Down Time

One of the best things about studying something like photography is that I actually enjoying doing it. Hence when I have down time you are more than likely to find me in one of three places.

1. In the journalism department editing my photos 
2. Out taking more photos
3. At the Rat and Parrot (our local pub) hanging out with friends who, you guessed it, are mostly all journalism students

So in staying true to my nature here are some photos from two different photo shoots that I recently did in some down time. A big thanks to Caeri Dunnell, Kate Brook-Hart, Meg Ross, Claire Martin and Stephane Meintjes for helping with the shoots and allowing me to photograph you again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Livestock Trading

David Howard and Leon Schoombee sort the heifers from the bulls at the small holding of Cape Eastern Livestock, a livestock marketing company located in Alexandria, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 5 September 2011. 

Everyone has heard of stock traders and can recall scenes of secrecy, calculation and tension from movies like Wall Street circuit 1987, but not that many have heard of a livestock trader. Indeed there is a profession where people make their living trading in livestock and act as the middle man between farmers and potential buyers like abattoirs, butcheries and feeding lots. Given that livestock farming is the largest agricultural subsector in South Africa, an exploration into this profession is a valuable source of knowledge.


The Eastern Cape’s location and size give it considerable advantages when it comes to agriculture. With it 168 580 square kilometres of land the Eastern Cape is by far the largest livestock province in South Africa. It has 21% of the country’s cattle, 28% of its sheep and 46% of its goats. It is therefore not surprising that the province is littered with farming communities. One such farming community is centered around the seemingly small town of Alexandria. It is because this area is a hub of activity in terms of cattle farming that we find numerous livestock companies in operation.




Cape Eastern Livestock is one such livestock company that operates from the Alexandria area. It is a family run company with the owner David Howard working alongside his father, John Howard, and his colleague Leon Schoombee. Livestock traders literally trade in livestock, which means they buy and sell livestock to potential clients. Although Cape Eastern Livestock does have an office that is based at Howard’s home in Bushman’s River most of their work is conducted on the move and therefore in their vehicles and on their cell phones. 


Howard and Schoombee have the task of sourcing livestock on a daily basis. Farmers will contact them when they either have livestock to sell or are looking for more livestock for their farms. For example a client from Natal calls and asks for dairy heifers on the point of calving. They would first go around the district contacting the local farmers looking for heifers. If no one in the local area has available Howard would then widen his net to include the Western and Northern Cape. They would drive or fly down to evaluate the stock and judge whether the price is reasonable for the condition of the animals. They would take photographs of the stock and then contact the client. If the client is happy and wishes to go forward they would broker this deal on the client’s behalf. 


In the Alexandria area most of the livestock trading is cattle as majority of South Africa’s cattle ranches are found in the Eastern Cape, parts of the Free State and Kwa-Zulu Natal, Limpopo and the Northern Cape. The four major dairy breeds in South Africa are the Holstein, Jersey, Guernsey and Ayrshire. While popular beef breeds include the indigenous Afrikaner and Nguni and locally developed Bonsmara and Drakensberger.


On a daily basis Schoombee will collect cattle from the daily farmers to go to the abattoir. They refer to this as the ‘milk run’ and the cows that they collect will be at the end of their production. This could be for many different reasons such as faulty udders, not in calf or injured in the diary. These cows are branded with a paint brand and loaded to go to the abattoirs. The nearest of which is Rosedale Abattoir near Grahamstown. The abattoir will slaughter the animal and then provide Cape Eastern Livestock with the weights, brands and tag numbers of the animals so that they can check whether they are receiving the right numbers for the right farmers. These numbers are then processed in the office so that invoices can be generated and payments can be made.  


Another way in which Cape Eastern Livestock participates in the livestock industry is through cattle auctions, which they host once every two or three months depending on livestock availability. These auctions are mostly for slaughter stock so they are well attended by abattoir owners in the area.  


Livestock trading is an industry that is constantly on the move and adapting to the economic and agricultural climate. At present Cape Eastern Livestock is involved in moving dairy stock up into Natal and the Free State. Most of their stock is sourced out of the Alexandria, Humansdorp, Tsitsikamma and Western Cape area which results in a small family run business in Alexandria having a wide national reach and involvement. 

David spends a large majority of his day answering and making calls in order to source stock and advise clients. Cape Eastern Livestock buy and sell livestock for their clients as well as advise clients on marketing strategies for their livestock.

Leon is an agent for Cape Eastern Livestock and works closely with David. They are in constant contact throughout the day to ensure the smooth running of the company.

A Jersey calf peers out from the trailer which transported it and other calves to a farm nearby Alexandria. Cape Eastern Livestock was commissioned to source these calves and then transport them to the client.

Leon helps one of their workers offload a trailer of calves that was ordered by a local Alexandrian farmer. Checking that the right animals and the correct numbers are delivered or picked up is one of Leon’s main responsibilities.

Workers carry the calves to the pens where ownership will be transferred over to the client.

David takes down the weight of a load of heifers that Leon shouts out to him from the scale. David will then call the seller to confirm that the numbers that he has received are correct before reloading the truck to sent it to Port Elizabeth.  

Offloading a cattle link, sorting and reloading is a time consuming job as herding these large animals takes a certain kind of know how. Leon directs the farm hands in sorting the heifers from the bulls in order to check the numbers and weigh the animals.

A Holstein heifer waits to go into the stun box where it will be bolted in the forehead with a captive bolt pistol. This method is used for stunning animals prior to slaughter and is essential in preventing the pain and suffering of the animal during the exsanguination (bleeding) process. The captive bolt pistol results in a forceful strike to the forehead that will induce unconsciousness. 

