Continuing my time spent in South Africa, we took a little time to get out of the city into the countryside. One of the great things I love about SA is the fact that you can drive for 1 hour and be relatively isolated, no car horns honking, not a person in sight, just lots of blue skies, puffy white clouds and fresh air. Oh and depending where you go, lots of wild animals to be found in game parks.
Huang Shan- Yellow Mountain Pt 2
For those of you who have never been to Yellow Mountain, here are a few tips. The cable car does not go all the way to the top no matter what your friends tell you so there will be plenty of hiking. This could cause severe shortness of breath and mocking by friends. It could also cause severe hunger in which case you are advised to eat the mocking friends if they do not throw candy bars at you. Also, the walls in the hotel are paper thin so take ear plugs if you want any sleep. The hike down is just as bad as going up. Don't let the fact that there are groups of 14 year old school girls passing you and giggling make you think any different. What was even more amazing to me were the men walking up the mountain while balancing about 80kgs on bamboo poles over their shoulders. This is the only way that everything gets transported 10km up the mountain. And when I say everything, I mean everything, from roof tiles to whole metal framed sliding doors with the glass inside to all the food and beverages that you have in the hotels.
As far as photography goes, I found it difficult to hold the camera up to my eye while constantly feeling the urge to vomit but I did manage to get a few good shots.
Lessoned learned from this trip... get fitter.
Huang Shan- Yellow Mountain Pt 1
Spent a night in Huang Shan city before heading up the actual mountain. The city wasn't really anything special to be honest, well not that we could find but the people are amazing friendly compared to Shanghai. I will split this post into 2 parts, the second post will be about the actual mountain.
South African Street Portrait
Aaaarrrghh, Ok so take two of my blog post because the little internet decided to delete my last post as I was finishing it.
Ok so lets start again. It's been a while since my last post. Life has been crazy busy with shooting and general life stuff. I also spent 3 weeks in South Africa on holiday and managed to organise a couple of shoots while I was there. I think most of my holiday snaps I will post on Instagram so look out for them.
I was cruising around Johannesburg looking for old 35mm cameras in old junk shops when I noticed this guy just hanging around outside one of them. I was immediately interested by his face and knew that I had to shoot his portrait. After talking for a while he agreed and we just carried on talking about life in general while I snapped away. Turns out he regularly goes to the local gym to lift weights with his daughter and on the day I saw him, he was just killing time waiting for her. Really nice guy and I was happy to have met him.
The black and white shots were down when I found myself on a construction site. I would have loved to spend a bit more time there shooting close up portraits of the workers but I wasn't able to that day, maybe next time.
Anyway, everyone meet Vic.
Taiwan in Black & White
Taiwan In Color
Taiwan is a great place for so many reasons but the friendly and polite people definitely has to come at the top of my list, followed closely by the food, great passion for coffee and the shopping was right up there too. The night markets are great and the vibe is awesome. Besides Taipei I was in Hualien and Taroko Gorge. I definitely recommend taking a guide to the gorge as the history is fascinating and something I really didn't expect.
All in all I can't wait to go back, the only bummer for me is that I have to go to Hong Kong every time to ally for my visa but hey, there are worse places than the great Hong Kong to spend your time shooting street photography and eating Cantonese style Chinese food.
Korea In Colour
This is the first of a two part post. I have decided to split it because after working my photos it seemed to me that some just worked better in colour and other shots really spoke more to me in black and white.
I spent a few days in Seoul Korea last week. It was literally a breath of fresh air after being in Shanghai for 6 months. The first thing that struck me was the blue sky and how fresh the air felt. I had almost forgotten that feeling. The next thing is how stylish the people are. Men and women old and young, they all seen to spend a great amount of time and effort on their appearances. This is a stark contrast to most people in Shanghai where high fashion and grooming don't seem to be as important. The market in South Korea for personal body care products in huge and can be easily seen when walking in the streets. Lightning fast free internet everywhere is another thing I am not used to and it is awesome.
There seems to be a huge American presence there not only in the number of American people everywhere but also dress style and attitude. I am assuming this is because of the close military co-operation between the two countries.
Where ever I go food is always a big priority for me and Korea did not disappoint. The food was was fresh and tasty but nearly everything is spicy so take note. Sadly I did not experience the famous Korean fried chicken, the closest I got was eating at a Popeyes fried chicken at the airport on my way out.
Special mention to Kim the soldier. Your friendliness and helpfulness was as fresh as your blue skies and clean air I had almost forgotten about. You are a great image for your country.