MOPP VOICES

Street Photography

Mandy Schreiber- cape town-writer-photographer-creative

Photography is one of those strange genres of…er…what? It’s not entirely art because the photographed moment does or did actually exist – it is not created from nothing. It is not entirely social commentary because as with words, images can be manipulated by angles and interpretation. It is not entirely technology because although technology plays an increasingly larger role in a photographer’s life, the basic concept of a pin-hole camera remains no matter how much fancy equipment one might have.

Photography is oblique. It’s a shape shifting skill, art form and means of social commentary like no other. It escapes words and portrays emotion so deeply that you can almost smell its universal reflections.

I have always thought that a country’s beauty can be determined by its ability to be displayed in pictures. And yes the grand old London can sometimes deliver interesting photographs and the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty offer iconic pictures. But real beauty – not the mundane, consumer version of beauty –is far more prevalent in the less developed countries. With a resigned acceptance of life’s imperfection, it’s in these countries and places that we find the kind of beauty that speaks to our spirits and offers a sense of ancient futures. This type of beauty is often missing from first world countries and smiles where even photographs and billboards depict the capitalistic and spiritual drain on society.

In contrast, a country like South Africa is beautiful and made more beautiful by real suffering, by struggling, by fighting for justice, by fusion, by acceptance, by challenges, and most of all by diversity. The colourful places, landscapes, people, cultures and religions that form the melting pot of our collective culture are a photographers dream. The photographer reminds us of beauty. And while our country so desperately and foolhardily struggles towards first world status, we need reminding. This is because we forget about the aspects of life that pay no attention to dollar signs but which offer the wordless truth that is significant to us all. Photographers remind us of the beautiful and painful truth of real life.

The 2008 MOPP Home Sweet Street, the theme to celebrate the real beauty of the people. The streets of South Africa are where its beauty lives, thrives and speaks to higher powers. Some of these streets are paved with gold, some dusty and forlorn; some famous and some mysterious and unknown. But it is these streets that connect us all in the same way that the rivers connect to the sea. Our streets tell our story, they offer thousands of tales and the faces on the streets offer endless narratives of life experience.

The only thing we can really be certain of in this life is change. Sometimes change happens overnight and sometimes it stretches and twists in reluctant defiance but it is inevitable. In celebrating change, diversity and acceptance by observing beauty on street level, we choose to ignore the inflated egos and hype of the political and economic power game. This beauty seen through the eye of the camera lens is what drives every true photographer and is ultimately their message. We see the man in the street as he is, just like us, with stories in his eyes.