Monday, March 31, 2008

The Weekend Random's #03

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"


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