Greylingstad...

I stopped in Greylingstad on my way to an assignment at the nearby Sasol Impumulelo mine. 

This is what I saw in the short half an hour or so . . .

       

I had a whole day industrial shoot to do at the Impumulelo mine and had left home at about 6hoo. Two hours later I arrived at Greylingstad. The light was beautiful and I stopped for a quick few snaps.

I saw some interesting houses and as I photographed them a lady walked out and greeted me. I asked if I could take her photograph and she said yes...I showed her the image on the lcd screen of my camera and she immediately invited me in and said she also wants to show the image to her mother.

'Lorato' in her kitchen

Her mother was still getting dressed and whilst we waited I asked if I could make another photograph of her standing in her kitchen. Then her mother arrived and immediately there was lots of excitement and I asked if I could photograph her mother too... I promised to bring them some photographs when next I am passing through Greylingstad.

mother & daughter

I got in my car and drove a short distance further where I saw some more interesting things to photograph. 

All in all I spend about 20min in Greylingstad. I couldn't stop thinking how interesting and unpredictable the whole photographic process is. I just stopped to photograph some houses and a minute later I, a total stranger, was invited into someones home to make some more photographs...

Modern digital cameras with their high resolution LCD screens open up many doors and but breaks down the suspicions...people can see immediately what you are doing and also what they look like 'on camera'

A few weeks ago I was walking in Steve Biko street, just photographing structures...colorful walls, shadows and the like. the next moment I was surrounded by a bunch of men demanding to know why I was photographing their 'shop'. I explained that I just photographed the blue painted wall of their driveway...They didn't believe me and got more aggressive... I just showed them the images on my screen. They were satisfied and walked back to their shop...In this instance the immediacy of the digital camera saved my bacon but usually and most often it opens doors. People know that and want to see what they look like...which makes the whole process of  intruding into the private space of strangers easier...

Lorato's mother 'Innocense'

All these photographs were made with my Eos M and the EF 40mm f2.8 STM 'pancake' lens mounted via the Canon Lens adapter. The 40mm lens becomes a slightly longer 64mm lens on the Eos M's apsc format sensor. Indoors my 35mm equivalent 22mm f2 probably would have worked better, but I did not expect to be photograph people nor to be invited inside...and I was in a hurry to get to the mine...

I processed the images with Nik Silver Efex2 with some sepia toning applied. I wanted the images to look like film prints so I increased the contrast somewhat, gave it a black border and also added some 'grain' and let the shadows go black...

Please have a look at myportfolio website and let me know what you think! http://ivanmuller.zenfolio.com/

Regards, Ivan