South Africa in Technicolor

One of the most colorful photos I have, taken at the Joburg Pride parade last year.

I don’t often write “blog award” posts. The bloggers among you know what I’m talking about; the rest of you can read here to find out what a blog award post is.

But every now and then, I get nominated for a blog award/contest that is worth participating in. This week, Mark from Migrationology.com invited me to participate in “Capture the Colour”, a blogging contest sponsored by TravelSupermarket. Not only is this contest more interesting than the normal ones, but I also have the opportunity to win a prize. So, I’m in.

The concept is simple: I write a post featuring photos that capture the following five colors: blue, green, yellow, white, and red. Then I nominate five more bloggers to do the same. There will be a winner in each color category and also an overall winner. What a brilliant idea! TravelSupermarket earns itself a lot of online publicity, and hundreds (maybe thousands) of bloggers get to have fun pouring through their photo archives. Everyone wins.

I’ll get right to it.

Blue

This is my boxer friend Sandile, before an amateur boxing tournament at the Hillbrow Boxing Club in Johannesburg. It’s not the most amazing photo I’ve ever taken but I love the story it tells and all the blue accents: Sandile’s hat, the boxing equipment, the ring itself, and the blue sign in the background. You can’t read the sign but it says, “Under New Management”. The Hillbrow Boxing Club was built on the site of an abandoned petrol station, and the new management sign was never taken down. Read more about Sandile here.

Green

One of my favorite places to shoot pictures is, literally, in my own backyard. There are so many interesting plants, birds, and insects in Joburg and I don’t have to go far to find them. This interesting beetle, which I nicknamed a beetherfly but is actually called lycus Trabeatus, perched on my green plastic deck chair last summer and allowed me to have a nice long photo session. I love how the orange color of the beetle, and of the wall of my house, contrast with the green chair.

Yellow

I took this photo in South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal province, in a region called the South Coast. The moon was full that night, and when my boyfriend and I saw how beautiful it was we rushed straight to the beach. The street light behind us gave the sand an almost neon yellow color. If you read my blog regularly, you’ll understand why this photo is so special to me. If not, read here.

White

Cape Town’s Bo-Kaap neighborhood is one of the most colorful places in South Africa, with its signature pastel-painted houses. I think this mosque is one of the only white buildings in the neighborhood, which is why I like the photo. I love the contrast between the white building and the girls’ black abayas, the white of the boys’ outfits, and the white street sign. (Ironically, the mosque is on Church St.)

Red

Taken from the top of Johannesburg’s Carlton Centre, the tallest building in Africa. There are many hints of red here, but I think the City Press sign makes the photo.

Thanks to Mark for nominating me, and thanks to TravelSupermarket for the cool contest idea. Here are my five nominees:

1. Fidel at Scene With a Hart

2. Nicole at ThirdEyeMom/ThirdEyeWorld

3. Tony at Travelling Tonito

4. Lu at The Unwitting Traveller

5. Debra at Bagna di Lucca and Beyond

Wishing you all a colorful weekend.