I went to camera club tonight, and I’m so very pleased with the results (and myself) that I have to blog about it before I go to bed (much to Lance’s disgust ).

Tonight was my first night in the 3 star category – the first of the senior categories according to the PSSA.  That means that I now have to submit photos according to different categorisations and the judging gets more strict – there’s a lot more emphasis on impact of the photo as well as the normal exposure and composition etc.  I took quite a big gamble with my photos this month too, all were Black and White and I’ve never submitted B&W images and I was very worried that the levels weren’t perfect and that I didn’t get the proper range of greys.

Anyhoo, then just to make my life more interesting, I also decided to submit a photo in the set subject section, just to see how it would do.  The subject for the night was “Obsolete”.  Now, I rarely submit photos for set subject, partly because I tend to do quite badly with them.  But tonight I thought I’d be daring and try a photo that was a bit of a risk.

I have shown you this photo before, but I treated it slightly differently when I posted it as part of my Soweto series.  It’s of the inside of the old car that we found in the Diepsloot hostel.

I actually WON the set subject image of the night!!

Then came the advancement photos… and OMW I’m stoked!!

Submitted under Photojournalism – Bicycle man in market – GOLD!! They liked the image and the story it told and the B&W was perfect for the image, but said that I must be careful of the bicycle being so close to the edge of the photo.

Submitted under Portraiture – Precious Moment – UNANIMOUS GOLD!! They loved it.  They loved that it was the dad in the photo, and not the mom.  They loved the angles and the emotions in the photo.

Submitted under Pictorial – All Out of Love – UNANIMOUS GOLD and SENIOR IMAGE OF THE NIGHT!! WOW! I have NEVER got image of the night before, and this was my first month in the senior categories!  When they announced Image of the Night, they asked me whether it was a wedding and what the circumstances were because they were arguing about whether it was posed or not.  LOL! They loved the humour in it.  Her expression was perfect for the background. The setup was perfect.  The B&W was a perfect choice etc etc.

Cool hey? I’m very pleased with myself right now!

I can’t resist showing you more Soweto photos… this time, they’re photos of the people in the market at Freedom Square in Kliptown.

This lady had a veggie stall, and I bought the yummiest tomatoes from her.  She sold the normal veggie variety but then also sold dried mopane worms, dried crushed leaves that she called goosh (apparently you eat it crushed like that), tobacco and crushed peanuts.

These guys were funny… as soon as they saw the camera they started posing

I couldn’t decide whether this guys bike was more interesting with the broken number plate and plastic basket on the front, or whether it was his lovely face with his hat that I liked more!  He was fixing his bicycle horn with some glue when we walked past, and I just had to stop to take some photos of him.

Freedom Square was the last place we stopped on Friday morning in Soweto.  We spent quite a long time here because of a disasterous breakfast at the Soweto Hotel (on the square), and by the time we finished taking photos it was raining so we decided to head home.  Check out my Soweto tag for the other posts from the morning and the last trip we made.

We stopped at the brick tower in which the Bill of Rights is etched around an eternal flame (which wasn’t burning btw).  The top of the tower is open, and the opening is shaped like a cross to denote the rights of people to vote.

It was a fascinating place with all the seating areas built in the shape of crosses.  Around each of the 9 crosses, there were different acasia trees planted – each one indigenous to the province that cross represented.

The market is at the bottom of these enormous columns that border the square and is mostly covered with these tarpaulins.

These dried leaves are muti, which the guy selling them told me would fix my insides… to which Sefiso retorted “Ja, that’s because they’ll all come out”.  LOL!

We’ll be going somewhere different the next time we all meet up for photos… hopefully to the JHB CBD and Newtown prescinct.

As we drove past the Diepkloof hostel, we noticed some people washing clothes at a communal tap, and decided to stop and take some photos because the light was just so perfect.  One of the ladies then took us for a stroll through the hostel to show us her home. #

These hostels used to be men-only residences in the Apartheid era.  They were built to house mostly migrant mine workers (mostly from Kwazulu Natal) – and no women were allowed to live there at all.  The hostel now houses families.

This lady explained that there was no running water in the units, but there are a few communal taps scattered around the hostel.  She said it was going to take her about 2 hours to do her washing.  It was quite festive though, with all the ladies chatting around the tap; while kids came to fill buckets of water for their homes.

As we walked around the corner down the one “street”, there was loud music booming from the one door; and we got invited inside by a few guys drinking beer.  Bear in mind, this was at 7am.

We walked into the shebeen and were greeted by this lady who was sitting on a pool table.  It was very dark in there, and I forgot my external flash at home… so this is the best shot I got.  Her eyes were just so sad to see.  She couldn’t even stand up, she was so very plastered.

Our hostess took us into her home.  I was actually surprised that the rooms were as big as they were.  I thought they’d be smaller actually.  The smell from the parafin stove was quite overwhelming though, so we didn’t stay for long.

It was quite funny walking around there, because the residents just assumed that we were overseas tourists; and some were quite disappointed that we were from Johannesburg.  One guy asked me if we could put him in contact with a movie producer because he’d written a movie script.  I felt quite sorry for him when I explained that we worked in banking in Jo’burg and couldn’t help.

Anyway, I think I’ve captured the essence of the place.   It must have been a very scary place to live in the height of all the demonstrations and tensions before 1994.  It’s a pity I didn’t get photos of the kids that were playing though, because it’s not as sad as what my photos are portraying.

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, all these Soweto posts are tagged, so the other entries will be easy to find just by clicking HERE.

I went on another photo excursion to Soweto this morning with 3 other photographers.  We left just as early as the last trip, but this time we got to watch the sun rise at Soccer City (the new stadium being built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup) on the way to Soweto from Johannesburg.

I’ll be posting the rest of my trip’s photos using the Soweto tag that I used for the last trip we did a few weeks ago.   I’m stoked with the photos that I managed to take this time… they’re mostly of people and photojournalistic shots that I enjoy so much!  One post will not do them justice, so this is the first of 3 posts that I’ll be writing over the next few days.

I took this photo from the pedestrian bridge just outside the stadium looking towards the Johannesburg CBD.

These photos don’t really do justice to the mammoth size of the stadium.  It’s an INCREDIBLE sight… I really hope that one day I’ll be able to take photos from the inside of it.

We went to the main gate to try and get into the stadium, but they wouldn’t let us in.  I wasn’t too concerned though, as there was a mini-market with cafes and shops that had set themselves up next to the main gate, and that gave us ample photographic inspiration!! What a win! It’s just a pity we were there so early and the patrons weren’t around.  Thankfully, I didn’t see the massive rats that the other guys told me about when we got in the car or else I’m not sure I would have walked between the shacks like I did!

I absolutely love the last photo with the contrast between the shop shacks and the modern stadium.

I hope you come back to my blog to see the rest from my photo morning.

See more Skywatchers around the world on Skyley’s blog, and more Photostory blogs on Mamageek’s blog.