Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caring Arms

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bewitched

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mesmerized by Solly

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Folks!

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alpha Brother

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Old Man and his Bicycle

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mara at Home

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time Walk

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthieu

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thriller

The term catatonic trance came to mind when I was watching this gent strut his Michael Jackson moves, although he did occasionaly lift one leg.
He was really not very good at this. Most of the time he was simply trembling and sweating copiously. Of course no one could hear his music, and that simply added to the comical appeal.
These four girls were dancing to one side, copying him, and having a real laugh, which he obviously enjoyed, for every now and then he gave half a step towards them, enough to send them scattering away in utter panic, simply to re-group and do it all again.
The climax came when one of their friends wanted to take a picture, and this was the closest they allowed themselves to come. My next shot shows them flying off again after Michael XXXL turned and invited them closer

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Demonstration: 1

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feelings

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Consolation

Photography is an elegiac art, a twilight art. Most subjects photographed are, just by virtue of being photographed, touched with pathos. All photographs are 'memento mori'. To take a photograph is to participate in another person's mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time's relentless melt.

...Susan Sontag: American author, literary theorist, and political activist. 1933 - 2004

I wish to dedicate this photograph of Lorraine Wildeman to Phyllis Clarke for her constant assistance, encouragement and vision. Thanks Phyllis.

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just like Me

The little one's name is Pumeza. She is 2 yrs old, and according to her dad Billy, she is very intelligent, confident, and 'knows everything and everybody' in the street. He quite noticably beams with pride when he speaks about her, and having taken pictures of her this day, I have to agree that she is a delight to work with. Just like putty - ask her to stand in a particular way and keep very still, and she simply does it. No probs.
She is sitting here on the family sofa with her auntie Janene, who is 18, and who sports a similar hairstyle. Apparently Pumeza copied Janene with this.
This community of Green Valley, also called Wittedrift, is about 10km from my house in Plettenberg Bay, but feels like a world apart.
Green Valley is quite an insular community, and the people here have essentially become one huge circle of friends and family. They are not keen on 'inkomers' / new settlers, and maintain that this keeps the village 'clean', with the result that crime and drug use is just about non-existent in this place.
They are also quite conservative in their outlook, and religion plays a big part of their lives.
This is the 1st time I have managed to get a publication on the people this particular village, so I am very chuffed about this one!

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Golden Years

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At Your Service

Taken on the ONEXPOSURE walkabout through Amsterdam last Saturday.
A special thanks to Mr. Alexander Ingen, the bartender at De Ooievaar bar,
who kindly moved his customers aside for this capture.

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Las Ramblas Fantasy

Street performers in Barcelona.

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Living Room

I took this photograph of Chantal Watson (Willy's daughter) and Adean Moses in the lounge of the house belonging to Willy Watson, the flower seller, who has featured in a published photo of mine.
Unfortunately this room was without any windows, and far too dark to shoot in available light. On realising this, Willy promptly removed a piece of corrugated iron from one wall, which resulted in this shaft of light penetrating the darkness. I am sure that this must be their makeshift window (apparently the one wall of his house collapsed during some heavy rains last year, and I think that the corrugated iron structure is only temporary).
This shaft of light lit up only part of the room, and left the upper and lower sections very dark. The first submission was rejected, and I had to do a fair amout of PP to correct this imbalance in light. Luckily the reflection on the floor from the mirror in the background assisted to add some perspective and proportion. I do not think that this would have worked without the benefit of this reflection.
I am very grateful to those members who helped with the Critique of this image.

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trilogy

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jerome & Jeraldo

For years now I have noticed this cottage in a most charming setting next to the road just outside Knysna along the Garden Route. This time I pulled in and after an introduction, started snapping away at the Christians family and all the kids that soon arrived on the scene.
As with the Kannemeyer series, I have visited them again, and in the process got to know more of the family members and neighbours, adding more photos to their family album on each visit, and ocassionally landing a gem for myself.
The Christians have been living in this cottage at Bracken Hill for four generations, and Jerome is now the senior member, and lives here with his sister. He is here photographed with his cousin, Jeraldo, who has just returned from school.
After finishing high school, he did IT training for 18 months, but as reasonable jobs are hard to find, he now is a 'meter' at the local forestry station . That is someone who measures the tree trunks once they are felled, and calculates what best way to achieve maximum yield from the trunk.
Personally I am so glad that Jerome's picture was selected, as this gentle person served as my 'link' to this insular community as well as a similar one called Vrystaat up on a hill close by.

