10 Questions for Photographer André van Rooyen
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"The pictures tell the slices of what we see, and the way you slice them tells the viewer about you.
That's why I love photography"
~André van Rooyen~
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1. What place (in SA) do you call home, and why?
I grew up here, and went to school just up the line. (Wynberg Boys High)
Joined the Navy, and sailed the waters around and off the Cape, for some years.
My children were born here, I've fallen in love here. Big.
When I moved back to
Cape Town, from
Pretoria, at the end of 2008, I remember, as I was approaching Muizies down a drizzly Blue Route at around 10 in the evening, the overwhelming sense of "I'm home. I'm really, really home."
Today I live and work from an apartment in
Simon's Town. This is the view from my desk:
2. Favourite place to have breakfast near(ish) where you live?
There's this restaurant on
Fish Hoek Beach, made up of three eateries, of varying levels of posh. Sometimes, when I'm lucky, I get to grab an alfresco brekkie there, with a real mermaid. Priceless.
3. Why photography?
Well, I believe we all have an artist living inside. An artist that some people (mostly engineers) pack away, and never let out. My 50 cents? That's really a fear of exposing yourself.
I can't draw or sing, and my writing can to be sometimes, delicious not.
But the artist is there, always was. Waiting.
One day I got excited about computer wallpaper. That led to
Flickr.
Pretty soon there was a camera in my hand. Whoah!
That started me looking at the world around me, that I'd forgotten to look at for too long. I started seeing stuff and realized I wanted to show it to other people. Share it. Flickr it.
Photography for me is a perfect flexible blend of, on one side, details, tech, geekyness, and on the other side, creativity and artistry. Mix and match your own recipe. There's space for everyone. The pictures tell the slices of what we see, and the way you slice them tells the viewer about you.
That's why I love it.
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| 'Through' by André van Rooyen |
4. You lived in Pretoria for a number of years before moving to Simon's Town. What prompted the move? Were photographic opportunities in the Cape part of the reason?
From the moment I caught the digital photography bug, I wanted to shoot wide-angle seascapes. I'd come to digital photography by way of Flickr and the images of
John Curley, and I was in love with the HUGE, sweeping sky/sea images that he made. Images that made you swear you were
standing on the beach, with the surf washing over your feet, and the sky going back over you head, forever.
I really, really wanted to take pictures which felt like that, and I'd gone as far as buying an ultra-wide Sigma lens that was the perfect tool for the job. I was visiting the Cape at every opportunity I had, to feed this obsession, and, of course, along the way,I started toying with the idea of moving, in a kind of non-serious, I'd-love-to-but-I-don't-think-it'll-ever-happen kind of way. My income stream was in Gauteng, and I had very strong friendship roots there, and it wasn't easy to uproot myself, but the Cape was calling.
Then one day during the November 2008 trip, at a Tweet-up at Alba Lounge in the Waterfront, all the lights came on at once. Really. My friend Brendon says he saw, and can recall, the moment it happened. That night, I stopped telling myself why I couldn't, and started asking what it would take, to make it happen.
Two weeks later, I packed what I could fit into the Audi, gave all the furniture and appliances to Loretta, the lady who kept my house clean, said my goodbyes, and drove out onto the N1, heading South. A little over 15 hours later, I was, again, a Capey.
5. Which other SA photographers’ work do you admire?
Ha! My answer here may seem like a cop-out, but it's not. Simply put, there is not enough space here to list all the 'togs whose work I admire. And no, it's not a question of my low standards... :)
It's just that
I am constantly gob-smacked and amazed at the quality of work that pours out of the people that I've been lucky enough to meet and shoot with, or to browse on Flickr, or to review photo's with in the
Cape Town Photo Meetup Group that I joined last year.
So, what I'll do here is simply book-end the list.
First: When I joined Flickr in October 2006, one of the first SA 'togs that got my attention, was
Paul Bruins aka
Panorama Paul. Paul was shooting the most amazing panorama's around Cape Town back then, and I was immediately impressed. Paul and I have put more than a few exposures on Nikon (and Sony) gear since then, and have grown to be really, really good friends, and my respect and admiration for him and his work have just grown over the years. You would indeed search far and wide to find a more precise, dedicated and talented photographer. Paul seriously OWNS the
vertorama genre.
