The Bang-Bang Club

I read a book called The Bang-Bang Club the other day. Very powerful book. The images - both visual and mental - will stay with me for a long, long time, no doubt. Read it, if you have any interest in knowing more about conflict photojournalists' work or the recent history of South Africa/apartheid.

Anyway, on a lighter note, I was reminded of this - vaguely related - What The Duck comic strip:

Not every jump into the lake is elegant

Pelle Miljoona at Northern Lights

Zebedee is Jesus

...or so it seems judging from this photo:



Mr and Mrs Swan couldn't believe their eyes.



In truth, Zeb has to jump and swim like everyone else.

Afternoon swim

Zebedee is showing signs of actually LIKING swimming.



Not sure he has quite mastered the technique yet, though. Any lower and he'll be swimming in stealth mode.



The beach is awash with flowering plants.



And the beach is - being this part of the English coast - just pebbles.









Zeb giving an impression of a Loch Ness Monster.



But he is just a happy dog with a stick. The end.

Yuka visiting!

My friend Yuka came to visit me from Japan. Yuka and me first met 15 years ago in Hokkaido through a friend of ours. Now, this is the fourth time we meet. It's been 10 years since the last time we were together, and we've spent about 60 days together so far. Confused? See, the third time ever that we met, Yuka came to stay with me in England for two moths or so. We hardly knew each other, really, but I felt that I knew her well enough to know that it wouldn't be a problem to share my tiny one bedroom flat with her for a couple of months. And I was right. We had a great time during those two months. And so we did this time, too.

Anyhow, today we went to see the white cliffs of the south coast of England. First we went to Birling Gap.



But it was reeeeally windy...



...so we ran back to the car and drove to the next spot... where Yuka took a photo or two, despite the gale force wind...



...and after that we ventured all the way to Beachy Head for a 20 minute walk to see this:



So anyway, after that, we decided to swiftly head for inland, and Arundel, to get away from the seriously strong sea breeze. We had lunch at The George. No Michelin stars, but a recommendation by Michelin, anyway. We almost died after the desserts, though.

I took this photo just to demonstrate to Yuka why I was taking three shots at the time. I was bracketing, of course, with three differently exposed images of the same frame, in order to later combine the three and created one single high dynamic range image from them.



In the late afternoon we went for a walk in Friston Forest, and saw these inquisitive cows on the way.

Yeah. Moo!

Ajit

The most fun photo shoot ever. Let me introduce you to Ajit:











(I'd just told him that he looked like he was having a poo, rather than looking 'serious' and 'learned'.)




Whoaaaaa!



Ajit is not just a pretty (and entertaining face), no. He has a black belt in 'Empty Hand'. Seriously.



See? No kidding.



Not that the seriousness lasts for long. This, for example, must be the 'karate zombie' move.



A few tricks up his sleeve, too.






Just don't underestimate this guy. That's today's lesson.

(I'll add a few more photos when I have time. They are a few more fun ones...)

(Oh, and if you are on a super-fast connection, see the whole shoot here: http://www.katiko.eu/images/Ajit_0001.wmv - be warned, over 8 MB)