| |
Posted on 25th July 2010 by admin in Articles
backup, cd-rom, collections, damage, data, data loss, drobo, external, images, photographs, photos, storage
 Whether you’ve grown your image collection into thousands of images or only have yourself a few hundred prized photographs and memories, just how securely backed up are those images of yours. Do you even have them backed up at all?
Everybody at some point in their life will experience the awful feeling of data loss. This normally happens on a day when you least expect it, when out of the blue your perfectly functioning computer system crashes and dies. You take the system to a technical person who then tells you the bad news, all your data is gone. What do you do other than nearly have a nervous breakdown?
First off there are data recovery labs that in many cases can get your data back, some of them are so good they can even take a hard drive that has been smashed into pieces and get data back bit by bit. This however is an extremely costly scenario, for the most part the charges are by the hour and it can literally run into hundreds of hours and there is no guarantee’s offered whatsoever.
“Oh why didn’t I backup my images” starts to play over and over in your head even haunting you in your dreams.
The answer is to avoid this scenario altogether, it’s not pleasant and I speak from experience. Once you’ve lost data once you spend the rest of your life making sure everything is securely backed up and sadly many people only learn this the hard way.
So what are your options for backing up your images?
Many people with a smaller image collection can get away using CD-roms for their backups.  They are one of the most affordable forms of media around and this allows you to make multiple copies to store in different locations. But how safe are CD-roms? Many people mistakenly assume that a CD-rom will last for ever. This is a picture painted into people’s minds in the early days when CD-roms first came onto the market, they were marketed as indestructable. Well quite simply they are not. Simply dropping a CD-rom from a desk can damage the disc badly if it contacts the ground wrong. A CD-rom is nothing more than a plastic disc with a microscopically thin layer of foil material which is the recording surface. If you took a sharp knife and ran it quickly over the recording surface you’d see silver flakes (and data) come flying off. In modern times CD-roms are in mass production and the materials used to manufacture them are cheaper resulting in lower quality products. You can buy CD-rom discs for less than a Rand a disc and you can buyCD-rom discs for a few Rand a disc and there is indeed quite a difference. Cheap no name brand discs will become your worst enemy, they seem fine and seem no different than their more expensive counterparts but there will come a time when you take data written onto a cheap disc, put it into your Cd-rom drive and discover your drive cannot read the disc. You try in a friend’s drive to find the same problem and you eventually discover that disc no longer works ….. what happened …. your data is GONE? “This can’t be happening” you say to yourself. Well uh yes it can. There is major differences in the price of CD-roms due to the quality of the foil recording surface. Cheap CD-roms may only last 1-5 years, more expensive ones may last 5-10 years and then you can get what we call medical grade CD-roms which have a “claimed” lifespan of 100 years. The price between them is remarkably different, the cheap discs can cost R1.00 a disc, the more expensive “name” brands could cost you about R2.50 per disc and medical grade discs could cost you abour R20-R25 each. So depending on just how important that data is, the choice is yours. If you choose to use cheap CD-roms then every year you will need to re-record them and discard the old ones. Trust me this ends up being a tedious process and once your image collection starts requiring several discs at a time it’s time to look at another solution.
 The next best solution which works very well is to use external hard drives to back up your image data. Having been personally involved in the high-tech industry for nearly 20 years I have been through just about every brand of hard drive and above all Seagate drives seem to have the longest lifespan and the least chance of failing. I have Seagate external hard drives that are nearly 5 years old and still functioning perfectly so I have standardised on Seagate as a trusted name. Seagate produces a variety of external hard drive solutions called FreeAgent ranging from 250GB drives upwards to 2TB. They also have a range called FreeAgent “Go” which are small enough to fit in your pocket. Using an external hard drive for your backups is quick and easy. You get yourself a program like Super Flexible File Synchroniser and set it up to mirror your images and other data and you can run it daily or once a week. Simply having one external backup is not enough. If you buy yourself one 500Gb external drive you actually need to purchase two and every time you do backups you do it onto both hard drives. One hard drive you can store in your safe (hopefully fire proof) and the other you should store off site at a friend or family member’s house, and preferably in their safe too. Having everything in triplicate stored in 3 different locations guarantees you that should trouble strike you have one totally safe backup. The cost of external hard drives have come down dramatically and they are by far the most cost effective form of storage around but you really need to refrain from saving yourself a few bucks considering cheaper external drives, stick with Seagate (no I do NOT work for them) do your backups in duplicate and store one off site and you’ll be good to go for many years.
