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Vanessa

Taking to the streets

Personal Relevance (2)


Smith Street, Durban, South Africa

It was a Sunday afternoon, and I was itching to take some photos. I wanted some street shots, perhaps even a city shot. Once again, though, I was held back by something – the South African paranoia about safety, and my belief that I couldn’t go out and take photos by myself. After much debate with myself, I picked up my keys and my camera, and I got in the car.

I’m just going to drive around Glenwood and then go home, I said to myself. Making deals, negotiating with myself, the usual attempt to get over the fear I was feeling. After a few minutes of shooting boring Glenwood, I headed down to town. Its Sunday afternoon, it has to be quiet enough for Durban not to be filled with hijackers, is what I was thinking.

I started with the buildings, shooting while I was driving, or when I was stopped at a traffic light. Then I started shooting the streets.

I spent six weeks in New York in 2001, walking that city silly, almost breaking my neck looking at the tall buildings. I envied the ease that New York city has for looking stylish and flashy, and oh so cosmopolitan. The streets and buildings always looked so statuesque, and all the photography books I’ve looked at capture this perfectly. With a sigh, I wished I could go back and see that city again!

This is what inspired me when I stared down Durban’s Smith Street that Sunday afternoon. The traffic light turned red, I was stationery at the pedestrian crossing. Quick, get the camera and take the shot, I said to myself. Its New York, in Durban! The slope of the street reminded me of the long avenues in New York. The buildings in Smith Street, although only a few stories high, were framing the street exactly like the images in my mind of New York. On processing the photo on Photoshop, I used a moody charcoal tint, and added in a gradient for the sky. I had my Durban version of a New York street.

But I also had my inspiration for getting photos in town, despite the danger. This was particularly relevant, because it was a turning point for me for taking photos in town. I have been back many times and captured the same street images again and again. Its fantastic. Liberating, scary, thrilling. Enough to get me out taking photos on my own.

Personal Relevance (1)

Personal Relevance

I was recently asked about my favourite photos,- why I took them, and what is the personal relevance of the photo. Why did it capture my attention? In short, whats the story behind the shot.

Let me tell you, photo by photo1. Addington Children's Hospital

This is by far my most personally relevant photo of all my photos so far. It was taken at the Addington Childrens Hospital - the abandoned hospital that everyone has forgotten. There is a treasure trove of things to see, from abandoned baby's hair brushes, to decaying old architecture. I was wandering around the different hospital rooms, looking at the dreadful state the place is in, when I walked into this little room. It was tough going looking at the hospital, where evidence of a busy and purposeful place, left to ruins, was getting to me and making me emotional. I was also slightly on edge because we were trespassing, and I was expecting to be caught at any moment.

That's when I walked into this room. I saw the peeling paint, the dirty floor and was about to turn around and walk out, when I spotted the graffiti on the wall. Firstly, it was the only graffiti in the whole building, which is rare. Most abandoned places are preyed upon by graffiti artists, but surprisingly this was the only writing or art on the walls.

I stopped, and read what was written. I was breathless by the profound simplicity and meaning of the statement, taking a while to understand what it said. "Beauty visible through the eyes of derelict mind." W O W !

That is exactly what I believe I do as a photographer. I look at things with a broad and open mind - perhaps what they meant by a "derelict" mind - and through my vision, I see beauty. And then I capture it as a photograph.

How amazingly profound is that? It resonates with me so much.

Photography to me was originally just going to be a hobby, possibly to be discarded along with all the others. But it has stuck around and I’ve remained interested and keen, and over the last year, I believe I’ve improved a fair amount. But what I’ve noticed is that I see things differently now. The same buildings, the same roads, the same people in the streets, all suddenly have a different attraction to me, and are appealing and interesting. I see something in the visions before me, and using my camera, I try to capture some of that emotion or feeling that I’m experiencing. Its an amazing thing to do. Its like making something out of nothing, or taking the ordinary and making it extra ordinary. Just by seeing it differently.

The writing on the wall was ironically then, the writing on the wall for me. It not only crystallized and defined what I like to do with my photography, but it also provided me with a chance to create the kind of photographic image that I like. The peeling paint, contrasted with the stark black writing, balanced out by the high window. That’s a perfect photo for me. And shows a very relevant and emotional message, almost like the whole image was created just for me.