Page 10 - Cape-Camera-July-August-2021

July/August 2021 Cape Camera

June 2021 Outing

Photos by Richard Goldschmidt (top left, bottom right) & Kumar Paramasivam (top right & bottom left)
Highly successful visit to Harmony Park near Strand
by Richard Goldschmidt

It was with some trepidation that I departed at 3pm on Saturday arrival we were basically the only people there except for some
26th June with Joyce, headed for the Strand meeting place for life guards and security guys sheltering from the blistering cold
our scheduled outing. Of all the 37 outings I have organized, it wind in a building, and a few fishermen at the end of the long
was to be the most unknown and dangerous one. Sonja Grün- pier.
bauer had warned me that we would all get soaking wet and it Cameras and tripods were set up as we all fanned out in the ex-
wouldn’t work. Neels Beyers had done a few investigations for tensive resort. We felt safe. The sea was at Springtide high and
me and told me there was a police station open until 5pm, so we covered all the architectural features and paving, creating per-
would not get mugged until then! Basically I knew that there fect photographic conditions for slow shutter speeds. A photo-
were three photogenic spots along that coast, the old wood- graph taken earlier in the week by Neels of the resort in good
ed jetty right next to the new Pier Complex at the Strand, the weather is included here (on the left) to show readers what it is
Gordons Bay harbour, and the City Council Beach resort called meant to be like, as opposed to what we were taking. The sky
Harmony Park (where people have been known to have been was grey and moody, but full of drama and our members were
mugged). in their element. We had a deadline of 6pm to photograph
Fourteen of us met at 4pm at the Strand jetty. We were astound- when the gate is closed, so at 5.45pm most of us were folding
ed that it was only metres away from the new Pier complex. up tripods and heading for the cars, when the sky suddenly lit
From Crighton’s photo of it, it appears to be standing alone up in a glorious pink colour. The brave stayed until the last min-
along a desolate coast, far from civilization. As Sonja had pre- ute taking amazing photographs of that spectacle.
dicted, waves were crashing over the concrete sea wall, putting The WhatsApp group afterwards expressed how elated people
any ideas of photographing it out the window. So what do we were and how quite a few wanted to go back again within a
do next? Try and find the turn-off to Harmony Park along the matter of days to get more photographs. I have never encoun-
road to Gordons Bay and see if it is safe to go there? Well, on tered that before on an outing. Certainly further outings can
be organized to try and capture the elusive Strand Jetty and
also investigate what is photogenic at Gordons Bay harbour. So
we all navigated the N2 home in the dark, having agreed that
we would not dine in a closed restaurant due to the Covid virus
danger. What started out as a doubtful outing ended as one
of our most popular and exiting excursions. A warning must
be made – do not go to Harmony Park in the late afternoon by
yourself.
Supporters of this outing were: Lesley and Lambe Parolis, Kim
Stevens, Anna Engelhardt, Robert Maginley, Andre Mouton,
Ken Woods, Richard and Joyce Goldschmidt, Detlef and Barbara
Basel, Justin Fletcher, Sonja Grünbauer, Viv Harper, Mereille
Landman, and Kumar Paramasivam.

9 Cape Town Photographic Society