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By the time it was Sunday morning, I was literally pacing around my house. I had no content for my official "Weekend Random's" post. I have just bought a 3x6m grey backdrop which I spent the majority of Saturday evening ironing (after starching it. Well, attempting to starch it). I considered setting up the new (and nicely ironed) backdrop & doing some pack shots of literally anything.
I then considered doing a little idea I have for a product shoot. But that would have taken too much time to setup & prepare.I was really in a bit of a state. Then it occurred to me. I can take anything that hasn't been posted yet & show & tell a bit about it. I felt better.So I decided to take something which is probably most famous amongst Art Gallery Owners. Oddly enough, I've received many requests to sell (they wanted me to sell the rights too) this personal series of mine called "Unseen Faces of Cape Town". While I'm all up for selling images, I will never sell the rights to my work, and even more so, a personal series. On top of that, if I've ever said lawyers were sharks, I need to restate, that Art Gallery Owners are the real sharks. I'm making a huge generalization here (apologise to any decent art gallery owners reading this), but they really think that people will do anything to get their 'artwork' up in a gallery. Maybe its just me who isn't prepared to sell my soul just for a bit of coverage.So anyways, a bit about this ongoing personal series of mine. It all started when I decided one day I wanted to try my hand at Stock Photography. I had the afternoon free. Camera in hand, I took to the streets of Cape Town. And yes, I have to admit I was a bit of a happy-snapper. But something happened during this little trip. I found the most amazing characters surrounding me. This is when I sat myself down on a park bench & started watching the people walk past me in throngs. Its oddly fascinating to watch people. Something else then occurred to me. All these people were so wrapped up in their lives, they hardly noticed things. One of the things being people who are considered the "rif-raf" of society. The homeless. The workers. The 'unimportant' people....Yet, it was these people that were merely looked past which held the treasure of character.
The rest is simple. These people have stories. You just need to listen. And watch. And they are more than happy to have their picture taken (or be shown their picture you just took). R5 goes a long way for a homeless person who doesn't know where their next meal is coming from.
I present to you, my ongoing personal series: "The Unseen Faces of Cape Town"
Its official. StG Studios is sponsoring The Soap Girls. To get things onto a quick start, their first official shoot took place on Friday past. Plenty outfits done, to cover a very open broad base of needs. From here, individual specific shoots will be done.
Its nice to help someone else out. And very often, the return is greater than expected. A friend of a friend needed a picture for his book cover. It had to be South African themed. So I went through my archive of photos & sent him a selection of choices.
Long story short, this was what he used:
Go support the local writers we have; You can buy a copy here.
So another weekend comes to pass. Well, this one came with a twist. Yep, two extra days added onto it. The Easter Weekend is a mad holiday rush for a lot of people. Also alot of crazy accidents on the road too. Just before the weekend got into its full swing, there was a terrible car accident on the N1 here in Cape Town. A container came off a truck, falling & crushing a passenger vehicle next to it, killing both passengers – a woman & her daughter, who was pregnant. It’s sick.So... one would think that seeing as I had a whole extra 2 days to my weekend I would have done more than on a usual one. I hate to disappoint. I in fact did almost zero. I existed. That was my ‘thing’. But then on Sunday, I got myself out the house & went for a drive to Hout Bay. That is where I took some shots, which is what I’ll be talking about & showing.First is this shot:
It was hot. Very. Standing at the little make-shift shop on the harbour front, there she sat. This little angel eating her ice-cream with no worries in the world. It’s one of the reasons why I love taking candid shots of kids so much. They make amazing subjects. In this case, she just stared up at me, not missing a beat licking her ice-cream. Just like that. Her world continued, (and remained rather involved with her ice-cream) while I stood over her, taking the shot. I know ‘experts’ will say get down on a kids level when doing little people photography (which is a great tip btw, don’t get me wrong), but in this case there would have been no impact, no oomph if I had moved from where I stood. I love this shot so much, I’m going to be putting it on my main site, so you welcome to go leave comments there too should you wish.
Dedication. I think many people have no clue as to what it really means. Here, let me give you one small excellent example:
Known as “The Soap Girls”, these 2 entrepreneurs have been selling handmade soap bars for 5 solid years now! And it’s not for their own pocket growth either. They do it to raise money for charity. I was told that they have raised R305 000 in their time! Just under 1/3 of a million rand selling soaps! But these 2 are far from boring when it comes to their sales pitch. They say everything in unison. Trust me, it’s something which takes a bit of getting used to. I remember when I first saw them many years ago, I just had to buy a soap from them. There was no way, I could walk away from this bunch, after being spoken to in 9 different languages, in rhyme, and in chime, and not support them.There is something else about these girls too, which is even rarer in our times. They are genuinely happy doing what they do. Not everyone buys from them, but they still smile & say goodbye to you (in unison) as you walk away smiling yourself. Helping others for a genuine motive is something that brings a real satisfaction. These girls are a great demonstration of it. So, you want to know more about them? Go check out their website here.And if you find yourself in the Hout Bay area, be sure to look out for them. You won’t be disappointed.
Last but not least, this one doesn’t need much explanation, nor does it have any story behind it. But this is what happens when you catch that one ‘golden’ moment at sunset on the magnificent ocean.
Or, um, something to that effect.
The actual story, is that I did my first proper Food shoot on Monday past. It was a collaboration between myself (the photographer), Sam Linsell (the food stylist), and Lori Darroch (the chef).
It was indeed an interesting experience. There was no attitude about holding a pose for x amount of time. There was no sigh's about it getting late. It did just as it was put. :)
On top of that, I had some free time (omg, "free" + "time" in one sentence!?), so I put the final images together in a nice little presentation showcase moo moo format. Just because. :)
So last week I bought 2 bags of motoring mags from a friend of mine, and I came across some mags which had my work in it (that I hadn't gotten hold of prior). So here is a couple more tear sheets from published work. :)
Not for anything commercial or published, I like to try out ideas I sometimes have. Its just finding the right guinea pig for the job which proves more difficult sometimes.
Another idea I've been carrying around with me for ages. Finally got round to doing it. I loved the outcome. Its always nice when something comes out nicer than you imagined it. 
Another magazine cover. March 2008
I think every photographer at some point wants to make a calendar of their work. Its a great way to advertise their talent. I can't say I've ever wanted to do it (purely as I haven't had the time), but this year it actually just happened from a job I did.
Don't worry, next year I'll be releasing a calendar of my work. So 2009 is a year to look out for.
The MUA Cape Spring Tour 2008
