A town called Kwanoxolo (a place of peace)

I received photos and a text from Russell Mbulelo Kanas depicting a town called Kwanoxolo and its people. In the essay Russell describes his thoughts about photography in an interesting way.

I am glad to publish this work on 591 coming from a photographer living in Africa, a continent with only around 6 percent of the population having access to the Internet. In Sweden around 85 percent of the population have Internet in their homes and in North America around 75 percent. - Mr Urbano

Russell Mbulelo Kanas
Born: 1981
Lives in: Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Coming, planned exhibition: Formative frames
Inspiration (photographers): William Eggleston, Sabastio Salgado, Tim Hopwood, David Goldblatt Inspiration (other): Christ
Film, digital or both: 3yrs ago my work was film now only digital
Quote: a personal vision " to capture the innocence of life for there lies truth and the image of creation."

The elective is made out of two streams of essential one river, the two are predominantly capturing people in their environment while the other elective portraiture. What makes the two different in approach is techniques and motive.

In my documentary the work I often use maximum depth of field, the viewer is often shown the environment in which the scène takes place. This is to achieve as strong sense time, and place. This is to use elements around to describe the feeling of the photograph. This is to be as truthful as possible in capturing the moment.

The vision that umbrellas my work is that of capturing the innocence of life, truth and the image of creation, this is the unifying factor for the portraiture and the documentary.




The one stream, portraiture is a determination to learn to describe the character of the sitter. I use a minimalist approach, by using a wide aperture; the background is eliminated, while the subject is still in his or her comfort, their niche. - Photos and text © Russell Mbulelo Kanas

SEE PART TWO