Another Time Away…

Time has flown by this year and I have been very unmotivated about my photography and this blog, sad to say. Anyway, today I decided to edit some photos and, hopefully, that has given me a kick-start to get going again.

We went to Kruger National Park in October where I got the camera out and took hundreds of pictures. However, it was not my best trip, photographically. Shall I blame those models for misbehaving and not showing their best side in the right light…hehe!  Apart from the lack of stunning photos, we still had some lovely sightings.

KNP was in the middle of a severe drought and was looking very brown, dry and dusty. In spite of, or maybe because of, we had some great sightings. We saw the Big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo) at various times, as well as other animals. I don’t mind what I see; it is always just so refreshing to be in the African bush and see what we come upon in the day.

Another of my favourite things is to sit on the patio in our accommodation at the end of the day and watch the sunset…so beautiful.

Sunset over the Crocodile River…

 

Away in the wild…

I can’t believe that it has been so long since I posted a blog! I thought I had done so last month!! How time flies…

Earlier this year we went to Tembe Elephant Park up in northern Kwazulu-Natal. This is a small game park in South Africa, but is a great place to visit. Whilst we did not get to see any of the big cats, we certainly had some wonderful sightings.

Tembe lived up to its name and showed us lots of elephant sightings. One of the waterholes, in this sadly drought-ridden area, produced some really interesting viewing.

Just a couple of shots taken at the waterhole…

Let me rest my weary tusk…

I’m the boss of you…

Time Away…

On Monday and Tuesday my daughter and I went to a Spa Hotel for a relaxing getaway. Hoar Cross Hall is situated in a village in Staffordshire in England.

Over the time that we spent there we had nothing more taxing to think about other than what treatment to have and then…should we go to the hydrotherapy pool or the saltwater vitality pool…decisions, decisions!

In the evening there were more decisions to be made…what to choose for dinner. The poor waitress kept coming to take our order, only to to be told we hadn’t made up our minds!! Eventually, we made our choices and then proceeded to eat some very delicious food.

On Monday afternoon we went for a walk around the grounds of the hotel…

The Church…

A statue on the outside wall of the church…

Garden features…

 

MOM 105…

At the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta I captured a few flashes of orange. Very kind of them to put on a show just in time for a MOM entry 🙂 The only editing I did on these photos was to adjust the tone and bump up the saturation. I tried a few artistic takes, but they just looked awful. So I kept it simple.

Herewith my entries. Some more photos can be seen here

Do visit MOM to see what other people’s entries.

 

Up, Up and Away…

Dionne Warwick’s song starts…”Wouldn’t you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?”

Yes I would have loved to have done that on Friday at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta in Bristol, UK. I was so excited to have been able to go to the Fiesta, as I am not usually in the UK for this annual event. We were so lucky with the weather, as the Balloon Ascent on Friday evening was able to take place. There were fair winds and only a slight shower.

I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

 

Through the bullrushes…

A couple of posts ago I put up some photos taken on a walk on the estate where we live. We consider ourselves privileged to live in such a beautiful haven that is close to the amenities of shops, medical care and other necessities. As 2014 is getting underway, I stirred myself and edited a picture to enter for this week’s Mandarin Orange Monday

Below are the first edits I did – adjusting the tonal values, curves and adding a soft light blend…

For MOM entry, I bumped up the hue layer, added a warming photo filter and increased the density. It ended up with a soft orange tone to the photo…

And, just for fun, a monochrome version…

New Year’s Day Walk…

A walk on the eco side of Simbithi…

2013 Highlights…

 

The blessings of two grandchildren…a grandson and a grand daughter…

Travels around various parts of South Africa…

 

 

Kruger October 2012 (Part 2)…

More photos from our visit to Kruger…

Kruger October 2012…

Recently we spent 12 days visiting the Kruger National Park in South Africa, where we live. We are blessed to have a week’s timeshare on the border of the park and then we followed it up by spending a further five days staying at various camps in the park.

Instead of posting loads of individual photos I have done a couple of collages.

Big 5…

A variety of other wildlife…

I will post some more photos tomorrow.