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ten To Four...

It was a wet day at the carousel at La Place in central Paris, and things were slow at the office.

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
His Life is in his Eyes

Thomas Hugo: 6 months later....
I managed to track Thomas down in Paris over the weekend. I searched the Left Bank (his patch) for a day, to no avail, and then approached waiters and shop keepers, showing them a small picture of him on my PDA. A dear chap by the name of Sami, who serves ice cream, eventually came to my rescue....
Thomas now lives in a small tent on the paved section in the middle of Rue Flandres in Crimee, which is in north-east Paris. Awful location that he picked, as traffic passes very close by on either side of the tent, and pedestrians sometimes have to walk around his tent and scattered belongings. However, although he would have preferred a quieter location, he feels safe here as he is visible to the locals and there is constant movement, especially as there is a Monoprix immediately opposite. He has made enemies in the Left Bank, as some other persons living his type of life apparently became jealous of the fact that he managed to obtain a mobile phone and number, and recently....wait for it....an used Nikon D80 with a broken lens. He is now shooting pics of passers-by, and of his animals, which are now down to two dogs (both overweight), and a cat. He showed me the lens - some part inside has come loose, and partially obscures the image. So now he has to shake his camera and every 20th or so pics works.
His dog that featured in my previous upload of Thomas was stolen. He thinks that he knows who did it, however, is too terrified to approach that person or area. There is a floral shop across the street which he uses as his postal address. They also keep his camera when he's not using it. The same people who forced him from the Left Bank also cut the tires of his bicycle contraption that I referred to in the previous upload of Thomas. He is planning to have that fixed very soon.
I think that I have now forged a trusting relationship with Thomas, and shall continue to pay visits to him every time I travel that wonderful city. I do not know how Thomas survives financially, as he never begs. I suspect that he receives hand-outs from the council. I spent a few hours with Thomas, chatting mainly about photography, teaching him a few things with the camera, and watching him run up and down the street in an attempt to get his dogs back to the tent, as they constantly wander off. I managed to do some shots as well, however, difficult, as you feel that you are in a fish bowl, with everyone staring at you... He, however, displayed no sign of unease shooting away at me from all angles.
I showed him a PDF print-out of all the comments from members etc, and he was very taken by this. The prints I gave him were immediately cut to size (with a very blunt scissors), and pasted into his album that materialised from somewhere beneath the sleeping bag.

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Women of Johnson's Post

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
R E S I G N A T I O N

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catalan Maverick: Road Rage

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Old Man Walking

Photographer : Andre du Plessis ; From South Africa and presently in London, United Kingdom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rue des Rosiers

This is the steet of flowers, in the Marais district of Paris, and which today symbolises the Jewish community in this city. When they where expelled from Paris over 600 years ago, this is where they settled, which was at that time outside the boundary of Paris.
The area has become very diverse now, through immigration from North Africa and Eastern Europe.
Some sections of Marais are very pleasant to stroll through, with trendy shops and cutting edge designs peering out of these medieval looking shopfronts.
I needed to get this lady with her buggy in front of one of the pillars to avoid her losing impact against the backdrop, and was lucky on my second attempt, as I waited for her to walk back from the grocery store.

Women looking at hats at Nieman Marcus department store.
Location: Dallas, TX, US
Date taken: June 1945
Photographer: Nina Leen
Size: 1280 x 1047 pixels (17.8 x 14.5 inches)

Close-up of saleswoman at Nieman Marcus hugging mannequin heads at department store.
Location: Dallas, TX, US
Date taken: June 1945
Photographer: Nina Leen
Size: 968 x 1280 pixels (13.4 x 17.8 inches)

Covers Martha Wright
Date taken: April 04, 1950
Photographer: Nina Leen
Size:1280 x 1223 pixels (17.8 x 17.0 inches)