The Photo Shoot

The photographer: me with a borrowed camera
The studio: a property just around the corner from my flat, which happened to be unoccupied and with a fence that happens to look like prison bars
The backdrop: an old red blanket that I grew up with… those really woolly ones with the satin lining, so popular in South African homes in the 70’s and 80’s; held up by my boyfriend who’s standing on a ladder.

Incredibly glamorous! We almost had a real studio set-up, with professional lighting to boot. Unfortunately we had to relocate the shoot to my flat when the sun disappeared behind the clouds with no inclination to be seen again.

I took about a hundred photos over two hours and though I am no professional I was really hoping that in the end of the day we would have some options to choose from, but as it turns out there really was only one… “Bongani rattling the cage.”

Bongani… calm, soft spoken, confident Bongani who looked at me from the other side of the fence and trusted me completely. Bongani who walked into my flat without seeing it and took a seat behind the piano to play the beautiful songs he taught himself…