Mark Forrester
Last week we celebrated the life of my grandpa on the farm where he was born and died 93 years later. Seeing the farm from high above highlights the changing landscape of Nelspruit. It’s amazing to see how the farm has shaped the city’s growth.
Being on the farm brought back wonderful childhood memories of adventurous, outdoor holidays. As one mighty tree fell, we planted another in remembrance.
Today you breathed your last breath and said farewell to a world so very different to the one you entered 93 years ago. Yet you died on the farm, only meters away from the very same house you were born.
You were our heroic grandfather, and great grandfather – the finest and most dignified of gentlemen – who served both our country in the most monumental of wars, and our family with a Lowveld legacy so pioneering and significant.
You enriched and magnified what the Halls family is and proudly represents to so many.
Today Gran finally welcomes you with open arms and your kind twinkly eyes shine even brighter in our night sky.
♥️
I took a lot of photos on my recent trip to the bush. But this one is my favourite.
I love the lush, warm colors of the dense bush this time of year. Coupled with a giraffe on his own mission, not interested in posing for the camera.
Last weekend was spent on the river with friends, and a growing number of our offspring. I always find it hard to believe that this beautiful wild landscape is only a four hour drive from Cape Town.
In the spirit of trying to adventure more, coupled with a personal challenge to capture, create, and actually publish more content, I’ve made a short edit of our family holiday (family not included in the video…) to Mauritius.
I’m completely amazed what can be achieved with an iPhone, a GoPro, and a very smart drone. I almost edited this video on my phone to try and prove a point to myself, but got a little frustrated and retreated back to Final Cut Pro.
That said, it’s entirely possible and wildly addictive creating stories from a trifecta of pocket sized devices. 2017 is rad.
Today Yolandi went on her first dune bashing adventure to the Atlantis sand dunes. With a partner in crime – Green African‘s Discovery Sport.
We made a few rookie errors. Namely tyre pressure, and a pretty late start to the mission. When they say midday sun removes most dune shadows they’re telling the truth. This means for some sudden stops at the top of some hairy drops.
We both got stuck a couple times, and lost. Not knowing what was around the next corner. It was great, sometimes nervy fun though, and I look forward to more practice soon.
Last week I went on a very windy photo mission with Andy Schar. We drove around Chapman’s Peak, which is one of my favourite drives in Cape Town (previous photos).
Side note: I’m using VSCO presets for Lightroom. Love the film color grades and flexibility you have to modify them. I’m also test driving the new Lightroom to WordPress.com plugin. If you have Jetpack installed it works perfectly with self-hosted WordPress sites.
I don’t know who was more keen to get a “safari car”. Max, my nearly 5 year old, or me.
Max developed a very rare talent, at a very early age. He has the remarkable ability to identify a “safari car”, otherwise known as a Land Rover Defender, if it even enters his distant periphery.
For Max a safari car represents adventure. Something he and I want to chase more intentionally this year.
These past 6 months have been a whirlwind. A work trip to Germany and then Canada. A very noisy, messy house renovation. And 3 months of “colic”, that was fortunately followed by another 3 months getting to know a gentle, happy, smiling little Malakai.
Hold a tennis ball behind the camera and he’ll hold this pose all day long…