It's on!!! My Entry

In my previous post I spoke of a little challenge between some friends of mine to take a photo ID. Here is my effort, I found it really hard deciding which one to submit for our little comp, but I ended up deciding on the edit with my eye on the lens. I am getting better at my editing, but not sure the eye on the lens looks 100%. Let me know what you think. The top photo is the one I entered, the second a different edit and the third is the original.

What the ID is all about: The items at my feet represent where I am at currently and what is floating around in my head at the moment. The photo's and a couple of trinkets represent the fond memories I have of my time (6 months) volunteering in South Africa, and the end of an era as I am heading home to Australia in a few days. One photo ([link] the B&W one a favourite of mine), a lens brush and lens cap - represents the improvement in my photography this year, a guitar pick (i just started learning), some pills - I have the flu at the moment , and a juggling ball (represents the fun ahead and doubles as an apology to a friend of mine who taught me juggling for forgetting to invite him to our little ID photo off in the first email I sent about it, though I soon remembered him!). Oh, and I represent me and how awesome I am


I looked at heaps of ID's for inspiration, here is the one that most closely influenced my pic [link]

Ehon has also made an entry for our little comp, it can be found on his blog at http://ehonchan.com/2008/12/29/id-challenge/

It's on!!!

I just sent a message to a couple of friends of mine challenging them to a photo off!!!

I decided to do it for fun, but to help me learn about photography. I recently realised that I was taking photos with one aim, to take a nice, interesting or cool looking photo. This works reasonably well for me, though in order to progress with my photography I need to think more about the photo before I take it. Think about what I am trying to say with the photo and about how the changes I make to settings etc when taking the shot will affect my editing.

The idea of the challenge is that because I am setting out to take a particular type of photograph, and a good one at that, I will be forced to think about these things. I will have to if I am going to compete with them as they are very good photographers.

The challenge is this: Each photographer has one week to take, edit and upload their photo. The photo must be an ID, this is a self portrait which generally includes the camera, see here for examples.

There are no rules (except that it must be a new photo taken especially for this), any equipment can be used and editing is allowed. The photo's must be uploaded to Facebook and a messgae sent to the other photographers informing them of your entry by 5pm wed 24th Dec 08. That's next wed! If anyone reads this and want's in on our little game let me know.

Oh, P.S Winner buys everyone ice cream next time they see them!

People I have challenged so far:
Ehon
Doug
Matt
Mark
Betsy

The difference some editing can make

Thought I would put up these 4 photos to demonstrate the difference editing can make to a photo.

The first is the original, there are a couple of things that I noticed in the image that I wanted to bring out in the final image. Firstly the eyes and smile of the kids, secondly the dirt on the kids legs.

Both of these next two edits involve multiple layers and effects and were obtained through similar steps. It was created with a slightly different contrast to the one below and in addition has an effect to give a softer look and another layer to soften the edges of the photo more, giving it the appearance of an older photo with less contrast.
Below is my favourite edit, the smiles are prominent and the condition of the childs shoes as well as their smiles/faces attract attention.
The below edit was an accident and scared the sh*t out of me when I saw it. I accidentally dragged a layer into the wrong spot (order) in photoshop with this rather disturbing effect. It freaked me out so much my eyes started watering. I thought I had found away to reveal the demons in a photo or something... The kid on the right still freaks me out to look at!
Thanks for reading.

Cheers
Dan

Umlazi k Section - My Pics 1

Here are my pics from our trip to Umlazi, K Section

This first one I love, I took allot of this girl with the dog. This is the only one I have edited so far and the only one I will put up but I love them all!
She had a gorgeous smile, pitty about the fat kid. lol
We were amongst the informal housing going for a bit of a walk when this man approached Cate. It was quite sad, he was mentally retarded in someway (i'm no doctor, but he clearly had some form of retardation), and was known by the locals we spoke to. They said that his family didn't care for him properly.

He took a liking to Cate, her mistake being giving him a kiss on the cheek upon his request when he came up to her. White people (especially girls) get allot of attention in places we work, especially here in the middle of nowhere as it is so strange to see them there. It would be a pretty safe bet to say that we were the only white people there since I last visited a couple of months ago. Word gets out and people come out side their house and stare.

