Melville Snapshot: Fly in My Backyard

by 2summers | Apr 1, 2014 | Johannesburg, Melville and Surrounds | 25 comments

Third post in my Melville Snapshot series. Read posts 1 and 2.

When I first started this blog in June 2010, hardly anyone read it. I blogged mostly for myself and my close friends and family who were curious about my new life in South Africa.

A lot has changed in four years. While I try to approach blogging in more or less the same way that I did four years ago, I really don’t. I have more readers now and blogging has become part of my career. Thanks to my blog I’ve been able to experience lots of amazing, mind-blowing things (my recent helicopter ride over Joburg is a perfect example), and I feel like I have to uphold my reputation as a Joburg-based cultural adventure-seeker. Sometimes I feel like I can’t blog about “just anything” anymore.

But my life isn’t really about helicopter rides and Soweto cycling tours and exploring weird places in Joburg. At least not completely. Truth be told, I’m kind of an introverted homebody. I love hanging around my house in Melville, which I call the Lucky 5 Star Commune, and walking around the garden with the Melville Cat.

This weekend I was doing exactly that, playing around with my new olloclip iPhone lens that I received as a freebie on the above-referenced helicopter ride. I attempted a macro shot of a fly sitting on a tiny wildflower.

Macro-fly Instagram. Shot (amazingly) with my iPhone and attached olloclip.

Sometimes it’s the little things…Okay, I won’t torture you with the rest of that cliché. You know what I mean.

I’m endlessly grateful for the amazing life that I have in South Africa. It’s not always easy, but every minute of it is 1000 times more rewarding than the lives I could be leading anywhere else. Thanks to everyone and everything who makes my life here awesome. Even the fly.

Thanks to @igersjozi for featuring this shot on Instagram today.

← Prev: Walking in the Sky With Vodacom Next: Screech of the Hadeda →

25 Comments

komarovstyle on April 1, 2014 at 9:43 am

amazing click……….
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- 2summers on April 1, 2014 at 9:44 am
  
  Thank you!
  Reply
Debra Kolkka on April 1, 2014 at 10:26 am

Great capture.
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- 2summers on April 1, 2014 at 10:33 am
  
  Thanks Debra, hope you’re well.
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eremophila on April 1, 2014 at 10:41 am

Wow! Love the fly! Just keep blogging, with the occasional guest post by Smokey 🙂
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- 2summers on April 1, 2014 at 11:12 am
  
  Thanks Enivea. I’m sure Smokey will be back soon 🙂
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Ang Lloyd on April 1, 2014 at 11:10 am

To be honest I usually find macro photography a bit ‘meh’ but this is pure awesomeness. Keep blogging all the good stuff x
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- 2summers on April 1, 2014 at 11:11 am
  
  Thanks Ang. Everything came together at the right moment. But you’re right, it’s kind of a limited genre. I feel like I’ve already exhausted most of the opportunities in the backyard.
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B.and.K on April 1, 2014 at 11:44 am

Superbe, j’adore
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Gail Wilson on April 1, 2014 at 1:06 pm

Incredible shot with a phone, I battle to get that with an expensive macro lens on my Canon.
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- 2summers on April 1, 2014 at 1:07 pm
  
  Thanks Gail. I really think I got a bit lucky. It was a really sluggish fly 🙂
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Jonnie Marks on April 1, 2014 at 1:20 pm

Thank you for being adventurous and blogging about all you experience! I’m from the States (once lived in Logan Circle in DC) and I’ve also worked in HIV/AIDS. My husband, a TB researcher, are going to be alternating between Jozi and the US every three months for a while and have been here about a month. Thanks to you and your blog I’m taking an art course at the Field and Study Center and we are investigating as much as you write about as we can. Can’t tell you how much I appreciate your perspective and information. Please don’t stop!
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- 2summers on April 1, 2014 at 1:40 pm
  
  Jonnie, I can’t tell you how great it feels to receive a comment like this. Thank you so much. And I’m glad you’re enjoying your time in Joburg.
  Reply
mvschulze on April 1, 2014 at 4:02 pm

i-phone! Whooo! Those tiny, tiny camera are amazing! We love following your stories and pictures – Always looikng forward to more. M
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- 2summers on April 2, 2014 at 9:12 am
  
  Thanks. I know, iPhone cameras just keep getting better and better.
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Kathryn McCullough on April 1, 2014 at 4:06 pm

Holy crap, that’s an incredible photo! But I know how you blogging can change–for the good. But still it’s change.

It’s going to be a busy month for me–traveling to the beach, teaching a week-long workshop, and having friends visit from the US. Fun, but YIKES!

Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy
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- 2summers on April 2, 2014 at 9:13 am
  
  Wow Kathy, that all sounds exciting. I’m especially curious about the teaching workshop. Can’t wait for the blog posts. Have fun!
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Sheryl R on April 1, 2014 at 9:47 pm

Always good to read, whether its about jet setting around Jozi or capturing creatures with intimate details. Thanks for always entertaining and your absolute honesty. Don’t stop.
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- 2summers on April 2, 2014 at 9:14 am
  
  Thanks Sheryl 🙂
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David Hammond on April 1, 2014 at 10:07 pm

Thanks for sharing your blogs with people like me who are outside your immediate circle of friends. SA born and bred and your blogs help me to see SA through new eyes
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- 2summers on April 2, 2014 at 9:14 am
  
  That’s just what I love to hear, David. Thank you.
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Kelsey Johnson on April 2, 2014 at 12:51 am

Amazing
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- 2summers on April 2, 2014 at 9:14 am
  
  Thanks!
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Sine on April 3, 2014 at 11:07 pm

Stunning! It’s unbelievable, the stuff that can be done with an iPhone.
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- 2summers on April 4, 2014 at 6:34 am
  
  I know. It really is better than a DSLR sometimes.
  Reply