my new toy - "Penny"

The Olympus Pen E-P1 - my beauty!!

image: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/EP1/ZFL14FLASH.JPG

© 2011 tania whiteley

I have pretty much had a camera attached to my hip for years. Since we met in 2006, my trusty Canon SLR and I, have been on many interesting adventures together! Sadly I dropped him while in Elands Bay in February and I just haven't been able to have him repaired. In the meantime I've been shooting on my Holga - but that has left me with the job (and expense) of processing and developing the film, followed by the task of scanning and colour correcting the images... missions.

So whilst surfing around, looking for inspiration for a project I'm planning for my 3rd years, I happened upon a camera review for the Olympus Pen E-P1. It's a 12 megapixel, compact digital camera with interchangeable lenses and full HD video capacity. Wow. Needless to say, I swiftly fell head-over-heels in love with the little guy! So, I decided, 'it's time'. Firstly, for those who don't know me, I'm an awfully pretentious, superficial person who even buys food based on the packaging (inside joke), so I initially thought the whole 'vintagey' look was super cooool! And apart from the fact that it feels so nice in my hands, it also shoots so easily and beautifully. I think it suits my needs a bit better than that bulky old boy, mister SLR. Not a waste is he, though... after a little TLC he'll be raring to go, just in time for a little stop-frame animation project I have in the works... 

Whoops, did I type that out loud?

Haha, that's right. It's happening :) 

Later.

Ps: I found Penny at  Kameraz, an awesome camera dealer in Rosebank (Johannesburg). They can find you just about anything and they're a second-hand camera dealer, too... The Olympus E-P1 retails at around 7k, brand new, but I got Penny at half price, and he's barely been used.

TOMS: One Day Without Shoes

Lisof bares it all for charity...

© 2011 tania whiteley

On April 5th,  Lisof joined a global community of bare-footed supporters for 'One Day Without Shoes', a social awareness campaign launched by TOMS Shoes in 2010, in favour of their One for One™ mission; for every one pair of TOMS shoes sold, one pair is donated to a child in need.

When I heard about this a couple of weeks prior (and I must credit Jessie Nossel, a third-year design student for this), I was determined to spread the word. Little did I realise how many people in South Africa were already wise to the idea. Students from Tuks and Wits also knew about the campaign, and we saw more than just 'Lisoffians' walking around barefoot! Thanks to the helpful resources provided by TOMS, there was very little to do other than to get more people on board. After showing the promo video to staff and students, we printed posters to pin up all over the Design District building, as well as Hatfield square! We also had some foot-stickers made (massive thanks to Richard Jermyn of Creative Brands for his help in getting the stickers made and delivered at such short notice!)

We were all so inspired by the initiative, that we decided to host a shoe-drive in support of 'No Shoes Day', as it has since been dubbed. We managed to collect around 500 pairs of good quality second-hand shoes for charity. Despite the damp and chilly autumn weather (hello winter!), the participatory response from staff and students was just incredible.

Thanks to everyone involved for the support! Next year's ODWS is going to be even bigger!

© 2011 tania whiteley

© 2011 tania whiteley

© 2011 tania whiteley

© 2011 tania whiteley

 

 

© 2011 tania whiteley

 

 These shots were taken around 9am in the morning, but we continued collecting shoes throughout the day and also for days after... a truly profound response from both students and staff. Around 500 pairs collected!

elands bay...

My favourite place in the world...

© 2010 tania whiteley

© 2010 tania whiteley

© 2010 tania whiteley

© 2010 tania whiteley

© 2010 tania whiteley

I admit I am not exactly the most devout blogger around. I suppose time is a rare commodity for any chronic procrastinating-workaholic-perfectionist. However, I have decided to change my ways and promise to deliver a proper update in due course... I have much to share with you!

In the interim, I hope you enjoy this series of photographs I took last weekend in Elands Bay, following the Design Indaba. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty inspired - in more ways than one. Anon.

Marike

© 2011 Tania Whiteley

My beautiful friend, contemplating life.

the kitchen sink...

© 2010 Tania Whiteley

...of the house I grew up in.

you can find me up here

losing your marbles

featured in Migrate magazine

phantasmagori-folk

illustrations for Migrate Magazine

Coming out of the Starship Closet

[ Illustration for Migrate Magazine ]

 

© 2010 Tania Whiteley

  Title page for an article written by Alison Hingle for Migrate Magazine...

