Gregor Röhrig

A busy picture sprinkled with colours, concepts, brands, people, and street lights…

Whenever there is smoke and burning rubber I have the tendency to get close and take pics. Shooting with a 10mm wide angle means that you have to get really close to fill the frame.

Taking this pic felt quite risky as the the back wheel of the bike was screeching at an incredible speed and the the slightest loss of control by the driver would turn the bike into a raging crowd-busting torpedo. Adding to this was the splatter of little hot rubber pieces onto my lens…

I shot this picture whilst attending the Wesbank Soweto Street Race. A fire had broken out afar and polluted the hazy winter sky with thick dark smoke. The media chopper flew past this smokey wall repeatedly, which prompted me to take the pic.

A friend of mine and I went on an impromptu road trip through Soweto a couple of weeks ago. I’d recommend this to any and everybody – there is just so much to see and do, and most of all it gives you a really good feel of the Soweto Township vibe. During our trip we met Tabang:

Tabang used to play the recorder at Rosebank Mall. Now he gives short tours around the Walter Sisulu Square Monument in Soweto, explaining the 10 pillars of the freedom charter.

After completing his presentation Tabang takes out his recorder and plays Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, and then proceeds to show off his musical talent by playing the recorder through his nostril!

While we were at the monument Tabang recognized a friend of mine, whom he remembered from many years ago, and while showing visual expressions of doubt, delight, and surprise, I took the opportunity to take some portrait shots of him:

What a lively and joyous character!

Today a new concept is being launched, one that I am very proud to be associated with, more so, one that I anticipate will become great!

Open SA! is a pilot project in collaboration with SA Rocks and the African Commons Project that enables people to share historical and cultural materials about South Africa for the benefit of all.

Heather informed me about this project a little while ago and I jumped to the opportunity to participate. I made a selection of my photographs available for this project (by licensing the images under a Creative Commons license, and adding them to the Open SA! Flickr group).

I am excited to wintess the growth of this site and the material contributed towards the cause, and finally seeing what will be done with that material.

As I said in the Open SA! interview:

With the incalculable amount of historic and cultural material South Africa harbors, it [open licening material] is not just only a viable idea, but is in the best interests of South Africa and South Africans to participate in establishing a public domain of material. What good are the historic and cultural materials if they cannot be used and reused creatively?

I’ve decided to jump off these towers in the very near future. I like the idea of the world’s first power swing between two cooling towers . But then I need someone else to take the pics!