I love this building!

I love this building. Everytime I see it, it captures my attention. I love the crazy turquiose colour, and I adore the wacky windows. Its just such a quirky and wierd slab of brick and concrete. It appeals to me enormously.


Turquoise beauty.

Perhaps I'm a lunatic, and I just love turquoise, but I'm always grateful when the robot goes red, because then I get to take a few photos of this building!!!



Wacky windows.

The windows are so funky and such a wierd shape. Fantastic architecture! And its in Durban, nogal. Not too shaby.........

Good news about the Children's Hospital

Perhaps it was our good vibes and curiosity about the building, or perhaps it is just coincidence. But its good news, and thats what we should celebrate. The Department of Health have decided to renovate and restore the ruined building back into a children's hospital!

It was reported by Vivienne Attwood, of the Sunday Tribune that the go ahead had been given to revamp the building, and make it a children's hospital. She wrote about this a few months ago. I have to say I was greatly relieved to see that someone was going to do justice to that building, instead of just ripping it down and turning the land into a casino. Yes, that was one of the 'options'. A restoration of the building makes a lot more sense, seeing that it is filled with beautiful fittings and the architecture is so grand.

A few of my fellow Urbex explorers, and I invited Vivienne to join us on one of our explorations back to the hospital. Allan had contacted her after her article came out, to tell her that we'd made that one of favourite places to take photos. Vivienne was fascinated by what we had been doing, and even more intrigued by the building.

Ironically though she told us that even though she had recieved the announcement about the revamp by the Dept of Health, when she wanted to verify this with trustees of the building, they did not know what she was talking about. One of the trustees is a decendant of the founder of the building, and has maintained an interest in the building through the years. I dont know if the trustees own the building anymore, but they have an interest in its future. As such they should have the first to know about the decision made about its future! Strangely enough, they were the last to know.

Anyway, its good news that the building isnt going to be torn down, or used for ridiculous purposes.

The bad news is that our opportunities for further photography exploring are probably going to be curtailed. We've gone back a few times. The last time was a bit dicey, as we couldnt climb over the wall as before. They had fenced in everything, so our fast access to the door was gone! Amusingly, though, the gate that we thought was padlocked was open, so we just pushed that aside, and walked in. However, once we got inside the building, I was frantic with thoughts of someone locking the padlock, and trapping us in the premises. Who do we call in that situation? "Hi Dad, I'm trapped in a run down building in the Point area. Can you bring some bolt cutters to break into the lock?" Haha.... Calling the police would be even more hilarious - seeing that we are loitering, or breaking and entering property that we shouldn't be in!

We need a new spot now. If anyone knows of a derelict building needing to be seen, viewed and photographed by some crazy Urban Explorers, let me know!!!


Reflections and angles. Red and yellow.




The turquoise chair.

Fame. At last....

Role out the red carpet, here she comes! The Famous Telegraph competition participant!!

I'm famous! Ha-ha... well, moderately, anyway. It was only 2nd place. So I can't get too carried away. But its fame, and I'm excited about it!

There is a weekly photographic competition, held on Flickr, but run by The Telegraph UK. They have different themes, this last week it was 'Buildings'. I submitted my photo of the Durban skyscrapers. And I came 2nd! And the blog I wrote about the photo was mentioned too!
Kate Day, the journalist who runs the competition, had some very nice comments to make about the photo. I'm thrilled!!

The link to the Daily Telegraph page: Photo competition: buildings


Durban city skyscraper, with barbed wire.

Its so great to be recognised for having done something good, even if it is a little weekly competition. For a complete stranger to acknowledge my photo, and see something in it, is quite fantastic. Kate Day's comments about the photo and the blog are very interesting as well.

Another member of the camera club I belong to, Allan Jackson, has also had a photo or two be featured in this competition, so the Hillcrest Camera Club is doing well to gain international recognition!

Of course, now the challenge is on to the rest of you. Lets see how many other Hillcrest Camera Club members, or fellow Durbanites can get their photos featured in international competitions like the Telegraph's.

See you on the red carpet!

Walking The Streets

I was walking the streets again. On a Sunday. Should have been kneeling down in religious prayer perhaps. Not kneeling down on West Street, taking photos. But in the street walking game, I guess any day is a work day, and I was definitely working last Sunday!

Its quite exhilarating. The cement pavement under one's feet, the concrete and steel surrounding one. Look up, and all one can see is the buildings reaching for the sky, and then the sky itself. Admittedly, one can also see rubbish and litter everywhere, and the smells are not exactly 'Lavender Fresh', but its gritty and its real. Its street walking, with a twist.

OK, so I'm not plying my trade, walking the streets of Durban, in prostitute mode. I bet that was your first thought. Silly you. I was on a photo shoot, a photo walk, an outing..... whatever you to call it. I was taking photos!

I was with some fellow photographers from the Durban Flickr group. We walked through the city, from the Workshop, through to the City Hall, down to the Embankment, the Courts and then back up through to West Street. It was quite a walk. Specially when the process is about as fast as walking a dog who likes to pee on every lamppost. Its a stop and start process. We like to take photos of everything, and with five of us, we pretty much covered every interesting item visible. I mean everything. See our Flickr photostreams to prove that.

But, anyway, back to the exhilaration. I guess at heart I'd rather be living in New York or London, than Durban. Just to be able to walk the streets and take in the sights. I love tall buildings, I love concrete, I love traffic lights. I love cities. OK, I also love the sea, the mountains, the sky. But right now, I'm having a little love affair with a city.

