Yellow Wall, 1979
This was a very unkempt wall near the studio I worked at, until one day some painters pitched up and painted it, first white and then this beautiful yellow, unt...
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This was a very unkempt wall near the studio I worked at, until one day some painters pitched up and painted it, first white and then this beautiful yellow, until the high wall stood out like a huge abstract painting in the otherwise drab street.
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May, 2016Views
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Zenith Award
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Fall Award 2020
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Behind The Lens
Location
I shot this image from our studio in Jorisson Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. I was working for the South African power utility, Eskom, as a photographer at the time. This was back in 1978/79.Time
I had just returned from a photoshoot and it was just after midday sometime.Lighting
I needed to get a pretty flat light, directly from above, as shadows cast to left or right would have spoiled the image. I think the shadow directly below enhances the feeling of height and gives a bit of depth to fill in the white space beneath the painters.Equipment
I used my favourite camera at the time, a Nikon F. It was such a long time ago, I cannot recall the lens, but it was probably my 200mm medium telephoto which was a particular favourite. The wall was about 100 yards away so the telephoto would have been necessary.Inspiration
There was this 3 or 4-storey high ugly decrepid wall next to a Caltex petrol (gas!) service station opposite our studios. It was one of those walls that absolutely needed a new life... It was also at the near-end of a long straight sreet, and so could be seen from quite a distance. One day there was activity at the top of the wall as workers started preparing a facelift. They worked all the way down the wall to the bottom scraping and sanding and whatever, and we watched fascinated, wondering what they were going to do with it - I mean, it cried out for something special. It was that kind of wall. They did the white undercoat and then they started painting this beautiful bright warm yellow. I did my mind! My colleagues didn't miss any opportunity to tease me about "Errol's Wall" as it became known in our studio. I patiently waited the "moment" when I would get the best image, with just the right balance of yellow above with some white below for impact, with the right painterly edges...Editing
No post-processing. This is a straight analogue shot digitised using a Nikon Coolscan slide scanner. Time, I'm afraid has disappeared the film details into a filing cabinet somewhere. I have the 35mm slide, but where, exactly?)In my camera bag
My favourite camera was a Nikon F using a 200mm medium fixed telephoto lens. I also used a 55mm Macro Nikkor as a basic standard because it was small and covered most eventualities. These days I use a Nikon D7000 with a Nikkor 18-70mm 1.3-4.5 G ED Zoom lens most of the time. My favourite, though is a 105mm f2.8 Micro Nikkor, which I prefer to use to isolate detail from the surroundings.Feedback
Patience! You need to find out what you really enjoy photographing and concentrate on that. For me photography is mostly about seeing the things that most folk just don't see. When the image appears on a wall in a frame it's a surprise, because people walk past stuff all the time and never "see" it. Taken out of context, like in a frame on a wall, the image amazes. (Of course, you do get the odd comment like, "Hey doll, it's just grass - I can do that for you with my smartphone and we'll make a print for nearly nothing...!" - comment on one of my images on exhibition.)
