Been busy again … strange that. Proposals have been proposed for 2010 race season, Sven & my Chronology book #1 is in the final stages – at long last. Been a mission but definitely worthwhile project. I hope all you think the same. Oh and some photos have been shot. But not as many as i would have liked really.
You see like the rider’s are in training for the 2010 season so should us photogs be – you gotta keep your eye in, find some new angles, play with new equipment and try see if you can find that percentage difference to make the shots count. Even World Champions push themselves above and beyond in the off season to find their limits and try come back stronger and faster still, like Conrad Stoltz in the image below during lactate threshold & power testing in Stellenbosch.
Conrad Stoltz
But like I said i just haven’t had the time to do that – given book layouts, family life, riding my bike before my exodus from South Africa and prolonged stay in Europeland for the season. Not that i’m complaining about having plenty of distractions from taking ‘proper’ photos. I’ve been taking plenty of iPhone photos mind and those who follow @garyperkin on Twitter can attest to that.
So far this month or so I’ve been lucky enough to shoot runners, swimmers, mountainbikers, olympians, world champions, doctors and celebrities – and sometimes a mixture of all of the aformentioned.
Michael Mol
Dan Hugo
But quite possibly the thing that had the most impact on me was going to Robben Island and riding my bike around the island. Its hard to imagine the impact that years in those cells had on people like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and the many less famous political prisoners that walked through the imposing gates to find themselves on an island just a few miles off the coast of Cape Town with a release date some 20 years hence for the majority of prisoners there.
Robben Island
In some ways it is similar to Alcatraz in San Francisco bay, an imposing land mark surrounded by water and shrouded in myth and legend, or as in the case today mist and low cloud. But the prison facilities on Robben Island are quite small but yet have an unnerving aura and presence to them. Just a few small details give you a sense that this is major historical landmark in South Africa’s history. I’m no historian so I won’t bore you with the place’s history, all I can say is that the freedom I have to ride my bike and take some photos that mean something to me has been afforded by those who suffered solitude, confinement and loss and for that I’m pretty damn grateful. Nkosi kakhulu.
Freedom
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