A Sunday trip to a local flea market
So what does a highly-trained, top-notch international visual journalism consulting team do after a grueling week relaunching a weekly news product for South Africa?
It goes shopping. At a flea market.
We met Sunday morning at Peter Ong’s hotel, where we ate a huge breakfast. The view from the 13th floor of the Sandton Radisson is the best I’ve seen yet of downtown Johannesburg.
We drove to the Rosebank shopping mall, where locals love the Sunday morning rooftop flea market.
Before we dove in, however, Peter had to check with the local newspaper dealer to see what the reaction had been so far to the new-and-improved Rapport newspaper.
What we discovered, much to our chagrin: A local competitor was giving away tons of free copies of its paper. Even with new a bold new presentation style, it’s difficult for any paper to compete with free distribution. Sigh…
The paper sure looks sharp, though, there on the newsstand.
We moved on to the top of the parking deck, which, on the weekends, converts into dozens upon dozens of booths for local craftsmen, artists, used book salespeople and assorted flea market denizens.
There were tons of cool things for sale there. The strangest thing I saw — which, sadly, I did not shoot — was an artist who advertisted his work by pairing a large painting of Nelson Mandela with a painting of Michael Jackson. Egads.
I gravitated toward the used book, toy and CD dealers.
I managed to resist buying toys and CDs, but some of the used books made me laugh out loud. One has to bemoan America’s greatest export, for example — it’s television culture.
The only thing I bought for myself was this wonderful collection of editorial cartoons involving the fall of Apartheid and the rise of Nelson Mandela as a governmental force in South Africa:
I also bought this stone-carved turtle for Sharon from a local craftsman.
Sharon loves turtles. She has two of them at home, plus an assortment of turtle statues and knick-knacks.
Peter bought a baby doll that caught his attention. His wife will be glad to know he’s not bringing home the nice springbok skin he was eyeballing.
Adonis Durango collects masks. And there was a huge selection from which to choose. This one caught his attention early on, but the dealer wouldn’t bargain with him.
An accomplished flea marketer, Peter stepped in to talk the seller down but made little progress.
While they dickered, I snuck a few shots of some of the other carvings for sale in that booth. One of the locals saw my interest in these weird-looking figures and explained they were prayer statues.
Yes, I see the hands folded over their chests. Prayer. I guess that make sense. Frankly, though, I was wondering about the huge phallic-like shapes smack in the middle of their heads.
Finally, Adonis found another mask dealer whose prices were a little more flexible.
He found a very cool item to add to his collection. Mrs. Durango, if you’re out there: Clear off a spot for a new mask, please.
We ate a light lunch while being serenaded by a bunch of native African singers and dancers.
I have no clue what they were chanting, but the beat was infectious and the dancing was fun to watch.
Even the South African locals enjoyed the show and tossed coins into a pot for the performers.
We called it an early day. Peter had a soccer match to watch on TV and, after staying up half the previous night chatting with friends and blogging, I was pretty tired myself. I slept most of the afternoon and then slept late this morning.
Today should be a relatively light day — many folks will be taking the day off, after having worked on Saturday. Perhaps we’ll have a chance to get caught up on our correspondence.
Tuesday, we’ll begin the process of picking apart the Sunday paper and planning fixes, changes and upgrades to our plan for next weekend. Adonis leaves on Wednesday, I think, and Peter himself leaves before the paper is put to bed next weekend.
Meanwhile, I’ll stick around another week or two to make a few more presentations about visuals and graphic content, help grease the wheels for graphic centerpieces and anything else they need me to to do.
At some point, I’ll leave Johannesburg to spent a week or two in Cape Town, where I spent three weeks in August and September.