Cape Town's Concrete Canvas: A Day in the Life of a Freelance Photographer

so i woke up to the sound of waves crashing against rocks way outside my window and immediately knew i had to leave. the temperature was that weird 22.91 degree thing where you forget if you’re wearing too much or too little. i checked and it’s still...there right now, hope you like that kind of thing. i grabbed my camera bag-the one with the cracked strap and the lens that fogs up every time i touch it-and decided to hunt for light in the city’s chaos.

i passed a local market where someone told me that the street artists here paint better than famous guys but only if you throw them a coconut first. i didn’t. i just snapped a photo of a guy with a turban sketching on pavement. it was drying up by the time i got back. maybe i should’ve listened. i heard that the best shots aren’t in the fancy galleries but in places where people spill coffee or yell at pigeons.



i stopped at a café called ‘Brewed Ghosts’ (i looked it up on TripAdvisor and it’s 4 stars but also has a review that says the barista might steal your wallet if you ask for a latte). i ordered a coffee and waited for inspiration. the latte was ice-cold and the Wi-Fi was spotty, which was perfect. while i was editing shots, a neighbor’s cat knocked over a trash can. i’ve come to accept that my next photo essay might be about urban wildlife.

‘Don’t shoot the statue of that guy who’s probably sleeping in that fountain,’ someone warned me. ‘He looked dead in that photo I saw.’

down by the harbor, i spotted a mural of a diver holding a fish made of broken mirrors. the artist told me it was for a group of friends who lost their boat. i asked for a shot and he handed me a cracked overlooking lens. i used it anyway. it blurred everything except the fish, which looked like it was swimming away from me. maybe that’s the point.

‘The real magic here is the light at 4 PM,’ a tourist said to me while I was trying to explain exposure. ‘You just wait until the sun hits the back of the buildings and everything turns gold.’

‘If you get bored, Cape Town is just a short drive away.’

which is technically true. i looked up on Yelp and found a hiking spot 45 minutes away called ‘The Big Rim.’ i almost went but decided to stick to the city. i’m a freelance photographer, not an adventure seeker. though maybe that’s a lie.

‘The seafood place at the end of the pier has clams so fresh they’ll make you question your life choices,’ I heard from a drunk guy at a bar last night. ‘But only if you ask the guy with the tattoo of a octopus.’

i took one last set of photos before heading home. the city lights were starting to come on, and the temperature dropped to 22.91 again. i realized i’d forgotten my charger. i called it quits and realized i might never find that charger. or maybe i just don’t care.



here’s a photo of the diver mural:

and here’s the coffee shot:

i’m probably over-explaining. i should quit blogging and just take more photos. but then who would read about my tiny camera lens drama? not everyone. not today. i’m going to bed. maybe i’ll edit these photos tomorrow. or maybe not. who knows?



if you’re reading this, thanks. and if you’re not, whatever. check out Brewed Ghosts. Yelp has some weird art spots. locals swear by Reddit for hidden gems. don’t believe everything you read. unsplash is where i found these photos. shut up.

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