Page 19 - Cape-Camera-September-2023

September 2023 Cape Camera

A cellphone
selfie Simon
took on the
day when
he forgot to
take his cam-
era batteries
on a trip to
the scenic
Douro Valley
in Portugal.

Prepare for adventure with Simon!
Simon Mouton shares some memories

Last year, when travelling in Botswana, there was an
elephant in an open camp in Moremi one night. I was
the only person sleeping in a ground tent. The ele-
phant messed around for ages, and I couldn’t sleep
until it finally buggered off. I was just dozing off when
there was a hyena outside my tent door. The only pro-
tection I could find was my “peaceful sleep” spray and
grabbing it I sprayed in the direction of the hyena -
probably not the greatest idea, but it left, and I had a
peaceful sleep at last!
During our stay in St James I was involved in an inci-
dent at Woolley’s Tidal Pool one afternoon. Long sto-
ry short: two guys, one with a knife, confronted me at
3pm in broad daylight. I was totally prepared to sur-
render all my equipment, but the one guy started pok-
ing me with his knife. I have always visualised what I
would do, but nothing prepares you for the moment – I
Meet Simon Mouton (continued) saw an opportunity and grabbed the knife, after a brief
scuffle, they ran. I chased after the one guy and he
nothing about the “photography lesson” but he will nev- dropped my 5D, still on the tripod. The other guy had
er forget the evening! my camera bag with a 100 - 400 zoom lens. I always
I am currently using 2 Canon EOS 5D Mark IV’s (which I have my double barrel pepper spray gun with me now.
love!), 2 wide-angle zooms (16-35 & 24-105) & a telepho- In 2017 we travelled to fantastic Vietnam. I was enjoy-
to zoom (100-400) with a 1.4 extender and use Light- ing a kayak trip in Halong Bay and “secured” my Canon
room to edit. I much prefer taking photographs to edit- in an Overboard “waterproof” bag. I paddled happily
ing, but soon realised that editing is a necessity, not an and watched my “waterproof” bag sloshing around at
option. I am planning my own website soon to display my feet in the kayak, only to discover at the first stop
my images for purchase. that the stitching on the bag had come loose and my
I visited Sossusvlei, Sandwich Harbour and Spitzkoppe camera was soaked. Luckily, I had it repaired in Viet-
earlier this year with VentureKJ. As many of our mem- nam within a few days. Since then I always travel with
bers know, Namibia is heaven for landscape photogra- two bodies and four batteries.
phers. I also visited Kgalagadi Park last month, where I During a trip to Portugal in 2015 we went on a day-
hope to return one day. trip to the beautiful Douro Valley when I realised that I
I love photography, travel, nature, wildlife, food and had left my battery behind on the charger. I only have
wine (in no particular order). I can rationalise almost an- cell phone photos of this memorable day and, touch
ything, but I cannot explain why I love photography —it wood, will never make this mistake again.
just makes me very happy!

19 Cape Town Photographic Society