Okay so here it is - my 28th birthday! Not that it's really a big enough deal to blog about, but I decided to give myself a different kind of present today...
I am indeed happy to announce the launch of my new "OFFICIAL" website!
It has taken me some time to select the best format and layout and put everything together, and I would love for you to pop on over and have a look. I have added a link on the right-hand-side of the main blog page as well, but here it is officially:
http://MORKELERASMUS.com
Please be kind enough to drop me a comment on this post and letting me know what you think.
Cheers!
Morkel Erasmus
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Thursday, 16 September 2010
PhotoShare: Steppe Buzzard
So here's my first attempt at a mid-week random blog post with very little of me babbling and a nice photo attached. Rather than calling it "Photo of the Day" (because I can't guarantee that I'll find time to select and post one every single day), I will label it "PhotoShare"...(patent pending! hehe)
This was my very first sighting of a Steppe Buzzard, a summer migrant to South Africa. I photographed this beautiful raptor very early one overcast morning in the Kruger National Park on the road between the Orpen and Satara rest camps.
You will have noticed from my previous post that I started sharing my technical settings as captions underneath my photographs - this is for all you fellow photographers to either learn from or challenge my settings...with the low light here I had to rest the lens on a beanbag draped over the car window to ensure a sharp shot at the 400mm focal length.
Enjoy!
Morkel Erasmus
This was my very first sighting of a Steppe Buzzard, a summer migrant to South Africa. I photographed this beautiful raptor very early one overcast morning in the Kruger National Park on the road between the Orpen and Satara rest camps.
You will have noticed from my previous post that I started sharing my technical settings as captions underneath my photographs - this is for all you fellow photographers to either learn from or challenge my settings...with the low light here I had to rest the lens on a beanbag draped over the car window to ensure a sharp shot at the 400mm focal length.
Enjoy!
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| f4.0 // 1/125 SS // ISO-800 // Exposure bias -0.3 // Focal Length 400mm |
Morkel Erasmus
Sunday, 12 September 2010
The Amazing African Night Sky
Well, good afternoon. I don't really know where you are when reading this, or what the time is...but right now it is about 17h40 on a lazy Sunday afternoon in South Africa.
I am aiming to now post at least one blog post per week, if not more, but in a more "photo-of-the-day" style, with intermittent longer, more thoughtful posts. That way I can keep everyone updated on my photos as I process them from previous travels, and keep the site a little more active.
Those of you who've been to Africa before will know that there is just nothing like the night sky of Africa. In the USA I know they speak of Montana as "Big Sky Country", but in Africa it just seems that everywhere is "Big Sky Country". And if the daytime clouds and expanse don't convince you, the stars at night surely will. In general Africa has many places that are still quite devoid of serious "light pollution", which enables a much clearer view of the Milky Way and Southern Hemisphere "starscape".
I am aiming to now post at least one blog post per week, if not more, but in a more "photo-of-the-day" style, with intermittent longer, more thoughtful posts. That way I can keep everyone updated on my photos as I process them from previous travels, and keep the site a little more active.
Those of you who've been to Africa before will know that there is just nothing like the night sky of Africa. In the USA I know they speak of Montana as "Big Sky Country", but in Africa it just seems that everywhere is "Big Sky Country". And if the daytime clouds and expanse don't convince you, the stars at night surely will. In general Africa has many places that are still quite devoid of serious "light pollution", which enables a much clearer view of the Milky Way and Southern Hemisphere "starscape".
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| The Milky Way as seen in the Kalahari desert, South Africa f3.5 // 30s // ISO-6400 |
Sunday, 5 September 2010
An Article About Addo
And so enters the month of September 2010...is it just me or has this year just gone faster than the previous one? Things are really steamrolling along this year. The much anticipated Soccer World Cup 2010 has come and gone, and I think our country has done itself proud. Unfortunately there are now a few things in the aftermath that could unsettle all the momentum our wonderful nation has built up.
But enough of that before I change this blog into a socio-political one..
We have just returned from an amazing (albeit short) road trip which took us to areas we had not visited in quite a while. As a big fan of South Africa's National Parks and a big fan of the self-drive safari (maybe it's because of budgetary constraints as well hehe, but I DO so love finding my own sightings and making the most of them photographically), I was happy to make my first real trip to the Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape province. I had only been there once in the past for a quick drive-through en route to elsewhere, and this time we managed to book a 2-night stay in one of the safari tents of the Main Rest Camp.
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| f8.0 // 1/640 SS // ISO-800 |