A summary



A week ago a friend was talking to me about the project which he was looking at on Facebook and explained his understanding of the project, something in line with a photo a day idea. I corrected him, but it then dawned on me that maybe it will be a good idea to explain what it's all about.

The picture above it a nicely formatted image of the summary, but for your convenience below is the summary in the post.


PROJECT 52 WEEKS - an ordinary but interesting experience


Many times I have found myself intrigues by the simplicity of things, but at times have found myself astonished about how misleading the media, travel magazines and books can be about South Africa. So I started exploring the idea of an expression of exactly the "bits in-between" the headlines and highlights, from an ordinary point of view. In this case being mine. I do understand that ordinary could mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, however I am in a unique and privileged position to share my ordinary experiences.



So it's time to document my subjective view on the world around me, to express my life, and to educate and entertain others. This doesn't mean that it won't be factual, it will just be factual to me. I find that holistically better compared to the media who has a tendency to over exaggerate the bad things and the travel magazines and institutions to over exaggerate the tourist locations. The media and travel magazines do both of these for very specific purposes. Media is more desirable when it is dramatic and travel agencies and resorts (who are the primary sponsors of the magazines) attract more people when things are pretty and prefect. Now that doesn't mean I want to prove them wrong, because they not. But I would like to share the ordinary perspective I have.



I have found myself on numerous occasions before going on a trip somewhere, trying to find some information about the destination I'm planning to visit. At the start I visit the most popular websites and information centers and learn all about the weather, the major tourist attractions, and ring fenced representation of the destination. But I also find myself realising I am missing some information . The little bits of information that will make or break my trip between a fantastic experience or a really bad one.


I learnt an important lesson when I visited Dubai. I went to visit a special friend there and booked a 2 week stay. Because I knew someone there, who had local friends who had been in Dubai for quite some time, I got to experience life in Dubai from their point of view. it was fantastic, and the most amazing experiences I had were some of the most unlikely and were definitely not easily accessible to me via the internet or from any of the travel centers I came across before my journey. I was lucky enough to go during Ramadan, which initially I thought was a bad thing. But because I hung out with my friend and her friends, some of which was muslim, I learnt so much about their culture and religion, and the small details of the commitment and celebration, which made it special. I didn't even ride a camel or do quad biking on the sand dunes. I'm sure that it's fun, and would loved to have tried it, but ultimately I was too busy enjoying the "non-mentioned" smaller details.

So that brings me back to why I am doing this. For me, I get to share my experiences of South Africa and my immediate environment. For my readers (actually viewers, because it will be mostly photography based) they will experience life as it is, and the events, people and things I see.

Now I initially started my thinking around a 365 daily project. But it soon dawned on me that this is going to be close to impossible. Firstly because I have a full time job, and secondly because I want to do this with some level of quality, not "a photo a day" thing that others have done. So my plans to do a "Project 365 Days" soon changed to do a "Project 52 Weeks". This way I get to be selective on the weekly chapters and for you, I bet it would actually be quite boring to hear (or see) how I travel daily to work in the traffic and back and to most people, a boring and mundane daily job.

Now you might get some of the normal tourist activities in-between the bulk of my experiences, but if you really want the main attractions or weather, there are plenty of websites and brochures for that. If you want to know the news headlines, there is plenty of that too. What I'm offering is the gaps in-between the headlines and highlights. The things that make my life interesting, and that isn't available to you. This is my life, which from my perspective is ordinary and interesting.


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