A View From Above

As some of you lovely readers may know – I have finally made it back to my homeland South Africa for a bit of a visit.  After a long 2.5 years since my last return, I thought it was time to make the 11.5 hour flight to Cape Town and the 8 hour bus trip to my home town.

One thing I love about flying is the aerial views you get.  It’s a completely new and fresh perspective of the incredible planet we live on.  A photographer who’s aerial work I love is Vincent Laforet – I highly recommend you take a look at his aerial photography. When I heard my seat was a window seat I was so stoked!  Camera by my side as always, I looked forward to waking up to a sunrise and an open sky with mind-blowing views.  I’ve put a few images down below. 

The first thing I saw when I woke up and opened the blind was this breath-taking view.  An ocean of clouds and the most intense, golden light streaming from behind them.

The Namib Desert – what a sight!  At first I thought I was seeing an ocean full of huge swell, but when I took a second look I could see that it was actually a ripple of dunes over a huge desert.  The clouds combined with the rows of dunes made for a great photographic opportunity.

After the desert we headed over the ocean.  A low sun over a blue ocean gave some great colour and the clouds floating above the ocean gave a real sense of depth.

“good light”…

One thing about flying to Cape Town International is the juxtaposition of wealth and extreme poverty, of amazing natural beauty and saddening decay and waste.  I find these views a reminder of the situation so many have found themselves in without any choice and can only be left feeling challenged to remember how good my life is and the great responsibility we all carry to help the poor and needy.  A life lived selflessly is a life lived well.  The two shots below are of the Northern Suburbs and a small informal settlement located in the Modderdam area behind the airport.  Two vastly different areas not very far apart.