Seeing Differently: Clicking with township style

29 October 2014 - 02:02 By Rea Khoabane
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Sometimes not much comes out of a place unless someone decides to tell a story about it. Orlando, Pimville, Meadowlands, Alexandra and Kliptown are often overlooked.

Black and white photographs of the townships were made famous by Drum magazine photographers like Bob Gosani, Peter Magubane and Alf Kumalo. These pictures have become a part of South Africa's iconography.

Now, infused with the history of the apartheid struggle, three young photographers from Pimville, Soweto, with no formal training have started a blog, "I See a Different You", to carry on the tradition begun by the ''Drum greats" capturing images of the townships.

Twin brothers, Innocent and Justice Mukhele, and their friend, Vuyo Mpantsha, launched the blog at the end of 2011 and have gained a worldwide following.

Their pictures have been noticed by influential people and brands around the world.

They were flown by the Norwegian embassy to Norway to talk about the lives of South African youth and their experiences growing up in the townships.

Italian brand Diesel invited them to Paris, France, last year to meet other influential people also changing perceptions of the world with the work they do.

They've had an exhibition in a gallery in Tokyo, Japan, sponsored by Diesel.

This year in Tanzania, they collaborated with a German company to educate children on the importance of water, and they were flown to Zambia to shoot a commercial for Vodacom's iConnect product.

In every place, from Soweto to Tokyo, their motto is: to make people see places differently.

''We see possibilities instead of hungry kids, love stories instead of rape stories."

Their exhibition, sponsored by Grant's Whisky, opened in Durban last week.

For the show they travelled around South Africa for 12 days documenting people working together to better their lives.

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