Cheetah cubs and the foiled robbery

Today, I went to get pics of 4 three-month-old cubs at DHL near OR Tambo airport, where they are on their way to Mauritius to the Casela Bird Park to be part of a breeding program, it was kind of a feel-good story about the efforts of some people trying to help these beautiful animals.

There was also another feel good story today. This uplifting story was one which included the deaths of 11 would be cash-in-transit robbers in Bela-Bela, Limpopo- the police where waiting for them and laid into them . They didn't arrest them, they simply killed them.

What a awesome feel-good story, its been a good day...

Well-done guys.

Mineworkers march

Today, I went to the CBD to cover a march by mineworkers from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to the Chamber of Mines on Marshall street. They are protesting about the safety of SA mines.
They had banners and flags, some saying that the mines had blood on their hands and that they were "dripping in blood".

It kind of makes me think, these people, the ones leaving their families, working underground, doing the labour, getting dirty, getting killed, they really get nothing.
It seems to me, as it has for a while that these large corporations couldn't care less about the people that do the "menial labour", they only look after the top.

The spokesman for one of the mines comes out and says that safety is their top priority, I doubt that, its just talk-Generating a hefty profit to justify large increases for CEO's and the like is top priority, as it always has been.














Protesters from NUM dance outside the Chamber of Mines in Marshall st. Johannesburg.

President Jacob Zuma?

Some polls are out, saying Jacob Zuma is leading the race to become the president of the ANC after their National Conference in Limpopo, South Africa soon.

I've been to a few functions where he has spoke, in fact, I've even had tea with him in his living room once when The Citizen interviewed him a while ago. I really do feel that if he means what he says, he can't be too bad.

Corruption charges and rape charges aside, he is anti-crime, and he even spoke out recently about the death penalty (which I personally think is a must for violent criminals).

I'm no political analyst, but Thabo Mbeki has been very quiet about most things that affect our country, and very interested in things that affect countries thousands of miles from our borders for years now. The only photos you seen of him, until recently, when he jumped on the Springbok bandwagon was of him greeting some obscure country's leader in an elegant office, he knows nothing about the man on SA's street, Zuma at least has that.

So, ... heres hoping that our soon to be President, is really not guilty of rape, that he has changed his opinion on showering fighting HIV, he never knew that Schabir Shaik was organising him a half a million rand bribe and he would'nt have accepted it anyway.

Jukskei River cleanup

I went with a organisation called SOUL (Save Our Universal Land) to clean up sections of the Jukskei river, just as it leaves the township of Alexandra.
You would not believe the filth in this river. Its understandable, I suppose as Alex is one of the poorest places in SA, but there was everything in this river- dead dogs, rats, tyres, blankets, cans, paint buckets, shoes, residential rubbish, carpets, cupboards....I could go on.

On the bright side, we did'nt find a dead body, which I did kind of expect to find underneath all the crud.

Crown Gardens Fire

Firefighters work to contain a fire in a warehouse at China-Mart in Crown Gardens, Johannesburg. The warehouse was full of toys imported from China for the Christmas rush.


I also used this fire as an opportunity to test my new video camera, I plan to shoot some video for this blog occasionally, its taken a while for me to learn how to convert, edit and upload, dont be too critical though, its my first attempt, it will get better :)



Finally, after trying to download free video converters, cracks, demo-programmes , crashing two computers, having to format and reload Windows on my laptop four times because of anti-virus programmes and some 90-odd viruses because of the lack of knowledge about what I was doing , the video is now here...... Check it out.

The Parade

The rain failed to stop thousands of fans from lining the roads of Pretoria and Johannesburg to see the team that won them the Rugby World Cup.Being on the media bus that led the parade, I was able to see first hand, the uniting effect that success in sport has on our people, people of all sizes, color, shapes and creed lined the streets to celebrate. On the highway between Jhb and Pta cars blew their horns, some stopped to take pictures of the team, every single person that I seen had a smile on their face. One thing that I noticed was the sheer numbers of black supporters that seemed intent to congratulate the Boks. That made me think that maybe the controversy about quotas is not really what the man on the street wants, but what a select number of politicians want, because the black people that lined the streets in large numbers seemed to love this team as much as the white onesBryan Habana lifts the Webb Ellis Cup for the crowds in Midrand, near Johannesburg.

