Celebrating the Ordinary

I feel like the camera has given me a new set of eyes. Suddenly I notice so many details in photographs and also have become more critical of elements like composition and lighting. The ordinary has become more photograph-able. Unfortunately, I don't always have the camera on hand.

Like, driving down the main road last week, I wished I could have stopped and taken a picture. There, filling the bus shelter, was a double mattress- and bed-set with two African mamas having a relaxing chat while they waited for the bus. One of them had even taken her shoes off. It reminded me of the time, a few years back, when we were doing some renovations in our previous house. The bathroom door we removed was not standard and we were not going to use it again. Mavis, who was our domestic worker at the time, jumped at the offer of a door for her house. "Don't worry," she assured us. "I bring someone on Saturday." Saturday Mavis arrived with a friend. I looked around in vain for the bakkie I had assumed they would be coming in. "No," Mavis replied to my query, "we take on train. She is going to help me with the door onto the train!" Now there would have been another good picture.

On another occasion, I pulled up at the robots next to an enclosed bakkie, at a busy suburban intersection. Eyes right, and right again! I didn't imagine the cheetah giving us what I hope was not a hungry eye! On closer inspection, I discovered it was the bakkie of the Spier rehabilitation centre for cheetahs. They had probably been to one of the schools in the area as part of the education program they offer. Only in Africa.

I am sure there is much material for many books on uniquely South African scenes. Here is one website I had discovered recently:

 http://www.photographersgalleryza.co.za/obie-oberholzer/