Culturally guys will annoy the girls (and people generally) until it pisses everyone off, though in there culture it is rude to interrupt or ask someone to go away so people just listen to it. Though it can get ridiculus and i ended up having to tell this guy and a couple of others that day to piss off (in Zulu). I did try more politely before that but these guys couldn't take a hint.
One of Thembisa's sisters dancing on the road.

Cate and Thembisa's youngest sister. Luckily despite considering it Cate did not abduct this child despie being tempted by how cute the kids were. Probably a good thing, they are only cute for so long...

Cate's Umlazi Pics

Here are the photos that Cate took during our trip to Umlazi. They look awesome and I am very jealous of someone who manages photos better than me with less effort and fuss.

I am editing mine now and they will be up in a couple of short hours.

I think this first photo is my favourite from the whole day!
Cate's foot, the kid's feet.
My take on it during editing. In theory it should simply be desaturated, I hope it appears that way on your computer. If not I am blaming in advance my monitor displaying the image too bright.
Thembisa's (she was the student who invited us to her house) youngest sister.
These next three pics are some more of my favourites.


The area is made up of 'informal' housing all built ridiculously close together, and made from whatever materials people could find. The walls themselves are mud (see the walls in the above shots) or sometimes bricks and the roofs are time, or asbestos. If they leave people throw patch them with whatever they can, see the mix of carpet, canvas, tin, wood and steel making up this roof, held there with an equally eclectic collection of weighty objects to stop the roof blowing away.


Yep, it's what it looks like! Just growing along the path to Thembisa's house. Thembisa was far less impressed by the novelty of it's open growth then Cate and I were.


Cate and I have an interesting dynamic, I have an unusual talent for making a fool of myself. Cate has an unusual talent for taking photos of me that compound the appearance on film of my stupidity. Case and point below.

Jedi Knights

As it turns out, everyone in South Africa is actually a Jedi Knight. When we visited Umlazi last weekend, some kids showed us how they practice using the force by levitating stones.





Kate and I started to get pretty good too.


Probably worried that we'd seen to much and fearful of our uber force mastery she proceeded to fly kick me in the head from across the room.


P.S. We were playing a game called (obviously) rocks or stones, can't remember which. You draw a circle and place a pile of stones in it. You throw one up in the air and before you catch it (you must catch it) you pull rocks out of the circle. You throw it up in the air again and you must push all bar one of the stones back into the circle before you catch the one you threw in the air. If you do this you keep the rock that you left outside the circle and go again, if you fail to leave out one rock or drop the one you threw in the air it is the next persons go. Person with the most rocks at the end wins.

We found it a little and spent an hour or two playing it with the kids.

Umlazi K Section - Teaser Pic

On Saturday, Cate and I visited a the home of a student (Thembisa) who I work with. She lives in a 1 room house with her mother and two sisters. I am working on all the photo's now which will be up soon. Here is the first, I couldn't wait to upload this one (it took me about three hours to edit).

Hope you enjoy it.

Dan

Australian Government Internet Censorship

Here is a little message from me: It was created by a activism website, but makes my point for me so I am not reinventing the wheel. The petition is actually simple and quick, so please follow the link below or in the banner above.

Did you know the Government is proposing an internet censorship scheme that goes further than any other democracy in the world?

I've just signed a petition to prevent the scheme that will make the internet up to 87% slower, more expensive, accidentally block up to one in 12 legitimate sites, will miss the vast majority of inappropriate content and is very easily sidestepped. The government of the day may add any ‘unwanted’ site to a secret blacklist under the scheme.

Our Government should be doing all in its power to take Australia into the 21st century economy, and to protect our children. This proposed internet censorship does neither. Can you join me and take action on the net today to save the net?

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet/442

Thanks!

Dan

Westville Medium Security Prison

As you will know, I don't really do written blogs and try and stick to photos. However, today I make an exception. I hope you will grant this indulgence. It is a long post to be sure, but I think the subject matter warrants it. More photo’s will follow in a couple of days, I have been busy with graduations all week.

Today, I went to Westville Medium Security Prison in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa. I was invited to by Vusi Kweyama (see previous post) who was doing a keynote presentation to the prisoners at an AGM for a prison mental health support group.

