Last weekend, Fabio, Paul Kelly & I took a drive and hung out on top of Signal Hill. On one side looking across the city bowl, it was beautiful bright glorious skies, and on the other side looking towards Lion's Head and the 12 Apostles, it was dark & gloomy. There's an old wive's tale that if clouds surround Lion's Head, it will rain that day. It's always been true as far as I've observed. (Paul had been in a bad car accident the week before, so he was walking around with a crutch that Kelly's playing with in the picture).
Some guinea fowl were also hanging out on Signal Hill - Kelly claims they're related to the chicken and just looking at them superficially with their short wings (they can't quite fly) and the way they hop around, they kinda sorta do look like chickens with different coloured faces and feathers.
From where we were, we were able to spot our apartment (well, kind of). It's a low block so it was hidden from view coz of the other higher blocks. Things look pretty from up here.
A couple weekends ago, it was Candice's birthday, and we all drove out to Franschhoek for lunch at the Haute Cabriere vineyard. It's apparently one of the more famous vineyards in Franschhoek with dee-lish vino. (I dunno, don't ask the non-alcoholic here)
It's a stunning drive out to the winelands, with glorious views from the Haute Cabriere.
A bunch of us chipped in to get her a ticket to some big dance party going on in Spain where she's at now (I forget the name already!) and she was well-chuffed!
Last month, I'd discovered the B&B Little Tuscany . This month, I happened to stay at the Protea Wanderers again and thought I'd snap some pix for comparison.
The rooms are much smaller, although there's room service so it's great when you come back late from an approval and can't be bothered to go out to grab a bite.
The oddest thing about the place is their slogan that goes something along the lines of "we're known for our apples!" ...and seriously, every room has an apple that's prominently displayed on a frame.
Everything else about it says "corporate hotel"... but a comfy, cosy place to stay nonetheless. (I still don't like being in Jo'burg though..)
Last Saturday, I spent 12hrs in a studio shooting nothing but B-E-E-R! It was all kinds of macro shots of the bottle, the label, the embossing, the super-chilled sweaty "condensation drops" (that was just spritzed water). This included all kinds of pouring shots - more foam, less foam, more bubbles, less bubbles, more golden colour, less swirls, more viscosity... and the more appetizing and delicious the beer looked, the less edible it actually was (coz of all the chemicals mixed into it to create the particular effect).
As you can imagine, trying to get the lighting and timing right what with all the reflections in the glass and bottles or trying to get the bottlecaps falling at the right place, etc. was a S.L.O.W. and painful process. It was literally like watching paint dry.
Here's a shot of the popping beer bottle that was shot in real time (the whole thing was over in 2sec):
Here's the same 2sec shot that was actually shot in slow motion (high speed) played back at 900 frames per second:
And here's an extreme close-up of the bottle cap popping, also at 900fps:
All shot on a Hi-Def Weisscam camera which doesn't actually record onto tape - everything's recorded on a hard drive and you only render out the shots that you want. This baby is so hi-tech, it even comes with its own technician. Yes, a camera technician who travels with it and operates it completely separately from the DOP (the Director of Photography - in lay man's terms, also the 'cameraman'). It's hooked up to its own computer system which the engineer operates, while the DOP carries on doing his thing framing and lighting the shots... it was pretty geeky-cool to watch this relatively new technology in action!
My dad sent me this picture today of my cat back home. He's been licking himself bald for some reason, so they've had to put a Victorian trumpet collar on him. Cute!
