I lead five other photographers down into the bowls of Park Station to a passage that once linked the Old Concourse, where the Blue Room is, to the platforms. Here we found old advertising posters dating back from the 1950s. We spent over four hours there photographing the posters and even explored different tunnels. What great fun we had. To see more photos of the trip go the my Facebook album "Dark and Secret 1950s".
Arriving into the city centre this morning I found a low cloud rolling in. The mist steadily got thicker and thicker as it pushed towards mid-day. At some point mid morning I could not even see the Gautrain Braamfontein Terminus construction yet alone Park Station. The sun got the better of it during the afternoon and it started to clear-up.
It was a busy day of knuckling down and doing some work for a change as tomorrow I will be out of the office all day on a shoot. Subject Top Secret only only for those in the know. You know what I mean. And I am in the know because they want photos of the event. I will leave you with my monthly photo of the progress of the Gautrain Braamfontein terminus.
Last night there were many thunderstorms which cause many accidents during this mornings rush. Here is a photo of one accident of a minibus taxi which jumped a red traffic light outside the Gautrain Braamfontein Terminus and hit a pickup. This caused a back-up for quite a few hours.
Today started like every other without a rain cloud in sight. Matter of fact it was a perfect day to take my usual monthly photo of the Gautrain Terminus building at Braamfontein as you can see. But later in the afternoon dark thunder clouds closed in and Johannesburg had it first real rain of the summer. It even hailed. What a perfect start of summer. You can smell rain soaking into every pore. Welcome summer.
What a busy day. PRASA is pouring work our way so I better show them that I can do more than what they expect I can do. I am like a complete advertising company all in one. Well this can only do me good in the long run. Let the BE ONE campaign start. For a break, I took a walk to the station to try my hand at street photography and secretly snapped away with my cellphone. Lighting not the best but here is the bakery lady selling her wares.
Thank goodness Monday is under the belt, now for the rest of the week. It is downhill from here. The roof of the Gautrain’s Braamfontein Terminus is nearly completed. Things are coming along nicely.
On Saturday afternoon I took a number of amateur and professional photographers into the Blue Room. The best part was to see all their expressions on their faces as they walked into this disused concourse with all its marble and red brick décor – Priceless. This morning I popped back into the Blue Room to make sure that the keys were returned and I saw these seven beams of light piercing the tavernous space that I had to capture it but all I had on me was my cellphone.
"You don't make art by capturing an image on paper, or canvas, or in stone. You don't make it by writing down stories and poems. Music and dance come closest to what real art is but only so long as you don't try to record or film it. Musical notation is only so much as dead ink on paper. Choreography is planning, not art."
"You can only make art by setting it free."
At the Gautrain Braamfontein Terminus, construction workers are starting to put the roof onto the stations entrance. I wonder how soon this station will be added to Foursquare?
I got a call today from Carol saying that Telkom has been round and our phone is now up and running. I better check tonight if the DSL is also working. Wow over a month without internet. Not good. Today's photo is of the construction work progress of the Gautrain Braamfontein Terminus in the midday sun.
The Gautrain has been quite a bit in the news lately with its launch of operations last month. But ignoring the new Brothers for Life building wrap on the Schlesinger Building, they did not play it safe with a soft launch. Although they didn't have too, they rushed into operation the Airport-Sandton link just in time for the soccer world cup. Along with this came the teething problems that a soft launch and six months testing would have ironed out. But expectations of the public have all been met and the Gautengers along with hundreds of thousands visitors are very impressed with the Gautrain. We are proud to have what we hope is a start of many new public transport options. In today's photo is the construction of the Braamfontein Terminus of the Gautrain in the early morning light.
The poor visitors to South Africa must wonder if this is Africa because we in a very cold winter with temperatures dropping to -10.5C in the Free State. Don't worry it is forecast to warm up a tad this weekend. The Park and Ride the Trains for free to the soccer games have been a roaring success. There is no more parking at Park Station so come early.
It is just two more sleeps until the launch of operations of Gautrain. The closer we come to the big soccer event the more the general public are getting into the thrill of it. Flags are fluttering everywhere even our ICT office at Metrorail is filled with flags hanging from the ceilings. The soccer teams have started to arrive and the fans from this weekend. We live in interesting times. I normally post a photo of the progress of the Gautrain terminus in Braamfontein at the beginning of the month and I did a lovely early morning photo less than a week ago (Dawn of a New Age) but I thought I better do another day one.
I had started to forget how blue Johannesburg winter skies are with all this rain we been having. It was a good day to take a progress photo of Gautrain's Braamfontein Terminus. The section between the airport and Sandton is opening on the 8 June which is only 34 days away.
The long weekend is over for me while some colleagues have taken these week days off to make a very long break. Well a big thank you to Angie and Gary because now I know that baby white rhino sounds like when they squeal for milk. I will try post other photos of the trip on Facebook. So today I am posting my monthly progress photo of the Gautrain Braamfontein Terminus.
During a walk to Park Station during lunch time, I came across this curio stall which I am positive was never there before. What I mean the stall was there but the items for sale are now tourist souvenirs. There was a lot of bead work, Zulu hats, beaded clothing, beaded jewellery and even an Ndebele doll. It looks like this stall is getting ready for the hordes of tourists but is situated deep inside Park Station.
I am very tired this morning. I am sure why but I did have a reasonable sleep last night. Anyway here is my monthly shot of progress at Gautrain's Braamfontein Terminus. You can see how the next floor has been added to the parking garage.
Here is a Toyota Cressida station wagon that has been abandoned at Park Station. I remember seeing it at this same spot but still with wheels and looking in a better condition sometime in the beginning of 2008. It has steadily gotten stripped over last few years. I wonder how long it will stay here before Intersite removes it.
Oo griet, please tell me, Bennie Boekwurm, that this has all been just a dream and that monkey is not riding on his barrel. Tjoef tjaf, I wake up and my coffee is cold. After such a let down by Metrorail, my mind is not in it anymore. At least my name isn't Lavina. Haai oe Blommie, here is Willie deciding what to buy for lunch from Chicken Licken. Ek wil nou nie snaaks wees nie, maar I think I am losing my mind.
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