Of all the traits which I think are vital to being a documentary photographer, I think an unhealthy curiosity or, simply put, sheer nosiness, is core critical and fundamental. Shyness isn’t necessarily desirable either. And you can only do fly-on-the wall for so long. In the end you simply have to poke your nose in.

I had been driving past it for the last couple of weeks.

There, on my right or left, depending on which way I went around the square, was a dusty marquee sitting by itself on a dusty square of dirt in the middle of town. Its faded blue and white stripes told of years of use and a degree of neglect. What on earth, I asked myself, was a marquee doing in the middle of Smitville?

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Views, Wilderness

Kia ora tatou:

1. As many of you who are Facebook friends will know, I came to South Africa this time to get married to Heather and the ceremony took place in the labyrinth where we met last year. If you are interested, you can see some photographs here.  I know that some of you want to know, so the answer to your question is: She is South African, an actuary by trade and experience, has been an investment portfolio manager and currently is involved in health economics and policy, working on South Africa’s attempt to introduce a National Health scheme. She is also a qualified Ayurvedic medicine practitioner and has considerable training in homoeopathy and a love of Chinese Medicine.  Her website is here.  Heather and I will be travelling back to Hanmer at the end of the month. She has yet to experience a New Zealand winter, let alone one in the mountains…We will be essentially vagrant (or  vagrantly essential) for the next week, so if any of you email me, please don’t be offended if a response takes a few days to come.  It will be an as and when possible situation.

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Turn to Jesus, Willowmore

Well she walked up to my quarterlight
and she bent down real slow…
She said “Son, what are you doing here?
On your journey ‘cross the wilderness
from the desert to the well
you have strayed upon the motorway to Hell

Chris Rea- The Road to Hell Part 1

Ah, mon cher, for anyone who is alone, without God and without a master, the weight of days is dreadful.

Albert Camus

It seems to me that towns fall into one of three categories.

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Cell Block, Robben Island

It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else’s freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.

-Nelson Mandela  (Long Walk to Freedom)

We all need heroes. And I have three.

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African Gospel Church, Langa

Crone: Two things, my lord, must thee know of the Wisewoman. First, she is … a woman! …and second, she is …
Edmund: Wise?
Crone: You do know her then?
Edmund: No, just a wild stab in the dark which is incidentally what you’ll be getting if you don’t start being a bit more helpful. Do you know where she lives?
Crone: Of course.

-Blackadder

In ancient lore it is said the Goddess has 3 faces. The first is that of the Mother, who nurtures and protects, who lovingly raises her children and cares for them. The second face is that of the Maiden, the lover, the partner and companion. And the third face is that of the Crone, the hag, the wise woman who shows things as they are, who is beyond Illusion, who knows who she is and offers the plain, unvarnished truth.

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Sony HX5V

It always happens.

You set off somewhere, on a strict timeline, having carefully calculated the time required to be there at your appointment, a time which allows you do some final checking before you leave and maximise your productivity before leaving.

This method is also known as Setting Off at The Last Minute.

Because you know it is going to be a fast trip, with no opportunity to stop along the way, you pack all your expensive camera equipment and put in the boot of your vehicle. After all, there will be no time to stop. Will there? And you leave.

And it happens.

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