#bradfuzz

Leave no trace, take only raw soil between your toes. Connect and touch your path, feel your journey.

If you’ve never been to Braamfontein, then it’s something you should put on your weekend’s to-do list. The food, drinks, art and people will blow you away with the most unique style and atmosphere you’ll experience for a while. It will linger as you head home to relax on the couch, thinking about your local adventure, so close to home. You’re stomach will be full and your imagination will contently run wild with thoughts of potential. Johannesburg, its city centre and myself have had an interesting relationship, from making an offer on an apartment to being involved in shooting mob and chase scenes of the newly released ‘Chappie’. One of my first affairs with our beautiful city was unfortunately more abrasive.

I was involved in an attempted high-jacking in New Town, Johannesburg a good few years back. An arm through my window, rusty knife against my throat and traffic moving by, It was a hairy experience. Thankfully myself and my passenger were able to get out of the situation when the high-jacker needed to remove his arm to open the doors. Being on my way to an event, a colleague at the time, Anthony Bila, called to find out what was keeping me. The high-jackers who we were now aware were in a car behind us, had asked for our phones and wallets straight after arriving at my open window. Answering the call, they gave a very violent message and proceeded to hang up and switch off the phone.

Driving up one of the many one-ways in Johannesburg, I was able to get ahead of the gents behind us and jump straight onto the highway home. Soon after arriving, my mom received a call  from the worried team back at the event. Not having a phone or contact details and not knowing they had a chat with the high-jackers, I couldn’t let them know I wasn’t going to make it. They had imagined the worst, and I still appreciate their effort and care to this day.

Understandably for a long time I couldn’t get through the city without a small panic attack and my eyes anxiously taking in every inch of my surroundings. A few years later, I forced myself back into Joburg with my little guard dog, Chocolate. I bought a leash, started taking Chocolate to training once a week and began having social park trips with her as often as possible. Four months later, Chocolate and myself were standing outside Arts on Main, for the first time. As little as she was, she gave me someone to focus on, we explored Maboneng and Sunday afternoons at the ‘Living-Room’ quickly become the norm. Chocolate loved the constant attention, and I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations she got me into.

Chocolate’s a little older now and joins me on fewer trips but loves the occasional city trip. Definitely more trusting and in love with my city then ever before, I explore Maboneng, Braamfontein, the nooks of Wits and more. Walking the streets and over the Nelson Mandela bridge enjoying the city’s random spots of new life and old, filled with food and a smile on my face. The sense of openness continues to grow and the areas follow, development and urban revival already in full swing. More unique ideas are constantly taking root. There are still areas and people in Joburg that need love and these areas become spots you’re concerned for and not just places to avoid. People should still be vigilant when enjoying the city centre, as things take time. Quiet afternoons, become stories and corners become curious adventures.

The fact that Joburg is opening up and people are loving it, is far from news. It’s just given me something to share. The City gave me a knock and has repaid in adventures and ridiculous afternoons two-fold. The interesting faces, people I’ve met and food I’ve eaten are what I remember when thinking about The City.

Give Joburg the credit it deserves and go enjoy what it has to offer. Kitchener’s, The Orbit and Doubleshot in Braam, or Arts on Main in Moboneng, would all be great places to start. Neighbourgoods is the perfect Saturday spent, and for a new visitor the more relaxed ‘First Thursday’ following on from ‘First Thursday Cape Town’ is a perfect option for a first time. Running it’s first night out last month and the next on 4th June. The first Thursday of every month, explore the cultural fun of Braamfontein till late.

Go outside and get involved, you’ll be pleasantly aware of Johannesburg’s potential and how much you actually love this unique city we have the pleasure of enjoying whenever we take the time.

Here are some of my favorite pictures I’ve taken in Braam.

Seth Pimentel, 70 Juta Street, Braamfontein. Photographer: Brad Edwards Editing: Collin Gradwell

Neighbourgoods, Braamfontein. Photographer: Brad Edwards

Neighbourgoods, Braamfontein. Photographer: Brad Edwards Editing: Collin Gradwell

Braamfontein. Photographer: Brad Edwards Editing: Collin Gradwell

Most of us have come to the realisation and accepted that digital is the current step forward, that with the right team potential is rarely limited, and great brands are well on their way to having a respected digital footprint. Understanding that Online Reputation Management, or ORM, as reputation and word-of-mouth have always been, is a key factor to any successful digital marketing strategy. Content and community managers’ numbers are on the rise and creative social media its ever flowing source.

Competition is a not a new factor but who we deem as our competitors is on the rise. Everyone online now has a potential voice, and it seems everyone has something to sell. All that can get a tad noisy and being heard in that chaos becomes important. Purpose driven community content following quality and not quantity is the new sword and shield, letting your community grow as organically as possible.

Reading a few recent articles, it’s understandable, how high quality images and graphics have a considerable impact on general acceptance and click through rates. It would’ve been foolish for me to not pay attention to what retouchers and designers have to say when working on images and graphics.

Digital photography has undoubtedly come to the table and retouching has followed with a bag of tools that could put Gramdma on the moon and shave off at least 20 years from her visage.

Retouching has become a fine art of creating hyper realistic images that could be slices right out of the real world. Brands spend a lot of time and money hand picking their marketing, creative and strategic teams, and great teams have big ideas. Unfortunately big ideas usually need big budgets, spending hundreds of thousands on bringing a concept to life. Having the option of creating these concepts digitally, hyper realistic images seem to be the next best thing. With quality digital photography as a solid base the right tools make nearly any visual concept possible.

‘Think of it as photo manipulation, taking the focus of an image and putting it into a brand new environment. Here you can decide the micro details of the image making it say what you intend it to. Understanding how people perceive visuals and the behaviour that follows is the key trick, how they see the things they aren’t even aware they’re seeing.’

A digital solution for a digital market.

Juta Street, Braamfontein.

Greed and corruption, a modern religion. Liquidity of sin past down, a family tradition. Material worth a new prophet at last, Child’s innocence lost, a ghost of the past.

No crystal ball, no astrology. The minds shadowed creature, its own psychology. Just chaotic moments, a facade of order, The darkness has lost its border.

An honours degree in replacing youth with structure, The next generation, our bound future. A lesson in seeing value, not meaning. Those are not tears, it’s our souls bleeding.

Golden tombs with happy notations. Life slowly transformed into abbreviations. Worthless legacies live on with pride, The blind walking dead, taking convenience as a bride.

Thoughtless words, just gestures of intention. Destroying logic, all sense of direction. Long sentences with short meanings. Ever flowing silence, infects poetic feelings.

Closed doors are all I seem to find, Darkness so bright it makes me blind. The fear that clouds the picture, A snapshot of a hopeless venture.

Through the glass I see better days, My sight has been changed in so many ways. A beautiful and bright reflection. But, the mirror is broken, a warped perfection.

Against the red river society’s bound. A fractured symbol still makes a sound, Yet not in tune with normality, the mold, a desire shared so abundantly.

Experiences that offer purpose and education, The helping hand to my own destruction. A moral compass pointing south, The ironic death, that claws its way out of my mouth.

Brad Edwards, 14 May 2011