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Look through a Different Lens and Change your Perspective

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I listen to a lot of Podcasts. For those of you that don't know, a Podcast is like a radio show about a topic area that you are interested in. Most of the ones I listen to are about photography and the business of photography. Recently I was listening to a photography podcast that talked about expanding your creativity by the use of your lens to determine perspective. The lens that they were talking about was your eye and your field of view. The person being interviewed discussed perspective in this manner. This may be an old story to some of you as it is described in Steven Covey's, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. To paraphrase, a man is on a subway when another man and his many children get on the train. The train is rather empty and the children are causing a ruckus, making a lot of noise, and generally out of control. The first man is very bothered and disturbed by their actions and is internally very critical of the Father who is just sitting there looking down at the floor and doing nothing about the behavior. The first man is thinking about the misbehaving children and what an irresponsible parent the Father is. Just then the Father looks up at the man and tells him that they have just left the hospital where his wife has died, the children do not know it, and he's thinking of a way to tell them when he get's home. In the meantime he's letting them blow off a little steam. What a different perspective you get when the Father speaks up. All of a sudden we empathize and want to help. There are a lot of things we can learn about from this story, the least of which is photography. When you hear about something happening in the world, or close to you, don't be so quick to judge. Remember, situations that we encounter are not black and white. Life is mostly gray, and the difference may just be our perspective. Change your perspective every once in a while, understand, and be a better person. And you thought this was going to be about photography!

Rainy Day on Surfer's Corner, Muizenberg - 183/365

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I happened to be in Muizenberg on a not so pretty day, but the waves were nice. There was a slight drizzle and the train passed by when I made this image on what is called Surfer's Corner in Muizenberg. Muizenberg is the cradle of surfing on the African Continent with everything basically starting here.

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Can You Recognize Any of These? - 182/365

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If you can recognize any of these, you must be from South Africa. We take so many things for granted when we are in our home country. We learn and recognize brands of things and what they are for. I had to learn a whole new series of products when I got here. I still don't know what most of them do. The housekeeper just gives me a list and tells me what to get. Too funny!

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One of my First Surf Coaches - 180/365

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This is Darren, one of my first Surf Coaches from Roxy Surf School at Surf Emporium. I got a lot from Darren especially not to take things too seriously and have fun above all else. He was able to give me some more advanced tips after I was already able to stand up on the board again. Anyone who wants to get better at anything needs lessons and a coach. I plan on taking lessons and getting coached regularly. The Pro's do it. That's incentive enough for me! No matter whom I talk to in the surf community the pervasive desire is to have fun above all else!

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Whales in my Backyard

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I woke up this morning to an ocean, that for Cape Town, almost looked like a lake. Though there were small waves, it was very calm. I knew that if I just looked carefully enough during these conditions, it would not be difficult to spot the Whales. I opened the blinds and I did not have to search. They were about 50-100 yards off the beach. Right in front of my place. The last time I saw them they were much farther off. I made some photos of what I saw this morning and you can see those below. What I tried to emphasize was perspective. I wanted to show their size and how close they were to shore. These are the Southern Right Whales. They come close to shore between June and November to calve and feed their newborns. As such you do not see them breach (jumping out of the water). It paid off being patient though. The last few images were of the tail. Enjoy!

Cape Town Winter Selfie - 174/365

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The weather in Cape Town during Winter is much like Miami. It changes abruptly and can be extreme from one day to the next. Yesterday was a bright sunny day with no wind and beautiful waves. Today, very different and very cold. No run for me without cold protection as you see here!

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Surfboard Casualty - 172/365

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I ran across this poor guy at one of the surf spots near my place called Hagaat. It's about four miles from my place on the way to Cape Town and has quite a hectic break. Evidently, he and his board ran into a large powerful wave. I never really saw this in Florida unless someone actually hit something like a rock or a reef. Here it's just the power of the waves. I've seen about four of these casualties recently. Wouldn't it be great to harness that power?

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