 When your image collection grows beyond the confines of a 2TB external hard drive it may be time to start looking for a more serious back solution. For this photographers are turning to the Drobo system because of it’s great offerings. Drobo has essentially taken very expensive RAID technologies which were out of the reach of the average Joe for many years and brought out a fully redundant raid product with a more affordable price tag. A basic Drobo which can house 4 hard drives could cost you around R12-14000 or thereabouts. Then you could move onto a Drobo Pro system which is a lot more expensive but can house 8 drives, it all depends on how much cash you wish to part ways with and just how serious you are about your data. Again, having one Drobo storing all your data, even though it has full redundancy, is no guarantee your data is safe. I know of several people whose Drobo’s have crashed on them so essentially like above with external hard drives, if you buy one Drobo, you actually buy two and one gets locked away very safely, preferably off site.
When it comes to data backups you need to have a plan, something you’ve invested some thought into and you need to stick to it religiously. It’s no good storing a backup off site and never updating it. If you formulate a backup plan you will thank yourself one day when things do go wrong, you will rest assured knowing your data and images are securely backed up. I’ll revisit this topic again one day. For now, get backing up.
Posted on 24th July 2010 by admin in Articles
We’ve been spending some time revamping the look and feel of the site and we hope you enjoy the new look. We’ve made the site loading much faster and are still tweaking some elements to further improve your experience. We’re changing the scope of the site slightly from this point on and we will be bringing some new and insightful articles delving into many different aspects of photography whether it be a technique, an observation or simply some great images.
We’ll no longer be feeding articles from other sources into this site but if, like many of our subscribers, you’ve come to rely on this site as your one stop source of information on what’s going on in the photo world, do not fret. you can continue getting all that info at http://www.photography-blog.co.za
Behind the scenes there’s lots going on and we hope you enjoy what’s in store for you in the coming weeks and months. We welcome guest contributions so if you have something you’d like to share simply email it to us on submit@africanphotographyblog.com
Posted on 23rd July 2010 by admin in Articles |Lightning |Photography |SA Photographers |South Africa
Africa, electric, forces, free energy, Lightning, nature, Photography, power, safety, south, Storms
Lightning Storms are one of the most incredible forces of nature. The sheer force of a lightning strike is enough to power a city for months on end but man has not yet learned to harness and store this incredible energy source provided free of charge by nature. As Summer approaches in South Africa, the first rains and electrical storms for the season are already brewing and we’ll soon see what kind of storm activity nature has in store for use this season. Acclaimed South African Lightning and Storm Photographer Mitchell Krog shares some of his images, views and experiences with lightning photography.
 Danger Written In The Sky. Multiple Lightning Strikes Light Up The Summer Night Sky. If Only Man Could Learn To Harness This Energy. From Mitchell Krog's Lightning Photography Collections. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) For many years SA photographer Mitchell Krog has watched and studied electrical storms and to this day still stands in utter amazement at this incredible force of nature. In recent years he acquired the equipment and skills to finally capture them on film and he has produced an endless array of breathtaking images. For Mitchell it is not about simply capturing a lightning strike on film but more importantly capturing the entire scene and telling a story through his images. “With any form of photography if you can captivate a viewers attention, draw them into an image, tell them a story and have them study it for more than just a few seconds you have imprinted an ever lasting memory” says Mitchell. Lightning photography can be a very lonely passtime, only those with enough dedication, patience and endurance to be out at strange hours of the night will stand a chance of capturing unique, sometimes once in a lifetime images.
 The Big Detour. A passenger aircraft destined for Lanseria airport bypasses a massive storm cell. Missing dinner and spending many lonesome hours outside comes with the job of photographing lightning storms. From Mitchell Krog's Lightning Photography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) As with any form of photography, timing is of the essence. If you are unprepared, unwilling or unable to drop whatever you are doing at a moments notice you will miss opportunities. “I cannot tell you how many evenings I have rushed out of the house just minutes before dinner was ready only to return home several hours later, but nature waits for no man and if you are quick to seize the opportunity you will reap the rewards” says Mitchell. Mitchell’s Fire and Ice series, capturing a grassland fire which was started by lightning strikes was one such occasion. He explains – “I was cooking dinner when I heard thunder approaching, I took a quick look outside and saw the sky glowing red from a grass fire, I dropped everything, rushed outside and managed to capture a few frames of this scene before the storm extinguished the fire it had started. This entire window of opportunity lasted a mere 20-30 minutes and was at it’s best stage for around 5-10 minutes.”
 Fire and Ice. An early Spring lightning storm starts a grass fire and is captured here with strikes falling around and into the fire. Minutes later the storm extinguishes the fire it started and the moment is gone. From Mitchell Krog's Fire and Ice Lightning Photography Series. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) Safety is an important part of watching and photographing lightning storms. Finding a safe location with a good view is of the essence, you need to be able to see the storm approaching and be able to determine if you are in any way in the path of danger. “If your view is in any way blocked a storm can sneak up right behind you so a 360 degree view is preferrable, you also need somewhere safe to escape to. I’ve often been watching a storm in one direction when right behind me another one is brewing, so I always keep a watch all around me. Standing outside with a metal tripod and an electrically charged camera when strikes are falling too close is asking for trouble” says Mitchell. Mitchell insists that climbing on the roof of your house or any metal structure is a big no-no and could quickly cost you your life and he always promotes safe lightning photography. “There is just no image worth losing your life over” he adds.
