Fireworks display in East London at the East London harbour

I took these firworks display photos some years ago - about 8 years ago I think, at the East London harbour festival. I had an old manual SLR camera, and this was my first attempt at taking fireworks pictures. I used the "B" setting, and kept the shutter down for as long as I wanted, to capture the light in the sky - I didn't have a tripod, and just held my breath trying to keep very still. I think I held the camera shutter in position for about only 4 seconds, perhaps even less. Although these photos are not as clear as I would have liked, I'm relatively pleased with the results. I haven't seen a great fireworks display in a few years now, and am keen to also take my boys to see a good fireworks display - I wonder when there will be another good display in East London? I don't mean little sparklers and small displays, but great big rockets exploding all over the sky - like the display that night at the East London harbour which was awesome.
(post by Terry)

Taking photos on the beach near the surfers marathon start, in Kwelera Village, East London

Also see some 2010 Surfers Marathon photos

The annual 16km East London Surfers Marathon coastal challenge is tackled by many runners, walkers and paddlers every year, so February is a good time to mention this popular East London race! Probably even a little late, if training has not yet begun, and you are keen to enter. In this photo, Basti is taking photographs of the rocks and ocean on the beach near Kwelera Village - this is about 1km after the start of the Surfers Marathon, and about only 100 metres from Petra and Spuds self catering accommodation within the little Kwelera Village itself. Photographers must be very careful with their cameras on beaches, and try not to expose their cameras to too much sand, water, and salty air. If it's a windy day, rather keep your camera off the beach completely!

South African buck in the bush

We couldn't get in too close with our cameras and didn't have good zoom on our cameras either, but were still happy with our photography efforts when we captured these buck in the Brakfontein area of East London, in South Africa.