For the longest time, I have admired some amazing photographs I’ve seen around, but my previous half-hearted and ill-planned attempts have always left me feeling frustrated.

On a recent visit to a friend, I admired his prints dotted around the wall of his studio, of successful watersplash photography.  I was delighted that he was prepared to set things up again for another shoot and was happy to invite me to join him.

While I have lots to improve on, I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to experiment and learn.  Sadly I still don’t know which settings were the most successful – we switched ambient lights on and off, and made various changes during the course of the shoot, but now don’t remember which resulted in the most pleasing effects!

My basic set up was a Manfrotto tripod, Nikon D3 camera, Nikkor 105mm macro lens and Nikon SB-800 speedlight.

I left at 7am for an hour’s walk around our area on the slopes of Table Mountain and was  pleased to have only encountered one other person (a dogwalker) on the entire route.  When walking I travel light, so no camera except for mah BlackBerreh :-)

Rounding a corner I came upon an unusual sight for this part of town:

Right next to a more typical Camps Bay mansion

When I came home I was greeted by Ziggy our elegant white cat

Thereafter we headed off for a stroll down Milnerton market  – always fun and always guaranteed to turn out something interesting!

I wished I had a dog… to justify an excuse for buying this funky rubber toy!

And in what universe could I possibly find a use for this red mini violin?

(thanks to BB Torch for all the photos displayed here)