Huck Magazine - Smarteez

Huck Magazine asked me to submit a pick of the Smarteez for their 50th issue. Floyd Manotauna is part of the iconic Soweto based collective. I had a fresh shot for the story too, Floyd was one of the featured collaborators in the NOT X CS exhibition which recently showed at Wallplay New York and The MOAD in Johannesburg. 

Check out the article above. 

CT 2015

A Soweto Home

Busy Recce'ing for a TV shoot coming up and came across this very colourful Soweto home. I think its a portrait of a colourful cliche. 

CT 2015 

NOT X CS: INTRODUCING FLOYD MANOTANA

Over the past couple of weeks leading up to the NOT X CS exhibition in New York cities Wallplay gallery Another Africa have been posting a story a week on the collaborators involved in the project. This week they have introduced well known Sowetan street wear design Floyd Manotana AKA Floyd Avenue, I have documented him many times before this as he is one of the founding members of The Smarteez collective. 

Below is exert from the Another Africa article: 

'  Behind the veneer of fashion, well the business of it, we sometimes see the creative impetus. After all in a world saturated by clothes, what makes a designer pick up their sketch book?

For many a creator, an anthropological introspection is part of their habit and routine, though they’d hardly refer to is as such. They are likely to describe it as observing or seeing; it could be a small gesture, or a certain attitude they’ll say. However big or small, these details that often go unnoticed, are the very things that become the inspiration to create. And so fashioning fashion sometimes becomes a catalyst for the making of a new rhythm and self-imagining. ' See more on Floyd at http://www.anotherafrica.net/design/fashion/floyd-avenue

CT 2014

Shangaan Electro for The Guardian Review (UK)

So after almost two years since the last time I had the opportunity to shoot the Shangaan Electro dance scene, I was commissioned by The Guardian newspaper in London to re-visit Nozinja, the dancers and the eclectic upbeat music scene. 

We hit Orlando train station late on a sunday afternoon and joined Nozinja as he selected his next group of dancers to tour the UK and Europe. 

See the full story here: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/jul/05/nozinja-shangaan-electro

CT 2013 

Corner to Corner feat. Spoek Mathambo, Dirty Paraffin & Bhubesi

Red Bull has got behind some of SA's best musicians and threw a weekday gig where things got messy when Spoek Mathambo, Dirty Paraffin and Bhubessi hit the streets of Soweto and made the party. I shot it because it was fun. 

CT 2013

Bhubessi

Spoek Mathambo

Okmalumkoolkat from Dirty Paraffin.

Bhubessi

Okmalumkoolkat and in the background BFG.

JHB Style - Duplicity (The Business Issue)

Its been a mad month. One robbery down and I am slowly starting to put together my blog posts, scrapping together finished shoots and trying to get my system back in order. Here is a shoot I did for JHB Style magazine for their business issue (FEB 2013). Simply called Duplicity. 

Photography. Chris Saunders

Photographic Assistant. Jacques de Jager 

Styling. Natalia Fernandez 

Hair & Make-Up. Natasha Kruger 

CT 2013

Little Dragon in Soweto

A few months ago I had the privilege of touring with swedish band Little Dragon. While on tour the band performed a gig in Soweto. In one of our short moments of pause I managed to get this group image under the power lines outside Chaf Pozi. 

CT 2012

Rolling Stone Magazine - Spoek Mathambo

I have been waiting to release this for months. My first cover of Rolling Stone magazine South Africa featuring Spoek Mathambo. The shoot was a collaboration between myself and The Smarteez. The Smarteez styled the shoot and we shot on location in Soweto.

