He has built 2 of them, both Harleys.
He originally asked me to shoot, I mean, photograph, their beloved pets (one of which is actually named Harley)
and just in passing please to take a few pics of his latest bike!

Well, it was love at first click!

This is a hand made, custom built, 1450 cc Harley, which took over a year to complete with the help of Keith ‘Aluminium’, the talented and dedicated man who customises all the aluminium parts for those passionate about building their own bikes.

There are very few trimmings, just the basics and with this bike Hilton has done 3 Buffalo Rallies; to Mossel Bay, Port Elizabeth and Aliwal North.
You would never say that this incredible machine was more than 8 years old.

This is because Hilton is so passionate about his bikes
(he also owns a big BMW, a Honda Fireblade, a Jeep just for fun, an Alpha, and a vintage model Alfa Spider).
All kept in mint condition, polished to perfection and beautifully lined up, as they would be in a showroom!

So Hilton here are a few words for the  next trip on your incredible ‘flying’ machine:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face…….

Hilton’s bike on facebook

she was hard at work completing her studies as a health and beauty therapist, and not just any ‘ordinary’ therapist.

Born on Java, Indonesia, Yasmine is now  internationally and highly qualified and specialises in the most wonderful Asian massage techniques,treatments, products and beauty therapies, as well as the more traditional items such as facials, manicures, pedicures and waxing.

She also offers a most delicious menu of treatments such as a yummy sounding Balinese coffee scrub, an aromatic 3-Bean scrub and a Mandi Lulur scrub that uses (listen to this) aromatic rice powder, turmeric, ginger, Jasmine essential oil AND a yoghurt coating to finish off!!!. …a treatment traditionally reserved as a bridal ritual for royalty  (read all about this in the ‘Treatment’ section of her website!)

Her sweet and gentle nature and generous spirit automatically draws people to her, and, as we live close by to each other, we became friends.
(It was my privilege to photograph her wedding.)
The exchange of our skills resulted in a series of some favourite interior and still life shots and a very special facial!

Yasmine has now made her home,her new life, and her beautifully appointed Chantique Sanctuary, far from her original country, in the Constantia valley, in Cape Town.

However, roots and connections still run deep and Yasmine  uses products that support home industries on the Southern Indonesian shores of Bali that work in harmony with human resources and the natural environment. These include a selection of beautifully fragrant aromatic massage oils .

A most wonderful experience awaits when one steps inside and hears Yasmine say “selamat datang”.
A really special gift  for a good friend or highly recommended for brides as a pre wedding series of treatments!

Thanks for your special friendship, Yasmine!
Read more about Yasmine and her Chantique Sanctuary
or call her on 072 909 7375

we all received the following poem composed by Julia with some assistance from Pete:

^{“Stetsons, Tequila, and cowboys deluxe,}

^{lose the heels and forget the tux.}

^{Feed your hoss and remember your gun}

^{for on 31 July I am celebrating 21!!!}

^{Dust off them cowboy boots,}

^{pull on the ponchos, don  your best jeans ,throw on your hat,}

^{and step into the saloon for an evening of Tex Mex and  Wild West!!}

^{See y’all at down the Rushton Ranch. Yee haaaa!”}

This invite set the tone for a celebration of note where about 90 cowboys, cowgirls, squaws and a lone Mexican (in his poncho!) descended on the Rushton Ranch to celebrate Julia’s 21^st.

Hay-bales, lanterns, cactus cut-outs and wanted posters adorned the venue on a recent Saturday evening, whilst old Wild West movies played in the background.

(Clint Eastwood, shoot outs and lassoes, stage coach and Indians amongst the reeds in the dry river bed).

Outside the braziers were lit as the night cooled down and the party inside heated up.

Everyone had made an effort and some had really gone to town. For me the best were the hats; everywhere one looked there were hats of all shapes, sizes and colours and all worn with great style.

The DJ played a lot of awesome music and soon after the food and speeches everyone was rocking the night away, through the colourful neon laser lights.

Happy 21^st birthday, Julia, and many more happy wonderful memories and days ahead!

Yee haa!

to see more of Julia’s party pics see my facebook link

julia’s 21st on facebook

They tried to explain that their new CD was not really a CD in the true sense of the word, but a virtual CD and that’s where they really got me lost!

So, whatever, I thought, we are going out on a shoot with two fabulous young guys, who incidentally are twins, and I still can’t work out who the Brian and who the Andrew is. (Their dad explained that when they were born they couldn’t decide on names, so called the first one beginning with an ‘A’ and the second with a ‘B’, hence the Andrew and the Brian).

We made the plans, they knew exactly what kind of look they were wanting, I made some more suggestions about backgrounds and various locations and after a session of ‘male grooming’ by well known specialist Sue Berry, we set out for a ruined old building near the Tokai forest, the Arboretum, and the rest of the surrounding area, shooting as we went.

It was an awesome day of sunshine and fun and I have followed their amazing progress through the music scene and the fans throughout South Africa. Locnville are now doing the rounds in summertime Germany, and gearing up for a mega gig at Carnival city at Grand West, Cape Town.

What these two guys did was quite amazing. They released this album exclusively on a cell phone messaging platform and sold more than 500,000 units!

They then went on to develop the The VirtualCDT, a brand new form of online music distribution, a way to ensure that the artists, and not all the middle men involved, receive their fair share of the purchase price of their units.

