Photography is my passion but I try to write as much as I can. Here is a recent travel piece I wrote about me exploring Isle of Wight on the back of a Royal Enfield.
And the following are recent single images.
A policeman is reflected in the commemoration wall, embossed with the names of South African police members who have died while on duty. Today was the Commemoration Day held in Johannesburg.
Protesters stand on top of a burnt out car, looking on at a man scavenging through the ash to salvage scraps of metal. Xenophobic violence again broke out in South Africa as locals express their anger towards foreign nationals who came to South Africa for a better future.
#FeesMustFall students are reflected in the glasses of Gwede Mantashe. Students marched to ANC headquarters, Luthuli House to protest the high cost of tertiary education.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa Little Eden is the permanent home to 300 residents who have profound intellectual disability, the majority of whom have been discarded and abandoned by society. Although the average age of their residents is 20 years, the average intellectual age is that of a one-year-old. Affected negatively by the Post Office strike they did not receive donations like usual and as an extra blow they couldn’t send letters to usual donators, asking for help. Furthermore the South African Government decided that they would only give them money at the end of the month and not at the beginning as was normally the case. So they have a huge backlog on money to care for residents.
In July 2010 the massive search for Panjo, a pet Bengal tiger that went missing, grabbed South Africa’s attention. The 18-month-old Panjo had escaped from the bakkie of his owner, Mr Goosey Fernandes, on the evening of 26 July, somewhere between Bronkhorstspruit in Mpumalanga and Springs in Gauteng, where Fernandes was heading to take his tiger to the vet. The three-day search started around the farm areas on the outskirts of small-town Springs. Once the missing tiger made headlines several “spottings” led a search team, now consisting of helicopters and a light aircraft, and among others, highly-skilled animal trackers from the Kruger National Park and Animal Planet, along the route Fernandes travelled the night Panjo disappeared without a trace. Finally, late on the evening of 28 July, where a 23-year-old man had earlier reported a spotting along the R25 about 10km from the Verena-township and 40km from Bronkhorstspruit, a dog came to Panjo’s rescue. Zingela, a Weimaraner dog trained to track predators, spotted Panjo in the darkness in dense bush a few meters from the road. Zingela’s owner, mr. Conrad de Rosner, an expert animal tracker from the Sabi Sands Nature Reserve, noted the tiger was unscathed but starving and Panjo was quickly captured by his owner who lured him with some meat. An emotional reunion followed when Panjo was returned to the family’s farm in Groblersdal in the Limpopo province. South Africa remains intrigued by Panjo the overnight celebrity, who continues to dominate headlines.Set-up portrait of Panjo back home, lying on the couch, the day after he was found. (Although it’s an old image, I included it because I have won many awards with it.)
CORNEL VAN HEERDEN 