' Songwriter? Surely in an era where God is a DJ once again (take a bow, Guetta) and the producer his son (stand up Skrillex), "songwriter" might seem like an old-fashioned, even anachronistic title to aspire to? Not for a sonic architect and rhythm scientist like Spoek, for whom songwriting remains the Holy Ghost, the key to resurrecting the poetics of the archive. A space where the sound, rhythm and temporality of digital "storage space" can be reworked until it yields dimensions of intimacy, beauty, even reality. For Spoek travelling the spaceways isnʼt some nostalgic impulse. Itʼs a presence. ' Miles Keylock - Rolling Stone Magazine Editor

Photography - Chris Saunders

Styling - The Smarteez

Photographic Assistant - MJ Turpin
Rolling Stone Story Written & Edited By - Miles Keylock
Rolling Stone Creative Director - Georgia Gardner

CT 2012

L'Officiel (Paris) features the Smarteez

Open publication - Free publishing - More l officiel

Another post that I have been anticipating to release is that some of the more recent Smarteez work has been published in the french fashion magazine L'Officiel! I got to meet writer Alexandra Senes in Johannesburg late last year and she showed some interest, much to my suprise she decided to a fill spread on the Smarteez using my images. If your in France, get a copy.

CTS 2012

The Smarteez - Red Bulletin Magazine

A few months ago I had the pleasure to re-visit one of my favorite subjects, The Smarteez Fashion collective from Soweto, Johannesburg. Red Bulletin Magazine, Red Bulls monthly publication commissioned me to go and shoot a new piece on where they have come from and where they are going. It was an amazing experience and it is interesting to see the new challenges for the prolific fashion designers.

I was accompanied by Tudor Caradoc-Davies who wrote a in depth story into the guys, aptly titled Rainbow Warriors. I have attached it to this blog post for your perusal.

Chris Saunders 2011

The Tshe Tsha Boys

I thought I'd start off the year with a recently published article which I shot late last year. The story was on the youtube Shangaani Electro sensation, 'The Tshe Tsha Boys,' from Giyani, Limpopo, South Africa.

Earlier last year while researching stories for the Colors Magazine 'Dance' issue on my residency at Fabrica I came across an absolutely manic video of a bunch of guys called the 'Tshe Tsha Boys' and a South African producer called 'Nozinja' who pioneered the now keyed, 'Shangaani Electro Scene.'

When I came through to South Africa to shoot the story as well as another which was published in the 'Dance' issue (Real Action Pantsula in Orange Farm) things didn't work out due to unforeseen circumstances, I returned disappointed to Italy empty handed with regards to the Tshe Tsha Boys shoot determined to approach it when the opportunity came up again.

A few months later I received an email from the editor of Electronic Beats magazine Viktoria Pelles about her them ironically researching stories for a dance themed issue. I immediately suggested the Tshe Tsha Boys who I know had a contact with and really wanted to shoot. She accepted the story and I jetted offto South Africa once again to do the shoot. Finally I had my opportunity and I was determined to get it right this time.

On the day of the shoot, I had a subtotal of four hours to get my shots as the guys had to return to their hometown of Giyani on a bus that afternoon and couldn't be late. We chose to do the shoot behind and in Nozinja's garden in Soweto.

They where energetic and soulful when approaching their dance, as if they knew nothing else and expressed their lives through this form of movement. I asked them what the costumes meant as they had made quiet a stir on youtube, they answered, 'Children love the costumes.' In Giyani and other small towns dancers like the Tshe Tsha boys are hired as entertainment and dance to crowds of sometimes thousand of people. The beauty of grass roots South African culture is its appreciation for live dance and entertainment. People in the mostly Shangaani area of Limpopo appreciate music in their language which embraces their own music and traditional dancing but now in a modern format (thanks to Nozinja). The community keep the scene alive by supporting local gigs and buying DVD's and Albums which are sold at the live performances. This allowing the scene to flurish and now with international interest possibly explode.

It was a pleasure getting to meet Nozinja and experiencing a non-exploited culture true to its roots.

If you'd like to see the original Youtube video I found please follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocgbLkayfTE

To a successful and Enlightening 2011.
Chris Saunders

Producer, Film Maker and Manager Nozinja.