EXPLORING LANGEBAAN

I finally downloaded my photos from my Lumix camera of our December holidays. We had a few days off before Christmas and headed to Langebaan with friends, located an hours drive from Cape Town. It's such a magnificent little town but also visually so strange. It doesn't have a "small town" kind of feeling and looks more like a suburb built close to a lagoon or ocean.

Windsurfers, surfers and kite surfers definitely rule this town. Langebaan is an exciting place for water-sports lovers. Luckily, our holiday house was a 3-minute walk from a small cove and beach so we were really spoilt. James tried some kite surfing and I was taught how to kayak.

Overall if you love to get out and get wet, Langebaan is perfect for you!

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SUMMER WAS GOOD TO US

INSPIRED EUCALYPTUS

I recently got engaged, yes me, engaged! I still can't quite wrap my head around it but it's certainly been an amazing journey with my fiancee so far. The last three weeks have been filled with me freaking out about wedding plans, expectations and the consumerism (and money worry!) that wedding planning has become nowadays.

We're sitting down tonight to discuss some finer points about setting the date and discussing how many people we want to invite. I guess these aren't "finer points" but big, fat dots on the calender. I'm starting to get quite excited because I know that my fiancee and I think quite similarly about what kind of wedding we'd like. We want something low-key, not to "spendy", relaxed and something that centers around our family and friends.

Here are some photographs I found for the eucalyptus decoration I want (I do still need to convince my fiancee about this, not a flower man himself) because they're fairly inexpensive, dry beautifully and smell lovely.

GIRL POWER VIDEO

Just watched this video produced by i-D magazine about all things girl power: from breaking menstrual taboos to riding motorbikes, and about claiming spaces as a woman in society. Yee-haaa!

WHAT'S IT LIKE BEING A WOMAN IN SOUTH AFRICA?

Pink and fluffy seems to always be the narrative behind women's day campaigns, but is that an accurate reflection of women, is that how we want to commemorate a historical day for all women?

Watch the video by "PAP CULTURE TALKS" here. 

WHAT IS "FREELENSING"?

So my friend at Illuminate Photography took a few photos of me and introduced me to "freelensing". Nope, not freelancing. Free-lensing. Freelensing is an inexpensive way of getting the unique effect of an expensive tilt-shift lens you’re your DSLR camera. Tilt-shift is when the focus plane is thrown out of whack with the added bonus of natural light leaks. You can see this in the first 2 photos below.

I tried to take a few photos using this technique and it's quite difficult. You hold the camera with one hand, take the lens off, and then while holding it closely to the camera body, maneuver the focus so that your subject is in focus. And then you just play around. Tilting it slightly to make wonderful painting-like photographs.

POEM: WINTER'S GIANTS

through the mist,
through the trees,
proud buildings stand;
illuminated by soft midday
winter sunlight;
resilient against everything.

TIM KELLER ON SATISFACTION

When looking for satisfaction in life, we often look to different things to bring meaning into our life. The altruistic way means that we find happiness in things and works.

FINALLY DEVELOPED SOME FILM PHOTOS AGAIN

I had the spool in my camera for a while... and finally picked up the photos today.

POEM: FATHER

I'm sitting here

as the African sun shines onto my desk,

and I think of my father.

My father was a man of faraway places,

of dusty roads,

blonde bleached hair.