Sunny day by the Pier

Today is National Human Rights Day in South Africa and the start of silly season as far as public holidays go over the next two months.  Lots of long weekends to come which means lots of opportunities for break aways and #shotleft weekend. From the looks of it we are in for a beautiful weekend this weekend and here's hoping that all the others would be the same.  Stunning autumn weather is just as good as summer so the PE beachfront is a popular spot today.  Unfortunately I'm in bed with bronchitis so the pic of Shark Rock Pier at Hobie Beach was taken a week or so ago.

Shark Rock Pier on a sunny day

Everybody loved the beach in summer, but there is no reason not to love it in winter as well.  Specially on a warm sunny day like today.  Only difference is you can't go for a swim.  Personally I think winter is the best time for long walks on the beach or the adjoining boardwalk.  At least the sun doesn't burn my ever growing forehead as much.

Shark Rock Pier in HDR

I've never used the HDR effect on any of my photo.  Some people over use it but making all their pics HDR although it does enhance some pictures beautifully.  My main reason though is because I don't have Photoshop.  Over the weekend I discovered that Picasa does have a HDR effect button (don't know how I missed it before) so I decided to try it out on a picture I took of Shark Rock Pier in Port Elizabeth last week.   

Sunrise at Shark Rock Pier

A golden sunrise at Hobie Beach in Port Elizabeth

Shimmer pier

Shark Rock Pier in Port Elizabeth in the early morning sun with the ocean shimmering more than a vampire in the Twilight movies.

Rough sees

The other day during spring high tide we also had a strong easterly wind blowing here in Port Elizabeth and that normally means a very rough sea.  I popped down to Hobie Beach to have a look and got a couple of pics around Shark Rock Pier.

 

 

Happy Birthday to me

Last year on my birthday I went down to the beachfront and took a self portrait of myself for birthday sake, so at lunchtime I headed down to Shark Rock Pier to do it again. This time I had nothing to do a reflection or mirror shot in, so I just did the whole "hold the camera up with both hands and smile while taking the picture into the general direction of my face" photo thing. A guy was standing on the pier staring at me with a puzzled look on his face, but I thought what the hell... its my birthday.

Oh yes, and moments later I could have been wet. My timing was just right. The lesson may well have been: "Don't turn your back on the ocean when trying to take birthday self portraits!"

Shark Rock Pier

Shark Rock Pier at night

One of the main beaches in Port Elizabeth is called Hobie Beach. It is a Blue Flag beach just across the road from The Boardwalk entertainment complex and a very popular beach. Until the late 1980's Hobie Beach was nothing more than a rocky stretch of coastline. It was then decided to have a pier built to block the sand moving along the coastline and form a beach. Today the value of the beach and surrounding area to the city far exceeds the cost of building it.

The pier is a very popular landmark for photos and television footage of the beachfront. The other night we organised for the in-laws to watch the Rugrats for a while and went out for dinner. After dinner we headed down to the beachfront for a stroll through the Boardwalk and down to the beach. I had my camera on hand for a couple of night shots of the pier. Unfortunately the Damselfly didn't want me to carry a tripod along on a romantic (anything without the Rugrats we see as romantic) stroll so I had to sit on my behind and shoot off my knees.On this picture the waves were crashing against the rocks in front of me and made a blurry curtain between me and the pier. I thought it was more interesting than just another straight forward pic like the top one.

Opening of the Season Fireworks

Every year on 16 December we have the Opening of the Season celebrations on the beachfront here in Port Elizabeth. It is the official start of the summer holidays and the proverbial gunshot that signals the annual influx of holiday makers into Port Elizabeth. For the next 3 weeks most coastal towns and cities in South Africa will be packed with sun worshippers, mostly from the interior.

The Opening of the Season celebrations includes music and stalls, but the highlight of the evening is the fireworks display from Shark Rock Pier.

With my old compact camera I've never been able to take proper fireworks picture, so this was the first opportunity I had. It was also the first time we have taken the Rugrats to a fireworks display and the were suitable impressed.

For more great Skywatch photos from all over the world, why not visit the site here.

Shark Rock Pier in sepia

Last night we headed down to the beachfront for the annual Opening of the Season festivities. The highlight of the evening is a fireworks display from Shark Rock Pier at Hobie Beach. I will post a couple of fireworks pics tomorrow. We found a good spot from where we had a nice view of the pier and settled in for our wait until the fireworks started at 20:30. Just after sunset the view across to the pier was beautiful, and seeing that I had my camera and tripod on hand (duh!) I decided to take a couple of pictures.

When I had a look at the pics just now I wondered what it will look like in sepia. And this is what came out of it. I actually like the sepia view. It gives it a certain atmosphere (I don't know what kind, but it does have something to it).

And just for those who wonder what it looks like in colour, here it is.

Hobie Beach

Yesterday I posted the photo of the sunrise over Hobie Beach. Today I am actually showing you Hobie Beach. Hobie is one of the main and most popular beaches along our beachfront. The photo was taken from Shark Rock Pier, which is situated to the one side of the beach. Right accross the road is the Boardwalk Casino & Entertainment Complex which adds to the popularity of the area.
This pic was taken on the same day as the one above. This time we are looking back at Shark Rock Pier. Before the pier was built, Hobie Beach was a little rocky beach used by local Hobie Cat sailers. After the pier was constructed, sand started building up against it (that was the idea) and a very nice beach was born.

If you go down to the very far southern end of Hobie Beach, just before Pollock Beach, and you look back, this is what you will see. Shark Rock Pier by the main swimming area can just be seen in the left hand side distance. The main city centre are those buildings way on the horizon while the buildings on the left are mainly hotels and apartments in the upmarket suburb of Summerstrand.