our GANGST*R fundraiser launch party ! 8 JUNE @ Okku !

I PRESENT PROJECT GANGST*R

With less than one month to go before our big Cape Town Project GANGST*R. 

We are running around like headless chickens.  So much to still organize and so little time, but that adds to the fun i guess ! This project is gonna be killer .

Soon we will be boarding the plane and although all our admin bullshit is complete we now have tons of filming and shooting to do for 1 month for GANGST*R

Not only are we frantically trying to get sponsors confirmed, the sponsors logo's emailed to us, invites designed and printed for our fundraiser party, guest lists put together, gangsters sorted for our shoots, studio and equipment sponsorship, but we are also doing photo shoots almost everyday and then coming home to retouch all night. 

Im also busy planning the exhibition for Mega, which will be on the 26th of May . The project has finally been launched http://www.foo-dog.com/p/mega/project - so have a look. I will be producing 4 large prints for the exhibition.

I'D like to present a project ... GANGST*R

The UNTOLD VISUAL STORY of the Cape Town GANGS of South Africa - THE CONCEPT

Candy Kennedy, a 26 years old, Cape Town born, Dubai based photographer is going to journey into one of the most dangerous areas in the world to capture the real people behind the gangs of the Cape Flats.  What makes this insane endeavour even crazier is that she's also very blonde and very pregnant. She wants to be able to tell her future son that he was hanging out with the wrong crowd before he was even born. 

She plans on photographing portrait shots of members of the major gangs in the area " The Americans, The Mongrels and the various members of the number gangs". Candy is shooting her book in an original and edgy way. She is not looking for pity for these men but rather bringing out the attitudes of these revered and feared gangs.

' A lot of young men are forced to join these gangs  because their families have been threatened. The gang wars in Cape Town between rivalry gangs claiming areas and status is a daily occurrence in the Cape Flats. Being raised in poverty, without a basic education there is no future for these youngsters. They join because they have no choice.' 

- Candy Kennedy

 It's a huge and dangerous endeavour but with Candy's background growing up in Cape Town, exploring the streets as a child and shooting on them for campaigns as an adult, and her connections within the cape flats, she has the street smarts and the balls to make this project happen. 

 " Gangs have always fascinated me : their faces, their tattoos and there motives "

" I love a bit of adventure and there is nothing more exciting and adrenaline pumping than meeting, photographing and dealing with the worlds most dangerous gangsters ... 

THE CAPE COLOURED GANGS

THE CREW FOR GANGST*R 2010

THE PHOTOGRAPHER - candy kennedy

Candy Kennedy grew up in Cape Town city centre. She dropped out of school when she was 16 to ambitiously follow her dream of becoming a high end fashion photographer. When she was in her late teens she flew to New York to do her first fashion shoot with a model friend of hers, she fell in love with fashion and hasn't looked back since. 

After working continuously, assisting international photographers and exhibiting her own work in Cape Town in various galleries and clubs, she has built an incredible reputation for herself in Africa, Paris and the Middle East. 

She has shot for Magazines such as L'Officiel, Marie Claire, Elle, Mens Health and Emirates Woman.

With international campaigns for Dove, Oil of Olay, Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways, American Express, Universal music and Shangri-la Music L.A

Her favourite job to date was a Dita von Teese fashion editorial for L'Officiel magazine

THE VIDEOGRAPHER - mark sherman

After graduating in 1993 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Mark realized that a conventional job sitting behind a desk just wasn’t gonna to  cut it. While he was deciding which direction to take his life he volunteered to be an extra in a Joburg movie and realized he’d found his new career.  Mark joined the top crewing agency in
South Africa and began his training in the lighting department, firstly running around as a spark then slowly rising up the ranks to the head of lighting (  Gaffer ) 
 
While he was still sparking, his mentor and boss said to him: 

"One Day you will see the  light, this is when you can say you have mastered your craft’ ... 

Thanks to many long hours over countless commercials for everything from Pampers to
Porche and features, including ‘The Kingdom’, with Jamie fox, ‘Syriana’ with Matt
Damon and George Clooney" He has ‘Seen the Light.’
His latest feature " City of Life " has just been released at the cinemas in Dubai http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3m3I7iMnvw and is the first feature film produced and set in Dubai. After migrating to from South Africa to Dubai, Mark began to play around with film as well as lighting and now wants to take his career to the next level and start producing projects he can truly call
his own. He has worked closely with Candy for the last 2 years, documenting her fashion shoots and turning them into edgy videos for her show reel. One to watch is www.candykennedy.com under videos.
 
