South Africa: Making Photographs in Langha Township

We stepped off the bus and grabbed our luggage. The flight to Cape Town from Johannesburg’s Tambo International Airport was scheduled to take off in a couple of hours. The group scattered about collecting their belongings and chatting happily away. Waiting to get into the airport’s terminal, I looked off to the side and caught his eye. He was a young boy of maybe fifteen years old, standing reservedly to the side, holding a large clear bag in his hands. Inside were a few plastic bottles he has been trying to collect. Our eyes met briefly: we gazed wordlessly at each other until I looked away, feeling a wave of emotions sweep over me. Thoughts raced through my head, but I had nothing to add to his collection. In this moment I felt sadness, guilt and shame, all at once. Sadness for him and his unfair start in life. Guilt for not being able to help him and shame for all the days of my western life where I failed to appreciate how incredibly lucky I am to have been given all the opportunities along the way.
We didn’t stay long on this tarmac of the terminal and the boy quickly moved on to search for bottles elsewhere, but his gaze and his expression stayed with me long after. Even now, writing this story, I can vividly recall the deep sadness and apathy of his expression. Here I was on this wonderful trip, traveling in a country rich in natural resources and popular for tourism and I was not able to shake the feelings of partial dejection. Why was that?

The more I saw and the more I learned about South Africa, the more I realized how deeply it can get under your skin. The country is definitely hands down one of the most beautiful places in the world. Its geographical location, diversity of natural habitat, rich history, and warmth of the people who inhabit the land are rarely matched to other parts of the world. However, South Africa is also one of the most heart breaking places you’ll ever visit. The disparity between the rich and poor is evident on every corner. The wounds of apartheid and racial segregation run extremely deep and there are no easy fixes for the problems that exist here. You cannot talk about South Africa by choosing to stay at the expensive hotels, eat at the fancy restaurants and at the same time ignore the poverty found on the outskirts of its cities. The upscale South Africa is built for the rich, but this is only part of the story. There is so much more that runs through the veins of this land and it is an injustice to deny otherwise.

During my visit, I had the privilege to see and experience both. We stayed at the fancy hotels, but also visited the poorest parts of Soweto and Langa townships. We ate at the upscale restaurants available to the tourists, but also spent an hour in line at the local Middle Eastern eatery just to get a taste of local curry. I delighted at being able to photograph the rugged coastline of Cape Town’s beaches and the wildlife of Pilanesberg National Park near Johannesburg, but my favorite photos are of the people who live in the toughest conditions and still manage to do so with dignity.

In this part of my South Africa post, it’s precisely those images I’d like to share with you. I chose to present them in black and white, something I do not normally do (although black and white is one of my favorite photographic mediums). For comparison, you can see some of those images in color on my Instagram page if you’d like. For reasons I cannot clearly explain, I felt compelled to show this part of South Africa in black and white. Perhaps my creative choice hints at the bigger problems that plague this beautiful and dignified land. I don’t know. But I do know that despite all the current hardships, South Africans look into the future with hope. Recent political changes sparked a wave of cautious optimism and the increasing impact of tourism brings with it the anticipation of improved economic conditions for all.

As long as we, the travelers, are willing to look at the whole picture, and not just its individual parts.