Ocean liner Queen Mary 2 leaving Cape Town. Get the best view here !

CLICK images to see LARGE

The Queen Mary 2 who was only one night in town caused quite a stir in Cape Town,  she was mentioned on the news.... I even got calls from friends to alert me :) and  people were grinding to a halt and parking on the streets where-ever they happened to get sight of  her !

The QM2 is on a 108-day world cruise after leaving Cape Town she sails for St Helana Island, Rio de Janeiro and Miami before heading back across the Atlantic to Southampton.

Frankly I was like a jack in the box myself :)  I was on my shoot from 4.30 till 7.30, drove  between top of Signal hill and  top road of Signal Hill to the  Radisson Hotel then the pier near the Table Bay Hotel, also nipped over close to the stadium to shoot the workers closing the Western side gap in the facade, then when she was leaving at 6 PM I walked around the base of Signal Hill, away from the mass of other people and started shooting till after dark

I saw the original Queen Mary, which is now a floating hotel in Long Beach, California and have been on many an ocean liner as a child, cruising from the Caribbean, where I grew up, to Europe, so I am fascinated and always interested to see them
Here is an interesting review with photos ofrom someone who took a cruise on her

                              The massive Queen Mary 2 attempts one of the more tricky manoeuvres
                               a three-point turn in Cape Town harbour

She is one of the biggest ocean liners

if not the biggest ..

Captain ! Not much room left aft !

Finally ready to go !

Bon voyage !

Really special to witness this :)

                                                                     What a sight to behold !

and she sailed right between Green Point and Robben island

and this is where I suddenly got distracted by the beauty of our own  Queen

and forgot all about QM 2 who rapidly disappeared into the sunset

when I arrived home minutes later all I could see were her lights fading away

 in to the night

Cape Town Stadium A heart stopping beauty !

Cape Town Stadium is set to host its third test event on Monday 22 March, during which all 55 000 permanent seats will be available for the first time.

The ‘Cape Town For Jesus’, a religious gathering addressed by well-known South African evangelist Angus Buchan, will focus on important issues surrounding the city and the World Cup™.

It will involve prayers and blessings for the stadium, city, province, country and its leaders, as well as all those involved in the World Cup™, such as the emergency services and youth.

Date: 22 March 2010

Time: 13:00, gates open at 11:00

Tickets: R40, available through Computicket.

more about this event here

Green Point, Three Anchor Bay and the Cape Town Stadium

Three Anchor Bay

Spot the Stadium !

Green Point

Entrance of the Radisson Blu Hotel on the left

(there is a car leaving )

I have started to make an "about me " page as requested by some

New Cape Town Stadium Lit By Lightening

Its been incredibly hot in Cape Town

and for quite a while there was lightening above the sea

but not above the stadium I could see it move to the east though

and then suddenly Crack !

 Got ya !

Its pouring with rain here

what a spectacular show it was

and all for free !

I actually had a whole different set of images to post

but that will have to wait till tomorrow

I deeply regret buying the Canon EF-S 17-85MM F/4-5.6 IS USM Lens The zoom ring is already stuck and its a known mechanical fault !

I was in the middle of shooting the stadium this evening when suddenly the zoom ring of my Canon EF-S 17-85MM F/4-5.6 IS USM Lens hardly moved and after another 3 shots it was totally stuck !!!

I am absolutely disgusted :(

Its an expensive lens bought it August 2009 its now Febr 2010 and already broken !

Apparently its all cheap plastic inside

 Shame on Canon !

From the Fixya website :

"It seems like this is a common problem with these lenses, the zoom gets stuck at 17mm with about 2mm of play (zoom movement). This problem is all due to a loose single screw on the inner lens assembly"

And so I spend the best part of the evening looking for a solution After coming across a Sigma 10-20 Flickr group

I decided to purchase the Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX Lens tomorrow while waiting for the repair of my broken lens GRRR !!!

Century City Canal Walk: Largest mall in Southern Hemisphere This place is huge !

I used to live here and have quite a few shots on my old flickr account

This HERE was taken from my aparment at the time
It was also one of my very first nightshots I had ever taken
I have not really walked around here since then ...

While I was shooting  late this afternoon

A guy stopped by and asked if I was a professional photographer

and for once I did not even have my tripod with me ! :)

I often find that people start chatting with me when I am taking photos

I love it and so it happend this afternoon

Was great to meet you Ash !

I used to sit along the waterside here with a book

on the rare occasions that I wasn't blasted by the wind

The building at the far end is called KnightsBridge they were still building it 2 years ago

 but its finnished now

The bird on the pole has a dart in his head !

Poor thing

 

Protea Hotel Island Club

Someone waving at me ? :)

Looking forward to see the first ever rugby match in the new Cape Town stadium.

Two more shots of the "Ring of fire" as seen on January  18

I hope to be better to attend the Rugby Festival on Saturday

 but so far I feel like death warmed up :(

Click here to read the Rugby Festival information brochure (and click on picture)

A sight for sore eyes ! Cape Town Stadium and the cloth on Table Mountain during sunset !

No better and no more beautiful place than Cape Town !

Why is it... that when guys see me shooting  they always feel the need to jump in front of my camera and clown around posing while I have never seen a girl do this !

I have quite a few pix of these clowns :) maybe I should start posting them !

Do click this and see it large ...

I learned from flickr that people tastes differ wildly

For example I know that some of you will find there are too many cars in this shot

 but I actually like it and besides there was not much option to leave them out

the only other option was the shot example above this one

Yep I was at the Radisson Hotel  again

 it was packed ofcourse its the place to watch the sunset and eachother :)

and to Daniel who asked me if I have any shots of the "closed roof"

The roof is open in the middle it means that the players will get a shower if it rains

You see ...
 We have thought of everything :)

Size image : Extra Large

Canon EOS 450D close up night images of the Cape Town Stadium

Click images to see large

Januari 2 2010

World Cup Soccer 2010 Cape Town Stadium in Green Point on a cloudy day

The mountains were hidden in the clouds except Signal Hill straight ahead

Spanking new part of Fritz Sonnenberg Road

 Devil's Peak is now totally hidden by the clouds

but the light was really beautiful

On the bottom left you can see the parking area entrance

Table Mountain is hidden in the clouds

I am standing close to the Green Point light house here

If you look  here

you will see where I was standing Note the buildings

The Diamond of Cape Town reflected in the Metropolitan golf course water feature

The 2010 FIFA Soccer Stadium Cape Town and Table Mountain during the blue hour As usual I could have stayed forever, just shooting.....but instead was there  for just over an hour

Unfortunately the sprinklers were going full speed and popping up in the most unexpected places

I would have liked to walk around the stadium but alas I was already getting damp from the spray where I was standing