Fotoeins Fotografie

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Posts from the ‘Spring’ category

Nelson Mandela statue, Nobel Plaza, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town

Cape Town: remembering Nelson Mandela and 10 May 1994

On 27 April 1994, South Africa held its first post-apartheid elections with universal suffrage, where all people independent of gender and race could vote. The elections ushered the once-banned African National Congress (ANC) party into government. April 27 is Freedom Day, an annual national holiday in South Africa.

The ANC election victory brought another historic development. On 10 May 1994, Nelson Mandela was officially inaugurated as the first black person to be democratically elected President of South Africa.

2014 marked the 20th anniversary of the first freely run post-apartheid elections and of Nelson Mandela as elected President. National elections were held on 7 May 2014; these elections were the fifth held in the post-apartheid era, and the first held since Mandela’s passing in early-December 2013. With 18 years the minimum age for people to vote in South Africa, the 2014 elections included the first voting “born-free generation” who have never known a nation under apartheid.

Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Klerk both won the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.

South Africa Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Nobel Square, Cape Town, South Africa

4 Nobel Peace Prize laureates from South Africa

I made the two photos above at Cape Town’s Nobel Square in October 2012. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-45A.

Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia

Sydney: Sunday bubbles in Hyde Park

It’s a beautiful Sunday, halfway into a long Labour Day holiday-weekend in the Australian states of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. The early-spring day brings sun, blue skies, and a very reasonable temperature of +21C/70F.

Located in the City centre, Hyde Park is not only the oldest park in Sydney, but also the oldest park in Australia. The area was originally used as a staging ground for soldiers, and in 1810, was officially recognized as a “common” (open land for public use). Then-governor Macquarie named the common after Hyde Park in London, England.

On this afternoon, there are many in Hyde Park : some are here for the art exhibition; some are enjoying a picnic or a suntan on the grass; some are out with their baby strollers; and others have their cameras to photograph the day. A gentleman next to the Archibald Fountain is blowing soap bubbles large and small, to the joy of young and old alike. The tip jar is getting some joy, as the curious stop, watch, and part with some coins.

And so it goes, the streams of soapy spheres on a sunny Sunday in Sydney’s Hyde Park.

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