As well as his work with Candy he has also been filming behind the scenes on fashion  shoots with top local designers like French owned Arabesque - http://www.arabesque-hc.com/spring_bsv.htm

A few application video’s for Mikyajy the fastest growing cosmetic brand in the Middle East. The makeup label can be seen on youtube and has over 4000 hits.  
 
Mark’s passion is capturing the real life moments behind the scenes and with his latest  project ‘GANGSTAR’ he will be following Candy Kennedy on her travels to Cape Town SOUTH AFRICA to document the shooting of her new book on some of  the most feared men in the world 

THE CAPE TOWN GANGSTERS...  

GANG ORGANIZER - lionel turner 

Aged 27, grew up in an area in Cape Town called Kuils River. In 2002, following a year at college studying business, Lionel decided to do something a little different and way more exciting. He joined the Film Industry. Starting off at the bottom, he quickly moved up to generator operator at
Media Film Services www.mediafilmservice.com .  

After 2 years at Media, Lionel decided to go freelance as a Spark ( film lighting technician). In 2009 Lionel moved to Dubai where he started working as a Best Boy with goals of becoming one of Dubai's new gaffers. 

Lionel has worked on numerous commercials and features such as Poseidon Adventures, Gallow Walker, Disgrace and Invictus to name a few. 

We are lucky to be working with lionel for this project. 
He will be helping with the production as second camera man and organizer of the gangsters.

THE CHARITY

“Coaching for hope charity”

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME'S POWER TO CHANGE LIVES

Is football more than just a 'beautiful game'? More than a highly lucrative sport which often sees its athletes paid obscene amounts of money? The FA and its charity partnership, Coaching For Hope, thinks so; and it is setting out to transform the lives of some of the world's most underprivileged children - all through the power of football.

The aim of Coaching For Hope (CFH) is to use football to empower vulnerable young people in the developing world and make them aware of the dangers of HIV and AIDS. It does this by using UK Championship and Premiership coaches to train local people and educators to coach football as well as to use the game to spark debate about HIV and AIDS among children in their communities.

Over time these local coaches and educators are trained to take over from the UK coaches and start to run their own Coaching for Hope football schools. The aim is to spread grassroots community football throughout some of the world's poorest regions, and deliver key messages about HIV and AIDS along the way.

CFH already runs successful programmes in Burkina Faso and Mali in West Africa and, with the announcement that the 2010 World Cup will be held in South Africa, the charity is now piloting its project in Cape Town.

South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world, with an average of 1,500 people infected daily. There are more than 42 million HIV-infected people globally with nearly 30 million of those in Africa.

To help launch the initiative in Cape Town, England Women's Head Coach,  Hope Powell was joined by coaches from Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Queens Park Rangers, as well as a local trainer from an organisation called Kicking Aids Out, at the Marsh Memorial Children's Home in Rondebosch, Cape Town.

They were also joined by CFH patron Norman Cook, better known as DJ Fatboy Slim, who is hosting a series of fundraising concerts for the charity in South Africa.

Powell and the other FA coaches then took a group of 40 local wannabe coaches through an intensive week-long training programme as well as providing football coaching to children from the local SOS Children's Village. The 40 local coaches will now be encouraged to take the skills they have learnt back to their communities to help the children there.

One of the charity's most unlucky of converts, and possibly a ringing affirmation for the scheme's power to change lives, is 47-year-old Magadien Wentzel.

As a notorious criminal, Wentzel has spent more than half his life in jail for rape and murder. The former leader of the infamous "28" Gang he achieved notoriety, as well as the nickname 'the heart-eater', for eating the still beating heart of one of his victims.

However, following a Tornado in 1999, which ripped through his house in the Manenberg district of Cape Town but spared his family, the self confessed "henchman of Satan" has had a Damascus style conversion. He is now one of the 40 coaches who Coaching for Charity hope will be powerful mentors for their disenfranchised communities.

He will be taking what he has learnt during the charity's training week onto the streets of Manenberg, a place where rows of grim concrete housing are adorned by murals of gangland icons such as deceased rapper Tupac. These types of murals aren't surprising considering that the area is notorious for its gang culture.

