This post is for the #wednesdaywalk challenge and the #makemesmile challenge collaboration. This collaboration initially took place once a month, but due to its popularity, @tattoodjay (of the #wednesdaywalk) and @elizacheng (of #makemesmile) decided to make it a weekly thing.
If you want to know more about the rules, visit this week's post by @tattoodjay where you will find all the rules at the bottom of his post after you've enjoyed his beautiful photos from his walk.
Last week, my wife spent the week in Johannesburg to help attend to her mom who is not well currently. My wife returned back home on Saturday morning and her flight was expected to land at 07h15 at the King Shaka International Airport in Durban.
Seeing that I had to pass Umhlanga Rocks on my way to the airport, I thought it would be a good idea to leave earlier and go for a walk at the "Whale-Bone Pier" on the beach in Umhlanga Rocks at dawn.
When I arrived there at about 05h45, it was still pitch dark.
I decided to play around a bit and try to get a shot or two in the dark. Some of them didn't come out too nice, but there were a few that I feel I can use.
This was the first shot I took of the pier as I got there. As you can see, it was still dark.
(What appear to be "city lights" in the background, are actually ships on the horizon).
In the next shot, I was standing on the pier, looking back, across the beach, towards the city.
As you approach the pier, you pass an information board with some interesting facts about the pier.
Here are, not all, but some of the interesting points highlighted on the board (also not exactly as printed on the board, but summarized in my own words):
- The pier was built in 2007 to help re-route stormwater flows.
- The pier even has its own Instagram account and is one of the most photographed sites on the Durban coastline.
- In 2014, the pier was voted by CNN as "The Most Beautiful".
Then the new day started arriving, and I took this shot, with the new day arriving from behind the pier.
The next one is standing closer to the pier, looking out over the ocean.
The next few photos were actually inspired by the post that @tattoodjay published last week, where he saw another photographer taking photos on his walk.
When I saw this, I was reminded of his post and I just had to take these photos. I hope you don't mind me following your lead with this, @tattoodjay ...lol.
But here it is...as the new daylight started arriving, more photographers started showing up.
This was the first guy I saw...
Then two more... The first guy is obvious, but can you spot the second photographer in this photo?
If you didn't spot the second photographer in the previous photo...there she is...
A bit later I got the next shot (the "kneeling guy" in one of the previous photos), which I just thought would make a cool "photography photo".
I suppose all of this is confirmation of the statement about this pier being "one of the most photographed sites on the Durban coastline". And besides these "obvious" photographers, just about everybody was walking around, taking photos with their cell phones...
Anyway...this is not supposed to be a post about photographers...lol. Let's get on with the walk.
Taking the next photo, I was standing on the beach, right next to the pier, with the light of the new day, coming in from the left.
The ships on the horizon became more visible by now.
Taking the next shot, I was standing on the pier.
Finally, the new day has arrived, and standing on the pier, this is what Umhlanga Rocks look like from the pier, with the promenade in the foreground (just above the beach), going up north.
And looking down south, also with the promenade in the foreground, passing by the lighthouse.
And by then it was time for me to leave for the airport.
So, that's it for today, folks. Thank you for reading my post, I do appreciate it!