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…

 

Morning Sky…

It’s a funny old thing, but this morning I got up and took some photos of the sunrise. Well that’s not a funny old thing…the funny thing is that it reminded me of a couple of lines I wrote in my journal a few days ago…

Wait in the morning

Dawn breaking upon the sky

As earth softly wakes

and then these are the words I read in Psalm 19:1 after having taken the photos…

The heavens proclaim the glory of God

The skies display his craftsmanship

Little events weaving life together.

I am linking up to Lori’s Mandarin Orange Monday

I enhanced the colour by using a colour pop method, though I must say that it did not need a lot of enhancing…

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…

 

 

Simbithi Sunset

On Saturday evening I got distracted from what my husband was talking about and this was what distracted me…

A beautiful sunset. My darling man was a tad irritated because I kept interrupting him to have a look at this gorgeous sight, but then he took notice and had a peek for himself 🙂 I find it difficult to capture sunrises and sunsets and get a true sense of the colours. I did cheat and add some fill light in Light Room. In PS I upped the saturation by about 2. That was all I did to that photo.

However, in the photo below, I added a Posterize layer and then an Ocean Ripple layer. It makes for quite a dramatic and colourful picture.

I am linking up to Lori’s MOM Do go on over to her site and have a look at the other entries.

A beach walk…

Last Sunday we went for a walk on the Salt Rock beach. I have lived in Ballito for nearly a year and have not been to this particular beach. In fact, I have hardly been to the beach at all. Shocking, seeing as we only live a couple of kilometres from the beach!

It was a beautiful day, even though it was a bit windy and it was a nice long beach to walk along. I find it very therapeutic to watch the waves and to see how they form, the different sets and the unpredictability of them.

I also find it fascinating to see the different rock formations.

There are rocks with layers…

and rocks that have so many holes that they look like lace…

I definitely must make more of an effort to go down to the beach and explore the things to be found there.

 

 

 

Kruger October 2012 (Part 2)…

More photos from our visit to Kruger…