If Coaching for Hope can restore the sense of purpose of people such as Wentzel, whose desire to turn a new leaf seems genuine, then there is hope for the many impoverished children who have little to look forward to but who love the beautiful game. 

WHY

As a South African , I have never had much hope for the crime in the

country. Due to me , myself being targeting in many criminal acts. But I’ve realized that Crime will never be stopped but there is always change that is possible 

South Africa is a dangerous place without a doubt.

But is definitely the most beautiful country with a range of nationalities that make South Africa what it is . People in South Africa are sick and tired of criminals and violence. Every single South African, has been, without a doubt affected  by crime in one way or another. Unfortunately the people that are left in South Africa have no choice but to live in fear .

A lot of South African’s have left the country in search of greener pastures and work.

But not all South Africans are in the position to leave. I have friends and family in South Africa that I worry about everyday 

I believe my project can make a difference to the fellow South African’s still living in a country plagued with crime.

By educating the under privileged kids of today, this can only but, have a positive effect on reducing crime statistics in Cape Town.

Most foreigners don’t even know how bad the crime really is in Cape Town because all they see is beautiful sites such as Table Mountain, the trendy waterfront and the beautiful wine farms just outside of cape town but deep down in CT  there are massive gun wars and murders happening everyday.

With an estimated 60 murders and a staggering 100 rapes per day. S.A police also mentioned that this was probably an under estimated amount. Since 1994 there have been 680 000 criminal murders in South Africa

Over 6 million people are infected with HIV/Aids 

So we are asking for HELP, to fund this project so that we can help the good people of South Africa feel safe and reduce the murder and HIV statistics by targeting the youth  

    
 

My latest shoot for Emirates Woman May issue

a busy couple of days

The last couple of days and the next couple of days were / are gonna be hectic.

I woke up around 4am on Wednesday morning to quickly pack my bags and get to Sharjah airport,
definitely not my favorite place. I was hoping to grab a bite to eat, but no chance. I had a selection of
Iranian food, kebabs, chicken Shahish ( something like that ) and Asian noodles. nothing that really appeals to me for my breakfast menu. All i wanted was a croissant or some fruit. i ended up drinking a lime mint smoothie.

The flight was pretty painless. 45 min of flying on Arabian Air. I did visit the book store before my flight and bought one of Richard Branson's new books " Screw It , Lets do It " . Its an awesome motivation book for people that wanna get out there and try new things and give there careers an extra push in the right direction.

We arrived in Muscat at 10 am with a chilly temperature of 38 degrees Celsius. We were scheduled to start shooting one of the governments member's daughters wedding at 8pm that night. A royal wedding.
So I threw on my bikini and hit the pool. it was to hot to tan so i ended up ordering a milkshake at the local beach restaurant and sat in the pool for 2 hours before heading back to my hotel room for lunch.
At around 3.30 pm we got a call from the bride demanding we come to her hotel immediately , not in 20 min , but right now. 20 minutes was definitely not possible for me to shower, do makeup and get dressed and get my equipment ready. So i was roughly 35 min. We all arrived at her private luxury hotel villa
only to receive instructions that we were not needed now , but we should come back in 2 hours.
So we all went back to our hotel to wait until 6pm.

I arrived at 6pm and started building a studio within the lounge.
 My job as wedding photographer is to shoot fashion and portrait shots before the wedding starts, and then another photographer takes over the social photography side as soon as the bride enters the hall.

i headed back to my apartment for a movie and room service. I was at the airport once again nice and early to fly back to Dubai. its a pity we didn't get more time in Muscat as i heard its a really beautiful place. Next time we'll make a road trip out of it, and spend the weekend there

This is where i stayed - a truly beautiful 5 star hotel with a kick-ass pool and awesome service! - http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/muscat/barraljissahresort/rooms

My gorgeous Fiancee picked me up at the airport .  I jumped into my car only to be surprised with a little Tigger teddy bear . He went straight back to work after fetching me and i headed straight to my favorite bookstore Kinokuniya - the biggest book store in the world
http://ansam518.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/kinokuniya-dubai-mall/

Seeing i have just become obsessed with buying books , i thought i would satisfy my craving and buy a few books. i walked out with 4 books and plan to go back next week for a further shopping session.