Check out the support the Boks had during their parade through Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Rugby victory

South African rugby fans celebrate their 15-6 victory over England in the Rugby World Cup at Boktown in Johannesburg.South African rugby fans at Boktown got a surprise before the final, when they were joined by former President of South Africa , Nelson Mandela... I was also surprised because no-one from the PR company running Boktown felt the need to mention that he was coming, so after standing in the beer queue for what seemed like an age- I get to the front, the announcement is made and Madiba slowly makes his way to the balcony, being a newspaper photographer, I couldnt let this opportunity get away, so I ran there- got my pics and had to stand right at the back of the beer queue again... Thanks Madiba :)

Wits protest

Students belonging to various youth movements, protested by disrupting classes at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. They are protesting about increased tuition fees.These students ran from class to class, jumping on the desks, dancing and singing songs to force students that were in the classes to leave, they ran between the classes like they were possessed, this photographer (who is just one day from his thirtieth birthday) found it tough going, but nevertheless managed to keep up, even though he was out of breath, soaked through and extremely red in the face.


Damn, these kids hardly even seemed out of breath...

Strike

A striking worker shows his frustration during a strike at Caxton printers in Johannesburg.

Today whilst attending a strike at Caxton Printers, the printers that print The Citizen newspaper (which I currently work for), I was approached by one of the printer management, who said I must get pictures of all the strikers with knobkerries ( zulu wooden clubs), His approach towards me was as if it was "us and them" and I sure was'nt in either of those groups.

I told him he must be insane, asking me to do that and told him that there was no chance that I would, if he wanted pics like that- he could take them himself, I SURE AS HELL WASN'T.

If photojournalists gave pics that could be used to prosecute people, people at demonstrations would attack photojournalists as soon as they whipped out their camera, and I sure as hell dont want that to happen .

Khutsong @ the Con Court

A protester from Khutsong threatens with a knife during a protest outside the Constitutional court in Johannesburg. The court is to decide if Khutsong will be moved back to the economically superior province of Gauteng from the poorer North West province.
I've been to quite a few protests, but this is the first time I've been physically threatened. I dont know what this guys problem with me was, but he followed me around for a bit after this, still swiping at me, that was when I thought it might be a good idea to move to another spot, and did. Protests with the people from Khutsong have a certain feel in the air, like all hell could break loose any second- a feeling I dont get with any other groups of protesters.

Anyway, got a decent shot and will probably be there again tomorrow :)

Eden Park RDP

First time homeowner, 72-year-old Edith Sonhlahla in front of her new RDP house in Edenpark, Ekurhuleni.On the other hand, I recently attended a function in Eden Park, near Thokoza in Ekurhuleni, where a group of pensioners were given their RDP houses, they aged from 71 to 90 years old, most of whom have never owned a house. So, at least some people are getting the houses promised by the government, but there is still a huge problem with backlogs and corruption, until something drastic is done, more and bigger protests will break out over this issue.

Alexandra RDP

A group of mostly pensioners that barricaded a road in Alexandra with burning wood, bricks and tyres stand defiantly. They are protesting about the slow delivery of RDP houses. The houses had been promised to them since 1996.
These people have illegally occupied some of these houses because they say that, even though they have the correct paperwork and have been waiting eleven years, people that pay bribes to councillors jump the queue and they are refusing to stand for it any more. Speaking to these people, I find they are rightfully very angry, but unfortunatly this is the way it works in SA, MONEY TALKS.
Corruption, nepotism and racism is still rife.

Swan Lake

The dress rehearsal of Swan Lake at the Civic Theatre in Braamfontein. This classic ballet runs from the 24 Aug to 16 September 07.Shooting Ballet is a bit of a tricky at first, especially with the low light, so I bumped my D200 up to iso 800, set it to 160 at f2.8, and hoped for the best :) .

No , seriously, it was actually awesome, the subject really lends itself to being photographed and I'm sure looking forward to shooting some more ballet in the future.

Informal Traders

An informal trader that sells pirate DVDs runs from police on William Nicol ave in Johannesburg.

