beach

Walking the Ciskei Coastline

I took another short break from the city of Durban and flew approximately 300 miles south to East London, and from there traveled back north a few miles to the quaint coast town of Gonubie where my sister and brother-in-law have a house. The house is on the Gonubie River lagoon, and we decided this morning to swim across the river and hike north along the beach for a few miles to a place called the Kwelera National Botanical Garden, also on the beach. It turned out to be more challenging than we expected, since a lot of the terrain was very rocky and flip flops should not have been my choice of footwear. We expected it to take an hour and it took more like 3 hours to cover the 4 mile stretch of coastline. Fortunately we were picked up by car at our destination so didn’t have to walk back. These are a few of the photos I took along the way.

Just love Family Portraits!

Studio portraits are great because you can exercise so much more control over the environment, lighting, background, etc. Conversely, outdoor portraits are fun because there is an embedded potential for unpredictability, especially when smaller kids are involved! The weather was kinda blah, and the wind was howling, which made for some interesting hair effects. Some images had to be trashed because of Marilyn Monroe type flying hems, but overall I think we captured the essence of family, which after all is the point of the shoot.

Goodbye 2019

As we roll over another year and look ahead to 2020, may we learn from the mistakes we have made and make amends where appropriate. Life is like potpourri, the good all mixed up with the ugly and the bad. Take the good and build on it, leave the rest behind. This was the western end of Folly Beach last evening, CCPRC’s Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve. Dominion Energy lit the lighthouse from 6pm until 10pm for New Year’s Eve.

The Quaint Fishing Village of Arniston

Life hasn’t changed much in Arniston over the years. It is quite remote so this has been a saving grace against over-development, a fate sadly experienced by many similar coastal villages. People still fish for a living and live quietly, unperturbed by the frenetic digital world surrounding them. Here are a couple of images from my 24 hour visit. When I retire, I will return and spend longer.

The Calm Before the Storm

So today a mandatory evacuation order goes into effect for pretty much the entire southeastern coast ahead of monster storm Dorian, still a powerful category 5 hurricane after roaring through the Bahamas. As I start to pack stuff up and move things to more secure locations on higher ground, I thought I would post these images taken a couple of evenings ago out at Charleston’s Folly Beach. A few clouds scudding across the sky, but a beautiful balmy summer’s night, the calm ahead of the storm. The last stars we will probably see until the storm passes. Prayers for safety for all.

Bird Key Stono Heritage Preserve

Through most of the year, this small barrier island is just another one of many off the coast of the Carolinas, but during breeding and nesting season, it comes alive with activity. The diversity of shorebirds that crowd this space is nothing short of mind boggling, and the cacophony of squawking is carried on the wind for some distance. The smell also alerts you to your imminent arrival at the shores of the island. It is illegal to land, and really you should not get close enough that you change the natural behavior of the birds. These are a few images from our boat trip out there yesterday evening.