Sea point's favourite Baby

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

Worldwide | Tuesday, November 8, 2011 | 3 photos

I grew up in South Africa and fell in love with photography when visiting my father(at the age of 16) in Busa, Turkey. I decided that I would become a photographer. Having been severely affected by Apardheid and knowing what it was like to have to find work, my mother strongly encouraged me to find a more stable and conventional profession. I became a computer programmer but never lost my love for capturing images. Now, 10 years after the fact, I've decided to revisit that dream and follow it. I've bought a DSLR and I am trying to soak up as much knowledge as I can, so I can aggressively put it into practice and get moving! It is time for a complete change and this scholarship is the perfect springboard to help me on my way.

South Africa is a really interesting place. It's a country that is home to many different people and they all have stories. Neighbourhoods, like natural environments are vanishing. I want to tell and capture those stories before they disappear.

I believe great photographs are lurking everywhere. It's just up to us photographers to find them. I found some magic while walking along the Sea Point promenade on one of our first summer Sundays this year. It appeared in the form of a beautiful 13 year old cockatoo called Baby. It is impossible to pass by Baby without staring. My girlfriend and I went over and had a chat with her friendly Danish owner who told us all about her and even let us hold her. She is very warm and friendly but also quite demanding. She prefers men to women and loves attention so much that she shrieks when she is not at the center of it. She is, after all, the prettiest bird on the promenade! I had no choice but to photograph her!

I still have a lot to learn and hope that a lot of that will be covered at Kruger!