Going ‘green’ like this cuts down on travel, transport and shipping costs, production costs and the associated carbon foot print. This unique approach also has features like Twitter and RSS Feeds. I was wowed by this incredible new technology coming from two young entrepreneurs, handsome, gorgeous and charming and also incredibly unaffected and really humble about their rock star status!

Thank you, Andrew and Brian for involving me in this first project of yours!

Wishing Locnville loads of success in the future!

“Retro Electro” is the debut album from SA New Age/Hip Hop duo, Locnville. Sample tracks can be heard here:

http://www.myspace.com/locnville

Often, and incorrectly, called the Mouille Point lighthouse, Green Point is the oldest operational lighthouse in South Africa.

Built by Herman Schutte, a German immigrant, it was first lit on the 12^th April 1824.

The tower itself is still in use in its original form but the original lights, two fixed white lights, have been replaced by a single revolving beam.

The new, single lantern, replaced in 1865, is still in use today.

A most controversial issue, especially for the residents of Green Point ,was the placing of the infamous foghorn,that was installed in 1925.

The diaphone emitted a deep note, 3 seconds long, every 30 seconds, which I remember very clearly, having lived for a few months, during the late 1970’s about half a kilometre away from the lighthouse itself.

I recall, lying snug and warm in bed, the apartments along Beach Road surrounded by the silent eerie fog, lit by the orange streetlamps, and counting the seconds until the next booming noise.

I often wondered about the ships out there, on that dark, mist shrouded sea, that were warned by this loud bellowing booming noise. This noisy, much spoken about, air operated old foghorn was eventually replaced by an electrically operated unit, situated on the sea wall along the walkway a few metres north of the Lighthouse, and seems to bother residents much less than in the previous days.

During the winter  Northwester storms, this part of the coastline takes an incredible battering from wind and waves and many ship wrecks lie sunken under these shallow waters leading into Table Bay.

The most famous shipwreck that many older Capetonians will remember is that of the South African ‘Seafarer’, during a heavy Winter storm on the 1^st July 1966, carrying a cargo of highly poisonous Tetra-ethyl lead, whilst en route from Glasgow to Beira.

She was advised to stay outside but decided to enter Cape Town Harbour in rough weather and ran aground off Green Point.

Several unsuccessful attempts were made with a rocket life saving apparatus, but in the end all had to be airlifted by helicopter.

The lighthouse beam was stopped and directed at the ship on the storm tossed rocks below in order to aid the helicopters that were used to winch the 12 passengers and crew to safety.

The ship eventually broke in two and had to be demolished using explosives.

There was  concern for the foundations of 142 year old tower as well as for the rotating lens table and the mercury bath on which the great optic rested. However, Schutte, in 1824, had done his work well and all held together with no damage to either the structure or the lantern and its housing.

Today Green Point lighthouse is utilised as the Head Office of  the Lighthouse Services which owns, operates and maintains 45 lighthouses, along with other beacons and aids to Navigation along the approximately 3 700 kilometres of South African coastline, stretching from Port Nolloth on the West Coast to Jesser Point (Sodwana) on the East Coast.

Due to modern technology and automation, only 15 of the 45 lighthouses are still manned. This means that a number of residences that were formerly occupied by lightkeepers are underutilised to their full potential.

SA Lighthouse Adventure Tour Operations (SALATO) was formed to offer visitors and tourists a “Lighthouse experience” where one can go on tours of those specific lighthouses, as well as stay in these old but comfortably refurbished buildings, and relive the magic, the romance and the mystery that these great  beacons of hope along the desolate coastlines  represent.

]]> http://www.cape-photography.co.za/2010/07/green-point-lighthouse-lat-33%c2%b0-54%e2%80%99-04%e2%80%9ds-long-18%c2%b0-24%e2%80%99-02%e2%80%9d/feed/ 2 http://www.cape-photography.co.za/2010/07/lighthouses-2/ http://www.cape-photography.co.za/2010/07/lighthouses-2/#comments Sun, 11 Jul 2010 13:28:38 +0000 admin http://www.cape-photography.co.za/?p=821 some girls collect diamonds, I collect photographs of lighthouses

Having grown up at the aptly named ‘Cape of Storms’ and with a father, a marine engineer who often was away at sea, I was absorbed in things maritime. My childhood fascination was awakened in these mysterious, lonely, and beautifully decorated but weather beaten lighthouses built along our wild Cape coastline.

As my interest grew and I travelled around South Africa, I began to build up a library of photographs together with a wonderfully informative book called “Southern Lights, as my reference to the unique story of each lighthouse.

cape agulhas lighthouse at the tip of africa

I discovered that each light has a unique flash sequence, pedestal design, and look in terms of the stripes, colours and height of the structure. Not only do these beautiful buildings serve as markers during the day and light beacons at night, but they sound fog horns, reflect radar signals, and, in this era of hi tech, act as radio beacons used by aircraft and ships alike.

roman rock lighthouse, false bay

There are 45 dotted around our coastline, from Namibia on the West coast to Jesser Point,in Sodwana Bay, the most northerly light on the East coast of south Africa.

My collection is far from complete, and my hope is that one day I will be able to follow those southern lights that beckon across oceans and land with their silent secret messages.

cape point lighthouse (the newer one)

slangkop lighthouse, kommetjie, western cape

cape recife lighthouse, easten cape