 Killer Storm. On the 23rd of November 2007 this mammoth supercell emitting lightning strikes up and out of it's core was captured by Mitchell Krog. The strikes emanating from the centre of this storm cell were kilometres in length and streaked across the night sky. This same evening several massive storm cells circulated through Gauteng and claimed lives in their path. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) More articles and images in this series on Lightning Photography will follow in the coming months.
Posted on 10th February 2010 by admin in Articles
crowds, dam, dam wall, flood gates, flooding, floods, gauteng, heavy rains, highveld, sluice gates, South Africa, vaal, vaal river
The Vaal Dam which recently burst it’s banks due to massive amounts of rain on the South African Highveld drew thousands of spectators to see the massive release of water from the Dam wall, an event which was last seen 14 years ago. Many enterprising South African’s seized the opportunity to set up shop on the roadsides to cater to the hungry tummy’s and thirsty throats of the tourists flocking to the site and overall a very festive mood prevailed. Despite the traffic chaos everyone seemed to get along just fine and slowly move their way through and across the bridge over the river.
At one point as many as 14 sluice gates were open and the water being released from the Vaal dam wall was like a raging monster emitting a massive cloud of water vapour into the sky above making clear photographs of the dam while quite tricky. The photo below captured by South African landscape photographer and freelance photojournalist Mitchell Krog is one such image where the amount of flood gates opened was 14. At the height of release of water from the Dam an amount of 2 040m³ of water per second was being released from the dam wall.
 Like a raging beast water gushes out from 14 sluice gates on the Vaal dam wall due to heavy rains in the province which caused the Vaal Dam to burst it's banks. At the point of 14 sluices being open an amount of 2 040m³ of water per second was being released from the dam wall. - Photo: Copyright Mitchell Krog / Living Canvas Photography Due to the large amount of water being released from the Dam wall, many road ways further downstream in the Vereeneging area were affected by flooding causing traffic chaos in the city and surrounds. The traffic officials sure had their hands full but seemed to control the chaos quite well. Traffic at the dam wall was really chaotic with cars parked everywhere and others trying to squeeze their way through the parked cars and people on foot.
 Recent flooding at the Vaal dam drew crowds from afar who flocked to see the spectacle of a major river in flood. At one point authorities in the region had 14 sluice gates opened due to the massive amount of water flowing into the Vaal dam from the heavy rainfalls around the Gauteng region. Photo: Copyright Mitchell Krog / Living Canvas Photography As of this week levels in the Vaal Dam have stabilised and they are down to only 5 flood gates being open with authorities saying they may close more today. The situation is still being closely monitored as rains continue to fall around the province onto already water-logged ground which can still result in more flooding but for the most part the big spectacle is probably over for now.
 "Like a raging monster" - water gushing from the Vaal Dam wall after 14 sluice gates were opened due to heavy rainfalls in the region. Photo: Copyright Mitchell Krog / Living Canvas Photography
Posted on 9th February 2010 by admin in Articles
dam, flooding, floods, highveld, infrared, IR, rainfalls, sluice gates, South Africa, vaal, vaal river, vereeneging, wilge river
Two weeks ago the Vaal Dam in the Vereeneging Area of South Africa burst it’s banks due to massive amounts of rain on the highveld of South Africa. This resulted in Authorities opening 13 sluice gates to release the massive amounts of water flowing into the dam. At one point the Dam was 109% full with large amount of water still flowing in from rivers and it was at this point that authorities had to open 13 flood gates. The spectacle last seen in 1997 drew huge crowds of people which only added to the traffic chaos in the Vereeniging area and traffic authorities were taxed in their duties. Numerous roadways were also flooded due to the amount of water being released from the dam.
As of today the amount of sluice gates open is now down to only 5 and authorities have stated they may close another on or two tomorrow morning but they are still closely monitoring the dam as rain continues to fall around the province.
Mitchell Krog travelled out to the Dam wall on the 30th of January 2010 at the height of the release of water from the dam wall and took the image below using Infrared. “The water coming out of the dam wall was raging like a monster, creating a massive cloud of mist that seemed to join seemlessly into the clouds above it. It was quite something to see many enterprising South African’s who used the opportunity to sell food and drink to the thousands of South African’s who came to see this spectacle” said Mitchell.
