Tag: imaginary

It’s spooky out there ….

…. with millions of (invisable) eyes watching you and natural creatures so weird on your way through the ancient Platbos Forest…..

(Imaginary)

platboseyes

It's spooky out there ….

…. with millions of (invisable) eyes watching you and natural creatures so weird on your way through the ancient Platbos Forest…..

(Imaginary)

platboseyes

Graphics in Black & White and in F/C

I’m not a graphic designer neither do I have the ambition to become one. But I love graphics for it can add a dimension to a picture.

 

The first image (imaginary) is that of the small ‘location’ (also named ‘township’) “Die KOP” just outside our village. South Africa is a Black & White country with some grey areas in between. Die KOP consists of approximately 40 to 50 shacks and five different families live there peacefully together in good harmony. There is no decent sanitation within this location and water has to be collected a 100+ meters away at the pre-primary school (fully privately funded and exploited by NGO Food for Thought in co-junction with parents of the community). People live of occasional jobs and seasonable work and are happy with what they have although there is ambition to make more out of it.

The second imaginary is that of a self-portrait or self-reflection. There are always more sides to a story and the same applies for humans (who tell the stories). I’m not an exception and looking into the mirror every now and than is not a bad habit. And I like colors and nature. Graphics (in this case manipulated natural objects/photographs) in the background can emphasize the idea behind it. I must admit (again) that I’m not that good in it but at least trying hard….

Graphics in Black & White and in F/C

I’m not a graphic designer neither do I have the ambition to become one. But I love graphics for it can add a dimension to a picture.

 

The first image (imaginary) is that of the small ‘location’ (also named ‘township’) “Die KOP” just outside our village. South Africa is a Black & White country with some grey areas in between. Die KOP consists of approximately 40 to 50 shacks and five different families live there peacefully together in good harmony. There is no decent sanitation within this location and water has to be collected a 100+ meters away at the pre-primary school (fully privately funded and exploited by NGO Food for Thought in co-junction with parents of the community). People live of occasional jobs and seasonable work and are happy with what they have although there is ambition to make more out of it.

The second imaginary is that of a self-portrait or self-reflection. There are always more sides to a story and the same applies for humans (who tell the stories). I’m not an exception and looking into the mirror every now and than is not a bad habit. And I like colors and nature. Graphics (in this case manipulated natural objects/photographs) in the background can emphasize the idea behind it. I must admit (again) that I’m not that good in it but at least trying hard….

The stand-in BEE farmer in South Africa

The last few weeks  a large part of the Western Cape in South Africa experienced disruptions caused by striking farmworkers. In fact the farmworkers themselves did not disrupt but the ‘hired’ professional strikers of the trade union according to (internal) police reports. But the general grievances of poor pay (10 US-Dollar per day) and poor housing conditions for many of the workers are real although there are also farmers who do better (pay better, proper sanitation etc.). It’s easy to solely blame farmers for the situation. It’s all far more complicated and dirty politics played by ruling party and opposition parties (The ruling party ANC is setting the rules and the minimum wages….., etc.).

Since 1994 South Africa has merely failed to put changes on the right track despite the enormous potential present (we still believe in it…). Empowering farmworkers in this province (Western Cape) does not really come from the ground and independent empowered black  farmers in this province …… still have to find one ..

All this inspired me to compose these two pictures representing Black Economical Empowerment (BEE) farmers. Apologies for the fact I had to use an Alessi bottle-cap as stand-in.

Some elements

For decoration of pictures I started  a library with ‘elements’ and one with ‘mainframes’. Some of these elements and mainframes are in this composition and regular readers of this blog might recognize quite a few of them. Others still have to find a way into an imaginary. Virtually all are from our village (Stanford, South Africa) and a few are sourced from our road trips. Two or three of the elements are shot with a Sony Snapshooter (Cybershot 7.2) but for the rest all with the camera-equipment as listed in the page ‘My Gear’.

African Renaissance

All pictures in this blog are ‘imaginary’ and this one is no exception; it’s my own interpretation of ‘African Renaissance‘. I’ve kept it to our own environment here in Stanford, South Africa. Though on first sight ‘dull’; come to live the life here to discover a wonderful and inspirational village somewhere in nowhere between Hermanus and Gansbaai in the Western Cape. The mainframe picture I’ve used before. It’s the original entrance of the Sir Robert Stanford Estate along the R43 that connects us with both mentioned towns. I changed the surface of the road into more authentic gravel from the nearby Papiesvlei Road. The sculptures are ‘borrowed’ from Fraai Uitzicht 1798 in Robertson and the rest (birds -Stanford = ‘bird capital’ in South Africa-, flowers, etc.) all from our own garden.