MIGRATE - Obsess

 

© 2010 Tania Whiteley

Thank you to the über-talented Alison Hingle, and Creative Director Roanna Williams (I want to be an Astronaut) of Migrate magazine for including me once again.

When I heard about the theme of the latest issue 12: “Obsess”, I was super excited to contribute! I'm sure you can tell I had a lot of fun with it - enjoy!

(Migrate is available at Exclusive Books. It features some really great work by local and international creatives. Get it - you won't regret it)

 and there she is... 

 

sneaky peek... HOT new local T-shirt label!

watch this space... that's all I'm saying...

© 2010 tania whiteley

an arm and a leg for a private education

Okay, so for the record, I do not intend for this to become a typical ‘diary blog’, but I have decided to allow myself the occasional ‘rant’. I promise not to whinge over such petty frustrations too often...  Besides, isn’t that what Facebook is for?

I felt the need to write about a pretty unpleasant exchange of words I had with a student the other day - I suppose it comes with the territory, so I'm certain it's one of, hopefully, not too many similar future instances. So, to fill you in, the student in question has missed all of the lectures this term with no excuse. No surprise then that she has been on my mental ‘blacklist’ for some time…

vent OPEN:

{Although I had fun writing it, my quick-tempered rendition wasn't really at the heart of the matter, so I decided to remove it}

So, refusing to ‘lose it’ in front of my students, I had no choice but to  internalise it all. 

As a young lecturer I realise that amongst other things, I have much to learn by way of dealing with these types of situations. One such lesson, I suppose, is that one can't afford to take things so personally - as much as it hurts when those on the benefit-receiving end of one's efforts are so completely blind and unappreciative. So, let me share with you what I suspect to be the root of my aforementioned ‘inburst’…

Unfortunately, in South Africa, tertiary education is not free. And, if you want to study at a private institution - in this instance, Lisof: arguably the top fashion design school in the country – not only is it not free, but it is not cheap. In fact, my own parents would consider it to be completely unaffordable. I'm sure I don't really have to explain my point here, but what this means is that tertiary education is a privilege and NOT a right. It is a gift that so many of us take for granted. I bear witness to it each and every day, and it drives me absolutely bonkers!

If, like me, you are a die-hard optimist, you would believe that everyone is born with a special gift or talent. Thanks to our declining education system, fewer and fewer kids are able to go to school, much less one staffed with dedicated (non-striking) teachers, who are not only skilled, but passionate about recognising and nurturing talent. Even fewer still, will ever end up at a tertiary institution of any kind. A feeble zero-point-something percent of the underprivileged population is afforded the opportunity to study beyond high school level. If you’re a student reading this, the fact is that someone, somewhere is paying for you to be. It may be your parents, a bursor, a sponsor or maybe you’re working three jobs in order to pay off your own tuition - in which case, I salute you!

So forgive me for being a little ratty when you haven’t attended class because you decided to go to Zanzibar for a week, or you just didn’t feel like getting up early today, or for not doing your homework because you “didn’t have time”, yet I saw you drunk as a skunk at Gin on Thursday night. I feel ratty when I have to throw away a rotten tomato, because I feel it’s such a waste.

So please reflect on this for a moment: if tertiary education was free in South Africa, and you were evaluated based on a combination of merit, raw talent, aptitude, commitment and your willingness to sacrifice… would YOU be there? 

Honestly?
 
Think about that the next time you decide to miss a lecture because you “just don’t feel like it”. You may be paying the proverbial 'arm and a leg', but someone, somewhere, unaware of the expression, may not view it as an unreasonable exchange. They may even end up single-legged-ly kicking your arse, if only to prove that it wasn't a futile sacrifice.

making of/ teaser shots - Lisof shoot: Main Street Life

 

photograph: © tania whiteley

 

photograph: © zele angelides

 

photograph: © zele angelides

 

photograph: © tania whiteley 

 

photograph: © tania whiteley 

Just a couple of "making of" shots taken at a 'surprise' shoot I arranged for my 2nd year students, atop the Main Street Life building here in Johannesburg. I recruited two wonderfully talented friends, photographer Maritz Verwey and graphic designer - slash - photographer, Zelé Angelides to take some shots of the students wearing hand-printed tees (that they designed and silk-screened themselves - yes!) We were fortunate enough to be granted access to the roof for the shoot by owner and developer Jonathan Liebmann, and what an ideal location it was. We also took some out on the street. Man, i love living in the city!

don't let your figs drop off...

