Welcome to my website! Enjoy it!

My interest in photography started at an early age with a brownie box camera for which I saved for two years! Only recently under protest I entered the world of digital photography after a birthday gift from my children, Lienkie, Erik &Suzaan. It definitely opened up new venues and possibilities but I am the first to admit that there is a long learning curve ahead.
 

I live in Modimolle (previously known as Nylstroom) in the Limpopo Province with my best friend and soul mate, Saarkie. I am a practicing GP for more than 27 years in this rural town and have the best of two worlds: a job I like and the Waterberg next door into which I can disappear with my binoculars and camera. This is indeed as good as it gets. My passion has always been birds and mountains (especially the Drakensberg). Being outdoors is where I feel the most at home and have experienced my most exhilarating moments. To portray this, His handiwork, is a privilege indeed.
 

Quote: Frans Hauting- “A bad day in the field is still better than a good day in the office.”
 

Birds

My childhood years was spent with my fathers binoculars nearly permanently around my neck on our small farm near the present petroport outside Pretoria (it was my privilege to return a new pair of binoculars to my father on receiving my first pay cheque several years later).
 

Swainson’s francolins, Roufous-naped larks and Black korhaans were part of our daily existence as were the cattle egrets following our tractor while plowing the fields. In my high school years bird ringing followed after tuition by Warwick Tarboton (still a wonderful friend and tutor) and predictably bird photography were next.
 

There are few things to beat that excitement of sitting in a hide high on a tower sharing the intimate lives of a Black-breasted snake eagle, Wahlberg’s eagle or A Jackal buzzard tending its chicks. The cramps, discomfort and sometimes the terrible heat as well as disappointments, are all part this hobby. In the end it’s all more that worthwhile capturing that perfect moment.
 

I can’t watch the female Wahlberg’s eagle arrive with prey and savour the moment before the chick reaches up to her for a sliver of meat. It is almost an anticlimax to press the shutter. Then as the last light fades from the treetops that form the backdrop to the nest, I gather up my equipment and head home. Such is the joy of being a country doctor and having the best of both worlds- work that I love and an eagle’s nest to photograph only a few minutes away. (Abstract of an article written for the birds and birding April/May 2003)
 

Mountains

My first hike on in the Natal Drakensberg was in 1970 in the Mont-Aux- Sources area with fellow students. Despite the discomfort, extreme cold nights and lack of proper gear, it was a start of a lifetime’s pleasure and adventure. I met my wife Saarkie on such a student trip and we have explored those mountains together on numerous occasions, enjoying its beauty and sunshine.  But we also got to know wind, sleet, blizzards and hypothermia. The summer months so excellent for photography, is also notorious for heavy showers, thunder and lightning.
 

In August 1982 we were caught up in a heavy blizzard, weathering the extreme conditions in the Indumeni Dome care in the Cathedral Peak area. A few days later we descended via Windy Gap and Camel in deep snow, sometimes up to our hip; Fond memories for a lifetime. Gradually our three children and their friends were also introduced to this magnificent mountain range, to be followed by sons-in-law and lately our grandchildren.
 

What a privilege indeed! Having climbed other mountains in Africa and overseas to me personally nothing beats our own Drakensberg for unspoilt beauty and unsurpassed adventure. I can’t imagine myself a life without the Berg being intimately part of it, to be enjoyed and cherished for many years to come. Peter Pickford (Wilderness Dawning)
 

Quote: Peter Pickford( Wilderness Dawning)
 

I have tried many times to put a single word to the attraction that a wilderness has for me. I have failed. It is not love, for love is too emotional. The attraction is more platonic. It has the comfort of a long-standing friendship; I am at ease and happy in it.
 

Pictorial

Over many years family, friends, fellow-birders and fellow-hikers have enriched my life. Their friendship, care, advice and loyalty added many special days and created fond memories. Some are portrayed in these photos.
 

Quote: Kent Nerburn, letters to my son.

And when I’m old and my body has begun to fail me, my memories will be waiting for me. They will lift me and carry me over the mountains and oceans. I will hold them and turn them and watch them catch the sunlight as they become alive once more in my imagination. I will be rich and I will be at peace…..
 

Landscapes

I can venture in any direction from my town and there is something special to photograph. The sandstone mesa of Kranskop, reflected in the still water of a dam is special; but so are the protea covered hills of the Waterberg in the soft light of late afternoon. Combine this with the whistle of a mountain reedbuck or the yelping call of a Jackal Buzzard and you have pure magic, impossible to capture in the confines of a single frame.
 

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Familie, gesin en persoonlik. (Afrikaans)

Ek het jare gelede besluit om hierdie pad van die lewe met dankbaarheid en verwondering te loop. Stap, bergklim, fotografie, voëlkyk en kamp in die buitelug, het natuurlik perfek hierby ingepas. Ek en ons as n gesin, het wonderlike tye tot hiertoe beleef, soveel so dat ons kan aansluit by Louie Giglio se woorde ”I have seen enough to trust Him for all my days”.

Ek het baie herhinneringe van my grootword op n plaas. Wat my dalk vandag nog die beste by bly was om as n klein seuntjie agter die trekker in n ploegvoor aan te stap en die warmte van die vars omgekeerde grond oor my kaalvoete te voel. Dalk was dit die begin van my eenwees met die natuur om my.

In my studente jare het ek ander buitelug ouens ontmoet en wonderlike staptoere, onder andere die Transkei en Tsitsikammakus en baie ander interessante plekke het gevolg. Die grootste bonus in hierdie tyd was egter my kennismaking met die Natalse Drakensberg. Avontuur het gevolg en van wind, reën, sneeu, ysreën, hipotermie, maar ook perfekte sonskyndae, kan jy my niks vertel nie; ons het dit beleef.

Hier het ek my lewensmaat Saarkie ontmoet en saam met ons kinders Lienkie, Erik en Suzaan, maar ook ons skoonseuns, Johan en Martin en ja selfs ons kleinkinders Jakolien en Erik keer ons gereeld na hierdie berge terug. Maar sekerlik die lekkerste lekker is ons gesin se saamwees. Verseker is die woorde “It is in the shelter of each other that people (really) live”, ook op ons van toepassing. Ons sal dit nooit as vanselfsprekend aanvaar nie, maar lewenslank met dankbaarheid geniet en vertroetel as ons heelgrootste geskenk.