Here's what i bought -
Notes on Directing by Frank Hauser and Russel Reich
Things I have Learn't - Stefan Sagmeister
Quentin Tarantino - The cinema of cool
Peter Biskind - Down and Dirty Pictures

Definitely an awesome collection for anyone interested in film and design.

Shortly after heading home i was once again surprised by Mark with a bunch of Sunflowers and a pack of good old South African pork ribs from honeydew. Now that's what i call a perfect night !

Right now i'm rushing off to another shoot which should be done around 11 pm tonight!!

Fun times

I recently had a meeting at Bareface offices with Mohammed Abedin the co-founder of Mega.
Abedin is a local artist who has given birth to a 3D blank canvas. The doll doesn’t look like much – it stands 20cms high, is uniformly white and utterly featureless but for a slight bump where the nose is supposed to be. Abedin, 22, is a self-described “urban artist,” a term that’s hard to pin down but which encompasses stuff like graffiti, stickers and pavement stencils. He is the co-founder, along with his partner Prathibha Edirisuriya, of the arts collaborative Foo Dog, which has been around since 2008.

Abedin currently works in finance but has always had a love for the arts. The Mega was inspired by a recent trip to tokyo. he is busy working on a huge art exhibition which will be held in May at DIFC.     He said “The whole point is to promote urban art here, then move across the Arab region, then maybe go a bit further with international artists. This is just a huge dream for me. It’s crazy.”

So i have decided to take part in this exhibition. Firstly i am joining as a photographer. He has chosen a small group of awesome photographers to take part in this massive project. Each photographer will receive a white blank Mega, the photographer will shoot 8-10 photographs where the Mega is starring as the model in the shots, the imahes will be exhibited and sold at the exhibition at DIFC. where he is expecting a possible 5000 - 10 000 people on the opening night.


I have then also decided to take part in this event as an artist. I will be receiving another white blank Mega that i can abuse and create art with. I heard that some artist are creating suits or specific outfits for the little resin future man. i have a few really technical arty ideas. I know what i wanna do so its time i pull out the wires and pliars and get cracking.

Me and my partner are working on a short edgy video that will feature the Mega. The video will be projected onto the big screen  on the opening exhibition night.


in a few days we will be receiving our mega's. Cant wait. i think this will be an unforgettable project.


For more info on Foo-Dog's Mega visit www.foo-dog.com

Not just another day

There is nothing more talked about than " The Weather in Dubai.

Today i woke up with the sound of thunder and rain. Actually at 5am this morning I woke
up with a call from my Fiancee telling me "ITS RAINING " . He is shooting a TV commercial
by the autodrome for a Cyprenese Bank. So he's been awake since 4am. Then at 6 am I got a call from my brother telling me " ITS RAINING " .  Rain in Dubai is a very very rare occurance. If usually only lasts for 2 -  hours if we lucky. When it rains in Dubai people turn off there music to listen to the rain, we rush to our local petrol station to pick up a latte, we stare out the window inquisitive to see the droplets hitting the puddles on the floor.  This Winter it rained about 5 times , and each time it rained cats and dogs.

Dubai is clearly not set up for rain , in terms of drainage and experience etc The last time we had hectic rains , i was at my computer retouching when i felt water by my toes. Within 2 mins my entire apartment was flooded ! i was running around like a mad woman outside my apartment expecting my computers to blow up like in the movies . Lucky nothing as dramatic as that, except that my big teddy bear absorb all the water and has never been the same . Driving in Dubai during the rain is also a big no no.
I recall the radio informing us that there had been 400 accidents in Dubai from 6 am to 8 am due to the rain. Alot of people dont even know where there windscreen wipers are .

Then again in Summer . Without a doubt the first thing anybody will say to you when you meet
them is " wow its fucking hot today " . These weather conversations have even become pickup lines for men. Yeah go ask the blonde girl with the big boobs what the temperature is today. Its become a bit cheesy but it does work , cause i love talking about the weather, and so does everybody else during summer

Summer .... what does that mean ? here are a few words to describe Summer  in Dubai
Swamp ass, melted cheese, hard to breath , no going outside, free sauna, Constant smell of other peoples sweat and sea water becomes thick soup water.  Yip Dubai sucks in the summer, thank god it only lasts for 4 months !

Lucky me , Im actually out of Dubai for the entire summer from June until 1st November.

Have a look at the behind the scenes video of my fashion editorial for M Mag

M Mag fashion editorial - click on the link to downlaod the video