 The Vaal Dam in South Africa with 13 sluice gates opened as authorities scrambled to release as much water a spossible due to the dam bursting it's banks due to heavy rainfalls in the Highveld region of South Africa - Copyright Mitchell Krog / Living Canvas Photography
Posted on 24th January 2010 by admin in Articles
Competitions, criticism, critique, forums, photrography, salons
Pay no attention to critics. No statue has ever been put up to a critic.
Jean Sibelius
I have sometimes wondered in idle moments over the last twenty years or so what a photo judge would think of my work. (I’ve even wondered if I should anonymously put forward a panel of work to the Royal Photographic Society just to see what reaction the images would get without my “Name” attached.) What’s held me back from applying hasn’t been a fear or criticism, rather it’s been a suspicion that I wouldn’t receive the right kind of criticism.
The approval of our peers is something that we almost all seek. The most common way that people look for this is by placing their images in a web forum or by entering them in a club competition. But publishing our work lays it open to criticism as well as approval. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In theory entering your work into a photo competition, for instance, could help you to understand your strengths and weaknesses in relation to other photographers and hence help you grow as a photographer. Even if you don’t win, receiving a commentary on your work should give you some pointers on how to improve.
But criticism is a double-edged sword. It might be conveniently split into “good” or “bad”; constructive or destructive. Now the latter isn’t simply a comment that you don’t want to hear! Destructive criticism is characterized by a lack of insight, a lack of respect and a lack of understanding on the part of the critic. Whereas this diminishes both artist and critic I deem constructive criticism is essential for the growth and understanding of any artist.
Read the full article at: http://www.photographyblog.com/articles/the_art_of_criticism/
Posted on 23rd September 2009 by News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com) in Articles |Cameras |Syndicated Press
film speed, iso, sensitivity
 We're seeing an increasing number of posts on our forums expressing confusion about ISO and asking why we don't test cameras based on their 'true' ISO values. So we've just posted the first of a two-part explanation of ISO, what it means, the role it plays in photography and how apparent discrepancies in reported values can occur.
Posted on 23rd September 2009 by admin in Articles |Lightning |Magaliesburg |Night Photography |Photography |SA Photographers |South Africa
gauteng, highveld, Lightning, rain, relief, South Africa, spring, struck, summer, thunder, thunderstorms
The Spring Solstice could not have been a better time for the first thunder and lightning storms to arrive on the Highveld of South Africa. After a very long and dry winter, you can hear both man and nature breathe a sigh of relief. With more rain apparently on the way we can only hope that we have a good rain season this coming Summer, it sure is very much needed. For a big portion of South Africa it is now time to start unplugging modems and computers or risk losing them through a lightning strike.
 The First Thunderstorm of 2009. Lightning, thunder and rain, there is quite simply nothing quite like it. From Mitchell Krog's Lightning Photography Portfolios. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)
Posted on 17th September 2009 by admin in Articles |Isle of Skye |Landscape |Scotland |Travel
castles, Isle of Skye, kilt rock, lakes, Landscape, lochs, mountains, Photography, Scotland, skye, Travel, waterfalls
The Isle of Skye is simply one of the most dramatic looking island in the world.
 Isle of Skye Landscape Photography Scotland It has snowcapped mountains, rugged coastlines, castles, stone temples, waterfalls that plunge into the sea, green farming pastures and massive lakes (lochs). Add a completely unpredictable weather pattern and you have all the right ingredients for landscape/travel photography.
The island is surprisingly large and would take at least one full day of continuous driving to circle. Quite conveniently, the island is split into four main clusters of attractions. We had four days on Skye and planned spending a day in each section, but due to the weather, decided to skip the south east. You could easily spend a month in Skye and still have plenty to photograph.
Read this full article with fantastic images from Travel Photographers John & Tina Reid.
Posted on 8th September 2009 by admin in Articles |Black and White |Fine-Art |Kosi Bay |Kwazulu Natal |Landscape |Monochrome |SA Photographers |Scotland |Seascapes |South Africa |Travel
black, camera, Cameras, canvas, classic, Fine-Art, Landscape, megapixels, photography. monochrome, prints, processing, Scotland, soul, South Africa, texture. contrast, tones, vintage, white
In this wonderful colourful world of ours why would anyone want to strip everything down to black, white and shades of grey? Quite simply because black and white imagery remains to be one of the most powerful photographic mediums and it still very much alive and well. All photography started as black and white originally until geniuses figured out ways of capturing colour on film, since then colour photography has come a very long way indeed but black and white certainly has not left the master photographers toolbox.
When you strip away all the colour in an image you get down to the bare essentials of life. A black and white photograph has a certain mystique about it and once all that colour is out of the way we get down to the life and soul of imagery at its most powerful. Where a colour image does not need much more than colour to get a WOW factor out of viewers, a black and white image needs to have a lot more going for it in order to captivate a viewer, stop them in their tracks and keep them looking at the image for a considerable length of time. Textures, tones and contrasts are the be-all and end-all of good black and white photography and few photographers ever master this delicate process which is not as simple as using some arbitrary plug in to turn a colour image into a black and white image.
