Photographers : Morne Van Zyl

It started in the late eighties. I was walking around the Market Theatre and managed to get my hands on a sea-water damaged Minolta Dynax. There was no risk that it was going to work ever again but I hung it around my neck regardless and strutted around feeling like the coolest person ever. In all honesty I haven’t gotten rid of that feeling, and for quite a few years now my cameras have actually worked!!!

For years thereafter my friend and I got around taking pix and making a right nuisance of ourselves. We snuck in – and got chucked out of – quite a few places. Homeless haunts, cemeteries and derelict landmarks like Turbine Hall and the old Gasworks in Jo’burg were considered fair game. I have a blurry picture where I nearly got run over by the Knysna Choo-Tjoe whilst wandering the line.

At some stage during the late nineties I realized that my medical aid wouldn’t pay for a lobotomy and the writing was on the wall that I wouldn’t survive much longer in my accidental IT career. I got married to a remarkable woman, took time off to study photography formally, fathered twin-girls, screwed up the photography for by best friends wedding, photographed people, animal, vegetable and mineral, moved to Cape Town, sent out a lot of mails, knocked on a whole lot of doors, and met a whole lot of great people.

Possibly, but not necessarily in that order.

In a tumultuous world of fluctuating markets, mood-swings, Viagra, The Web 2.0, viral marketing, capitalism, minimalism, post modernism, DTP, P2P, DHL, HIV, CSI and millionaire African heirs who’d love to share their good fortunes with you if you’d permit them to deposit the money in your bank account, the reassuring sound of the shutter, Tom Waits’ growl from my iPod, the smile from my girls, the aroma from a perfectly drawn espresso and the fact that my wife hasn’t kicked me out yet is the reason why I’m excited with life every day.

I do, as they say in Japan – “Take Photo”

www.mornevanzyl.com

Morne's Work