Mannequin holding cell

This scene tweaked my sense of humour. I had to make the picture. I have seen mannequins abused in pictures before, but this was too good an opportunity to pass by.

To be honest I have little to say. I just wanted to post this new photograph.

I have had a lot of time to think lately. Work is coming in slowly but surely, and I am looking for some good projects to sink my teeth into. Much of the work I have been doing is of bread-and-butter variety, and is not what got me to pick up a camera.

And then you see something that has almost no relevance to the job at hand. In between the speeches and handshake a moment you hope to do justice to when you fire the shutter.

Look for it, because it is usually there.

A New Chapter

This is start of a new chapter. I have finally left my job and have made the move across the country to KwaZulu Natal. The choice was easy to make as this is what I really want to do, but also difficult because I had a good job on the newspaper and we were in a comfort zone.

Moving the furniture and the cats, driving twice to get both cars here and all the other unplanned obstacles and has finally ed. We are living in a small country town between Pietermaritzburg (KZNs capital) and Durban (KZNs biggest city) and I do not miss the traffic, shopping centres or the wind.

So what is it I am going to be doing? I am going to be doing more social documentary work wich is the reason I started photographing in the first instant. I feel that I am ready for the next challenge and that is to make my dream job my real work. I will also be freelancing, hoping to do more editorial work and less corporate work.

Although I am taking a break I have been doing a little work on the annual Shembe pilgrimage. Tens of thousands of pilgrims dressed in white walk for three days to a holy mountain where they spend nearly two weeks praying and dancing. It is fascinating to witness and will make for great AV shows when I get the gear.

Getting to the point

I have about seven working days to go in Cape Town before I join my family in kwaZulu Natal where we are starting from scratch. I have been a little pensive lately as I am not moving to a job but will freelance in a place we have been away from for close on seven years. I am a little nervous to say the least.

It is at a time like this when inspiration in some form is needed, and mine came in the form of a little girl called Zintle Ndindwa who turns three years old today. During a dance workshop for which she was too small to be a part of, she showed the most incredible interest. She loved just being there! Thanks for reminding me that sometimes it is good enough just being there Zintle.

And so I look ahead to our relocation wondering what lessons there are to be learnt, and from which incredible teachers those lessons will come.

On the road

A curious find from along our travels. A book shop window with Nelson Mandela's book sitting next to Magnus Malan's in Plettenberg Bay.

Thanks to Candy and Zane for the place to stay and great company.

Exciting times ahead

The process of packing up ones life, boxing it and moving it is difficult. We are doing that right now, and soon we will have the absolute bare necessities. The clutter will be gone and for a short while we will live with only the things we truly need.

It feels good to be stripped down to the basics. Sometimes it is good to go back to the beginning. I sometimes like to go before my beginning and shoot a couple of rolls of 120 film in my old Yashica D which I picked up at a charity store for R150.00. And the D does not stand for digital: it is the model after the Yashica C. The shutter is cocked with one lever, and the film moved on with a seperate dial. There is no light meter. And the horizontals have not travelled through a pentaprism therefore to move left in the frame one must turn the camera to the right. No zoom lenses, just a fixed 80mm. What could be more limiting?

Yet when I use this camera I remember to think. I have a limited number of frames so I compose carefully. There is no rattling off of 3 or 4 shots on motordrive. I enjoy the fact that because it is such an old camera people are less intimidated than when I shove a big modern lens in their faces.

Most of all I like remembering that a camera is a camera. The photograph is more than that. The image is as much a part of oneself as we allow. And I am ready to give...

Oh, and this image was not shot on the old Yashica but I wanted to show it anyway.

In the beginning...

The first posting. How to begin? Five minutes ago I had so many things to say, but now that I have the platform I am frozen in stage fright!

Okay, I'm over it. By way of short introduction the most important aspect of my life is my wife Lucy, and my daughters Jen (6) and Sadie (2). They are my reason for being.

This blog is a guide to my work. My work is my passion for which I am very grateful. I am a photographer. I make photographs. I am a documentary photographer first and foremost, and do much editorial and newspaper work.

This blog is to be updated regularly, with information on my current work and interesting views relating to photography.