Overlooked: Township Shack
This picture is an entry in the Photo Friday: Overlooked challenge. Everything in this image has been overlooked at some point: the "wallpaper" of weekly adverts overlooked by consumers and discarded, the non-working clock on the back wall, the cardboard and thin plywood roof was overlooked as garbage by construction workers or shipping companies, the sheet metal siding overlooked as scrap and dumped. What this particular photo overlooks is the uneven packed mud and dirt floor and the lack of electricity and running water. Even the people, who still retain their friendliness and spirit, more often than not overlooked as well.
Location: township near Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 2000.
posted by jeremy on May 23, 2003 in Categories: Travel
See, THIS is why I visit Photo Friday. I hope no one overlooks those beautiful smiles.
posted by: Jake on May 23, 2003 11:15 AMExcellent point. *I* overlooked all of the things that you mentioned. I took them for granted as a sort of visual "background noise".
Great job!
posted by: Hex on May 23, 2003 11:24 AMI started taking images when I was 8 or 9, and after college had quite a few exhibits; mostly all B&W straight photojournalism stuff, D. Lange/Eugene Smith-ish---this image brought all those forgotten images I took back into mind. I will say it is an incredible capture of this moment, and this moment's emotion, story and tale.
-gr8 shot
posted by: btezra on May 23, 2003 01:12 PM