In the Parque Natural de la Sierra de Grazalema

One of the best decisions we made on our trip to Spain was to head off the main road from Sevilla to Ronda, and take a detour through the Parque Natural de la Sierra de Grazalema. The ‘park’ is an area of wild beauty, rugged, steep, sheer, spectacular, dotted with isolated farmsteads and whitewashed pueblos blancos – the roads making for some nail-biting driving, the countryside for some dramatic photos.

Here is the road leading into – or out of – Grazalema. The farmer was tending his pigs a few kilometres outside and a couple of hundred metres below the village.

 

 

On Hout Bay Beach

We went for a walk, one evening in Cape Town, along Hout Bay Beach. The sun was flaring out behind the mountain, the sea was calm, and a pale mist enveloped the walkers. Here are two images.

For those who are interested, both were shot with the Leica D-Lux.

Golden Gate, Free State

Golden Gate # 8

 

Here are a few images of the stretch of the Maluti mountains, outside Clarens in the Free State, known as ‘Golden Gate’ for its imposing cliffs and rock formations, which glow golden in the afternoon sunlight.

I can’t say any one of these images completely knocks me out, but cumulatively, perhaps, they may give you some feeling for the rugged grandeur of the location.

Of course all of us were up there – the family I mean – admiring the view and taking photos, so there will be a post of family pics to follow.

 

Chasing the light in black and white

With the Natal Midlands behind us, we headed west, toward the northern Drakensberg, for the final three nights of our holiday meander. We’d booked ourselves a cottage at the Berg House, high on a hillside overlooking the magnificent Amphitheatre in the distance, up a winding dirt road that twisted and climbed and simply called out for the Land Rover. Not a place for city cars, for sure, but with careful driving we got up there, and were suitably rewarded.

Here is a shot of Rob, with the vast sweep of the Drakensberg before us; and here are three black and white images, taken on two different occasions while we were out walking.

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There is a tale here, to be told in another post: the tale of waiting for the light, at dusk and dawn, and being – well, a little disappointed. I’d been hoping for dramatic skies, towering clouds, the light brooding and magnificent, but what we got instead was harmony and tranquility – the sky pastel pale, the light calm and beneficent. Seems there’s no pleasing a photographer.

Here’s where we reach, instead, for images that will work in black and white, and let the old black and white drama perform its magic.