPEG output 27.9 MB
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Dear Mother, I wish you a happy and splendid day and celebrate with you wholly in spirit. This photo is a present to you because without you I would not be here and have all the talents you gave me. More importantly, you always told me to never give up and never give up my inner self. I love you lots and lots, your dear son, Andy.
“You should never give up your inner self” ~ Clint Eastwood
I was going to post a quote on never giving up and that would have been appropriate as I had a nightmare trying to stitch the photo below.
But the quote above is so damn important I had to use it. Giving up on your inner self or letting another person slowly batter it into submission is inviting death (it’s a killer I promise: figuratively and sometimes literally).
I eventually got something going on the photo but then the one portion’s horizon was skew. Once I fixed that then I had blending exposure problems.. and so it went on.. from one issue to the next.
Even at the end I encountered a final problem that I could not resolve 100%. That might sound a little negative but it’s not. I practiced a new video tutorial on this photo plus two older ones. I also practiced another self-taught trick and did some cloning, spot removal and a few other things.
So ultimately this photo was a blessing that gave me a chance to practice many skills; I enjoyed myself and post this photo knowing there are some issues that I’m not happy with at all (I will tackle them on round 2 or 3 if need be).
This was my first serious seascape shoot (Sat 27-06-2015) in months and I have another 9 GB of photos from that morning. Some of them are great as is and I could easily post them within minutes, but that’s for another time.
This photo is called “Thompson’s Warm-Up” and it has got me into the right frame of mind for the rest of the photos.
Canon South Africa 6D, Canon 17-40L,
F16, 1/8 sec, ISO 100
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“Mother Nature is always speaking. She speaks in a language understood within the peaceful mind of the sincere observer. Leopards, cobras, monkeys, rivers and trees; they all served as my teachers when I lived as a wanderer in the Himalayan foothills” ~ Radhanath Swami
Yesterday I trundled along the North Coast of KZN for a sunrise shoot.
“Just north of Durban is a place with 2 names: Dolphin Coast and Sugar Coast. The waters are home to bottlenose dolphins and the land is rich and fertile with sugar plantations everywhere. Dolphin Coast is not part of the mainstream tourist route because it not visible from the main highway. However, if one passes further down the coastal roads past the popular resorts and beaches, it would be impossible to miss the delightful sights of the dolphins, pristine beaches, and rolling hills of the Sugar Coast” ~ http://www.dolphincoast.co.za
Yet another wonderful encounter with Mother Nature; alone on the beach for at least an hour before someone else appeared. The ideal tonic (watching the sun rise and taking photos) for some who are struggling to find beauty & gratitude in this life. An added bonus to then get home and work on the same photos and again stare in awe at the same wonderful scene.
Canon 6D from Orms, Canon South Africa 17-40mm, ISO 640, F16, 1/10 sec & 10 sec combo, variable ND attached
Ballito Beach, South Africa
Andrew Harvard Photography 