Why there are fewer Men than Women?
Category Archives: Other Galleries
Cockpits through the Ages
The first air flight of just over a few hundred metres by the Wright Brothers was performed a little over a century ago at Kitty Hawk. Yet in just one century, the plane has advanced from little more than a rickety collection of piping and fabric to a supersonic plane capable of traversing the globe.
These aircraft are even able to land on autopilot. In fact certain airlines such as Turkish Air have mandated that all landings will be performed using the autopilot. This policy was to have tragic consequences for its crew when on attempting to land at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam, the autopilot malfunctioned. Instead of reverting to manual control, the pilot resolutely stuck to Company Policy regarding the use of the autopilot. Amongst the deaths were the 3 flight crew whereas most passengers escaped without serious injury.
Main picture: The cockpit of the 1903 Wright Flyer
Photographs of the Authentic South Africa
With its wide open spaces, panoramic vistas and enchanting bushveld scenes, South Africa is a truly stunning place. Some of these photographs evoke that response. None are outstanding photographs from a technical aspect but rather they just provide a taste of the flavour of South Africa.
Main picture: Another tough day in Africa. It is a phrase that we use in the Quo Vadis HIking Club a lot.
Stunning Photographs of Lightning
With a spectacular electrical storm outside, I elected to post some stunning pictures of lightning from around the world.
Main picture: A rare and beautiful type of lightning, positive lightning can be significantly more powerful than the far more common negative lightning. Often known as ‘bolts from the blue’, positive lightning can appear several miles from the center of a thunderstorm, as can be seen in this photograph on the Bahamas coastline.
Got a Spare Six Months? Then Try This Hobby?
Sergei Bobkov takes wood chips, soaks them in water for a few days, using a Red Cedar tree from Russia. Then he starts building his pieces which takes him about 6 months, 10-12 hours a day to finish.
He was offered a lot of money for 1 piece but won’t sell.
These exquisite peces are all made from wood chips
Main photograph: The finished product
Idyllic Beaches
What is your idea of an idyllic beach? Mine is solitude, being away from the maddening crowds with miles of glistening white sand underfoot and not a care in the world. Of course some palm trees casting some shade over our picnic spot would be the cherry on the top.
The Essence of Africa
Being close to Christmas, I have decided to adopt the not-so-serious approach. Furthermore it will complement the mood of the Silly Season. In this case, it is the idiosyncrasies of living on the wonderful but sometimes frustrating continent known as Africa. Many of you would have seen these photographs before but they are quintessential Africa and in many cases they are a representation of insouciant life of South Africa. What they indubitably do represent is man’s ingenuity in overcoming adversity. Furthermore it showcases humankind’s inventiveness in some instances and stupidity in other cases.
All however represent the Essence of Africa.
Highly Unusual Photographs
The main photograph may just seem like a picture of two camels in a pick-up vehicle. However having met Gert, a camel lover, on a hike telling us how he first discovered that transporting camels was not as easy as it seemed, do not be mistaken. Being a novice, he paid a R400 deposit and hired a trailer. What the Rental Company was unaware of was that Gert wanted to transport two camels all the way from the Northern Cape to Pretoria.
Having never been involvd with camels beforehand, Gert himself was unaware that there was a knack, a particular technique of transporting camels. If not, the camels were liable to become irate and literally destroy the vehicle or in this case, the trailer. After 100kms this was indeed the case. There were already huge holes in the floor of the trailer and the sides were the worse for wear.
Very Clever Graffiti
In fact I would go so far as to complement the creators of this graffiti as being truly talented. In any of these situations would you have had the foresight and artistic ability to visual using the existing mundane background as the canvass for one’s artistic endeavours?
Truly astonishing and marvellous is all that I comment.
Eclectic Array of Photographs
Part historical and partially an array of oddities, but that is what this collection of photographs is all about.
Main picture: Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father and the only surviving member of the Frank family, revisiting the attic in which they spent the war