 "Harry Potter's World". This panoramic image of Glenfinnan in the Western Scottish Highlands was home to parts of some of the Harry Potter movies and ever since has become a tourist hot spot. The full size image weighs in at 93 megapixels and will soon be available for purchase in the online print ordering galleries. From Mitchell Krog's Scotland Landscape Photography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) With today’s advances in digital camera technology everything is about colour and even black and white digital photographers have to capture all their images in colour, that’s just the way digital sensors work. A black and white photographer however does not see the colour when he is taking the image, he already sees the tones, textures and contrasts in his minds eye and strips all the colour out long before even clicking the shutter knowing well that the image he has captured is going to make a great black and white image.
Anyone can make a black and white image !!! Yes anyone can, but few ever master the true time honoured techniques developed by masters like Ansel Adams. It is most easy to take any colour photograph and turn it into a black and white image, that can be done in under 30 seconds with any plugin developed for this purpose, but the chances of that image standing the test of time as a black and white masterpiece is rather slim. Black and White is not something to be used as an after-thought or a remedy for a poorly taken colour image, it is an image that was shot from the word go with the intention of the final image being black and white and there most certainly is a big difference between the two.
 "Secluded" A fisherman braves the cold morning weather. A good black and white image has a wide range of contrasts, tones and textures which give the image depth and soul. From the Black and White Photography Collections by Mitchell Krog. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) As photography has advanced in recent years, photographers are continually in search of noise free images, meaning images with little or no film grain in the images. Stock Agencies continually feed this “noise free” perfection in images immediately rejecting images with even the slightest of noise. As such it has become the ultimate goal to produce noise free images and photographers will always be waiting for the newest camera body promising better noise handling while also developing an armada of noise removal techniques in Photoshop or their favourite image processing application. Unfortunately a great majority of photographers today have become too accustomed to publishing their images online in galleries and seldom ever take their work to print. Critiques delivered on online forums will immediately start off with the amount of noise in an image, this results in the photographer doing noise removal and smoothing of areas of the image to produce the perfect online image. But when it comes to taking that same smooth, noise-free image to print it does not necessarily produce a very good print versus an image that still has some natural grain still in the image. The grain actually gives life and depth to an image whereas important details are lost when that has all been smoothed out with noise removal software.
A good black and white image contains film grain and without it the image is flat, dull and most incredibly boring. If you happen to work with a professional print agency that’s knows their stuff, they will actually introduce grain back into images before printing them and once you have compared the two side by side you will think twice about producing super smooth images for print ever again.
 "Deadwood". Black and white imagery contains a wide array of textures, contrasts and tones. Film grain adds life and depth into the image. From Mitchell Krog's Black and White Photography Collections. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) Watch out for more articles on black and white / monochrome imaging by South African Black and White Fine Art Photographer Mitchell Krog.
Posted on 7th September 2009 by admin in Articles |Landscape |Night Photography |Pretoria |SA Photographers |South Africa |Travel |Tshwane |Urban Landscape
Africa, botanical, city, elements, gardens, human, Landscape, monuments, museums, night, nightlife, Photography, skyline, south, sunsets, urban
Landscape photographers will often disregard the Urban Landscape, missing many photography opportunities right on their doorsteps. While lengthy drives several hundreds of kilometres away may reveal pristine landscapes, it is not always possible for many photographers to travel such distances. As a landscape photographer based in or near a city you can still easily keep your landscape photography in tune and up to scratch by using opportunities closer to home.It is also no secret that some of the best images you may ever produce will come from locations close to home, locations that you have become familiar with.
 The Voortrekker Monument with the Magaliesburg Mountains in the Distance Photographed from Fort Schanskop in Pretoria. From Mitchell Krog's Urban Landscape Photography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) South African landscape photographer Mitchell Krog often travels to various locations around South Africa, no matter where he ends up he always seems to find a landscape photography opportunity, be it pristine landscapes or cities full of human elements. It’s all about conditioning, says Mitchell, too many photographers have conditioned their minds to thinking a landscape photograph must be “pure” and “pristine” when quite simply life and our planet is just not that way. We are after all humans and as photographers we should not only seek out untouched landscapes but also from time to time include evidence of our impact on the planet in photographs, including human elements can often add great impact to images.
 The Iconic Telkom Tower and The University of South Africa UNISA Buildings at Night Photographed from Fort Schanskop Near the Voortrekker Monument Just Outside Pretoria. From Mitchell Krog's Urban Night Photography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) Cities are full of exciting things to photograph. Virtually every city in South Africa has a history going back 100 years or more, there are monuments, museums and lots of modern architecture just begging to be photographed. Of course crime in South Africa is always of concern to a photographer but there is a multitude of safe locations around city centre’s and for those safety conscious individuals, shooting in groups is often advisable. Botanical gardens offer a safe haven for photographers and most major cities in South Africa have one with very reasonable access fees, some even free.