Having never been near a prison in my life, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was feeling good about it, until we neared the complex when the little voice of reason in my head started planting some security concerns. I thought of the poster below! But I figured that as we were guests we would have top security, possible even be separated from prisoners. I thought wrong...

What does ‘Medium Secuirty’ mean anyway I began to wonder. Should I be worried that the security is medium? Something I took to mean about half what it should be. Or should I be reassured by the fact that these guys only needed medium security, and as such are roughly half as likely to stab me in the face with a shank then their maximum security brothers.

It was at this point that I was glad I had never watched an episode of OZ in my life, though I also regretted the brief the adverts were enough to facilitate my concern.

Our convoy (we were tailing some workers from life line who had invited Vusi to give the speech) pulled up to the boom gate, complete with tyre spikes and a handful of guards armed with a clipboard which I had to sign. They checked the boot and we proceeded into the prison.

Men in bright orange prison uniform were maintaining the grounds (mowing etc). They were literally meters away from the boom gate, through which the outside world was easily viewed. No one was guarding them, besides the guys with the clipboards I just mentioned. I figured the temptation to leg it through that gate would be pretty high but Vusi explained that inmates on such duties are normally at the end of their sentences’. To try and leg it now would be rather counter productive to their pending release.

We parked outside Section C and were joined by a guard and we headed for the door (gate). The women went in while the men were required to sign in. Vusi wasn’t talkative, clearly returning to a place he had spent years of his life as a prisoner was not an entirely fun experience...

We were led up a flight of stairs, then through a metal detector (which was turned off) and to another gate/turnstile. We passed this check and proceeded down another passage to yet another guarded gate which was an intersection of multiple passages. We took the passage on our right hand side and began ascending a ramp which coiled on it’s self like a corkscrew. The ramp was caged on all sides, if looked down the centre of the cork screw ramp there was a prisoner weight room at the bottom. It looked just like you would expect from a prison weight room, a handful of scary looking inmates working out on minimal equipment consisting of a couple of benches, weight bars and large dumbbells.

They stared up and I looked back, unsure whether to look away, make eye contact, not make eye contact or wave. The only course of action I immediately ruled out was to stare them down. While my confidence was heightened by the copious quantities of steel insulating my meagre frame from the crushing might of their biceps, I was still disinclined to piss them off.

The more the ramp curled around and the higher we got, the more prisoners were loitering on the ramp. What reason or authority they had to be there was lost on me, but it seemed rather disorganised. Finally we got to the top, though somehow I had became separated from our group. The prospect of finding my way though these corridors alone was an interesting one, but some prisoners simply pointed me down the next hallway and out a door. Hoping this wasn't the way to the shower complex, I followed their advice ad was relieved to see the rest of our group, in a courtyard, not a shower. How and why it was possible and safe for me to get separated from the group i’ll never know. It was also strange that we (a group of 10) were with one guard, and he wasn’t armed so I was hopeful that the couple of hundred prisoners we had just passed were having a good day. If they weren't I wasn't sure how much use a night stick would be to him anyway.

No one else seemed to be watching, there were no towers or walkways with guards sporting large rifles. If the many inmates we were surrounded by did something, it felt as though it would take people a couple of hours to work out anything was wrong. This seemed like some sort of strange share house where everyone was for lack of somewhere better to be then a prison.

We entered the hall and were directed to seats at the front of the hall, a long table for the "distinguished" guests facing a crowd of about 100 inmates sitting on bench seats.

The function began, it was an AGM (annual general meeting) for a prisoner mental health group which is doing wonders for these inmates. The thing went for about 4 hours, but featured more entertainment than any AGM I’d ever heard of with the Sec C jazz band, a couple of Sec C choirs and solo singers. There was some reports thrown in for good measure and of course the key note address by Vusi. He is a great public speaker, his speech punctuated by frequent applause from the prisoners who respected someone who had gone from their position (Vusi spent allot of time incarcerated at the same facility) to director of two organisations and a highly respected man in local and wider communities.

As the proceedings dragged on, I began to look around the room. I expected to find evil men who's faces were filled with anger. To my surprise I did not, I was met with the faces of normal men. Men indistinguishable from the man who serves me at the supermarket, from the dozens of men who I pass in the street every day, indistinguishable from my friends. Watching them, they were bored when I was bored, they laughed and clapped like me, they danced together and chatted when the music so required.

