Kevin Cook's Photo Blog

i’ll start using this blog for my recent photo work (as well as my future trips to Africa) so stay tuned!!!!

10 hours before I am about to leave Johannesburg, South Africa for Atlanta before finally landing in Philadelphia. If there are no delays I will spend a few minutes under 24 hours traveling back home. Right now (as I write this in my notepad) my heart hurts so much. I do not want to leave South Africa, but I understand I must go back to my “life” in the US – back to school, and the “real world.”

I do consider the past 6 weeks my “life” – until I get back to my other one. There is something I will miss and these feelings – no one – except myself will ever understand.

I have gone to Durban, a few miles from sea level in which tiny houses painted with pastel colors overlooked mountains – and as someone pointed their hand out to the sky I followed it – their fingers showing me how beautiful this place is. The scenery, the golden sunset, those cute kids sitting on the mountaintops, and they never knew I shot that picture. I want them to look back at me and I want to show them that picture. Please, look back, I think. Maybe some other time.

I went to Cape Town and spent days with Viwe and Solomon walking the streets, even though some weren’t paved they knew which way to travel. Viwe showed me his house – his flat screen TV – he laughed. It was actually a cut out of a box that did have a flat screen TV inside. His bed is like my bed and the posters on his wall – music, art and a polaroid photo – the two of us – reminded that I affected him as much as he affected me. I could walk out for a second and see the exterior, cracked wooden shack, but he is no different then me. We drank beers, smoked cigarettes at the Waterfront Pub and tossing the ashes on the ground. He knew how excited I was to spend time in the township and he said, with Solomon by his side, “well, this is our home, but for right now it’s your home too.” I did not notice a sense of regret in the last statement – whether or not his accent, his skin color, or his country is different then mine. Are we really that different? Or is this what we read, see or are told?

It is here I came, not to travel to some game reserves or sit on the beach, but to experience culture – life – reality. Why everyone asks me why I am still not sure I can answer that question.

I have spent time in Nelspruit – BBQ’s with the local’s, every time they asked “make me a picture.” So I did. I shot it – on my digital camera and they looked at the LCD screen, satisfied, even though they probably will never see the picture again.

And of course I was in Joburg – where I “lived,” more than everyone else – where so many African myths were debunked time and time again.

Next year I will be back. I would like to start in Northern or Central Africa before coming back here, for now, unfortunately it is time to leave.

I regret too much on my trip. Not going to every single city and township and shooting every frame before my camera would have to be repaired. Of course I regret the impossible.

And then, right now, here, I am miles away from my “life,” or my other “life,” but it seems so hard to figure out that question “Why?” Why? I’ve given answers, but more will come in time. When I come back, or when I am somewhere else – thinking, dreaming.

These are my thoughts.

But for now,

Bye Africa.

My Africa.

My friend Brittany asked me, “So do you just travel to different places, hang out with people and shoot their pictures?” (Britt — I know this wasn’t exactly what you said, but something like that).

Basically, to answer that question — yes. Joburg, more specifically Lenasia is headquarters where Dr. Bhayroo has been kind enough to set me up with family and friends, but for the most part I traveled to and from Cape Town, Durban and, now, Nelspruit by myself.

For each destination I have endured long bus rides (18 hours Joburg to Cape Town, 20 hours Cape Town to Windhoek, Namibia) still unsure of where I’d sleep until I got off the bus. I would look for B&B’s or some type of accommodation in the nearby township and spend time there.

When you are staying in a township — there really is only one reason you’d do so — to spend time in the township. Most likely if you are going to Kruger National Park you aren’t going to sleep in a township. Therefore the hosts, or friends, do their best to show you around, so, I can hang out with the people of S. Africa and shoot some photos.

For most of my trip, I have been somewhat of a vagabond, sleeping in 8 different beds, spending over 4 days traveling by the time my flight comes back to the US. I am writing this down in my notepad, in my last bed, in Kanayazmane, Nelspruit.

I have spent time with the “real” Africa — the beautiful people that inhabit the country. It makes me sad to think that on Sunday, August 16^th I will be traveling back home, but I know my experience has been extremely worthwhile. I hope to travel back here next year.