After the bleeding process, where cattle is hung upside down by both hind legs on a processing line and the carotid artery and jugular are severed, the cattle’s hide and internal organs are removed and inspected for internal parasites and signs of disease. The carcase is then graded, stamped and put in the cooler room before being taken to local butcheries.

Cape Eastern Livestock hold cattle auctions at their small holding in Alexandria once every two months. Cape Eastern Livestock will source stock from farmers who are looking to sell or buy at their action.

Leon stands on the fencing to check that all the animals are in the correct holding pens as each pen will be auctioned off as a lot. Lots can consist of one or more animals and are considered sold as soon as the auctioneer declares the bid won.  

A farmer stands up to express his angry at not being seen by the auctioneer at a cattle auction hosted by Cape Eastern Livestock. The auction is open to the public but most of the buyers were from local abattoir as majority of the livestock being auctioned was for slaughter.

The auctioneer calls out bids at a rapid pace while David and Leon look out for people trying to bid at a cattle auction for slaughter. Each lot is brought onto the scale, which is built into the pen, so that the crowd can see both the animal and its weight.

After the auction has come to a close everyone enjoys some braai meat and drinks outside. This also allows buyers the opportunity to organise trucks or trailers to come and collect their newly purchased cattle.

Just Another Tuesday

So it has been a fairly busy term as you can tell by my lack of posts in the last few months, but I am back and will be posting again on a more regular basis.

Well to kick start my return to blogging I thought I would share with you all the details of my fabulously exciting Tuesday practical last week. Our lecturer Sophie Smith set the class the task of taking one commercial/fashion photo outdoors. We were all given a week to come up with a concept and decide how we were going to use our limited lighting - which consisted of two reflectors, one off camera external flash, a white umbrella (to be used as a diffuser) and a large white sheet just in case.

Now this term we have been given five projects to complete - three photo stories and two soundslides - most of which have to be based in the small farming town of Alexandria (more to come on these projects in future). So basically to cut a long story short my eight classmates and I have been spending majority of our weeks in Alexandria, where there is in most places absolutely NO cellphone reception. Yes, you heard me right there are indeed still places in South Africa where no network will work. It is both a blessing and when you are trying to get hold of your lift or are locked out of a farm those house is a 2km walk in the pitch dark - a curse. But back to the point, in true student procrastination fashion, most of the class (myself included) did not even give the fashion shoot a second thought until the day before. Yet despite our dis-organisation we learnt so much about using studio lighting outside and how to direct models. 

Our final images were put up as our PAW (Picture A Week) photos for the week. Seeing as I went first I decided to shoot some behind the scenes photos of our class at work. So check them out below:

My final image of Cougar Caeri Dunnell, one of my lovely classmates. 

National Arts Festival 2011

13 days of hard work, no sleep, rushing all over Grahamstown to photograph shows and still finding time to go out with friends until the wee hours of the morning.

The National Arts Festival, which is held in Grahamstown every year, is not just a arts festival. For Rhodes Journalism students the Festival is a way of life. It is non-stop roller coaster ride of performances, people, partying and getting practical experience in your field of study.

When you are a fourth year journalism student at Rhodes University you have to work for Cue (newspaper) if you are a writer or designer, CuePix (a photo agency) if you are a photographer, CueTV for the TV students and CueOnline for the new media students. Basically the journalism department becomes a hub of activity and craziness that by far surpasses that of any newsroom that I have ever interned in.

I worked at Festival last year in order to improve my low light photography and prepare myself for when working for CuePix would be mandatory in fourth year. And it was one of my favourite times both last year and again this year. You just don't get any better than getting paid to attend theatre, singing and dance performances of such high standards.

The CuePix staff would every afternoon have a diary meeting to organise which photographer would be assigned to which shows that were being performed the next day. The assigning was on a first-come-first-serve basis so you were assured at least one show a day that you were actually interested in watching and photographing.

As fourth year photographer we also had to produce soundslides during the Festival. These are the two that I produced and can be found on CueOnline: they feature Gary Thomas and acappella group D-Seven. I also supplied photographs for a soundslide on South African artist John Ellis 

Abnormal Load is a theatrical piece by Standard Bank Young Artist, Neil Coppen,  Grahamstown, 30 June 2011. CuePix: Tarryn Liddell

Candace Gawler and Juliette Pauling perform in the student production Woemen at the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown. CuePix: Tarryn Liddell

Gary Thomas a maestro at manipulating guitar strings performed at the Arts Festival.

 

A man. A woman. A table. Interiors is about what happens when your life becomes as boring as your interior decorating. Starring Beren Belknap and Nadia Caldeira, Grahamstown, 8 July 2011. CuePix: Tarryn Liddell 

Rob van Vuuren is the winner of the inaugural Comics Choice Breakthrough Act Award and is performing at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, 30 June 2011. CuePix: Tarryn Liddell

Furry Friends

Whether you are a dog lover or a cat person your heart can't but be filled with the impulse to instantly take everyone of God's creatures home with you when visiting the SPCA. I recently visited the SPCA in Grahamstown to take some photos for two writer friends that are doing a profile piece for Grocott's Mail on animals that need homes. The three photos of dogs that are below are are just a few of the animals that are looking for a loving home. The cats are from the SPCA in King Williams Town (my hometown).  

As the sun comes up

Murphy's law (if anything can go wrong it will) the day that Dianne Jordan (my fellow photojourn classmate) and I decide to get out of bed at the inhumane hour of before 6am we are greeted by an average Grahamstown sunrise. Being Grahamstown and Winter we were so hoping to get a misty, moody sunrise or at least some contrasty clouds but alas all we got was clear blue skies and sunshine. Netherless that was the last time I put faith in Grahamstown weather doing what I want it to do. 

We did manage to get some decent photos though by turning our attention from the landscape itself to the smaller objects in the foreground as the morning light was hitting them. Here are my best ones from the morning.