I’ve always been drawn to art since childhood. In school, art club was the only club I ever joined because it was place I could enjoy being more creative. When I finished school, I wasn’t very decisive in what I wanted to do with my life, but art made sense, so, I decided to do a N Dip Fine Arts at what was then known as Pretoria Technikon.
During that time I explored most art mediums, settling on sketches and oil on canvas as my preferred art form. I remember having to transport large format canvases to campus by trying them onto the roof and driving with one hand out the window to make sure they didn’t blow away.
While I enjoyed my studies, after graduating, I quickly realized how difficult it could be in the art world for a very shy, naïve person. Instead of venturing out into that daunting world, I chose to work for my parents in their Chinese Takeaway for number of years. I was living a Chinese family stereotype, all the while thinking I would not have a very bright future despite what my parents had sacrificed for me. All their long hours of working the takeaway to give me a good education at a private school and I was not doing anything more with my life. I wasn’t afraid of hard work, or embarrassed to be working alongside them, but I wanted to make them proud and knew I needed to find a better career.
Finally in 1994, I began a second path in life. With the support of my parents, I studied Dental Technology. It was somewhat challenging because as an English speaker, I now had to translate my lectures from Afrikaans to English. Despite this challenge, and perhaps because I was an older student, I came top of my class. I felt that I had found a career that really suited me. It’s a field I’ve worked in since 1999, first in Pretoria, then the UK, and finally in Cape Town. In Dental Technology, it’s a blend of art and science. Getting the perfect personalised shape, colour and fit for each tooth. Working with shades, blending and sculpting to deliver a beautiful smile. It’s been a rewarding career, but once again my restless artistic side started to resurface.
Despite being encouraged by my (now) wife, soon after we started dating, to draw and paint again, I never felt motivated to do so. But I loved taking photos, felt inspired by photo competitions and exhibits, and when I’d go consult with dentists, I’d browse the photo books in reception and wish I could produce photos that creative. For many years, photography felt like an unattainable dream. The photo’s I took were ok but they weren’t art. I might print and hang them in my home but a stranger wouldn’t pay to do that. I felt it wasn’t something I was good enough at to make a career of, even part time.
I eventually decided to invest in a DSLR cameras so that I could get better photos, even though I didn’t really know what I was doing. On road trips I’d take landscape and wildlife photos, but I was just clicking and filing the photos away. In 2015, my wife (who at the time ran an adventure travel company), was offered a site inspection in Tanzania. At the last minute she managed to have me tag along. Technically I was her photographer. In reality I was just the guy that liked snapping pics without any real understanding of how a camera works. Fortunately there was a real photographer from the UK on that trip and he was generous in sharing his knowledge and his lenses. After that Tanzania trip I was inspired and determined to develop my photography skills. I saved up and invested in a telescopic lens for wildlife and started studying online, learning from the pro’s who had well established careers in photography.
The big mental flip came when Cherelle bought me a one-on one-session with Fine Art photographer and teacher Martin Osner for my 50th birthday. He took me for a landscape shoot in Kalk Bay. It was a very relaxed approach to learning. He chatted through the technicalities of photography and it really felt like I was way out of my depth, but in the end the results looked spectacular. I couldn’t believe I had done a proper photo session with a real award winning photographer and produced a photo that made me breathe differently. I now knew what I wanted to do, I just had to learn the art of doing it professionally.
My approach was to go out in nature and look for photo opportunities, and then to learn the art of editing. My passion in photography has never been buildings, or bustle, but rather textures, contrasts, visual metaphors – the odd stone here or the lonely animal or person just being a part of a beautiful world, trying to make sense of it. No matter how old I get, I think that this is part of our essence… For me, it’s just the start of the journey.
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