Today, I accompanied the Metro police enforcing by-laws, which consisted mostly of arresting traders at major intersections. The police were simply doing their job by rounding up the traders (mostly foreigners) , as they believe they contribute to crime in the areas, but this does'nt seem like the way to tackle this, I spoke to one of the traders and they believe they help curb crime by being in the area constantly. They insist they are just trying to earn a living, which is fair enough, I think.

It seems like a double edged sword, on the one side the law must be upheld, on the other, people need to make a living. Surely there must be another option, as the trader assured me that he would be back as soon as he pays his fine.

Plane

A Piper Seneca rests on the roof of a house in Birdhaven, Johannesburg after crashing in to it. Two occupants are in critical condition, but nobody on the ground was hurt.

To get this angle, I had to put on some of the good ole charm, as the owners of the house didnt want to allow anyone in or even speak to any reporters, who can blame them for being a bit crabby, dont think they had a good nights sleep, what with the draft sweeping through the large hole in their roof.

Heist

A COIN security van after being attacked in an attempted cash-in-transit heist near Germiston, Johannesburg, no money taken, but one guard shot in the neck and in critical condition.



Yesterday I went to the scene of a cash in transit heist, as usual a policeman comes to speak to me full of attitude, tells me that I must ask permission, I duly tell him that as long as Im behind the crime-scene tape, I need ask nobody permission, after a brief war of words the man finally realises his war is lost and leaves, "smart man", I think and continue to take my pics, when another cop aproaches me, same story...same response from me, he leaves..."smart man". Three... four.... and then number five approaches me, asks me what media Im from, so I duly tell him, and that am getting a bit over this, so I lay into him, telling him what I think of police that dont have any idea about the law regarding media, then he tells me that he was going to ask if I wanted on the chopper for a better view of the scene, oops, so I apologise to him, but definately not to the other four idiots.

F1 Roadshow

The streets of Sandton, Johannesburg were roaring with the sound of screaming engines as the ING Renault Roadshow came to town.

Nelson Piquet Jr was one of the drivers during the event that was very well attended, so well indeed, that a friend of mine had to pay to join another large group of people on top of a building to see the cars over the crowds, I was a bit luckier as I had accreditation, I was pretty much trackside, (didnt help much, cause as I got back to the office one of my compact flash cards bombed out...)
Anyway luckily I had shot two cards, so still had pics.

The Gautrain

300 meters into the
Gautrain tunnel at Marlboro, Sandton.

The Gautrain is a high speed train system that will run between Pretoria, Joburg and O.R Tambo International Airport.

This pic was taken recently on a tour by media to see progress on the project, as most of it is being done underground, the public sees only the sites and dont see the work being done.

The light was horrible and to get decent pics I had to use flash, as can be seen by the reflective stripes on the workers.

The Lion King

A scene from The Lion King at The Teatro in Montecasino, Johannesburg, South Africa.

One perk of the job is being able to get to go to a lot of concerts, theatre events and all other events for free, not to mention usually with VIP tickets. I was sent to watch the Lion King production, set up with a large meal and various other goodies compliments of Nedbank recently.

Life is good...

Zuma cops

Another pic from my portfolio, this was taken during Jacob Zumas rape trial in Johannesburg. Jacob Zuma was the Deputy President of South Africa but after ties to convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik and a allegation of rape, he was sacked as the countrys Deputy, He still has a large following and is a candidate to be South Africas new president. This pic is of two cops standing on a building watching the crowd of thousand of his supporters outside the High Court during his rape trial, charges on which he was found not guilty.

Eldorado Park fire

12 July 06-This is one of my favourite pics from my portfolio, taken at a fire in a tyre factory in Eldorado Park near Johannesburg.

I love the subtle reflection on the firefighters visor and the cloud of steam as the water touches the flames.

Welcome to Neil McCartney's blog

I'm Neil, I'm a photojournalist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. I work for a newspaper called The Citizen.

This blog will consist of pics I take on my daily travels as well as stories around taking those pics, but even better, it will consist of the zany antics, I sometimes get up to trying to get those pics.

So welcome, hope you enjoy my blog.

Neil