Posted on 5th September 2009 by admin in Articles |Cape Town |Eastern Cape |Fine-Art |Kwazulu Natal |Landscape |SA Photographers |Seascapes |South Africa |Travel |Western Cape
Africa, elements, Fine-Art, human, Landscape, Photography, South Africa
South Africa is such a diverse and beautiful country and is steeped in culture and heritage. Located at the Southern tip of Africa with 2798 kilometers of coastline, a photographer could spend his life exploring just the coastline and would not come even close to photographing a tiny percentage of it. Between the coastlines sits a very diverse landscape, mountain ranges, desert, semi-arid, forests and sub-tropical regions to name but a few. There is no end to the landscape photography options available for a photographer and it is one reason that South Africa is such a prized destination for landscape photographers world-wide. Of course let’s not forget that South Africa is the top destination in the world for Wildlife photography too and many top wildlife photographers have all but made Southern Africa their home.
 South Africa's Rugged Coastline Offers Un-ending Opportunities for the Landscape Photographer. The Coastline of the Western Cape is among the most popular coastlines for landscape photographers. From Mitchell Krog's South African Landscape and Seascape Portfolios. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) The Western Cape coastline is undoubtedly one of the most popular stretches of coastline for both South African and International landscape photographers and this region of South Africa has bred some really talented photographers who truly appreciate and understand the gift that they have on their doorstep.
 Panorama of the Kogel Bay, Western Cape Coastline at Sunset. From Mitchell Krog's South African Landscape and Seascape Photography Collections. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) The Eastern Cape stretch of coastline becomes even more rugged and is a place full of adventure and there is a reason why it got named “The Wild Coast”. For photographers this stretch of coastline involves much walking and climbing over dunes and dangerous rocks but only those willing to go the effort of getting to the best locations are the one’s to return with beautiful images of this coastline. There are many parts of this coastline, also known as the “Sunshine Coast” that have hardly been explored, least of all photographed.
Approximately halfway between industrial centres Port Elizabeth and East London sits a quaint little seaside coastal town called Kenton On Sea. Nestled between the Bushman’s and Kariega Rivers it’s an ideal holiday destination and full of opportunities for the landscape photographer. The area has many pristine beaches and a declared nature reserve along the shoreline ensures that no housing developments can spoil the coastline.
 Carriage Rock is a recognisable landmark on the Kenton-On-Sea, Eastern Cape coastline. Captured here at sunrise by South African Landscape Photographer Mitchell Krog. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)  Carriage Rock, a recognisable landmark at Kenton-On-Sea captured at first light with movement in the water by South African fine-art landscape photographer Mitchell Krog. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) Moving further North along the coastline we get to Kwazulu Natal with Durban as the metropolis. Durban and the surrounding coastal towns has for many years been the top location for holidays. It’s a half day drive from Johannesburg and even in winter the weather is warm and mild, making it the ideal all year round destination. This stretch of coastline offers some wonderful opportunities for the landscape photographer but much of this coastline has had poorly planned developments encroach right onto the beach fronts. There are still many areas where development has been kept more inland allowing the photographer to capture images with hardly any human element in them. South African fine-art landscape photographer Mitchell Krog however believes that photographers try too hard to capture pristine images without any human element visible and including such elements in a landscape image can add a great sense of scale, impact and drama to an image.
 A Lonesome Fisherman at Sunrise on the Kwazulu Natal Coastline. Including Human Elements in a Landscape can add great impact to a photograph. From Mitchell Krog's South African Landscape and Seascape Portfolios. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) Landscape photographer’s generally seek the best weather for a photograph and will often pack up and go home if conditions are not optimal. Come rain or shine a landscape or seascape photographer should be prepared for any weather that nature cares to throw his or her way. Instead of packing up, a photographer should learn to use the conditions available to their best advantage. Cold stormy days can produce images otherwise unobtainable when the light is too bright. Where human elements are unavoidable a photographer needs to get creative and seek out intimate parts of the landscape.
 Where it is difficult to keep human elements out of a photograph, a photographer must get creative and isolate intimate parts of the landscape. From Mitchell Krog's Landscape and Seascape Photography Collections. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) SA born landscape and seascape photographer Mitchell Krog regularly travels to coastal destinations around South Africa and has produced numerous masterpieces. Mitchell believes that for photographers the South African coastal landscape offers endless opportunities.
