so, today i was told a joke, and it made me think alittle...
here is the joke and my thoughts below...

so i have a question for you... there is a very bad storm
in limpopo, water and lightning and floods everywhere...
and you are busy taking photo's... and you notice julius
malema busy drowning and getting washed away in the
water, and he his probably gonna drown... what do you
do...?

do you shoot colour film or black and white...? do you use
a long or slow exposure...?

so its a bit of a rethorical question... but the reason it made
me think, is because when i heard it today, i knew before
it was finished being told, that it was connected to the mugabe
joke i was told at the end of the 90's... i used to work with
journalist photographers, and in photography there is always
the ethical question... when do you shoot, and when not... and
one of the photographers said to me... "mugabe is hanging on
a tree, and is about to be eaten by a crocodile, but you could
stick out a branch and save him... so what do you do...? do you
use colour film or black and white...?"

so first i found it pretty funny, but then i satrted to think a bit,
and it started to scare me a little... because, we are making
similar jokes and having similar fears about malema, as have
been been made about mugabe, and that sucks... because we
all know malema admires mugabe and is trying similar
approaches, but when i realise how much power, and exactley
how similar things are, i get freaked out...

but saying all this, im still postive about this country, i still think
its got a lot going, and i dont want media, and politics, and
crazyness to make us, as south africans, scared... not just yet...
i just hope super man, and the x men, (maybe even hancock) arrive
soon, and kick some crazy messed up asses...

thats my 2cents for today...!!!

today i am in the city, cape town, my birth town, and the place i grew up in... so i guess it is the
place that shaped me, my first experiences and ideas of life were here, in cape town...

latley, if you have been following my blog, you will see alot of questioning... alot of thinking...
last night when i spoke to a friend, he said, "dont talk, do... "

today i sat near a canal, at a kinda crazy shopping centre called "canal walk..." i saw a duck sitting
on the side of the water... and i never realised before that ducks have funny little tongues, that
they can stick out... wow... for some reason that random fact stayed in my mind...

i then saw alot of images around me, but i had no camera with me... i thought about how, before
when i first started photography, everything had to be caught on film... and so at that stage, 10
years ago or so, i stopped taking pictures, cause it was a pressure, i had to catch everything,
nothing could just be a memory...

i went overseas, and ended up mostly in isreal, just to get away, to see and experience something
new... i remember getting a simple 2dollar camera for free, with my milk shake powder, and
finding it alot of fun to just take very cheap shots... i was getting free from the idea that
everything had to be an image...

i remember when i was in switzerland, 2 years after starting my journey, i had no camera, and it
did not bother me at all... i thought, if i want to show people things, i can look in a book or find
an old postcard... it made me happy to finally be free, from that pressure i gave myself...

now that i start shooting alot, and trying to get deeper into image capturing, i discover a slight
frustration returning... so this became my challenge... that this time, i must work thru it, find a
way to cope with it...

i also noticed, that because of my changes over the last years... and becuase of my break from
photography, and realisations about photography, i have less of these moments... it is easier
for me now, to seperate... to say this is a moment im just gonna enjoy, and this is moment im
gonna record on film (or atleast laptop)...

i have realised that photography gives me a goal... its a creative form that i enjoy, and have
somehow always been attracted to... all creative forms of expression will have ups and downs...
thats the nature of creative expression... there are very few artists, that dont go thru extreme
moods, this is the nature of the game... and so i realise, that these frustrations and complications
are something i need to face to follow my dream, and express myself in a way that suits me and
fulfils me... (thats second last word might be incorectly spelt, its looks wierd...)

i learnt that you dont have to always be the person looking in, you can also sometimes be, the
person inside... (if that makes sense...) and that was something i often struggled with before...
cause as a photography you always have a ticket to view, so somehow, although you are
involved, you are an outsider... but i have learnt that thats also a mindset... its all how you see it,
how you relate with people... there can be a balnce, the see'er, the doer, the capturer, etc...

so latley i ask myself the question... "can photography save my soul...?" (or atleast a part of it...)
(i will end there with that contemplation...)

the pictures above, are from a hike to a "san bushman" rock art site in the drakensberg... the san
bushman, are the indiginous peoples of southern africa... the oldest painting's in drakensberg go
back 8000 years, and people say the art above, could be 2000 years old... for me, the age is not
so improtant, but the fact that these painting's were done by a group of hunter/gatherer people,
who have not lived in this area for more than 130 years...

