Phuthu Stay Phut, Don't go!

I went to Pinetown Boys High School (yes I’m admitting that in public!) We had an insanely extroverted, fun and definitely certifiable art teacher, a Miss Johnson. At our school we had an ancient disused darkroom which she helped me to get permission to use. The equipment was old, the paper and chemicals even older but I eventually figured out how to do my own black and white printing. Watching the image slowly appearing on the paper in the bowl of chemical developer was really exciting!

In my matric year, one of our projects was to paint/draw/photograph life in Durban city center. So one day, a friend and I caught the bus into town on a mini artist’s adventure. Armed with my new camera bag my mom had just bought me and my old Pentax Spotmatic I was ready! We spent the day wandering around town and it turned out to be one of my most productive days out. Below are some of the images I got that day.

This picture remains one of my favourites to this day although no-one else seems to like it. I love the composition, how it’s divided into thirds, the different textures and the point of interest in the fisherman.

This one is also one of my favourites. In those day’s no-one seemed to mind the taking of photographs in the harbour. I don’t know if it was allowed or not but I snapped away merrily anyway….I love the depth of field and the bold outlines of the 2 guys.

This one was taken in the centre of town of  part of the old station which has been restored and I think is now part of the Tourist Information Centre.

It was days out like this which really motivated me to take more pictures, as a rule, if I got one image out of a roll of film that I thought was really good, I had had a successful day.

It was the definition of a “really good image” that was to become a stumbling block later on. What was a good image? I still cant really answer that question.

More about that next week……..

I got our Dusi 2010 photos in the post the other day and I couldn’t help but notice the difference in our facial expressions on one section. The pics were at Ngumeni Portage, after a long uphill and then a loooong downhill….

Here’s me:

Cool, happy, chilled….and I might even go as far as saying…fresh.

And here’s Superjerm…

…at his sexiest…

Okay but he did have the back of the boat which is a lot heavier than the front. But still.

I’m in a mood for a happy post today – brings back memories of the song Shiny, Happy People by REM – Give’t a listen:

Aaaanyway, back to the happy post. Louise and Kerry have been away for a bit and I’m about to leave the comfort of my home to embark on a family trip over Easter. What is the best thing about being a jetsetter? Getting back home. There is nothing quite like it, is there?

Kerry
What I miss the most when I go away are my puppies. So the best thing about coming home is seeing them again. As we drive around the corner and come up to our house we can already see the dogs waiting for us, tails wagging, the best welcome home you can ever receive. As we open the gates, it’s pandemonium for at least half an hour with lots of loves and greetings and conversations…. yes, our dogs talk. Once everything has settled down to a slow panic, we sit back and relax, the dogs passed out by our feet and everything is good again. The second best thing about coming home is being able to sleep in our own bed, absolute heaven when you climb between the cool crisp sheets and put you head down on your favourite pillow. I think a lot of people dread leaving their holiday destination to return home to face the responsibilities of life, but the truth is, Neil and I love it, although we have enjoyed our time away, there is no place like home.

Elzet
Loving home the way I do, I’m almost sad to leave – this does fortunately depend on the destination. If I’m about to go to Rustenburg, I dig my heels in quite deep and pout a pout that will leave ol’ Ange (Jolie) pant for more. But if we’re talking Tuscany or Turkey, home is the last thing on my mind. Getting back is always good, though. As we get close to home, I get filled with a loving mushiness so intense it even overwhelms my man. All the green on our way home (KZN) just enhances the anticipation of seeing my beloved home once again. Nothing beats walking through that front door. My stuff, my own bed and pillows and throwing things about my way. It fits like a glove. My home is sweet, indeed.

Louise
I love coming home to grocery packers, petrol attendants, cleaners, gardeners and most of all – good weather. Travelling overseas always makes me realise how lucky we are to live in SA. They say you shouldn’t “convert” the prices when you’re overseas but I can’t help it. SA is so cheap for so many things and it’s always great to get back and whip out the Rands and know that you’re getting value for money. Besides that, I love SA for its strict smoking laws! Having recently been to Austria, we discovered that every pub, restaurant or public place for that matter, is a free for all and we subsequently got smoked out everywhere we went…aaaaarggh! I just love my home and to be honest I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather live than right here in sunny South Africa.

A happy post, yes? What do you miss most when you’re away from home?

