Fourways through the lens
Fourways resident Richard Van Zyl mesmerizes residents with stunning photos.
Meet Fourways’ shutterbug Richard van Zyl who mesmerises residents with stunning photos online.
He wakes up at 04:00 every morning and after a cup of coffee, Van Zyl gets ready for his next perfect picture story that he would love to tell about his suburb.
He said after his parents bought him his first camera when he was just a 7-year-old boy, he fell in love with photography. “It was one of those Instamatic cameras which took about 24 pictures per roll. So, I have never really done it professionally. I’m self-taught,” he added.
Since then, the 50-year-old did not wish to do anything else. “What I love the most about photography is that you make an image and it is going to stay there forever. I often go to Facebook to see pictures from newspapers about life in the 80s, and they are so nostalgic.”
Van Zyl from Douglasdale takes random pictures to document the day-to-day activities of people in Fourways and its nearby areas. He said he had been at it for six years now.
“It is the people who motivate me to wake up and take those photos. The thing that I find very fascinating about Fourways is how open-minded its people are. They have this ‘can do’ attitude that is so fulfilling because no matter what happens they will face it head-on. I love how they hustle.”
He recalled it all started when he wanted to test his photography skills to take them to another level.
“I did landscape photography initially. I wanted to show the beauty of our neighbourhood because they usually complain about negative things on the internet like traffic during load-shedding. So, I thought I should show them the other side of life.”
Although he is out and about for a good cause, Van Zyl shared that his work sometimes did not sit well with some of the residents.
“I received a huge amount of backlash recently and it is from people out of Fourways in particular. I received calls from people just to threaten me. They call me with all kinds of names just because I take photos. It is so horrible, I find it very strange because the photos reflect our everyday life.”
However, he said the trolls would not stop him from doing what he loved the most.
“There is nothing wrong with the pictures I shoot. I always ask for permission before I post the pictures online and people react well to them. I will not focus on what makes trolls happy.”
Van Zyl said what kept him motivated despite his horrible experiences was the love from people in his community.
“We always hear horror stories about corruption, how our country has become chaotic and so forth, but if you go out there and speak to the people, you find how unbelievably kind and genuine they are. I’m only trying to show people that it is not as bad as it seems through photography.”
To blend into the environment, Van Zyl avoids wearing bright colours and has also incorporated his preference in his black and white photography.
“I dress as a ‘grey’ man which means I do not wear colours that stand out because the last thing I want to do is to shift the attention to myself and people act differently when they know that there is a camera around. So, I blend in with the surroundings and then drive around just to see the best or better place to go to and sit while taking photographs of people as they go about their day.”
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