DAY 4 Shooting in Lotus river

DAY 4 - Lotus river .

This was a similar location to Day 2. Except that this day we used a different sort of light. A light that i loved so much that i decided to change the entire projects feel and lighting. And so have continued to use this lighting for the rest of the shoot days.
Luckily its 10 x easier, because honestly setting
up a 8 x 8 ft Scrim in a dodgy windy location is near to impossible with only 3 guys helping set up and having to keep an eye open for any dodgy happenings.

The photo above right is of Benton our new gang organizer who was helping Lionel ( picture left). Yes he looks dodgy, yes he is a skelm. We used him for a few days and then he tried to screw us over, so we had to drop him. He ended up wasting a lot of our time and became greedy and started asking us to pay for his Doctors bills, and taxi fares when in fact he was using the money to smoke TIK.He called me late one night and tried to find out how much we were paying Lionel and was trying to cut Lionel out of the dealings and work direct for me. Then the next day he phoned Lionel and told him that we were not allowed to
use his pictures anymore and that he wants 1000 rand per picture we take. Lionel told him to fuck off and now we just receive the odd late phonecall from Benton that we just ignore.

 This location we used today was fucking awesome. This cafe on the left sold a load of groceries to the local people and served as a kickass background for one of my shots.

 We shot a load of gangsters that day, with names such as Jakkels, Faces and Rooi-Kop. We managed to lock off interviews with Jakkels and
Faces.

The interview with Jakkels ( 26 gang ) Yahgia Amadien - He is around 55 years old, and he may be an grandfather and father but he is still very much involved in gangsterism. One of his tattoos date the 18/06/85 he explained that he got this tattoo the day his son was born and the day that he went into jail for killing someone during an armed robbery at a post office. He served 20 years in jail.
He said that killing someone is not a joke, and the murder still haunts him.

When he started out as a gangster it was purely because he was so poor. But then it became more about wanting stuff and accumulating knives and guns.

 He says even to this day he steals everyday,      because he struggles to get work because of his tattoos and because people wont hire gangsters
and when he does get work they pay so little and he cant support his family. He has 7 children from various woman, and he told us that within the 5 years after he was released from jail, he had many woman. He offered drugs for sex and he got alot  of it.

Interview with Faces -  Moegamat Pieterson 21
He is one of the Gifted gang members. He joined the gang at 16 years of age and doesnt regret it at all. The life wasnt bad to begin with, but he just loves the dangerous living of a gangster. He would take his jacket off for the pictures because that weekend he had been stabbed by another gang member , he said he will get his revenge, because he knows who the guy was.

They call him Faces because when he attacks someone, he targets the face. His other nickname is Red, i asked him why but he said i wouldnt like the answer, so i asked his friends and they say its because he likes blood. He says when he kills someone he feels nothing. He doesnt have a heart for them . " Ek voel niks " says Faces. 

He loves his life as a gangster, he doesnt wanna change. He says if he had to choose then he would rather be dead, than change his present lifestyle. He is a 26 gang member, clearly a money lover, as they call themselves. He doesnt steal, they give him money. He hates the cops. " Fuck the Cops, they are gangsters just like me" he says ". 

We moved from lotus river to another area, that was unknown territory for our gang organizers, but had some shooting potential for a few more guys. We did find a Mandela look a like that gave us a few Mandela speeches and spoke exactly like Mandela. Pretty entertaining except sometimes they take up alot of our time, especially when they wont let go of your hand and they stand directly in front of you while you are shooting. If you think shooting in satwa is bad, think again. These guys are not your average crowd clusters.


You cant tell them to piss off, otherwise they are more likely to pull out a knife and show you whose boss. So as irritating as some people can be you have to politely take the time to listen to them and there bullshit. In every location  we get our sparks, the people who get angry that we photographing in there locations and not paying them enough money. The results ... an angry crowd. Thats the time we drop, roll and get the fuck out.  
 
We headed back to our first location, for some video footage on TIK smoking and gambling.

 Benton went to score some TIK, a lolly and a Button  ( a mandrax pill ) from the Dealers. The total cost was R 130. We went into there shack where they started smoking. Must say it was really interesting as i have never seen them do it. Here attached are a few shots. It was really dark inside, so i had to flash to be able to see something.

After the Tik they showed us how they gamble. Its so fast i cant even keep track, but all you see is guns and knives being waves around. Benton explains that these gambling games sometimes become really hardcore and sometimes result in death or people being wounded.  Once again very different to the way people from normal society do things. But this is indeed way more exciting than a average poker game !