A day in the life of Soweto

A day in the life of Soweto
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I've been doing PhotoWalks for a while now.

We choose a spot.

We walk.

We take pics.

Its a fantastic way of learning more about photography. People. Places.

The buzz around the World Cup, didn't surprise me, because I'd already seen, smelt, and felt the love on the streets, in amongst the shacks. A world apart from the suburbs.

So we walked. I chose these 4 shots, because for me they tell the story of our Soweto PhotoWalk. The colours top left, bottom right playing off each other, complementing each other ... whilst the green (top right) and blue (bottom left) are rich and saturated ... so at odds with the dusty surrounds.

Yea. A day in the life of Soweto ... four shots.

21h57 Wednesday
18, August
2010
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photowalk, soweto, four shots story
14 Comments
 
  1. lebogang nkoane

    I dig the colour on the top-left and bottom-right.

    Quick question, that camera on the top-right; it's medium format stuff yé? I hear it's not a SLR, so how long does it take to compose a shot?

  2. yizzi25

    i love this alot!

  3. Daz

    @Lebo: Shot mate ... you nailed *exactly* why I chose those two pics. Caught my eye too.
    The camera is a Yashica. Composition is through the viewfinder she is looking down at ... not disimilar to using live-view on the back of a point & shoot or DSLR with live view. I think the major diffs with these cameras, is simply that you don't have the luxury of deleting as you do in digital ... so you tend to be a little more circumspect about shooting. But Diaan probably knows more than I do, on this ... he also shoots Yashica ...

  4. Sthe Ngcobo

    Have these shots been modified....?
    Can I get the same effects from my D3000?
    I am loving this theme...!

  5. Jeff Rikhotso

    The hanging feet is dope, love the composition on the last 1.

  6. Sthe Ngcobo

    Jeff,I love the glow of the mealie cobs hanging on the line....!

  7. Bafana

    Bottom-left is best of me though the entire series is dope.

  8. Uno

    Wow Daz, this is beautiful, lovely colors and good choice of images.
    As for the camera isn't that a square 6 x 6 film camera, probably from the 60's? I have a Voigtlander at home like that, I love the viewfinder, it allows you to photograph without getting too much attention, I think it was Alf Khumalo who used to hide one of these inside a milk carton to make photographs (mostly of police brutality during apartheid) and cut a hole on the lens. Because you look at the viewfinder from above he could click inconspicuously and safely, sort of...

  9. Daz

    @Sthe: I set my Nikon D80 to shoot vivid! because I like colour. I import into Lightroom, and the camera profile (Vivid) is applied to the RAW files. I do a littel bit of post-processing in Lightroom, tweak exposure, give the image a little bit of punch, and that's it. No pixel bashing in Photoshop ... just getting the best out of the RAW file ;-) ... And yea, I reckon you should be able to get the same from your D3000. Check out how to set up Vivid in your D3000 (http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d3000/users-guide/index.htm)
    @Jeff: Thanks mate. Love that shot too ... sometimes you have to just crawl into strange places and you see different things.
    @Bafana: I had a long conversation with the guy in the pic. He was making chimney vents for shacks and what not ... had a thriving business. And his hammer 'welds' were as good as the real thing!
    @UP: Thanks mate. Appreciate it. As for the camera in the pic, you're spot on: a 6x6 Yashica (http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Yashica_Mat-124G). Yea .. I've never used one of these, and I was intrigued by the way you shot and composed images. I think you're right ... you can be a voyeur, without looking like one ... and good candid photography is all about being a voyeur!

  10. Diaan

    Heya! Great selection of shots. I think everyone's already said all I would have wanted to say. :)

    You're right, I also shoot with a Yashica. The Yashica-D (mid 60's era) specifically. It's made out of solid, heavy duty awesomeness, but does require an external light meter or Sunny-16 to get the exposures right. I have an old photo-cell light meter from the 40's that I carry with it - it still works!

    I like the idea of hiding it in a milk carton, might take some figuring out, but I think I'm going to try it. :)

    Here are some shots of my Yashica:
    http://www.dreamfoundry.co.za/archives/1537

    Here are some shots taken with it:
    http://www.dreamfoundry.co.za/archives/725
    http://www.dreamfoundry.co.za/archives/205
    http://www.dreamfoundry.co.za/archives/123
    http://www.dreamfoundry.co.za/archives/98
    http://www.dreamfoundry.co.za/archives/85

  11. seilatsatsi

    these are awesome

  12. Jeff Rikhotso

    Hey Diaan, i was on your site, i love your work mate.

  13. caprisel

    wonderful love bottom right and top left... love the vibrance love love love these

  14. Khumbelo

    awesome stuff

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