Magic with PaintShop

I am amazed....

I am by no means a graphic artist or in fact an artist of any kind. But with a little, OK, a LOT of help from the latest version of PaintShop and some reading of the instruction manual (yes, for a bloke to read an instruction manual is not bad!) I have managed to create a little piece of art...

On Tuesday we took some pictures of the sun setting as we drove back from Franschoek. The original picture looked like this:


I decided to have a go at manipulating it and doing a bit of "cosmetic surgery"... After a few hours of fumbling through different experiments and trying a few things along the way, I managed to produce the following photograph:


Now if I, with no experience or knowledge of how to do these things, can remove an entire electricity pole from a photograph, just imagine what these professionals are doing to the images we see in magazines!

Reasons to be cheerful

Regardless of what you might decide as to where you want to live, or what you think of London, Cape Town or any other place on Earth, I defy you to find a place that offers such brutal and beautiful scenery as the Highveld of South Africa.


Last evening Ulricha and I went out to a lovely dinner, at a restaurant that had a westward facing balcony, facing the setting African sun. I couldn't help but take a photo of the skyline as the Evening star appeared, watching over us like some kind of terrestial guardian.


And this morning, on the way to work I had to stop just to take an image of the City of Gold as sun rose at around early. This is the view that I have around me on my commute to work, and no matter how awful the traffic is each morning, somehow the soul and mind are soothed by the golden hues of an African sunrise.

Off to the 'Berg: A Golden Return

I know that the name “City of Gold” relates to Johannesburg’s mineral wealth and the mining industry that developed here on the Highveld.

But driving back home last evening, greeted by the Golden Sunset as we approached Johannesburg, I had to wonder to myself whether or not the City of Gold was called that for other reasons too

Off to the 'Berg: Under an African Sky

There is nothing quite like an African sky at night.

I am at the Alpine Heath – a resort in the Drakensberg foothills. Around me I know there is the most beautiful scenery, but I cannot see it, as darkness has descended over the entire area like a shroud. Even the lights of the chalets around me seem strangely dulled by the thickness of the darkness – but it does enhance the stars – the Milky Way, a cloudy mass of stars in the middle of a dark sky, the Southern Cross – strangely welcoming on the southern horizon.

The trip down the motorway from Johannesburg took a little short of four hours. We stopped along the way at a services, taking photos of the dramatic sunset across the highveld plains. But then, once the sun had disappeared below the horizon, the thick darkness descended. I have not driven in such darkness for many years – not even the driving rain on the motorways of England can prepare you for the extreme dark that we drove through after sunset this evening. With just the white lights of oncoming traffic, and the red of the traffic ahead gave any indication of where the road was in the blackness ahead.

But we got here, and am now spending time settling with family, gathered in the chalet, enjoying a balmy spring evening in the highlands of the Drakensberg.

I am exhausted, tired that even my thoughts feel heavy – and yet this feels like home.

I am in the arms of Mother Africa.