Random Thoughts

I listened to an interview this morning. I sat in the car for a few minutes and again, that horrible feeling you get when you ask all the WWWH questions and get no answers swept over me. The lady on the radio was the acting principle of Beaconvale High and she was telling how she had to council students after two of their classmates were shot in apparent gang related shootings. The one, a young man who had dreams of becoming an architect, was shot and killed the day before he was to get his results. He had passed his matric and was going to chase his dream. WHY did this happen WHO did it HOW could we allow this. WHEN will it stop. I wrote a little piece last year using the beaches around our city as an illustration of the inequality around our city. Two days ago a mother who we give a lift to told us how her son did not want to go to school due to the trauma he’s experiencing as result of having to fight for a seat in an overcrowded class room at the school he attends in ...

“Silence in the face of injustice is injustice in action” I remember years ago as a novice freelancer going to an anti Zuma march in Cape Town. I remember been cautioned to “be careful” and “do you think it’s safe”. Protest have a way of unravelling and becoming violent when people’s emotions get out of hand. However, I was determined to get pictures and be “part of the action”. There I was. One of many media persons and hundreds of protestors. My mission was accomplished. So in the grand scheme of things the protest march to highlight the need for free sanitary products for women was probably never going to attract huge media attention. It was mentioned on a news bulletin earlier the morning. The organisers, Team Free Sanitary Pads NPC had apparently received some thirty thousand signatures in support and the protest was to culminate in memorandums been handed over to parliamentary representatives in Cape Town and Pretoria. There were two media house photographers, a TV crew and me. I...

There are people in the world that do amazing things for others. There are people in this COUNTRY that do amazing things, for others. There are people in this CITY that do amazing things, for others. People that shy away from cameras, lights and action. People that silently go about changing lives in ways often not seen by the media.  A couple months ago I reconnected with an old school friend. An amazing woman by the name of Marchelle Hendricks. Marchelle has the incredible gift of connecting people. People who are change makers in their own right. After a number of phone conversations she decided to me to a man by the name Greg Havenga. The branches of this tree has sprouted in so many directions in a very short space of time, so much so that I have had so many perspective changing moments that go beyond my feeble understanding. For example. Saturday past Greg, his daughter Ilsa, a friend Ricardo and I went to a place hidden away in the heart of Westridge, Mitchells Plane. A ...

  I visited two sports fields in the last week. The “visits” were to capture moments at two very contrasting events. The one was to take pictures of an initiative to uplift a fledgling soccer team in Blikkiesdorp, while the other was to capture the moments at the award ceremony of the Hanover Park Cricket club. Marchelle Hendricks invited me to meet Coach Errol and Mendoza, the captain of Bliikkiesdorp United. Mandoza is twenty years old and in Grade twelve. He came straight from a winter school class to meet with us. They were brought to the Cape Town Spurs field to meet Liam and club owner Alexi Efstathiou. The soon to be launched initiative is called “Boots For Blikkies”. The management and team of CTS have taken Blikkies United under their wings so to say and drive an initiative to supply BU with kit for the upcoming season. It is one of those “watch this space” events waiting in the wings. Amidst all of that I had the opportunity to chat to Alexi Efstathiou. A humble man wit...

  I started freelancing in twenty fourteen after been retrenched from a somewhat cushy job as a client liaison manager at a printing company. I have always been involved in photography in some way or other and decided to take the plunge and make it a business. I spent a lot of money on state of the art equipment and went about branding myself as a freelancer for hire. Here is what I have learned over the years. Get Up. Dress Up. Show Up. This is often the hardest thing to do and it often takes an act of will, a deliberate decision that has to be made. You need to remember that unless you make the effort nothing is going happen. The adage, “You get back what you put in” is very true. For me it was the whole “shower, shave and get dressed as if I was going to work” routine, even if the “office” was in the room next door. I still do it. That is exactly what you are doing. Going to work. Family Support:....... Is vital. My wife has a day job and for a long time we battled. My f...

Clarkes Estate is bordered by Owen Road to the north, 35 th Avenue to the east and the non-operational railway that goes to Bellville and the city “round the back”. It is directly beneath the flight path of planes landing at Cape Town International Airport when the south Easter blows. It also has the reputation of been one of the most dangerous little suburbs in the Elsies River area. It too is afflicted by poverty, unemployment, drug addiction and violent crime. I went early. Purposefully. The morning sunlight was going to give good light. The residents had not quite awakened yet and I was going to meet up with a City of Cape Town solid waste cleaning crew. Why. Well the whole thing about illegal dumping has been a curiosity for me. No matter where you drive through predominantly impoverished areas you will encounter dirt and refuse that has been dumped on open fields or on the side of the road. Main roads through Elsies River, the strand road through Eerste River, an area like Dunoo...

  Unbeknown to me I was standing on the spot where Dumisani Joxo died. The spot where he fell after been shot by a twenty two old cop. Even as we were led down the path next to the railway line and over the river the overarching question was how did this all happen here and why did it all happen so fast. To get to the site one has to cross the river bridge and walk down a pathway and along the railway line. The spot is halfway down the lane that is a dead end. The nearest flats overlooking the lane is about twenty to thirty meters away. There are gaps in the metal palisade fence that one can walk through to either cross the railway tracks or get out of the alley. We were told by a Clicks employee that the little community has been there for a long time and that Dumisani and the little group was very well known in the area. He described them as a peaceful and quite group that never caused any disturbance and Dumisani was known for keeping the peace in the area and worked as a car ...