Dirt Roads To Karwyderskraal

Early bird catches the worm.   On a Saturday morning I like to wake up without the alarms’ clanging.  The sky was a tomato red this morning, that must’ve been at about 6h30 and every time I opened my eyes it got better.   Ansel Adams would’ve been out there with his tri-pod and camera set up making iconic photographs while I repent at leisure.

I pack two cameras, one set up with a 100mm-400mm lens; I’d like to try my luck at capturing some Blue Cranes doing their mating dances.

On my second camera I’ve got my 24mm-105mm lens.  Perfect on a day like this when I plan to do some street photography (in the countryside) to see how the other half live and to capture images of sportsmen competing in various races.

We head off to the Hemel and Aarde valley (Heaven and Earth Valley) and Tesselaarsdam and decide to keep to dirt roads which makes stopping suddenly tricky so running back and forth will be in the order of the day.

I find rustic dwellings fascinating and always try to take a closer look to see what’s lurking around the corner, often a pet keeping guard.

This is wheat, cattle and sheep country.  Farmers are preparing the soil for planting spring crops, herds of sheep are grazing and there’s an opportunity to photograph my favourite cattle, the Nguni’s and as a bonus a boy, he could be the herder,  keeping himself entertained playing while his cattle graze.

A tiring but fulfilling day.

“It’s about reacting to what you see, hopefully without preconception. You can find pictures anywhere. It’s simply a matter of noticing things and organising them. You just have to care about what’s around you and have a concern with humanity and the human comedy.”  Elliot Erwit

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