The Magaliesburg: A Photographer's Canvas

I was a photojournalist for the first half of my working life. Photography was very much about documenting and telling a story, generally on the run.  I later found myself involved with an art logistics business and a different approach to image capture that allowed me to sit and observe.

The Magaliesberg became my canvas.  Walking around the gentle slopes and boulder fields in different seasons, time of day and weather, presented the same shapes but with different graphic elements that intrigued me.  Breaking the rule of shooting, I embraced the mid-day sun. Shadows revealed texture in the form of images.  It is a dialogue and tension between the boulders, the hard earth, the dry grass, and the humming energy of a very precious geological history.  

“You can never cross the same river twice,” is a line that stuck with me from a mentor. That same rock and its current light and mood will never be the same as the first time you see it.  Going back to the same place many times will bring new sights, new visions.  You never know when that one “aha” moment will be.

Looking at the landscape, the rock, it is not so much about looking for interesting shapes anymore but allowing the time to sit and listen and find the conversations in front of me. Sometimes, many times, I just sit.

The gift is to have a place like the Magalies.  It delivers every time.  Best kept secret.

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