ANIMATE CITY

My relationship with Jozi is up and down but most of the time I love this city. I am not yet sure why. I’m still trying to decide whether it’s how it comes alive at night or how everything seems normal in the day while a whole parallel world is roaring right under your nose. Having recently moved to the C.B.D, one thing I am quite fascinated about is how the buildings light up to form a miniature galaxy at night. Although this is not at all unique to Jozi, I’m willing to bet my very first salary that it’s one of the best views in the world. Okay maybe I exaggerate. I am biased after all and by the way my first salary was about five hundred bucks, so at least I am a responsible gambler. But Jozi still has one of the best views in the world; don’t let them tell you different.




Night view of a part of Hillbrow. A landscape series of Hillbrow is never complete without the tallest tower in Africa, The Hillbrow Tower. The notorious city is rarely viewed as beautiful or glamorous.

Ever since the gold rush to the Transvaal, Johannesburg has been well on its way to becoming the economic hub of South Africa. The rush hasn’t subsided at all. Peak hour traffic will second me on this. E’mjodolo you find everyone and everything. From Limpopo to Cape Town, every race within and outside our borders is represented in this 1,645 km² patch of land. Okay maybe not every race, but you get my point. You may even mistake parts of the city as some kind of United States of Africa due to the rich foreign presence the city nests. Better yet, there is a dedicated ‘China Town’ not to mention the Oriental plaza.



I have caught an addiction for painting with light.

If you looking for hair. You will find it, synthetic? Stolen dreads maybe? You got it. You want reality remedies? You got it, from a twenty rand banky to a fifty rand rock to a three hundred rand cocaine sack, no problem.

Although for the unfortunate, the city of gold can be exceptionally cruel. It is also a place where starting from the bottom and making it to the top is a common story. It’s the reason why so many of our parents and their parents before them and their parents before that left their homes, family and friends chasing a promise of a better life. Johannesburg is a goldmine, excuse the pun. It’s a goldmine of opportunities for business. It’s a goldmine for criminals. It’s definitely a goldmine for the photographer who can gather enough courage to take his camera out the bag and take shots of the timeworn city.

Car tail lights at the Rey-vaya bus station nex to the City Council of Johannesburg.

As much as the city has its negatives and an ugly side of filth, crime and poverty, there is still so much to celebrate. The media doesn’t do the country much justice, how many times do you see an image like the one above on T.V or a newspaper? When Johannesburg is mentioned in the news, it’s usually accompanied by a picture of protesters or a crime scene. At best you have the government blowing their horn on an improvement or development in attempts to redeem their tarnished image. I am not saying let us ignore the negatives and go on a spree of sunshine journalism. The truth is our country has a lot of improving to do. What I’m saying is that we should give as much a stage to what’s good and great about our country as we do with bad news. This is what this blog is all about.



Its amazing how a slight movement of the camera at the right time can give you.

‘A day-tripper in my back pack’ is my camera, so join me and my day tripper as we put our green classes and stroll through this animate city.