2014 ..... Here we come!

So the holiday season in South Africa has come and gone.  As normal, great summer weather was had on the South Coast.  Great for vacationers, not so good for landscape photographers.  With the blessing of our South African sunlight and skies, comes the frustration of harsh light and the lack of clouds, especially in the mid-summer days.  At least it got me, eventually, to start experimenting with astrophotography.  We have very little light pollution in this region, but it will still take a while to identify the right landscape features in relation to the "milky way" as I envisage to take.  First attempts, not to bad, but definitely not the final results one would hope for.  As with all the different aspects and subjects of the photographic craft, one will have to "walk the road" to gain the experience, "feel", technical capability and vision for the specific task at hand.

With  all of the summer vacationers gone, 

I am left here, practically alone in our little holiday village of Cape Infanta.  Good time to get one's mind around 2014, some contemplation, some planning and some "quiet" time .  Sounds strange to do this at the beginning of the year, and not the end ?  Well, in my life, November and December is normally chaos and kitting up for the family vacation.  We are all tired and trying to close the various "chapters" of the preceding year.  Following the wise management principal of 2 thirds planning and 1 third execution, I treasure these quiet times at the beginning of the year, planning and contemplating on whatever scale is needed. 

On the photography side of things, an exciting year lies ahead. Since June last year it was a hectic ride to create substance to the joint venture "PhotoSpace", which offers large scale canvass prints of a selection of my more "arty" photographic images.  Aimed at the interior decorating home and corporate markets, we had a hectic six months to develop marketing and delivery structures.  We had great exposure and sales at art exhibitions and markets, particularly on the West Coast of South Africa, and was even featured in a travel and lifestyle magazine (check out the Media gallery at www.africanskiesphoto.net).  This has made me think,  how many phototogs out there realize that capturing great images are only a part of what is needed to be able derive your income from photography ?  So many new entrants into the industry, some extremely successful and some extremely creative phototogs being left in the cold (as far as monetary results are concerned).  It is a long slog through a mine field, but its a case of "Aluta Continua ".  My own elected direction within photography is somewhat in the middle of Landscaping and Fine Art Photography, but definitely very much on a dynamic and changing development  process.  The results in the Art Lounge on my website is a result of this.