Excited to share my timelapse / my-trip-to-south-africa video from last month. All timelapses were a compilation of thousands of still images that are sped up within a sequence, making it appear as a seamless video over a long period of time. enjoy
Canon 550D with 18-55mm lens
GoPro Hero3 Black Edition
GoPro Hero2
“Dungtitled (In A Major)” – Stars of the Lid
After our departure from Cape Town, we headed north for our next endeavor, a 9 day stay in Kruger National Park. Kruger sits 6.5 hours east of JoBurg, so a trip from Cape Town to Kruger in one day would be quite a haul and a little ridiculous. The Lion Park is just outside of Johannesburg and contains 5 families of White Lion, with packs of wild dogs, cheetahs, giraffes, impala, meerkat, and zebras. We got to stay in powered safari huts feet away from roaming giraffes and ostriches – not quite the true African safari we were expecting, but a good warm up for Kruger.
Hard to describe our afternoon inside District 6 of the Cape Town townships. One of the most influential environments I’ve ever been to, this area of the townships that we visited is only the tip of the iceberg. Of the 3.5 million people living in Cape Town, just under 500,000 of these black post-Apartheid Africans live in a space that is insanely too small. Regardless of these living conditions and extreme poverty, the children, men, and women of the township we visited were beyond excited to see us. They enjoyed the little things while we, a small group of extremely white photographers and filmmakers, laughed in their presence and played their games.
It was hard to tell whether or not the township dogs were fast asleep, hungry, and deprived, or lying dead and motionless on the cold ground. Whatever life they had left in them, it wasn’t a good one. They limped around slowly, always poking their noses to the sky in attempt to pick up an unfamiliar scent of something to eat. One of my most favorite photos from our township visit is the shot of the brown and black dog lying down eyes closed in the foreground, and behind him is a scene from the rest of the street. There is a young boy, who was wandering around just as aimlessly as the other kids, standing about 25 feet behind the dog. Across the street from him is a small group of sketchy looking older men. I probably snapped this photo about 10 times, playing around with the aperture and ISO settings so that I could get that depth of field I was looking for. I ended up settling with a small f/stop shot which results in a more focused perspective on the dog, and brings less attention to the boy and small group of township men. I remember calling over to Cory after taking these photos and telling him “I think I just took the best picture I’ve ever taken”.
Walking through the townships in Cape Town was one of the craziest things I’ve ever experienced and something I hope to repeat. We only spent about 2 hours inside the gated “community”, but that time seemed to stretch on. It was like going through a portal in time and ending up in some far away land where people exist with literally nothing. These people have next-to-none when it comes to the material things, but I’ve learned that they have an endless capacity for love and compassion towards others.
Empty hanger near entrance of District 6. These 3 children were pulling homemade cars around built from juice and milk cartons
Inside the Townships, theres an incredible amount of trash everywhere. Grabbed this shot from a good distance away as the guy in the red shirt was looking over his shoulder and peering back at our group
These 240 ft lightposts are artifacts from the Apartheid in South Africa. They were strategically built tall enough so that the human hand and slingshot could not hurl a rock at a light to put it out. When the police came in to raid homes and arrest people, these lights would turn on and illuminate enough square footage in the townships for the police to see at night
This woman is preparing a “smiley” – a traditional South African snack, consisting of an entire lamb head that is seared and hot-rodded until only the tender meat from the cheeks, nose, and forehead are ready to eat. I ate it! Very very chewy and fatty, but some of the sweetest tasting meat I’ve ever had
no words.
playing soccer with a tennis ball
Table Mountain hovers over Cape Town like a mothership from space. The clouds continually roll over the gigantic natural phenomenon, slowly revealing small bits of the landscape hundreds of feet above the ground. Cable car. Ascent. Revolving floors inside a pea-pod tram sponsored by Visa with pictures painted on the sides like a children’s mural from the 2nd grade. We leave the tram station and 30 quick seconds later, we’re stepping out on rock.
Truly a magical place when you realize how far south on the globe you are. Didn’t take enough pictures tho
The musical genius and theatrics of Hout Bay, South Africa
On our last day of shooting in the Cape Town peninsula, the crew and I traveled just under 3 hours away to go shark cage diving in Gansbaai – a wonderful small village on the coast of South Africa. Gansbaai hosts about a dozen of commercial shark cage diving operators, one of the major points of our documentary. Myself and classmate Anna Brundage spent a long morning with the crew and other paying customers on the Marine Dynamics vessel. The morning started off very overcast with slight rain but warmed up within an hour, bringing us sunshine and blue sky. After submerging myself in a 8-person shark cage off the side of the boat, I went topside to take some pictures of the ship and tried to capture how shark cage diving operates. This was quite the experience and one that I’ll have a hard time forgetting. I highly recommend jumping in a cage with great white sharks in SA – they’re one of the coolest predators on the planet and we have much to learn from them.
One of the most amazing and beautiful cities I’ve ever been to, Cape Town South Africa welcomes people from all over the world as it is a popular tourist spot for families and party-goers. The first few days in Cape Town I snapped hundreds of pictures, capturing the small things within the city that amazed me. “Cape Town, we are your children”
