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Personal Ramblings

Legacy

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.

♥️

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Photos

Selati giraffe

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.

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Personal Ramblings

Vermaaklikheid

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.

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Design Photos

I went droning in Mauritius

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.

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Photos

Atlantis mission

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.

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Photos

Chapman’s Peak

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).

Loved the rich color contrast
All the white swirling horses
Andy hiding from the wind
Tomfoolery with Yolandi

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.

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Personal Ramblings Photos

Chasing adventure slowly

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.

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Personal Ramblings Photos

6 months with Malakai

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.

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Photos

Sir Basil the great

basil

Hold a tennis ball behind the camera and he’ll hold this pose all day long…

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Link Worthy Personal Ramblings

The Emirates first class experience

In November 2014, from Cape Town to San Francisco, I was miraculously upgraded to fly first class. For free. On not one, but two long haul flights via Dubai. A total of over 20 hours in a flying palace. It was an incredibly surreal and scarily opulent experience.

It was my first (and only) time flying Emirates business class, that I only just managed to justify pocketing – celebrating a crazy few months at WooThemes. Presumably Emirates were keen to impress and win some business travellers over, with a surplus of first class seats available. Only at check-in did I realise I had been upgraded.

I wish I’d documented the flight better, but only managed a handful of pictures.

A year and a half later my favorite vlogger, Casey Neistat, got the same VIP Emirates treatment and did a fantastic job of documenting the experience. The video has gone completely viral with over 20 million views in 7 days. I think Emirates can justify Casey’s upgrade a lot better than mine….

I still can’t believe I took that flight and can only imagine how much that ticket would cost today. (An absurdly, unjustifiable amount…)