Category: Photography

Jo’burg Photowalk: CBD and surrounds

Jo’burg city is like an aging movie star who dropped out of the public eye decades ago and has now emerged from her reclusion, reinvented. Her waist may have thickened and the skin around the eyes more deeply etched, but her magic still shimmers in the right light, charm at-ready, her presence grand.

Gandhi Square High Jinks
Obviously.
Kerk Street Mosque
Kerk Street Mosque
Posers
Street styling.

This guy has seen it all.
These boots were waiting for someone.
Windows, Braamfontein
Almanac Specialists.
Street Braids
The 30mm I-Can’t-Even Selfie

Camera Collectanea 06.02.14 – 03.04.14

In this collation, the overarching theme is, unsurprisingly, things one would input via the mouth.

IMG_0253
Yumna and Zahir’s Wedding High Tea curation by niQi
IMG_0107
Yumna and Zahir’s Wedding High Tea curation by niQi
IMG_0081
Turkish coffee at Burhaan’s in  Mayfair, Johannesburg.
IMG_9995
Ask Nanima: Surviving book Launch and Purple Heart ChariTea. Cupcake by Mariam Fakir
IMG_0387
A spare pear.
IMG_0413
A spare pear.

These fairly regular photo grouping exercises are so useful for identifying overworked themes and angles in my work. I really must get out of this habit of isolating all my subjects.

2013 | The Retrospective

IMG_4308
New Years Eve, Central Park, New York, 2012
  1. Wrote and edited 40 poems for my Masters thesis.
  2. Participated in the PnP Freshly Blogged Challenge; improvising my way through ingredients and techniques that were new to me.
  3. Turned 30.
  4. Took a great deal of photographs.
  5. Didn’t blog as much as I wanted to.
  6. Had too many unproductive days.
  7. Didn’t call my mum and granny as often as I should have.
  8. Learnt how to float on my back.
  9. Made tubs of ice cream.
  10. Ate tubs of ice cream.
  11. Gave away my fat clothes.
  12. Started running on a treadmill.
  13. Lost a few kilograms.
  14. Dyed my hair red.
  15. Read really good poetry.
  16. Started taking my health seriously.
  17. Developed some sense as to where I want to be as a writer.
  18. Said, “No.”
  19. Fumbled with faith.
  20. Read more than wrote.
  21. Watched a sick amount of tv.

New York (pre-Sandy)

My thoughts on this city of cities lay latent on the pages of my notebook. Until I submit my MA portfolio (which I meant to complete before we left SA but for my crazy paving intentions) there is no space for any other writing.  My deadline is next Monday and I’m hoping I’ll be smashed in the head with some fecund profundities from then on.

I do have pictures though.

Istanbul in 6 Hours

This post was written in October of 2012. Visa processes may have changed since then.

 

I’m posting this seven days after the fact. More on our time in New York to follow.

If you’re flying Turkish Airlines with a transfer in Istanbul on the same carrier and have more than ten hours of in-transit time ahead of you, you’re eligible for a free city tour. Our exploration of this iconic settlement straddling Europe and Asia began with a two hour appraisal of  its airport as we shuffled from information desk to information desk to queue to security check. Jet lag must have garbled the gutterals of our South African accents to unintelligible levels, as ground staff dismissed our queries as the pipe dreams of the travel-weary.  We traversed over stock granite tiles in Arrivals to dark-grey wood laminate that updated the ambiance in Duty-Free, bowed over by our backpacks and the lament; Oh Istanbul, is this it? Eventually, one savvy desk clerk saved her city for us.

This is what you do to get onto a free tour of Istanbul (provided you are more than ten hours in transit and are flying Turkish Airlines for both nodes of your journey):

  • South Africans proceed to Passport Control 2. A free visa will be entered into your passport and you’re good to go.
  • Follow the exit signs and make your way towards the Hotel Desk (located across Starbucks). Show them your boarding pass and they’ll put you on a time-appropriate tour. There are baggage lockers right next to the Hotel Desk, it cost us 30 Turkish Lira to check two backpacks.
The tour includes a light breakfast and lunch and covers the Blue Mosque, Hippodrome and surrounds, Hagia Sophia and the Spice Bazaar. It’s a quick scratch over the city and you get a bit of free time in each area to soak up some vibe.