I went to the Pool Deck at the Southern Sun hotel in Hyde Park for yet another colleague’s farewell this evening.  This bar has got the most magnificent view over northern Jozi, and it’s the perfect place to watch the sun setting… especially when you’re sipping on an awesome mojito.

Today’s sunset was most spectacular, and when the sun turned into a fiery red ball, I was taking photos with my iPhone and posting one or two to Instagram, but I just wasn’t getting it properly.  I wasn’t doing the redness of the sun in the very hazy light any justice and  I couldn’t zoom properly.  So I hauled out my DSLR from my Kelly Moore “handbag” much to the amusement of my colleagues, who for some reason hadn’t realised that my handbag was actually my camera bag.  I then hauled out my big 70-200mm from the same bag… and took some proper photos

Sometimes the iPhone just doesn’t cut it

Wordless and Wordful Wednesday posts can be found all over the blogosphere

You have to get out of your comfort zone to experience magnificence. And that’s exactly what happened yesterday morning.

A few weeks ago on Twitter, a local photographer asked where he could get a good view of the sun rising over Johannesburg.  I’d been to the top of the Melville Koppies on a photowalk a few months ago, and guessed that would be a good spot. Well, to cut a long story short, 4 of us met yesterday morning before dawn to climb up the hill and watch the sun rise.  It didn’t rise in exactly the right spot, but it was magnificent anyway!

And yes, I voluntarily woke up at 4:15am to get to Henti’s house by 5am in order to get to the meeting place by 5:40am.

It was a good outing for my soul

I think I’m going to sell these as prints and canvases actually, that’s how much I like them.  There are also a few more photos in a Facebook album

We travelled to Ballito today, and for a change I actually struggled to get my DSLR out… normally when we travel I have my camera on my lap.  This time it was just easier to use my iPhone and Instagram photos immediately to everyone… rather than taking the DSLR out, and using it.

But, there’s nothing that beats the quality of my camera… and I’m so glad that for part of the journey I made the effort, because I’ve got some awesome art images as a result.

The first 3 were taken as the sun came up while we were driving through the Free State.

and the last 2 were taken in Ballito as the sun set…

I also thought I’d show you the iPhone images I took today…

Hopefully the weather plays along with our plans tomorrow, and we can spend the day at the beach

There was much excitement around town today when the halo around the sun was spotted… and of course I had to RUN to my car to grab my camera.  Seriously wish I had a proper wide angle lens for it though, but I think you can get the idea.  The halo around the sun first appeared as a rainbow, but by the time I got back to take a photo, the rainbow had changed into this bright line around the sun.

I see the Wikipedia page explaining about the 22deg halo has already been updated with a photo of the halo from this morning.

See the full set of 2010 photo-a-day photos on my Project 365 Flickr Set.

I don’t often take on photo clients during the week, but tonight I did a corporate event at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Sandton (not the Gautrain one – it’s all so confusing with the 2 hotels being so close to each other… some of the guests went to the wrong hotel).  Anyhoo, I can’t show you photos from the event, but I did have fun with some “me” photos for my 365!

The conference rooms at the Radisson are on the 12th floor, and have the most incredible view over the city, and you’ll have to just believe me when I tell you that the group photos taken on the balcony against the red-orange skyline are just amazing!

See the full set of 2010 photo-a-day photos on my Project 365 Flickr Set.