Posted on 2nd September 2009 by admin in Articles |Cape Town |Environmental |Fine-Art |Landscape |SA Photographers |South Africa |Travel
Africa, biodiversity, cape, coastal, Fine-Art, Landscape, mountains, ocean, Photography
One of the most diverse regions of South Africa has got to be the Western Cape. Recognised as one of the most beautiful places on earth it offers a vast range of attractions, breathtaking sights and endless activities. It is a year round holiday destination attracting tourists from all over the world and it caters to everyone’s taste, no matter how fickle you are. The Western Cape has a varied yet mild climate and has a rich cultural heritage. The Capital Cape Town is known as the mother city of South Africa as this is where it all began. Cape Town is such a vibrant city with so much to do and see that you would need a lengthy holiday to tackle just some of it, this is however why the Cape keeps people coming back for more year after year.
Internationally the Western Cape is well known for it’s Fynbos Floral Kingdom which is the most diverse floral entity in the world. There are still new plant species being recorded all the time and the Fynbos biome is protected and heralded worldwide. It is however constantly under threat from development but environmentalists are quick to pounce and take action to ensure that the Fynbos is there for future generations to appreciate. Many communities have stood together and proclaimed conservancies to ensure that development is kept low-key and that new developments do not come along and bulldoze the fynbos without knowing what they are actually destroying.
 The Cape Fynbos is as diverse as life itself. From Mitchell Krog's Cape Photography Collections. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) The diversity of fynbos plants is greater than that of the tropical rainforests, with over 9000 species of plants occurring in the area, (and new species being recorded annually) around 6200 of which are endemic, i.e. do not occur anywhere else in the world. Of the Ericas (Heaths/Heathers), 600 occur in the fynbos kingdom, while only 26 are found in the rest of the world. This is in an area of 46,000 km² – by comparison, the Netherlands, with an area of 33,000 km², has 1400 species, none of them endemic. Table Mountain in Cape Town supports 2200 species, more than the entire United Kingdom. Thus although the Fynbos comprises only 6% of the area of southern Africa it has half the species on the subcontinent, and in fact has almost 1 in 5 of all plant species in Africa.
Many of the fynbos seeds germinate only after the intense heat of a fire, and so fire is a necessary stage in the lives of almost all fynbos plants. Out of death comes new life, the simplicity of it is just beautiful. World Famous Rooibos Tea (Aspalathus linearis) and Honeybush Tea (Cyclopia intermedia) are of economic importance and are grown and harvested in large quantities in the Cederberg area. These two crops make up a very important export for South Africa and provides jobs to local communities. Proteas and other floral species are also grown in many areas and their flowers harvested for export, you will often see a King Protea (Protea cynaroides) when walking into an international hotel. Restios (Reeds) continue to be used for thatching as they have for hundreds or even thousands of years and there are many different species some growing only 30cm tall some 3 meters. Fynbos areas are popular attractions for tourists, especially in the vicinity of Cape Town, and are also important recreational areas for locals.
 The Recognisable and Most Photographed Mountain in South Africa. Table Mountain panorama at sunset. From Mitchell Krog's Cape Photography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) The Cape attracts photographers from all over the world and there is no wonder why. The face of the Cape is constantly changing and as a photographer you could never dream of photographing it in it’s entirety in your lifetime but it certainly does not stop us trying. The coastal belt stretching from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth is so diverse just exploring one area properly could take months and with photography it’s all about timing. Those photographers unafraid to get their feet wet or put their camera equipment at risk in the icy cold waters of the Cape will be sure to return with beautiful images to treasure for a lifetime.
 The well known and well photographed Kommetjie Lighthouse at Slangkop Punt near Cape Town. From Mitchell Krog's Cape Photography Collections. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) The first European to reach the cape was the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias in 1488, who named it the “Cape of Storms” (Cabo das Tormentas). It was later renamed by John II of Portugal as “Cape of Good Hope” (Cabo da Boa Esperança) because of the great optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India and the East. Many a sea going vessel has fought the waters of the Cape during a storm and lost.
 The Fairest Cape of Storms. This tiny panoramic image does no justice to the full sized image clocking in at around 84 megapixels. From Mitchell Krog's Cape Photography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) South African Fine-Art Landscape and Wildlife Photographer Mitchell Krog, regularly travels to the Western Cape for Photography. This is the first in a series of articles dealing with his Cape Photography trips and three never before published images are included in this article. Mitchell has spent much of his life in environmental and conservation circles and has spent years fighting for the protection of the fynbos against unscrupulous developers and golf estates. Mitchell has been writing environmental, horticultural, technology and photography articles for nearly 16 years and has been published both locally and internationally in all sorts of publications and web sites.
