Just before Sarah and I got married, we took her family from outta town to visit the bird gardens here in Johannesburg.  They do a lot for the conservation of South African bird species.  Go check them out if you have the time, they also have a pretty cool bird show.  I took these pictures while watching the bird show, it’s really not easy to catch birds in flight!  Probably one of my most difficult things to do with a camera! 

Scientific Name : Britis Arietans

Fact : The Puff Adder is one of the most venemous species of viper in the world!  Its wide distribution, common occurrence, large size, potent venom, and willingness to bite make it responsible for more fatalities than any other African snake.  Adult females give birth to live young and litters of over 80 snakes have been recorded!  Being ‘heavy-bodied’ snakes, they tend to be rather sluggish and don’t often hunt for prey, they prefer to lie and wait for prey to come to them.  This snake is one of the fastest striking snakes in the world…  It can strike it’s target and be back in it’s strking position in less than 1/60th of a second.  The force of the strike is also one of the strongest in the world, being so hard in some cases that they have no trouble piercing leather.  The venom of this snake is Cytotoxic(Cell and tissue destroying).  A bite is extremely painful and can result in the skin bubbling and the loss of limbs if untreated with anti-venom. They love basking in the sun during the rainy season, usually on rocks or in hiking trails!  Watch your step when hiking out in the African bush!

I found this little guy while hiking with my Dad at Suiker-Bos Rand this last Sunday.  I almost stepped on him but luckily, I heard him hissing as my foot was about to step down.  I didn’t realise what it was till I spotted him trying to get away in the grass.  I used some sticks that were actually way too short to move him to a rock to get some pictures.  He didn’t seem to mind too much and didn’t strike at me once.  I love snakes!

I took this picture in my parent’s garden and then tweaked the colors in Photoshop to make it look a little different.  I love experimenting with the colors to see how things look, it’s really amazing what you can do with Photoshop, there’s endless possibilities!

Everytime I go back to California, it usually involves a couple trips to the town of “Nevada City” with Jon to visit his friends and family that live up there.  This is one of the pictures I took of him when I was last there with him, waiting for everyone to group so we could go have breakfast.

Just a random shot I took of some old guy swimming in the icy-cold San Francisco Bay!

I stayed with my friend’s James and Jessica while in San Francisco and, if there’s one thing they love, it’s fresh flowers in the house!  I shot these 2 pictures of some flowers they had with their tv screen as the backround.

I took this shot while walking around San Francisco at night, down at the ‘Fisherman’s Wharf’ to be exact.  I just liked the reflection, that’s about it.

We have some wonderful friends that live in Truckee, California, they let us stay at their house when we go up there.  In January of 2008, we heard of a big snow storm that was making it’s way there so, we planned a trip up there for the weekend to go snowboarding.  The snow started falling while we were on the freeway, winding our way through the mountain passes and by the time we got up there, we got word that they had actually closed the freeways due to the heavy snow fall!  I have never seen this much snow in my life!  I think it snowed a totaly of 7 feet in just that weekend!  Incredible!  Needless to say, the snowbaording was amazing!  I love Truckee and cant wait to go there again someday!  Thanks to John Bieble and Sarah Poynter for making it possible!

Down off of Hyde St. Pier in the San Francisco Bay, they have a bunch of old boats and ships that they’ve made into museums.  I forget exactly what day it is but, 1 day out of the week it’s free to go down there and check things out.  I liked this old tug boat that was down there, “Hercules”.

I love taking pictures of abstract things and would love to get more into that side of photography!  Here are a couple pictures I shot in San Francisco.