A Picture tells the story of a Thousand words

I have always liked photography. Black and white especially. However I detest the sight of posed photo's. You know what Im talking about. The smile that looks the same in every photo, the pout, the "let's lean on this branch and stare into the horizon". Bull. Photographs need to capture a moment in time, it has to be spontaneous, sometimes without the "target's" knowledge of the photo being taken. Bottomline a photo has to tell a story.

I read the book The Bang Bang Club: Snapshots of a Hidden War, about two years ago (apparently there is a motion picture, however I haven't had the chance to watch it). Its a graphic biography about four photographers active in townships in South Africa during the Apartheid period, particularly between 1990 and 1994, from when Nelson Mandela was released from prison to the 1994 elections. Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Joao da Silva and Ken Oosterbroek are the members of the "Club".

The name "The Bang Bang Club" was born out of an article published in the South African magazine Living. Originally named The Bang Bang  Papparazzi it was changed to "Club" because the members felt the word paparazzi misrepresented their work. The name comes from the culture itself, township residents spoke to the photographers about the "bang-bang" in reference to violence occurring within their communities, but more literally, "bang-bang" refers to the sound of gunfire. 

Two of these photographers produced Pulitzer prize winning photos. See below.

Violence in the Townships

Inhlazane, Soweto, September 15, 1990. An ANC supporter hacks at a burning Lindsaye Tshabalala as a young boy flees. Spot News in 1990. Photo by Greg Marinovich

Help Needed in Sudan

A vulture seems to stalk a starving child in the southern Sudanese hamlet of Ayod, March 1993. Photo by Kevin Carter

The story behind the pictures

Greg Marinovich's photo: This is a depiction of extreme violence in the the townships from that time period. Supporters of South Africa's African National Congress brutally murdering a man they believed to be a Zulu spy. Firstly they necklaced him (i.e. fill a car tyre with petrol, put it around the victim's neck and set it alight). The spy was trying to escape, this enraged the ANC supporter and he gave him a machete to the head.

Kevin Carter's Photo: There is a lot of controversary surrounding this photo. Kevin was sent to Sudan to photograph the suffering locals of the famine at the time, in order to create awareness and hopefully more organisations would help. There was a lot of hopeful mothers standing around with their children waiting for the UN trucks to deliver them food as promised. The trucks finally arrived and the mother of the child in the photo put her child down away from the trampling masses and Carter captured this moment. The mother came back afterwards with food for both of them. Kevin Carter comitted suicide a year later, due to depression and guilt from the media onslaught of his 'exploitation' of this child in the photo.

Bubble bubble toil and trouble.

Advertising. Its everywhere. Streetpoles, billboards, radio, busses, trains, TV, online, your cell phone, sports teams, events are sponsored by big brands. Everywhere. Dont you wish you could say "Stop! Enough!"

Well artist Ji Lee has a very unique approach to counter constant brainwashing by big corporates. In 2008 he started The Bubble Project. (http://www.thebubbleproject.com/). They believe in giving the individual a voice to retaliate against the onslaught of media attack. They transform the one way forced communication from the corporates to an open public dialogue. Encouraging individuals to fill in these bubbles with any expression free from censorship. More bubbles mean more freed spaces, more imagination and more fun.

Below some of my favourites, have a look on the website, I can spend hours there :)