I so love this excerpt - found it quoted on a wonderful blog I discovered a few days ago... here

 "I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story.  From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked.  One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out.  I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose.  I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet." -Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

my friend nick

Meet my other best friend Nick...  he can touch his tongue to his nose. now that's talent right there!

Took these pics at our friends Pam and Calvin's wedding last weekend... fun fun!

City Slickers Show

© pic by Trevor Paul/Maaike Bakker

 © 2010 Tania Whiteley

One of my happy snaps was exhibited at the City Slickers Poster Art Show at the Wessel Snyman Creative Gallery in Cape Town a couple of weeks ago - yay! Apparently the show heads off to London this week. RAD! It was hosted by Verb and One Small Seed Magazine - click here to see the site.

You may recognise the button wall (far left) from an earlier post... ahh yes, but this one, she is not the same wall! Okay, technically it IS the same wall, just photographed many months later. So anyway, I was just about to print it for the show, when I realised that the resolution of the original was just not going to cut it. 

 A toothless, beady-eyed Indian lady almost had my head when i photographed the original at the haberdashery all those months ago. This time, i came prepared - camera strapped to arm, concealed under a hoodie - so there I was, in button corner, snapping away, feigning sneezes to shroud the shutter noise... how surreptitious of me!

Sadly I didn't get to attend the show, but i snatched the top pic off the facebook group... heehee... don't think it fits in as well as some of my illy's would have, but hey... fun! Now if I could only get my R300 back from the post office for damaging the other prints in the post... it even read in big, bold print: "DO NOT BEND"! tsk

a picnic in the park

Whilst living on the western outskirts of Johannesburg for almost five years, I spent most of my student days (and sleepless nights) at home, nose buried in books with the mistaken belief that there is very little to do outdoors in jozi (of course i refer to non-life-threatening activities) besides shopping at the nearest open-air mall, or visiting the zoo... pretty depressing if you're a flat broke Durban gal with an aversion to animals in cages...

Shortly after moving to the leafy, arty, party suburb of Greenside earlier this year, i was invited to a lovely birthday picnic in the park. How happy i was to discover that Johannesburg is a really beautiful and happening city - with so much to do... outside! In fact, we're actually pretty spoilt when it comes to the outdoors, and what variety! Besides the plethora of restaurants, pubs and coffee shops lining the sidewalks of Parkhurst, Greenside and the like, did you know that Johannesburg has 24 major flagship parks? (click here for the Johannesburg City Parks website to see a list of all of them)... and that doesn't even include the smaller parks in the burbs... people do everything from walking, running, cycling, picnicking, rowing, canoeing, bowling, walking their dogs, volleyball-ing, frisbee-ing, sleep-ing... it's like a beach. With grass.

So anyway, in spirit of this revelation, I decided to arrange a little outdoor get-together of my own - and what started out as a pretty cloudy, rain-threatening morning, turned into a beautifully sunny, sunday afternoon at Emmarentia dam... just thought I'd tell you about it, since I was too busy to take pictures!

Maybe my friend Chad would be so kind as to let me upload some of the shots he took on the day...

And here's the invitation. My apologies for getting it to you so late...

PS: i still prefer Cape Town. Just saying. 

a drawing class in the park

decided to take my students out of the classroom for some fresh air and sunshine... lets just say that i'm considering it a permanent change of venue...

© 2010 Tania Whiteley/ LISOF

...and then I dreamt of yes

Cousin That

just a bit of silliness...

Zana

Zana dreaming beside her lake...

PUBLISHED! in Slanted Magazine issue no.9!

 

  

  

 

click on the image to get a closer view

German Typographic Magazine 'Slanted' - I have to tell you, words cannot begin to describe how WOW this magazine is! Jam-packed full of the most beautiful typography and design... stunning photos etcetera, etcetera!! So proud to be a part of it. They also  added a hand-scrawled note asking if anyone would be interested in distributing it in South Africa! Hell, yes please! About 200 pages worth of mind and soul food! This mag is GOLD. Have a look at their site here - features a few of the spreads from the magazine - so do yourself a favour!