By now, I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic. I started talking to the prisoners, they were very polite. I felt pretty safe in the knowledge that any harm to me would probably result in a healthy increase to their sentences, a fact I was keeping on the tip of my tounge so I could remind them of it if the need arose. Luckily no event arose that required me to dispatch some healthy doses of kick-ass through the use of my razor sharp wit.

Talking to them was an interesting exercise. They were polite, well spoken and interested in our work. I started to get more confident and forward with my questions. I began being particularly forward with one man, Steve. I possibly felt more comfortable with him as he was white so our conversation was easier in English. I asked him if "this security was typical because it seemed.... well..." he interrupted me "non existent". Steve had finished my sentence for me rather accurately "well yeah" I conceded. He told me that there is about 1 warden for every 160 prisoners, and that the facility (Section C) was designed for 300-400 inmates, it currently housed about 1,200. He said that some facilities you don’t even get your own bed, just a couple of mats rolled out in the isles.

I inquired further about the safety, it looked near impossible to escape, but the lack of wardens made internal security feel lax. "When it turns it turns fast" he explained "but you can sense it coming if you keep your eye out". This didn't sound encouraging "What do you do then?" I asked. "You hope it's not you, and you make damn sure they’re scared of you" replied Steve. He told me that a couple of months ago they locked down Section B and eventually sent in the dogs. “This is the about the time for it” he warned “this time of year, the heat, everyone gets pissed off”. I thought if they lost their thick orange garb in favour of a pair of boardies and a bonds singlet (ironically referred to in Aus as a wife beater, though this maybe the problem in some cases) maybe they could all just get along, but I suppressed my impulse to offer this advice.

I asked him what you have to do to get into a medium security prison, I was trying to gauge what crimes were committed by the men that stood inches away from me. He said it was all sorts, he had "about 6 or 7 lifers for murder in his section, they shouldn't be here" referring to the fact that they should be in max security, he elaborated "take Garry for example, he has life for murder, if you piss him off he's going to kill you. He's got nothing to lose, but the max security joints are overcrowded too so he stays here." That was one extreme of the crimes committed by these prisoners, but it varied. He explained "There are guys here for 20 years, I was lucky, had a good lawyer, got 7 (*he didn't tell me his crime). Then there are kids who are here for petty theft, they put them in with these guys and they don't stand a chance."

The guard then called for us to leave and I said goodbye to a few of the inmates and headed for our gate. We followed the same maze of corridors, gates and proceeded down the long, corkscrew ramp we had ascended a few hours earlier. The weight room was empty now, with the benches and weights lined neatly along the wall.

Eventually we made our way out of the stairwell and came to the last gate, after a brief wait we exited into daylight. It was in interesting feeling, the sense of unease and claustrophobia that had built over the last 5 hours instantly disappeared. I can't quite explain the feeling, but it is a unlike anything I have ever felt, a strange mix of joy, relief and freedom. I can only begin to comprehend the feelings of a inmate upon release, but I had my brief taste of it and that will be the only sip I ever take from that cup.

Vusi Kweyama

Vusi asked me to come and take some photos of a site he is planning to build a resource center on in the community of Kwa Nyuswa. The shots of the site aren't great but here are a couple of quick profile shots we did.

Vusi is an amazing man with an amazing story. He was in and out of prison from the ages of 15-24 (he lost count of how many times he was in there but estimates he spent over 70% of his time in prison). When he left prison in 2002, he was invited to a life skills course and he went there with the intention of casing the joint to steal their computers. While he was there checking out the wares, the life skills course had a profound impact and now, 6 years later he heads up a prison outreach project, runs life skills courses and a resource centre for youth in his community. He is a consultant to government on prison overcrowding, sentancing and offender rehabiliation. He has spoken in prisions across South Africa and even in maximum security prisons in the U.S.A!!!!!! What have you done in that last 6 years?

Also, if you have heard the Bliss 'n Esso song Bullet and a Target (it take the chorus from the citizen cope song of the same name) you will hear vusi who does the intro to the song!!! - I believe that together we can really make a difference, one man cannot make a difference but if we can be if we have a collective will and the willingness to make a difference in our nation we can really do make a difference"






































And what post could be complete without a photo of me?

