Teymur Madjderey – Street Photography in South Africa

I recently was in the lucky position to fly to South Africa for Kodak. Not knowing what to expect from the country I had heard so many diverse things about it. Unfortunately there is a lot of media hysteria that keeps people from traveling to South Africa and from those traveling there, many stay within their resorts and will never get in touch with the amazing, warm and friendly people that make South Africa the wonderful place it is.

We were a group of four photographers having the joy of staying mainly in Durban while our short one week trip and we quickly decided to go out and shoot as much as we can and especially a lot of people.

For me as a german photographer this is not always an mode to get into as easily as for photographers from other countries. at least it seems that way. a lot of photographers approach street photography differently and a lot of subjects on the street feel differently about being photographed by a stranger on the street. In Germany though most of the people will react negatively and with sheer shock to a photographer taking their photo. no matter if you ask or not. whether you are cautious and friendly or outgoing and brisk. In Germany people feel very differently and in my opinion strangely about their privacy, if it is street photography or Google Streetview. As Jeff Jarvis, journalist and professor at the Graduate School of Journalism in New York, said when giving a speech at the re:publica 2010 conference in Berlin, that the Germans are offended by Google Streetview, and photos taken of them by strangers, but will go without any hesitation into a public sauna and sit and sweat there completely naked.

This attitude held me back for quite some time, even when I was traveling in different countries a lot and just by accident got a nice candid shot. in south africa though a few different factors came together that luckily have changed at least my attitude towards street photography again. On the one hand were the wonderful photographers I was traveling with. What a great source of inspiration and knowledge. On the other hand were the wonderful people of South Africa. So caring, warm and welcoming. We were approached by so many different people on the street, the ones telling us to be a bit careful here and there, as some tourists are just to careless and also a lot of people just welcoming us to South Africa, asking us how we like it and that they hope we enjoy their hospitality and country.

Also a lot of them approached us to be photographed. No matter what age, what job or gender. Always having this proud charisma about them and wonderful mindset. Something that seems long lost in my part of the world. And at the times I was not approached I either just shot and then talked to the people, or asked them in advance depending on what the situation would allow to get the right shot. What I love about street photography is the wonderful honesty of the moment that you can capture and share. Be the fly on the wall for a while or the new guy on the block that wants to get to know the people living and working there.

On the more technical side I was quite sure though how to approach the changing light conditions, textures and colors. Aperture priority worked wonderful, I went a bit away from my standard ISO of 200 (for Canon that would be 100 I guess) up to 400, so I had a bit more freedom with my aperture. every now and then I went to full manual and/or adjusted the ISO. but being on aperture priority gave me more spontaneity and freedom, where I could concentrate completely on my subjects. Obviously he technical details and taste vary from person to person and situation to situation, but being able to act quick with minimum effort might be key in street photography. Also a matter of taste is composition and I am not only talking about framing, the rule of thirds, or breaking it. the use of depth of field is a very powerful tool in telling your story. and with portraits I for my self often like to go for the shallow depth of field, having a lot of bokeh makes it more intimate, centers the spectators eye on the subject you want to show. and obviously it also connects to what I talked about before regarding the aperture you use and the speed of the lens and camera. You probably wont shoot a available light portrait in a not so well lit bar at f22 but f1.4, you might though choose to use f22 in the middle of a street on a sunny day shooting against the sun right onto your subject, getting a nice effect on the sun, showing its rays.

Besides the spontaneous photography on the streets of Durban and Johannesburg we also spent some time at an open air skatepark on the Durban Beachfront. It resulted in a few „staged“ shot here and there, but that is the nature of the sport I guess. Shooting BMX bikers and Skaters we got into it quickly and had a great time. Another part of photography I need to pursue a bit more in the near future.

Here I also shot aperture priority and and full manual always depending on what I wanted to achieve. the hard part here was getting the right exposure without loosing too much details either in the shadows or burn them out with light. the light out in the sun is hard, with no trigrip diffusors or a nice powerful flash to overpower the sun, you have to be very thoughtful of your position to the sun, your subject and the surrounding. Obviously this is applies to many parts of photography, but I meant in direct comparison to the „common“ street photography. Using available light and no modifiers only.

For everyone thinking my f22 statement from before sounded a bit crazy, have a look at my skatepark photos of the bmx guy. With f22 I get the nice sunrays and the details of the whole skatepark. The concrete ramp beneath the bike reflects enough sunlight back at the face to get some detail in it. Obviously you have to find the best or most fitting position and framing for yourself. Some people don‘t like the sunrays, but a lot is possible with nowadays cameras. Its just a matter of trying it.

I was and still am very touched by all this. So many people we met had a genuine wish that the people visiting South Africa enjoyed themselves, were happy and well. South Africa needed this huge sporting event for sure and I just hope that it was good to them. Hearing diverse things about how shopkeepers, bar- and hotel owners were treated makes me wonder how the country will go out of this event and how it will change the worlds perception about South Africa. I wish them the best for sure and I will go back as soon as I can.

I hope you enjoyed my little South Africa story and maybe want to join our discussion in our Manfrotto Flickr Group that I started on street photography. I would love to get more insights from people from all over the world!

And maybe set a goal to try something new with your camera settings and the way you shoot this week. or next…

All the best,
Teymur.

View Teymur profile here.