Most recent: A couple of weeks ago, the
Cape Town Photo Meetup group met in the Cape Town CBD. As is our routine, we alternate practical shooting events, with photo critique, where members (bravely) offer their images up for group opinion. All opinions positive and negative count, and everyone has an opinion, and we keep it gentle, respectful, and constructive. On this day, a young lady, new to the group, nervously offered up her images for review. And completely blew us away. With no training and no opinion of herself as a photog, and shooting with a Nokia cellphone camera, and a tatty Panasonic Lumix point-and-shoot,
Gillian Morgenrood showed us a superb series of images which left us searching for words, and made me wish I'd taken them. She plans to buy a DSLR soon. Heaven help the establishment. I personally can't wait :)
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| 'Littered' by André van Rooyen |
6. What inspires you (in your photography, every day, in life)?
In photography? The need/want to show what I see. It's like pointing things out which people sometimes overlook, get bored with, etc. Walking past the roses.
Everyday? The daily sunrise/sunset show. The pre-dawn colours in the sky that I can see across the bay, before I even lift my head from my pillow.
In life? Creativity, in all it's shapes and sizes, un-disciplines 'n all.
7. When you’re away from SA what do you miss?
I'm not away enough anymore for this to be current, but when I lived in Beunos Aries for 3 months in 1993, I couldn't find proper curry spices for love or money. It was purgatory.
But really? The people, the passion, and to quote Mr Mbeki, the possibility. A girl friend recently said to me that when she was living abroad, she was struck by how it's all been done, there. How it was mundane, boring because of that. Here, we still have it all to do. Anything is possible.
8. Name the top 3 places in SA that you want to photograph and haven’t yet gotten to. (and why, briefly)
1.Cape Point. From the air. Low altitude. Close to sunset. With some weather in the Cauldron.
Why not yet? Logistics.
2. The backroads and rural areas and peoples of South Africa that never get seen. Plotting. Soon.
3. The Red Bull Big Wave surfing contest at Dungeons, off Hout Bay. From the water.
Why not yet? Event cancelled and moved to a more predictable venue. Sad Panda.
That's really all I've got.
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| 'Light and Mist' by André van Rooyen |
9. Who is your South African hero, and why?
Hmmm.. Had to roll that one around a bit. Not sure that I have any heroes left. In the conventional sense of heroes, anyway.
Some sportsmen maybe. Franscois Pienaar, Oscar Pistorius, Natalie Du Toit, Graeme Smith…
Perhaps.
But really? There is a group of people that I admire immensely.
Single moms. Single mom's who battle with money, time, and warring ex's while doing their level best to single-handedly raise normal, happy children, who know how to treat their gender opposites properly, with love and respect. Boy-children who know how to pee standing up.
You have my respect and admiration, ladies. Really. You are the heroines of our society.
10. Where else on the planet would you like to travel to with your Nikon?
Again, this may seem like a smarmy answer, but it's not. I thought about other places that I'd like to put in front of my lens, but the answer keeps coming back that there are people and places aplenty in South Africa, that I'd rather make photo's of.
Some friends and I have the seed idea for a project involving a road-trip or series of road trips around South Africa, and under that umbrella, I'd really like to try and tell, in pictures, the reality of the vast unseen majority of South Africa's peoples.
A grandiose-sounding project, I know, but one that captures my imagination, and fills me with anticipation.
Watch this space!
André - Mini Bio
André is a learning organism. Even when he thought he had most stuff sussed, life showed him how wrong he could be, and taught him some new stuff. There’s this fantastic quote from Kay, in Men In Black that sums it up, pretty well:
“1500 years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe.
500 years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat,
and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet.
Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.”
Just imagine....:)
- Find out what the weather's doing down Simon's Town way - André takes a daily photo from his apartment and posts it to FalseBayWatch along with basic climate info.
All images copyrighted to the photographer. Used with permission