to imagine, these people living here, painting here, doing trance dance here... crazy... what a
different world... what a different way... the painting's are believed to have been done after a
trance dance... they would hyper ventilate, leave the body, and go into the spiritual world, and
there they could heal people, ask for rain, see the future, etc... then on later, the shamans would
paint these records on the rock, because the rock was seen as the face to the spiritual world...

ok, i could elaberate on the "bushman" culture, but im gonna leave it there... any questions, dont
be scared to ask... ok...?

my little buddy nthando, and jonathan, and jolien the ducks...!!!

i never actually knew that he had a dice in his mouth... he gets
pretty bored hanging out at his mom's work place during holidays,
so occasionally we hang out and play soccer... this was our first
quick photo shoot, he kinda loves it... (we did this a few weeks ago,
at sani lodge...)

today was a day of travelling, from 7am till 5pm arrival in cape town... first a long bus journey,
a wait, and a flight... and chilled evening, with pizza and family...

travelling always makes me think... it makes me realise the world is more than the bush...
capucino's, bookshop's, people, traffic, and im sure there is more, all exist in this other world
when i leave the country...

now i am away from the bush, or atleast the bush i know... into the another reality, called
cape town, which i also know in a different way... but the main point is, i am away from work...
away from the job that has become me, that makes me feel semi empty not to do it... ummm...
atleast thats how i feel now, but im sure i will survive without it for a while... right...???

a blurry picture of the stars... but if you look carefully, you can see the
southern cross in there... with the 2 pointers...

so a few years ago, after a months journey thru namibia, on a budget
of r50 (5euro aprox) a day between 2 people, i hitch-hiked from otavi
(400kmnorth of windhoek) to cape town... on the way i had a choice to
get a bus in windhoek, but the bus was only leaving the next day, so i kept
hiking... when the sun started to set, i realised that if i dont offer money to
drivers, i will have to sleep somewhere, but if i offer money thru my hand
gestures as trucks pass, then i could probably get a ride thru the night... so
i got a truck, that took me thru the night... he only stopped once for a few
hours, to have some fun with a woman, while i camped outside the truck...

so, let me get back to the point of this story... so as i got into the truck, the
sun was setting... we drove a bit, and as it got darker and darker, i noticed
the "southern cross" directly in front of us... and i suddenly started to think,
how since cape town is south, and we were heading south, the southern cross
was pointing directly to my home... and always will... and since mostly i am
north of cape town, the "southern cross", always points to my home... and so
now, no matter where i am, the southern cross will always by symbolic to me...
and always pointing to my roots...

so once, i showed someone where the southern cross was... and when they
looked at it, they said, "is that it...?", with disapointment... and i found it funny,
how that comment she made, actually managed to insult me... lol...

anyway... now i have sometime off from work, and need to get myself into the
mindset, that i am truelly off... and that my job is not me, or me my job... that i
am someone else besides my job... because i have worked and worked and worked,
i start to wonder, if i dont work, am i wasting time, or money... and so now, i
seperate myself from where i am and get ready for a journey... a space... an experience...
a whatever...

a few days ago, tired and questioning the capturing of images, i decided
the best way to calm my mind, would be to read the book i had found at
sani lodge... below is the first thing i read...

a beggar had been sitting by the side of the road for over thirty years. one
day a stranger walked by. "spare some change?" mumbled the beggar,
mechanically holding out his old baseball cap. "i have nothing to give you,"
said the stranger. then he asked: "whats that you are sitting on?" "nothing,"
replied the beggar. "just an old box. i have been sitting on it for as long as i
can remember." "ever looked inside?" asked the stranger. "no," said the
beggar. "what's the point? there's nothing in there." "have a look inside,"
insisted the stranger. the beggar managed to pry open the lid. with
astonishment, disbelief and elation, he saw that the box was filled with gold.

i am the stranger who has nothing to give you and who is telling you to look
inside. not inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer.
inside yourself.

this is from the "power of now" by eckhart tolle...

i took this picture about 4 weeks ago, but decided to put it now,
because of an event that happened... i always kinda liked this picture,
but never knew quite how to present it... i feel that the blocked face
is a bit disturbing, but relevant to the story that follows...