Before I became serious about taking photos, I was afraid of Durban. Just like everyone else I know. Afraid to venture the streets, and afraid to endanger my life. Admittedly, Durban is a changed city, and doesn't resemble the city that I knew ten years ago. The danger of being mugged, or hijacked is real, and is possibly higher in town. But you have to look beyond that threat, and ask - what else is stopping me from enjoying the sights? And quite frankly, its just fear. So find a way around that fear, and conquer it. Which is what photography has taught me, in a way. I wanted to take photos of the city, but fear prevented me. But I found a way around that.

A few week's ago, on another Sunday, I got in my car and drove down to Durban city. I figured that it would be quieter than normal, and I should get some kind of a photo opportunity. I also convinced myself that I was relatively safe in my car. I was in Drive By Shooting mode, (as discussed previously) and ready to explore.

And I was grandly rewarded! This was the result of that first city shoot:

I was in love. The shot looked so 'New York' to me, I was chuffed! And this was Smith Street! I have since been down to the city to take more photos from my car, and I have taken some lovely shots. Our city can look rather pretty. OK, yes, pretty from an angle, with a little Photoshopping. But seriously, wouldn't we all look a little better with a little 'work' done on us?

The opportunity to actually WALK the streets was exciting to me. And I wasn't disappointed. While everyone else was taking photos of the people in streets, or the other sights to see, I was standing up against the buildings, taking many shots. I think I got some good photos, and I like the oblique angles. I especially like the shots where three buildings almost meet in the sky, just because of the angle I took the shot at. Very much like the photos I've seen taken on New York's skyscrapers. Except for the barbed wire at the base of the building. I think that's possibly a uniquely South African feature!

Of course, now I'm hooked. I'd love to go back down those streets and take some more photos. But reality prevails, and I won't do it alone. I can't get my car into the tiny alley ways, I have to actually stand under the buildings! So I await the next opportunity to catch a glimpse of the object of my new photographic desires - Durban and its buildings....

Photographs

These are a few of my favourite things.....

The Point Toilet is a now an infamous site. It is on the second floor of a very dodgy building. The wooden beams of the floor are full of holes, and look decidedly precarious. But once one braves the stairs, one is rewarded with an amazing site - a completely bare area, except for the toilet and it's seat.

One of the new Point apartment blocks. They are stunning in their architecture and symmetry. Just beautiful.

Last one standing.

A few of the old building facades have been kept and await restoration when they become the front of new buildings. They stand alone on the building lot, looking rather desolate and spare. But in a few year's time, they will look grand and majestic again.

These photos can be found on my photostream in Flickr.

www.flickr.com/photos/vanessacracknell

Please feel free to have a look!

The Point, Durban

Why I shoot at the Point.

Its not because I have a thing for walking the streets, and parading my wares, showing off my assets. There is no prostitution there anymore. Well, not on the streets anyway. So its not that.

I shoot at the Point because its beautiful and old. Beautiful and new. Just plain lovely. Everywhere you look there is something to see and take a photo of. A broken wall there, and sparkling new wall there.

Fabulous.

Its also safe. Can you believe it? Gone are the days of crime, muggings and poverty. Thats still there, but its been moved up a few roads to the Wheel area. But the Point area has been revitalised by the construction of lovely, spanking new - could be The Docklands, London - apartments. The cheapest ones go for R1 million or R2 million, the most expensive, well, just add a nought or two to those figures. Which means lots of rich people zooming around, needing to protect their assets. So lots of security. Two sets of security companies - the specially created Point Security, and the private company Enforce. A little bit of overkill, but who the hell cares, when at least you can take photos in some degree of safety!

I have yet to see a vagrant or hobo, although there is evidence that they once lived in the abandoned buildings. I've seen more security guards, cleaners and dusters, than I've seen hobos.

Anyway, so its safe and my mom can be happy that I'm safe. Well, relatively. I could be harmed going to Musgrave Centre - it is South Africa, after all. So lets not get silly about what is safe and what is not.

But its the beauty and the buildings that attract me. Haha - The Beauty and The Buildings. A movie title. Who could play me? - she'd need to be really beautiful to do justice to me, is all I can say. There would need to be a handsome, dashing young man for the heroine to 'play' with. Who says the movie has to reflect reality completely?

But back to the Point. It is just beautiful. Lots of nooks and crannies, places to take photos, places to just see what was once the start of Durban's city. History and the future, all rolled up together. And all waiting for me to take photos....

I've been over 25 times, including the Flicker Meetup Group outing. I dont want to do a photo count, but all I can say is that when I got back from London in January I had just reached my 10 000th photo. Yesterday, at the Point, I reached my 20 000th photo. In eight months I've taken 10 000 photos, possibly half of them are from the Point. So I've taken a photo or two...

I'll be putting up my favourites. The buildings are the focus, specially the old buidlings. But its the little things that catch my attention. The shoes - oh, gosh, the shoes! So many left behind, deserted... Why? There is even a pair of black high heeled sandals, trapped under the wooden beams. A relic from the unsavoury past of the Point. Or some poor bridesmaid lost her shoes under the rubble? The Point is now a prime spot for wedding photos. Ironic, or what? All the virginal brides, getting their photos taken in a place previously known for some rather un-virginal activity.

OK, so I will continue soon. Got to dash off, I do have a life other than Blogging, you know...