Kit list and wishlist

Let's face it, most of us want more stuff. Unlike all you who are all mindless consumers I don't want more stuff, I need more stuff. Here is a list of my current photography kit, and below a wishlist for things I need :P Donations welcomed :)

Though there are a few other things I would like to have, I love every part of my kit and as such each section has a rant about what I love and possible don't like about the piece of kit.

Current Kit:

Camera Body:
Pentax K20D

Rant: The most solid camera I have ever held, it is one of the few DSLR's that is weather resistant, though remember that your lens probably isn't weather resistant! The camera is rather weighty at 800g (with battery and card) which, when you add another 465g for the Sigma 10-20mm (which I use most often) you can be forgiven for feeling like you are carry around a very expensive bag of sugar all day. I miss having a dedicated depth of field preview button, though you can change a setting to make another button do this (which I have done, though you then lose the live view function of that button).

There is 14.6 million effective pixels (14.6MP) crowbarred into the sensor!!! Those pixels work hard for you, churning out some beautiful, crisp photos which I am always more than happy with and creates images that I can enlarge far bigger than I have ever needed or wanted to.


Lenses:
Sigma 10-20mm f/4 - 5.6 (EX DC HSM)
Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5 - 5.6 DC
Sigma 70-300mm f/4 - 5.6 DG

Rant: My most frequently used lens is the Sigma 10-20mm Ultra wide-angle. It helps to give pictures a really interesting perspective and depth. Great for landscapes, and in confined spaces it covers most of my photography and suits my style.

I use the Sigma Telephoto Zoom (70-300mm) mainly for portraits as you can get a pretty crisp focus with it (though you have to be back a little).

I hardly use the 18-50mm, i think I have gotten lazy using the 10-20mm wideangle as it almost always gives an interesting perspective. I am going to try and use this basic kit lense (18-55mm) more as it will make me think a little more about my shots and hopefully learn more.

Filters:
77mm Hoya UV Filter
2x 58mm Hoya UV Filters

Rant: They stop me scratching me lenses!! Glad I have them, the 77mm already has a few scratches.

Flash:
I had an external flash for the hot-shoe (some type of old school Pentax I took from my dad's unused Pentax SLR), but it has been lost and/or stolen.

Rant: Can't see myself getting a replacement any time soon, they are expensive, and i don't like to use flash lighting.

Transport:
Crumpler - Customary Barge

Rant: Great as it doesn't look like a camera bag(not advertising that you have expensive kit is often a good move in Africa. It also has room for a laptop and whatever else you wanna take. Warning: It is freaking huge though, and with a camera, three lenses, a laptop and other shit can get heavy. I think Crumpler do a smaller version though.

Tatonka - Backpack (More specifically the zip off daypack section).

Rant: I have a tatonka backpack (huge backpacking thing). Luckily, the lift out camera section from the Crumpler fits right into the bottom of the Tatonka daypack.

Editing/Storage:

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Note: This link is to Photoshop CS4, the latest version.

500g External Hard Drive and DVD's for Backups


Wishlist:

Tripod with 3 way head

Sigma 15mm F/2.8 Diagonal Fish eye

A Couple of prime lenses. I was going to put a couple in here, but couldn't decide!!!

77mm circular polarizing filter

New 77mm UV filter for Sigma 10-20mm (the current one is on it's last legs)

Adobe LightRoom 2 to help manage work flow and sorting of images

Would like a backup system that works easier, hopefully LightRoom will help with this.


Be interested to hear your thoughts on my kit, and about yours.

Cheers
Dan

Country Club

Here are a few pics from our visit to "The Country Club". When one thinks of the term 'country club' it conjures certain images of grandeur, golf and tennis playing, perhaps cocktails by the pool or an expensive dinner. Not in Africa! Our country club takes the form of a car park people bring their cars and sound systems. Simply walk around till you find some music you like and party at someone else's car or hang around your own. Unfortunately the night we went it was poor weather so not many people were there :( Also I am pretty disappointed with the pics. I paid no real attention to the pics I was taking and it shows :( Sorry for the photos but I hope it gives you a bit of a feel for the place.

Also, apologies for the watermark. I should have reduced the opacity so they don't stand out so much. Live and learn I guess...

Thanks

Dan