this man owns, and runs a small shop, in the village of harafalotsane
(mullomong lodge), in the eastern highlands of lesotho... i also take
people for a walk to the bottom of a hill to buy beer from this mans shop...
last time i went here, it was closed, and i was told that he was ill... later
i found out that he was robbed and shot and at the moment is in the
capital of lesotho, maseru, getting medical treatment... maseru is a 7 hour
drive from where his shop is, so it must be seriuos... he was shot, plus
rumour is that 3000maluti (or rand) was stolen...

a few weeks before this incident, a village area 45 km's away from here
was also attacked by gun men... they tried to rob one shop and failed,
and then stole a vehicle and drove to another shop, where a woman was
killed, and 250maluti (or rand) was stolen... this is small amount, 250rand
(jus over 25 dollars or euro's)...

in lesotho, crime is totally unacceptable and not as common as in south africa...
especially in the mountains... it is hard to imagine these kinds of things
happening, up in these peacefull places i visit everyday... lesotho is one of
the safest countries in the world, for sure... but someone has learnt some
tricks and found some easy targets...

i wish this man a speedy recovery...

for some bizarre reason, i am incredibly fascinated by what happens to "food aid" tins when
they are not being used for food aid... this is not my first picture on this blog, of a "food aid"
tin, being used for something else besides food...

this is a grade one class, at hatseko school, in the eastern highlands of lesotho...

an image taken on my way back from a place
in the south of lesotho called "sehlabathebe"...

for some reason i really really like this...

it makes me think about the meaning of things...

before you read below... try to figure out if this
makes you feel anything... i dont want my thoughts
below to contaminate yours...

like the fact we always need answers... like what
is it...? or where is it...? for me its jus pretty
colours... like modern art...

i took it in soweto... for me represents many things...
closeness... diversity... chaos... pretty colours...
the future...

for you it can represent what ever you want...

this boy is a sheperd in the kingdom of lesotho... he will take care of the animals for his father
or another man while he is on school holidays... he gets paid by some of the animals born...
so later in life other young boys will be sheperds for him... and so the animals are his money...

we met these soldiers on the day trip i was guiding up to lesotho on friday, 2.4.10...

i find it fascinating how we like to be photographed with guns and soldiers...

i guess its the novelty of being trusted with this gun... or the uniqueness of the moment...

today during my lunch break on top of the mountain i ended up doing some "band shots" (some humour in
there) with the sheperds... they love posing...

you will notice an instrument that looks a bit like a violin... i will try put up some
sound shot if i can... lets see...


this is an old world food program tin that has become the body of the instrument... people say these type of intruments
were inspired by rallies like the roof of africa rally in the 1970's... because old oil drums and wires from tires would be
left behind on the side of the roads...

umuzi photo workshop 27 march 2010...

on saturday the 27th of march, i joined dave, stacey and tory with one of there photo workshops with umuzi, in soweto... this is a project that gives children from the townships the oppurtunity tol earn photography and video skills, a subject they would normally not get any exposure too... this project has many benefits for the kids from the skills and knowledge point of view, but also from the aspect of them being able to show us how they see there world, instead of always being the subject of the photos...

(i have kept this short, for more details about umuzi please contact me or check out the link below...)
http://www.umuziphotoclub.blogspot.com/


on our way to the school in "soweto"... for me it
was my first time in soweto, so i was both curiuos
to see this historical place and also see what umuzi
and these kids do... i was impressed by everything
pretty much...


"david dini" the founder of the reality that is
umuzi, presenting the project for the day...
this day, since school holidays had just begun
the children were going to do a photo treasure
hunt... they were broken into groups, and then
went out onto the streets of "soweto" to photo-
graph and capture subjects on a list...


each group had a list with more than 20 topics
ranging from, "chicken" to "something that starts
with the letter z"...


one of the groups hitting the streets...


here the students are interviewing a member of the
public... there were 2 bonus interview questions on
the paper...


one of the photographers busy on the streets...


one of the topics on the list was "problems in
soweto"... the kids in my group choice this
to illustrate crime... (this is not there picture
but a picture i took, illustrating the scene...)


arriving back at the school after one hour out
shooting the competition pictures...


lunch time before presentation of a video project
and evaluation of the competition pictures... 3
students (tshepang, tapelo and joao) had come
from another school to exhibit videos they had
made with umuzi...


joao presenting his video...

unfortunatly i took no pictures of the prize
handout and judging shenanigans...

to learn more and see the videos these kids produced please click on the link below...

http://torywilliamsphotography.blogspot.com/2010/03/saturday-marked-end-of-our-workshop.html