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 !

a catch up day 3 - 5 of GANGST*R SHOOT

DAY 3 - Mpumaleni

Saturday the 26th of June . We had initially decided to not shoot on Saturdays but, we managed to organize 2 gangsters for the day, so we figured why not lets get the numbers rolling !

We drove into Mpumaleni into the street where the drug dealers and druggies hang out, and we stopped directly outside the CandyStore which Mark and I both throught would be a great location to shoot because of the name. Not knowing exactly what kind of Candy store it was.

Lionel explained that there is no way we could shoot there, because the Candy Store is the biggest Tik drug store in the whole area. The police have tried numerous times to close the store down, but surprisingly were unsuccessful. I dont understand how the cops cant manage to close down a drug den especially if they know where it is. Well perhaps it proves beneficial to the cops to leave them alone, as im sure they get paid in either drugs or money to stay far away.

We picked up one of our gangsters from that road. He was a MOBSTER. He was a dodgy gangster that also tried very hard to suggest a location of

his choice for us to shoot at. I was keen and as soon as i got into the car Lionel told me that it was a trap, and what he actually wanted was to take us to a place where he could arrange his friends and rob us. This specific gangster was really interested in what we were doing, where we were shooting and what locations we were using. Of course i pretended not to know much.

There in the picture below, you can see the guy with the Santa hat. As sweet as he looks with the hat, dont let the hat fool you. I was talking to him after the shoot and he was telling me a little about the gang - The Mobsters. The mobster gang do not have famiy , the gang is there family. There parents are either dead or they were abandoned when they were young.

He told me he use to be with the Hard Living gang, but then went to jail and became part of the 28's, and when released   
                  they all formed together the Mobsters - they are the drug dealers. There Motto - Fuck with our business of selling drugs and we will take you out.

He didnt go into much details about his murderous ways but clearly informed me that he has killed and stabbed many people and he has no heart for anyone except his gang.

Day 2 of shooting on the Cape Flats Lotus river

After Wednesday being a right off, and not shooting anything it was really great to get out there again, and start shooting. We had Die Burger newspaper interview us first thing in the morning and then had Kirby the journalist and a photographer come along with us, to Lotus River to come see what we are up too.

Lionel was a bit late with picking us up, but he informed us that the guys we were shooting that day were really really hardcore. The   

newspaper guys were under no circumstances allowed to say they were from the newspaper , as this would have caused big problems.
The gangs are already nervous with us taking pics of them. the last thing we need is the gangs finding their pics in the newspaper while we are still shooting them, as this gives there identity away to the cops. We were a bit nervous going into Lotus river, because our Lionel told us he was there the night before and he said it was really dodge.

We had a bad feeling about the day, but after meeting our new gang organizer, Benton, we felt much better about the situation. He is very well connected and looks really hardcore. They took a while to get all the gangsters together. So while that was being organized me and Mark were running around taking shots of the local kids and dogs . Their were kids of all ages

running around. From babies to 13 year olds. Its definitely a different life to the lives we live. To your left you see a 2 year old playing with the bottom of a broken bottle, in front of you are 2 kids with sticks banging on drums and to your right is a mangy puppy that can barely cross the road, looks like he hasnt eaten in days. As a photographer you sometimes have to turn a blind on the reality of things and keep it professional. It would never work if i decided to save all the doggies or kids while shooting. I'd be leaving the location with a car full of doggies ;)

After about 30 min we started shooting. Everytime i shoot one of the guys i first make them hold a piece of paper with their alias tag name, and then i start taking there fashion portraits. Some of the guys look like they have been through alot, they seem more old style and angry, while the younger guys seem more cocky and arrogant, but definitely stronger with their expressions and thus super awesome for my shots!

I, at any given time had 10 kids around me. They were fascinated by my tattoos and loved my name, so they were following me around like little sheep. It made it really difficult to shoot, because everytime i wanted to move back i had 10 kids behind me and had to ask them to move back or out the way. But besides that they were great in my pics and definitely made the shoot more worthwhile.


Another amazing thing is the amount of washing lines we are seeing! i feel like im in heaven. In dubai i always feel i have to re create this sort of thing. But these areas we are going into are like filmsets ready for filming! Its incredible. And not only that, but Cape Towns beautiful clean light makes every shot just that much more beautiful.
And after living in Dubai for so long you forget how blue a sky can really get. Im always having to add blue to my shots to actually prevent it from being just plain white.

After these couple of days im actually thinking of other books i can produce in cape Town. I find the people so interesting and maybe my next book will just be about the people of Cape Town.

After shooting our 6 guys in Lotus river, we moved onto another location just across the road from where we were. The gangsters arrived and wow, these guys were incredible,  tons of attitude and character in each face.  They didnt want to shoot in the urban area, so they suggested a park across the road. I hesitated and then told then the park would really work with the feel of the shoot.

So we persuaded them to shoot where we were. Then one gangster through his toys out the cot and left. Which was fine because i prefered the other 4 guys. then they decided to take us to another location which was even better. As you can see the location shot on the left, Its in Ottery East and the majority of gangmembers that live there are from the 26's.  Unfortunately when Benton got out the car
he was told that there was a hitman from the 28's sitting on the bench a few meters away, and that we should leave straight away.

So we headed back to the other location and decided to shoot in Grassy Park, on the grass.
These shots were great, because besides the 3 gangsters we shot, we also got to shoot Benton with his two sons. We arranged a gun for the day and got some awesome shots with Benton with the gun holding his little boy.

During the shoot, one of the other gangsters was causing shit because he wanted pics to be taken of him, but benton didnt want him involved, because they said he was a spark, meaning a spark that causes a fire.