Posted on 1st September 2009 by admin in Articles |Insects |Macro |Magaliesburg |South Africa
Africa, bees, birds, butterflies, gardens, human, Insects, lens, Macro, spring
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant and if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome ~~~ Anne Bradstreet (1612 – 1672)
Spring has arrived in full force in South Africa, it’s the 1st of September and already we are set for day time temperatures reaching near 30 degrees. As Spring returns so does a plethora of life return to our gardens and there is no better time for Photographers in South Africa to get their Macro lenses dusted off and get crawling around in their gardens. Macro photography is one of the most enjoyable forms of photography.You can also get started in Macro Photography without breaking the bank.
 A Banded Bee Captured in Flight Near a Salvia clevelandii x leucophylla Flower. From Mitchell Krog's Macro Photography Collections. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) Only once a photographer has crawled around their garden for a few hours with a Macro lens do they realise how much life is in the garden normally unseen to the human eye and the more you start crawling around as a photographer the more you actually see. Of course it goes without saying don’t go sticking your fingers into dark places and watch out for spiders and snakes. With Macro Photography it is quite essential to learn to use flash to freeze action and ensure sharper images. There are many ways of doing this. You can use a standard flash unit attached to your hot shoe or you can make yourself a bounce card to force the light down towards your subject. The best way however is to purchase a Macro Ring Flash unit which sits around the lens itself and pushes light directly onto your subject.
 A Mantis/Stick Insect Photographed in the Dead of Night using Macro Flash Techniques. From Mitchell Krog's Macro Photography Collections. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) The night time garden is full of life, most insects come to rest at night and this is one of the best times to get out and photograph them as it does not involve you chasing them around the garden in the daylight. This however requires that you absolutely positively need to have flash lighting to assist you.
If you are relatively new in photography and have wanted to experiment with Macro photography there is no better time to get started. A good quality Macro lens is relatively affordable and Macro ring flash units are also not too badly priced either. I can assure you that Macro photography is very addictive but also very enjoyable and rewarding and you get to appreciate a whole part of life that most people do not take notice of.
 A Bee in Flight Coming in For Landing on an Aloe mutabilis Flower. From Mitchell Krog's Macro Photography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) Watch out for more Macro Photography Articles and Image from Mitchell Krog
Posted on 31st August 2009 by admin in Articles |Environmental |Landscape |Lightning |Magaliesburg |Reviews |SA Photographers |South Africa |Storms
Africa, getaway, Landscape, Magaliesburg, mohale, Photography, sunsets, Travel
With views stretching forever and a day across the North West Province and some of the most magical sunsets anywhere in South Africa, it’s no wonder that the Magaliesburg is one of Gauteng’s top weekend getaways, the Magaliesburg is a truly magical place. South African Photographer Mitchell Krog who resides in Magaliesburg has spent the last four years photographing the beautiful environments of Magaliesburg and has achieved much acclaim with his photography.
 You Can See Forever and a Day. The views from Magaliesburg stretch far into the North West province. From Mitchell Krog's Magaliesburg Photography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) The Magaliesberg Range has a very long geological history. Its quartzites, shales, chert and dolomite were deposited as sediments in an inland basin on top of the 3 billion year old Archaean Basement Complex. This process of sedimentation lasted for about 300 million years. About 2 billion years ago a massive upwelling of molten magma resulted in what is now known as the Bushveld Igneous Complex. The enormous weight of this intrusion depressed the sediments that lay beneath and tilted the sediments along the edges so that the broken scarps faced outward and upward, and the gentler dip slopes inward. During the same period these sediments were fractured and igneous intrusions of dolerite filled the cracks. With the passage of time these intrusions eroded, especially on the dip slopes, forming deep kloofs or ravines providing excellent rock-climbing potential to modern man. This large dogbone-shaped area is now termed the Transvaal Basin and includes the lofty escarpment of the Transvaal Drakensberg overlooking the Lowveld in the eastern part of the country. Massive outpourings of igneous material of the much younger Karroo System later covered the Transvaal Basin, but this was subsequently eroded so that it only remains along the Transvaal Basin’s southern rim.
 The Beautiful Golden Winter Colours of a Winter Sunset Over the Magaliesburg Mountains. From Mitchell Krog's Magaliesburg Photography Collection. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) The Magaliesburg Mountain range forms a natural barrier between the lower lying Bushveld to the north and the cooler Highveld to the south. The range receives rainfall in summer in the form of thunderstorms, with an average of 650mmm annually. In winter frost occurs frequently in the valleys on the southern side of the mountain, but almost never on the northern slopes. Mitchell Krog, a specialist and award winning lightning photographer has produced some incredible lightning images from Magaliesburg.
 Fire and Ice. The First Electrical Storm of Summer Sets The Grass Lands Alight. From Mitchell Krog's Lightning Photography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved) Watch our for more in photos and articles in this series about Magaliesburg.
~ Mitchell Krog
African Photography Blog – South Africa Photographic News, Articles, Tutorials is Digg proof thanks to caching by WP Super Cache
|