The Cape Town Carnival Weekend has started with a bang, with a One-Of-A-Kind Star-Studded Fashion Show bringing together the top South African Designers and Celebrity Models

On Saturday evening the much anticipated carnival is due to start in Greenmarket Square at 6:00pm with a pulsating concert starring popular performers such as Loyiso, Emo Adams, Locnville. This will be followed by the dazzling carnival parade at 8:00pm in Long Street. More than 2000 costumed singers, dancers and musicians are to fill the streets, performing in unison, with sound relays and large screen viewings.

The crowning glory will be a giant float, measuring 12 X 4 X 3.5 m wide.  Created and implemented by the acclaimed urban artist, Mak1One and a team of illustrators and designers.

Once the parade draws to an end, have no fear as the party will continue until the wee hours of the morning, so bring your Red Bull!

Dammit I wish I was going! Please can I hide in your suitcase Louise………..Jeremy…………….Trevor……………..anyone?

So, the boss lady said I could have my own weekly contributors slot on Phuthu.co.za, finally she has realized my worth as a writer!

So I think it will be about my other love (or hate, I’m not quite sure), photography. The thing about photography, it’s a moment in time frozen forever, sounds cheesy I know but think about it, that moment can never ever be repeated, that image can never be re-created!

I’ve had an interest in taking pictures ever since I can remember. When I was sixteen, me mum bought me a second hand Pentax Spotmatic which was older than I was! It was a fully manual 35mm film camera that I thought it worked really well! I collected a few second hand lenses and delighted in trying to get the lens as long and as professional looking as possible by adding, 2x converters, lens filters and lens hoods. I figured that the longer my lens was, the better a photographer I would be. They now tell me that size doesn’t matter so that’s a relief……

Having a fully manual film camera really taught me the fundamentals of photography, from aperture to film speed etc. I had a little book (I still have it today) written by John Hedgeco on holiday photography that I must have read 20 times. The mystery of film was that you would never know how your shots would turn out, it was quite an anxious wait at the 1hour photo lab to see if any of your images turned out! (actually I think 1 hour labs came later, it probably took 3 days back then!)

Below is one of my first black and white images, I was a particularly proud  sixteen year old back then, I thought it was a masterpiece! There was no doubt I would become a famous photographer! If you look carefully can you see me sitting on the lounge floor with my camera on a tripod and my faithful Labrador ‘bracken” sitting with me.

The school years ….To be continued next week…………..

We descended on Cape Town this weekend, along with 40 000 other Argus competitors and their families. We hired a car which was terribly non-descript, so much so that we lost it whenever we parked it anywhere hahaha. Tip: Don’t choose non-descript car.

We stayed at the Garden Court in Woodstock, thanks to Dutton Plastics. And it was here at the Garden Court that I discovered 7 things:

1. I love buffets
2. but only when I’m real hungry…which is all the time.
3. Green jelly tastes much better when you take it from a buffet. With a tablespoon of cream.
4. You need to put your bread through the toaster conveyer twice to get a good Maillard reaction.
5. Tea with 1 Cremora sachet and 2 mini-long-life-hotel-milks deliver a darn good cup of tea.
6. Eat baked beans in moderation.
7. There are a lot of French people in Cape Town. They didn’t mind the croissants either. I thought they would have been fussy about that but I saw them piling them up for breakfast. Swear.

I really didn’t spend that much time at the buffet.

On Saturday we drove our little non-descript around the peninsula and stopped at the Salty Sea Dog in Simonstown for battered hake. My little soul was dancing in her tap shoes.

We also stopped off at Cape Point which was like Durban beachfront on New Years Day. Packed! But it was a good walk and we succumbed to the role of tourist by taking pics of everything really.

At 6.15am on Sunday Morning, hair blowing very sexily in 40km/hour wind, we stood on the bridge just below the hotel and tried to get a glimpse of Lance Armstrong.

Whhoooooosh. And they were gone. All I know is that he is somewhere in this bunch. Who wants to play Where’s Wally?

My man started at 9.00am whilst I tried to navigate little non-descript to the Waterfront 4km away. I had a GPS and still got lost. I had the women’s voice going:

Enter roundabout and take first exit

Recalculating

Turn left

Recalculating

Recalculating

The recalculating representing all the times I was ignoring the directions. It was definitely a liberating experience. Who needs a GPS anyway? Pfff.

Shopping was so not on my to-to list so I listened to the musicians and enjoyed the sunshine.  Aaah they impressed me, they just keep singing for hours and then I couldn’t resist anymore and bought one of their CD’s.

My man loved the ride, he checked out the scenery and chatted to people and didn’t even make mention of the gusty wind. What a trooper!

Well done to Juan and all the Dutton riders!