We ended the shoot on good terms and arranged some good contacts for a few future shots.

Today we were suppose to be shooting 19 guys in Parktown, but there were a few problems and they pulled out. Then we were told to met him in Ottery at a shopping centres entrance, but we couldnt get hold of him as there was a problem with his phone.

We ended up leaving the location and went to go film some kids playing soccer in eerste rivier.
Then the mist pulled in, dropped 10 degrees and the wind picked up, so we called it a day.

Between 10 and 5 - the creative showcase - cape town

SINS OF STYLE - by davey jones a joint tattoo session

Our first week in the mothercity

After a long and painful flight , we finally arrived in Cape Town at around 5.50 pm on Monday night.
The airports were empty and there were very few taxi's available at the airport. We heard that there was a football match on, Italy Vs Paraguay .

After a 15 - 20 min wait we eventually found a taxi driver who dropped us off at our apartment in Roland street. We quickly dumped our bags upstairs and got another taxi straight to Woolworths to buy some good South African food. Got home ate and passed out

On Wednesday morning we hooked up at Sinn's Bar  at 9am with Lionel who had arrived the night before. We discussed when we would start shooting, which gangs have been confirmed, which areas
are save and which areas are no go areas at the moment. Shortly after meeting Lionel , we finally met up with the MyLife team Linzi ( the founder ) and Damian ( a recovered gangster and actor at present ) and Mpanda ( who is on bail after a 10 year sentence in Polsmoor Prison, but who still sleeps at Polsmoor every night) .  An interesting bunch.

We got tons of info out of them , and they voiced there concerns for our project and also offered there full support with anything we needed. Initially Damian and Mpanda were going to come with us on all the days we were shooting, But Damian was a bit on edge with this idea and apologized but decided not to join us, for the shooting taking place in town, but would help us with anything else we needed.

Mpanda has agreed to come with us on certain days as he is still well connected. He told us he would help as much as he could, even though he was more connected in the black gangs than in the colored gangs. they insisted we shoot most of the footage in studio as this was a lot safer than going into the gang's areas in the Cape Flats. Unfortunately for us we have to shoot most of the footage on location as this is a way more interesting angle to tackle, in terms of lighting, shadows and real life situations.
So Lionel our gang organizer has arranged 2 guys who are well respected among the gangs,  to come with us on the days that we're shooting, to keep an eye on the situation and prevent any bad situations from arising.


They explained that the gang situation is out of control at the moment, because the gangs are so heavily involved in the drug TIK. Tik is a South African local name for Crystal meth. Most of the Tik users come from Mitchells Plein and 81% are taken by coloured men around 20 years of age.

Tik fucks up your mind, its makes you aggressive, desperate and on edge 24 / 7 if the drug is overused, and unfortunately a huge percentage of these gangs are addicted to this drug.The reason it targets the younger nation is because in the beginning stages of use its increases confidence and your sense of power.



The 2 young South African actors that were kidnapped in Camps Bay a few years ago and were taken outside of town and shot, were killed by a gang of guys who were on a 7 day Tik taking spree.
They hadn't slept for days and were out of control, and these two young boys were at the wrong place at the wrong time, and fell victim to Tik abuse



At the moment there are talks in the S.A government about legalizing prostitution. Young girl prostitution is crazy. There are places where older men get young girls addicted to Tik, and demand sex for drugs. They call it a Tollie for a Lollie . ( i guess you can imagine what that means ) .
Some of these girls are aged 9-12 years old, and the men ... anywhere between 30 and 50 years old.
I dont quite know where this is happening but i guess its probably happening everywhere and right under our noses ( which could mean anywhere if you count my nose into the equation) .



MyLife has an office in Maynard street, and just last week they were held up by gunpoint by a group of guys. Luckily Damian and Mpanda were there to calm the situation and the armed men left there offices without anyone getting hurt. There has also been tons of violent crimes in the last couple of weeks, but due to strict instructions, media hasn't heard a thing or hasn't been allowed to publish anything due to South Africa hosting the football.


I also found out that the underground ( literally under the mothercity is a dark unknown city of tunnels) crime situation is huge in Cape Town. There is a building that is directly behind Longstreet cafe, its called the Senator Park building that is packed with Nigerian gangsters. They supply the drug trade in Cape Town, and are above the law. The police are to scared to raid, or they have been bribed to stay away. Recently someone I know went in there with police to get something that had been stolen from them and discovered a dead woman in the apartment where the stolen item was. The blood was black, but the police denied that she was dead, only because they were scared to get involved. On the way down from the apartment, there were streaks of blood and vomit on the walls and shit all over the passage ways, with children on some sort of drug that made them run up and down the stairs in a crazed sort of way.

It sounds like a scene out of a movie. A movie that i would love to watch and research but have no time unfortunately.


Anyway, thought i would pass on my stories to you all, and hope you find it as interesting as i do.
I have always been interested in the underground crime movements of various cities. It amazes me how organized it is, and how involved the police really are.

OUR GANGST*R LAUNCH PARTY!!!

On Tuesday night we successfully launched our GANGST*R PROJECT at Okku - The Monarch Hotel
We would like to THANK everyone for their support !

Our 1st prize which was 2 return tickets to Paris sponsored by Etihad Airways was won by GONZAGUE  from Arabesque abiya's.

So the time has finally come for us to leave and start our project. We are flying off to Cape Town on Monday morning. Thats 3 days before we start shooting the worlds most dangerous gangs.
Its all very exciting and we will be updating this blog everyday with news and video from our days experiences, and what a day each day will be !